Treasure Island Poker Room Editor's Review
General Experience Playing Here: 4 improve the room and provide what the players are looking for. If you are interested in This is a very nice room, the management is top notch and genuinely looking for ways to playing some different games this is a good place to go. If things progress as they have planned, this room could be one of the better rooms after they expand. Johnny Chan was in playing with 2 others in a $50,000 freeze out on one of the nights we were there. Apparently, he and the manager have a long term relationship, so we imagine he will stop by occasionally. It was interesting to have that type of game going right in the middle of a small room and not off in the high limit area of a bigger room.
On my first visit we played $4/$8 limit at a table with several off duty dealers and a few tourists. Generally playing with dealers is not a bad thing as they tend to think they are better than they really are. The tourists were what you would expect, not overly experienced and out to enjoy their experience. On our second visit we played $3/$6 Tangerine Mixer, which is a game that the TI is trying hard to promote as their “signature” game. The Tangerine Mixer is named after their nightclub and the game you are playing changes every time the dealer button returns to the one seat; generally the mix of games is Hold’em, Omaha High and Crazy Pineapple, but they will but virtually any game into the mix if the players want it. We know that on some occasions Badugi has been part of the mix. Badugi is another game that the room is trying to promote. The good thing about the mixer game is that almost none of the players (tourists particularly) have much experience with the games other than Holdem, so they often are overplaying their hands. The pots tended to be smaller on the non-holdem games but easier to win it seemed. On our third visit we played $1/$3 No Limit. This was also a very good game with a good mix of locals and tourists. This game was a little more aggressive than the limit games we had played on my previous visits, but nothing out of hand.
The room is nice, there are only 8 tables but it does feel just a little bit cramped. There are 8 plasma TVs and an electronic list management system. This is a poker “room” so it is fully enclosed. It is in a converted retail shop and a little bit off the main casino floor, which probably hurts a little as far as getting gamblers into the room, but that is offset by the fact that there is a lot of foot traffic since you have to walk right by the room to get to and from the parking garage. The room is also located across from the Mystere theater, so there is a lot of traffic when the shows let out. Apparantly the plans are to expand in the near future, into the adjacent retail shop. The tables are beautiful and have the Genesis system installed, so you can have Player Card swiped right at the table and the dealers just have to push a button to get the floor person, chip runner or cocktails. The felt on the tables will be very appealing to the male customers as each table is adorned with pictures of either the TI Sirens or the Tangerine girls.
|