River Rock Casino 5 tables 3250 Highway 128 707-857-2777 Poker room closed

To: PokerWiki <email address not displayed> Your Name: Email address: Subject: Message: PokerWiki wrote on the message board: > River Rock Casino Review > A reasonable casino with a decent sized main room and a nice, though > very small, poker area in a separate non-smoking room in the back. > Very pleasant employees and a nice play to gamble. > [edit] Game Info > > The rake on 3/6 and 4/8 is $3+$1 jackpot for 5-9 players, $2+$0 for > 2-4 players. The rake is taken from the pot before the flop. On no > limit, they use a time charge of $6 per player per half hour ($5 for > 6-player games, $4 for 5 or fewer players). No flop, no drop. Chopping > is allowed. > > Blinds on all games were standard: 1/3 for the 3/6, and 2/4 for the > 4/8. > > Posting: New players need not post. New players or returning players > who have "missed a blind" may choose to "buy the button" by paying > both blinds in the position to the left of the button; if they do so, > no other player needs to post, and the player who bought the button > gets the button on the next hand. > > Shuffling: Shufflemaster machines are standard on all tables. > > Wait Time > Ranges dramatically, since the number of tables is so small. Wait can > be zero if there's a seat open at the limit(s) you want (though that > doesn't appear to be often likely), or can be an hour if there's not. > Luckily, there's other stuff to do in the room to pass the time (see > Atmosphere below). > > Jackpots and Promotions > > * Bad Beat Jackpot: AAAQQ or better beaten = $77,000 (May 06) > * Royal Flush Bonus: $250, only one hole card need play. > * Aces Cracked: Wins $100, but only during the graveyard shifts: > 4a-9a Sat & Sun, 9a-12n Mon-Fri. Only valid if at least 5 players are > at your table. > * High Hand Jackpot: Highest hand during the two hour window wins > $100, Mon-Fri 2p-4p. High hand wins $200 Tuesday and Thursday between > 6p-10p. > * Bargain Buyin: $40 buys $60 worth of chips between 8:30a-9a > Mon-Fri. > * Lucky Seat: Wed 7p-9p, one randomly chosen seat wins $100. > > They say that if you play with your Player's Club card, you can earn > food comps, but the staff seemed disorganized and couldn't seem to > figure out what was going on enough to tell me more about it. > > Atmosphere > The casino itself is a giant Quonset hut, with its interior painted > black in order to look a little more upscale and not be so industrial. > The exterior has some nice "natural wood" additions to also disguise > the basic cylindrical nature of the hall. > > River Rock was a standard indian casino for years and only recently > (Dec 2005?) decided to start spreading poker. But they did a nice job > of it! They cleared a section of their no-smoking room (called the Dry > Creek Room) in the back of the casino and put in five tables, with > nice spacing. Even nicer, you're snuggled into a kind of "mini-casino" > there in back, with no smoking in any of the room. The largish room > contains its own set of blackjack tables, three-card poker tables, and > slot machines, so you can play blackjack at a non-smoking table right > next to the poker tables while you're on the wait list. But the number > of slot machines is only about 20, and there aren't that many players > who come to this back non-smoking room to play, so it's not noisy at > all - the room is very very pleasant in terms of poker atmosphere. > Low-key but effective lighting, and upscalish and dark decor add a > touch of class to the room. When the brush calls people on the wait > board, he announces it over the PA for the whole casino, so if you > leave the back room to go play baccarat or something, you just need to > listen to the casino PA for your name to come up. > > Since it's so new, they do have some teething troubles with staff, who > seem to have some amount of trouble noticing and filling empty seats > at tables, handling chip purchases, or dealing with the various casino > promotions (entry in the drawing if you play 4 hours, etc). Their bad > beat jackpot has never been hit (as of May 7 2006), so is currently at > $77,000 and climbing. > > The poker area of the room has four nice plasma televisions hung on > the wall for you to watch while playing, if you like. > > Neighborhood: As with most indian casinos in California, River Rock is > remote. Nestled in the Alexander Valley (just north of the famous Napa > Valley) among the vineyards and farms, River Rock itself is located on > the "Dry Creek Rancheria" (the reservation) for the Dry Creek band of > Pomo Indians. You take CA Hwy 128 and then turn off at the sign that > says "Dry Creek Rancheria" (they now also have a sign saying it's the > "Home of River Rock Casino"). You then drive up a steep, steep road > that curves around the side the mountain you are climbing. By the time > you get to the casino, you're perched on the side of the mountain > looking down over the gorgeous Alexander Valley, filled with vineyards > and farms. There is nothing else even remotely business-y around for > miles in any direction. (ALERT: I mean it! No gas stations, no > restaurants, no hotels, no anything! Since there is no hotel at the > casino, if you want to stay here, you have to stay miles away and > drive in each day). > > The typical route to River Rock was to take the Geyserville exit from > 101 and head south, but the Geyserville Bridge was washed out in one > of the ubiquitous Northern California floods we have every year, so > there's currently (May 2006) no way to get to River Rock from the > north. Code: Enter the following code: (required) Consider sharing your comments with the other readers of the message board. They may benefit from your insights If you decide not to send email, post a follow up instead, or return to the original message

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