Verona, NY
(315) 361 8676 or (800) 386 5366; 5218 Patrick Road 13478
Date of last visit: August 2007
Overall rating: You Suck!
Comps rating: You Suck!
Description of room:
A very large room sectioned off from the rest of the casino. Very nice structure and setting.
Description of comps:
Tournament time: Unknown.
Non-tournament time: You swipe in and out and earn one "carat" per hour or one and a half if you are playing 20-40 (though I don't know that they give people credit for that because nobody ever asked me what I was playing when I swiped in, which you do in the back of the room after you have signed in for a game at the front of the room). I was told that one carat is "approximately a dollar", so take that as you will. You use your card to redeem points directly at food service centers.
Games offered:
Tournament time: 2-4 and 4-8 limit hold'em, 4-8 Omaha Hi/Lo, 15-30 hold'em, 1-2 no limit hold'em (max buy-in of either 100 or 200 as two different games), 2-5 no limit hold'em (300 max buy-in), and 5-10 no limit hold'em (1000 max buy-in). Will run other games as demanded.
Non-tournament time: Unknown, but believed to be roughly the same as at tournament time. At tournament time, both 4-8 games would end up breaking (they only had one table of each at any given time) so I wouldn't plan on being able to play these games regularly. And if you are going just to play 2-4, read my comments on the rake below and reconsider venturing to a different casino.
Poker Room Rate:
Tournament time: $80 Sun-Thurs, $85 Fri & Sat but you must play every day either 4 hours live action or in a tournament.
Non-tournament time: Unknown, but believed to be the same as tournament time. Another player told me that in the off season (late fall) you can get weekday rates as low as $45 a night.
Safety:
Not a bad place at all. Actually quite a large, lovely property.
Additional Information and Links:
There seems to be a problem with the serving of alcohol here right now. I guess they are in negotiations with the state regarding that matter.
For the first couple of days, I noticed some people had these slips of paper that say "Poker Room Club". I finally asked someone what it was. Apparently, you are supposed to pay $2 a day just to get to play here. You have to buy it at the cage in order to play in the games. Hmmm .. somehow I was playing just fine without it. If it's the policy that you must have this to play, why am I having to ask another PLAYER what it is???? You'd think they'd post a sign, refuse to sell you chips, or have the dealer correct you to enforce this policy ... not that I think it is a good policy, but I'm assuming there is some reason for it.
The rake is insane for low limit. Check this out ... they rake $1 on the flop, $2 at $10, $3 at $20, and $4 at $30. I think this is the only game I ever played where $10 was put into the pot and I was pushed $8 (and had to tip on that). That may not hurt so much in no limit where, hopefully, you are mostly playing big pots (actually, in fact, it's helpful because they cap the rake at $4, not $5, and there's no additional removal, such as for a jackpot), but that'll kill you in a 2-4 limit game (which is where I observed it). Also, the dealers are inconsistent in applying the rake. Some rake $2 at $8. Some rake $3 at $30.
The 15-30 limit is on a time charge of $6 every half hour, 20-40 limit is on a time charge of $7 every half hour, and 5-10 no limit is on a time charge of $8 every half hour.
They rip you on the single table satellites, as well. Check this ... I buy into a $65 satellite and find that there's a $5 add-on for the dealers. OK, no problem. Then, I find out that the prize is $500 in tournament chips. That's it. Nothing else. They're taking $50 more in profit than any other casino that runs these single tables. That's total bullshit.
You'd think at those prices they'd be willing to explain to you how to get comps when you ask ... but you'd be wrong. I'm adding onto this paragraph three days into my visit, when I finally found someone willing to explain the comp policy. Tarrie. She's the only helpful person I've encountered here so far but she was extremely nice to me so kudos to you for that ... I hope you get a raise soon. I've amended the comp policy above to reflect the information I've discovered.
Don't play here ... they'll try to nickel and dime you to death.
When you sign up for a player's card, they ask for your social security number. How fast can you say "Hell No!"? I'm pretty quick.