I finally got around to checking out the poker scene at Reflections Bingo last night. I have had little interest in “unregulated poker” until Desert Diamond Jim Follis and Greg made some posts a while back and I realised I had missed my chance to get some of their first issue chips. So off I went last night to get some of their new rack. Before I retired my job in years past had required travel over half of Arizona and up and down every major and many of the minor streets in the Valley, and I had no memory of passing by Reflections Bingo so my expectations were pretty low. Their operating hours are 5 P.M. to 5 A.M. so to avoid the rush hour traffic I waited until after dark to leave thus avoiding the traffic, but making the place harder to find in the dark. From the address I knew where it should be located it was where I expected it to be the sign was not very easy to see with the traffic light in my eyes but, when the traffic cleared it was not hard to see the entrance. My next worry was parking, would there be a place to park getting there three hours after the bingo started? The lot around the building was packed, but there was plenty of room in the back. I was was surprised and happy to see there is a guard in the parking lot. The parking lot is in good condition and the has recently been painted from what I could see in the dark.
You have to walk through the bingo hall to get to the poker room thus The Back Room name. They have three poker tables and a blackjack table. Two of the poker tables had games going and the blackjack table was open and had a few players. There is no sign up desk and after a couple minutes of me looking lost this guy with a shaved head wearing a sleeveless t-shirt with an earing in his ear brakes off from the blackjack table to come up and ask me if I am new and want to play. I tell him yes and he tells me the rules and what games are being dealt tonight. The first thing I have to do is let him make a photo copy of my drivers license I am not too happy about this, but I want to get some chips and he explains they need proof that EVERY player is over 21. He tells me put my name on board that has been behind me the whole time. The rules are standard for poker rooms except for two rules. First if you go all in and loose you cannot buy back in the game for thirty minutes, but you can go into your pocket for more money during a hand. The idea is to stop people from taking too many shots with short stacks. Second if you change tables you must cash out at your old table and rebuy at your new table. I think this has some account reason. There is no rake from the pots my instructor said the dealers only income is from tokes and I got the impression stiffs are not welcome. All three dealers that dealt to my table were very good and made point of trying to make me welcome. One shocking think that went on at my table was that when someone called for a deck change one of the players would ask the dealer for the old deck. The dealer would hand over the deck and the guy would hand it to his wife who was sweating him and he would tell her to reset the deck and off she would go to the empty table for a card party. Last night was flop game night and the button picked the game that would be dealt holdem, Omaha high, or Omaha hi low. I picked holdem every time but one and never got a playable hand all night. The most popular choice by far was Omaha hi low. I lost track of how many times I was the only non caller these people think any four cards are OK to play. They call Omaha hi low four card high low and I had to ask what that was the first hand. The whole time I played I seemed to be the only stranger at the table most of the players smoked but fans did a pretty good job of sucking up the smoke and I never had it drift in my face. They vary the games played on different nights so if you want to play there call ahead to see what is being dealt that night. One night they play Murder a flop game with five down cards and five board cards an ANY five cards play!
I had to harvest the chips I got what with their cash out rule I think they fill the box at the beginning of the night and those same chips are used all night never a fill, if you need chips you buy them from the dealer or another player. The white chip is $1 and the red chip is $5 I think there were $25 chips at the blackjack table. When I first arrived I was going to play some blackjack with the idea of getting some $5 chips, but I was called for a game and did not see the “green” chips until after the blackjack table was closed. When I first walked in I thought the guy dealing blackjack was Andy he looked that much like him.
I have 4 sets of $1 and $5 chips for sale at $10 each.
I have 4 $1 chips for sale at $5 each.