INTERNATIONAL POKER ROOM REVIEWS

The resurrection of the game of Poker has not just taken America by storm. From Canada to Europe, Hold'em and Omaha are more popular than ever before. Card rooms are fueling the construction of casinos all over the globe. Casino and Poker Rooms featuring Merlin's Magic Wand have been personally reviewed, while other locations without the wand are based solely on that Casino's literature or a guest reviewer.

As I tour the world, I will be visiting Card Rooms and Casinos and providing reviews. If you have a favorite casino or card room, or would like to review rooms we have not yet found, please send us an e-mail at info@gamingreview.org.

EUROPE

GREAT BRITAIN
ENGLAND

The Grosvenor Casinos have numerous casinos located throught Great Britain. The largest casino croup is the Stanley Casinos, stretching from Scotland to the southern coast of England.

London
February 2007: The Victoria Casino in London is a very classy establishment, with a stringent dress code. I had to run down to the Elephant and Castle Mall to buy a pair of dress shoes to replace my black walking shoes before I could gain entrance. Besides an expanding tournament area, and a cozy poker room, the casino was well appointed. The only thing that surprised me was that at the tournament and the low stakes games the casino does not provide a dealer. The tourney I entered was played at round eightplayer tables. It definately added a "Home Game" feel to the tourney.

THE NETHERLANDS
All of the casinos in The Netherlands are government owned. The Holland Casinos brand can be found throughout the country. Besides Amsterdam, there are also casinos located in Breda, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Scheveningen (The Hague), Schiphol Airport, Utrecht, Valkenburg, Venlo and Zandvoort.

Amsterdam
March 2007: The Holland Casino in Amsterdam was one of the friendliest casinos I have come across in over 30 years of gambling world wide. After having to return to my hotel to get my passport to register, the lady at the entry desk waived my entrance fee and provided me with a coupon for an appetizer plate at the bar for my trouble. The 12-14 tables were filled with players with both low and medium-high stakes play. There was even a table set aside for a low stakes Sit 'n Go. The play at the higher stakes tables was as loose as I had been lead to believe was prevailent across Europe. The low stakes tables, on the other hand, were much tighter than I expected. In Las Vegas or Los Angeles, a low buy-in single table tournament rare lasts 45 minutes. The one I played in finally ended after nearly two hours when my opponent and I agreed to a chop as the next big blind was larger than either of our chip stacks and all skill had vanished. It was a hard fought battle that showed the friendliness and competitiveness of the players.

ITALY
Venice
March 2007: There are two Venezia Casinos in Venice, one in the middle of the lagoon and the Ca' Noghera about ten miles outside of town. I visited the one outside of town and was impressed by the beauty of the room and the friendliness of the people at the check-in desk. Though it was a small casino, it had the atmosphere of a top resort anywhere in the world. It was located at the bus stop for the Verde Venezia bed and breakfast where we stayed, so we stopped in several times.

March 2007: The Ca' Vendramin located in the middle of the city claims to be Europe's oldest casino. It is also the locale of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale. Though neither casino currently offers a poker room, a recent tournament may be turning the tide and government approval is expected in the next year.

CENTRAL AMERICA

COSTA RICA
San Jose

Costa Rica is an interesting place to visit, with the eco-tourism, beautiful beaches and lush jungles (sometimes within yards of each other). The only trouble is thatit is a country without addresses. To find a location, you are given directions such as 200 meters west and 300 meters north of the McDonalds. As you can imagine, this can lead to some misdirection and not getting to the place you thought you were headed, as was the case when I was told they had poker at the Fiesta Casino. Unfortunately, the Main Fiesta Casino had recently bought ought another casino and also named it the Fiesta. So my second night of poker became a night of missed opportunities.

May 2008: The Crowne Plaza and Corbici Casino is where the game of poker was first introduced to the country by the hotels original owner, poker superstar Humberto "The Shark" Brenes. Now the cramped second floor poker room has become a small, but well appointed casino, with a small poker room off to the side. After my Interview with Humberto Brenes, he and his sons brought me to the casino. An interesting sidenote is that the poker room played with US Dollar chips, while the casino games and slot machine uses Colons.

The poker room only plays $1-$2 low stakes No Limit Hold'em. Even with the low stakes, there were a few quality players, one semi-professional I played with had just returned from Panama where he had won the 2008 White Horse Tournament, and another had just returned from Monte Carlo where he cashed in the 2008 Monte Carlo Millions Tournament. After taking a few severe hits early against a female calling statiion that enjoyed the river twice, I fought my way back over the ensuing hour and a half to cash out over $100 to the black.

May 2008: The Fiesta Casino at the Ramada Plaza in Herradura offers all the same amenities of a normal casino, but also holds Texas Hold'em tournaments. Several casinos in Costa Rica, as well as others throughout Central America, are owned by Thunderbird Resorts.

BELIZE
SAN PEDRO, AMBERGRIS CAYE

Pedro's Sports Pub
Though I have not made it to Pedro's yet, I am eagerly anticipating a trip in the near future. It is a small back room of the bar, taking me back to days gone by in Bakersfirld. They have Texas Holdem tournaments every Wednesday night and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They do not charge a rake or hourly rental, but due charge a US$7.50 fee to sit at the table.

THE BAHAMAS
NASSAU

Crystal Palace Casino at the Cable Beach Resorts
September 2006: They offer a 35,000 sq. ft. casino where you can experience all the exciting action with the same limits found in Las Vegas in the warmth, charm and beauty of The Bahamas. A spirited game of $1/$2 No Limit was the only action the night I visited, though they also offer . The poker room was home to the WPT Boot Camp starting in December 2006.

Atlantis Resort
September 2006: With all the glitz and glamour of the most luxurious casinos in Las Vegas or Atlantidc City, the Atlantis is the primier casino in the Bahamas. Though the Atlantis is home to a World Poker Tour event, the casino does not have a poker room.

CRUISE LINE POKER ROOMS

Royal Caribean Cruise Lines

Monarch of the Sea
February 2006: Disappointment is the word that summed up my experience with the poker on this cruise to Mexico. The advertising e-mail I received, that enticed me to take this cruise, listed the Royal CaribeanCruise as part of a series of qualifiers for the $100,000 Poker Cruise. The tournament concept was changed due to low turn out, and not only was there no trip to the major tournament offered, the original payout to four places was changed to only top two. I was disappointed in the tourney director, whose knowledge of the game was weak, to say the least. Finishing 2nd at my table when my trip fours did not hold up, there was nothing I could do. I was also upset at a 25% surcharge for the tournament, far more than the typical 10%-15% I am used to at land based casinos.

Majesty of the Sea
September 2006: The poker table in this ship board casino had a fierce game of $5/$10 limit going until 2:00 AM most mornings during our four night cruise to The Bahamas from the home port in Miami, Florida.