Poker Room at Grand Sierra Resort

Good vibe, dealers are professional and fair, they run the tables with personality and compassion yet if someone needs to be spoken to who may be excited or drunk they do it tactfully. Overall my favorite poker room in Reno.

Usually not that much activity in this poker room. Dealers are funny, and food is free in the back. Usually hotdogs, or something easy to make /​eat. Cocktail waitresses don’t come too frequently, and the chips are pretty average. Usually more old folk who play poker leisurely /​make stupid calls rather than sharks. makes it quite easy to take money, but also ends up in more suckouts than you usually see.

GSR Poker Room has hands down the best series of poker tournaments in Reno. They are called the Pot of Gold and they usually host 3 – 4 series every year. Poker room manager Charles is always looking for ways to make it even better. Recently they moved the tournaments away from the casino floor and smoke into the Extreme Sports Bar which is a cool place to play cards.
The problem for me is, outside the Pot of Gold tournaments, they don’t have the cash game action I am looking for. I will play 3−5nl to 10−25nl, but 1 – 2 is not for me. However, if you are just looking to play small (1−2nl or 2/4−3/6lmit) I would recommend checking it out.

After spending time at a number of other poker rooms, I talked with players about the best rooms in Reno, particularly in terms of player compensation.
In that regard, this poker room is the best in Reno.
The room offers the following locally unique, player-​friendly features:
1. A generous 2 dollar an hour comp rate (only Circus Circus offers the same except the 15 hours a week it’s 3 dollars per hour). All other rooms offer only 1 dollar/​hour.
2. Free player buffet at 9 p.m. (and player guests are allowed to eat too generally if they ask). Other rooms offer just soup and 2 rounds of sandwiches a day OR just sandwiches OR just breakfast pastries/​bagels/​donuts.
3. An aces cracked rebate of 50 dollars, 5 days a week (Sunday 8 a.m.-Friday 8 a.m.) except during bigger tournament series like the Deepstacks tournament series that occurred in March and the Pot of Gold tournament series occurring this July. You can’t win any side pots and there is a minimum of 40 dollars in the pot. Only Harrah’s offers an aces cracked bonus and it’s only 20 dollars 1 night a week. And good luck finding a game at Harrah’s.
4. The bonus generous bonus hand-​seeking policy of any room I’ve ever seen (ask at the room).
This poker room fills seats more efficiently than any other room in town once they become available. The floor runs the games excellently. Dealers are overall the best in town. Many have years of experience including dealing in much larger games and/​or WSOP dealing experience. A number of them have excellent senses of humor. All are very professional and NEVER comment on flop texture. Beginning players are treated extremely well and dealers are always helpful, never snobby when explaining how the action proceeds in the game.
Typically, the room spreads only 1 – 2 no limit holdem games, but lately customers have requested and made 2 – 4 and 3 – 6 limit holdem games. If you want a game and have the people, they will spread it. The room also spreads private games and will run private tournaments. As the former Hilton hosting a World Poker Tour event, they handle large scale tournaments and multiple tables very well. During larger tournament times, you’ll find large limit games. During the Deepstacks tournament, they spread a 3 – 5 no limit game. With Matusow there, they did a 25 – 50 no limit holdem game.
It’s hands down the best place to play poker in Reno. With the numerous conventions that they get, steady tourist traffic comes through. Games run all night sometimes and late into the night every night.
The buffet is very good, has food from their normal buffet that isn’t always just leftovers, often isn’t. Sometimes the spread includes large plates of cheese, fruit and salad. There is always at least 3 trays with bread rolls, often 4 that rotate throughout the night. Food is there and kept warm until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. It cools a bit later, but it still often edible until 4 a.m.
Bonus hands are paid out between 20 and 599 dollars. Any pocket pair or two hole cards that can make a straight flush can be a bonus hand, depending on how recently it was hit it could be 599 or 20. As a general rule, more likely to be hit are the straight flushes, especially below jack high and quads below tens.
They also do drawings on Mondays every two hours starting between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. for 125 per drawing and they roll over so they have reached as much as 750. You get drawing entries by playing 2 consecutive hours and signing up for a square later. There are up to 169 squares for which to sign up.
The room is run by a very good poker player, Charles, that absolutely makes sure players are treated well and feel welcome. It’s a part of the culture of the place and makes it the best place to play in Reno.
The room offers daily tournaments at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p. m (no eve tourney Sat). Monthly points leaders share part of a bonus pool, the winner getting 1k and 4 other players winning the additional 1500. M-​Th 9 a.m. features a feeder tournament for the 11 a.m. tournament for 20 dollars with rebuys. The tourney is 55 dollars for an entry. I believe there’s an add-​on of 5 dollars for an additional 33% in chips.
There’s also a poker player room rate to check out. See the site.
All offers can change so it’s best to check with the room for current offers.
Like almost every local room, it’s non-​smoking (even 30 feet from the entrance), offers free drink service (gratuity not included), has numerous TVs to watch sports and features a cashier to handle chip buying and cashout transactions. The room is located very closely to the cage and some ATMs near the sports book at the N end of the casino floor.
Be sure to swipe in/​out to get your comps.