Sycuan Casino and Resort - A Great Poker Tradition Continues

Sycuan Casino and Resort in El Cajon, California, recently opened a state-of-the-art poker room at the east end of the casino. The smoke-free venue offers 17 tables with adjustable chairs similar to those at Bellagio in Las Vegas. The room is also equipped with big-screen televisions for sports and horse racing fans, and a great lighting system that is perfect for poker.

Games and limits offered in the room are $1-$3 and $3-$6 high-low stud; $3-$6, $4-$8, $8-$16, and $20-$40 Texas hold'em; and $3-$6 and $4-$8 high-low split Omaha. Most recently, a pot-limit hold'em game has also become very popular in the room. The game has a $1-$2 blind structure and a $50 minimum buy-in, so it is very affordable to lower-limit players.

Cardroom Manager Gary Taub took over the reins of the poker room last August, and brings a wealth of poker experience to his position, starting as a shill at the Fremont Hotel in Las Vegas in 1978. He also worked for Billy Smith and Jan Bowman at the Stardust in the '80s before moving to California in 1990. Taub was previously a shift manager at Sycuan for seven and a half years before being promoted to cardroom manager. One of the things Taub remembers most about his early days in poker is the $3-$6 hold'em games that he used to deal at the Fremont, which were the training grounds for poker pros Cissy Bottoms, Denny Axel, Linda Johnson, Don Skaggs, Larry Schultz, and many more. "I learned how to play hold'em from some of the best in the business," Taub recalls, "but it cost me a fortune to learn."

Vegas veterans Steve Bernstein and John Strubhart, who together have more than 30 years of experience in the poker business, lead the staff at Sycuan. Both have worked for some of the heavyweights in the poker world, and their contributions have been vital to the success of Sycuan's poker room.

Recent promotions at Sycuan included the San Diego Superbowl of Poker, an eight-day tournament with more than $65,000 in guaranteed prize money, and a President's Day blowout with $5,000 in cash and merchandise giveaways that had the room filled to capacity all weekend. Upcoming promotions feature double jackpots and guaranteed tournaments Saturday and Sunday evenings. The poker room is now offering daily food specials and a $2 special breakfast menu for graveyard players.

Sycuan also offers morning tournaments daily, $2,000 hold'em freerolls on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and a $55 buy-in $5,000-guaranteed limit hold'em tournament every Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Sycuan has been in the poker business for more than 15 years, and has always prided itself on providing top-notch customer service and excellent food, and responding to customers' needs. With the opening of a new, first-class poker room, Sycuan Casino and Resort's future looks brighter than ever.