Cache Creek May 2026

I got a comped room on a FRIDAY night at Cache Creek Resort in middle-of-nowhere California, about an hour’s drive west of Sacramento.

I’d had a players card since the early 2000s, but they recently revamped their website and encouraged me by email to go on the site, create an account, and check for room offers. So I did!

I was able to check in a little before 2 p.m. The North Tower rooms are older, but the Mrs prefers them because those rooms have bathtubs. The South Tower is where the family swimming pool and fitness center are located. I stopped by after lunch and had a good swim in the 79-degree weather. The fitness center is decent-sized, with a small stretching/yoga area. It’s tucked away in the middle of the 5th floor, and seems little-used.

For gambling, the Mrs. hit four aces with a kicker for $500 within 5 minutes of sitting down. I was eating lunch at the Sports Page restaurant. Fish and chips and fries were good, but the side of cole slaw was ridiculously small. I asked if I could have another one, and the server brought out a cup of cole slaw, but then charged me $4. Oh well. I joined the Mrs. and was up $12.50 in DDB (dealt trip-deuces didn’t improve!), then she wanted to eat. I ate a bit of her chicken burrito—it tasted light and good!

Later, I played $25 minimum Pai Gow Tiles (their other two tables were $50), buying in for $100. Here’s how it went:
1. P
2. P
3. P
4. P
5. L
6. L
7. L
8. L
I timed it: $100 lost in about 22 minutes.

I went over to the $10 minimum craps-with-cards table. (It was $5 surprisingly up until 8:40 p.m., and right when I was about to buy-in, they changed the minimum (the table limit display has a touch-screen interface!). I was even for two shooters, then it was my turn to roll. I bet $10 pass line and rolled a 6. Place the 8. I made my 6, then came out with an 8. Everyone moved their place bets over to the 6. I wound up rolling for 20 minutes but with 5s, 9s, 11s, a 4, maybe a 10, everything but the 6 or 8. So I made a lot of money for everyone else, but when I 7-out, I was down $11! I finished down $48.

We had dinner at a their version of the coffee shop, sharing a chicken noodle soup, buffalo wings, and a grilled chicken spinach salad. All very good. For our usual evening walk, we did three laps around the casino, which was 1 mile. It’s a much smaller casino than its nearby rival, Thunder Valley.

We decided to play some reel slots. The Mrs. lost her buy-in fairly quickly. I was playing 5x$0.25, and was going down and up. I saw a lot of wild, double, and triple bars showing up—teasing me. So I started playing 9x$0.25, and in the words of Vegas Matt, I got wrecked! Lost $112.50.

All in all, though, a good time.

I still remember the TV commercials:
Cache Creek...where blackjack always pays 3-2...and all our dealers stand on Soft 17.

The part they leave out:
Just remember to turn left on Woodland Avenue (at Hog Canyon Deli) in Esparto, or you'll end up in the middle of Yolo Valley nowhere.

I also remember those commercials!

They also advertised good video poker payback percentages—too bad I didn't play VP back then! Those good VP paytables have been diminished.

But I did see a lot of 3 to 2 blackjack posted on the felts. I didn't do a thorough check if all tables were like that.

Cache Creek Casino visits in consecutive weeks—is this a sign of compulsive gambling??

This time, the Mrs got a comped room: a North Tower room on the fifth floor that has a patio that opens out to the woodsy brush alongside all the other patios on that side. It's ADA-accessibile with an optional connecting room.

Back to tackle Pai Gow Tiles—this run of $25 flat-betting went a little better:
1. P
2. P
3. W
4. W
5. L
6. W
7. W
8. P
9. L
10. P
11. P
12. L
13. P
14. P
15. L
16. W dealer change
17. P
18. L
19. P
20. W
21. L
22. W dealer change
23. W gee joon-3 (vs. dealer 8-0)
24. P one hour mark
25. P
26. L
27. P
28. P
29. L
30. P
31. L
32. My big bet: $50. L 7-6; 9-4 would have pushed against dealer 8-8. As I was hemming and hawing, the other people pressured me to do 7-6 (dealer said "the worst 9 ever.")
33. P
34. W
35. P

Some observations:
—Just like my first-ever time playing, it felt like I was sitting with opinionated aunts and uncles.
—The "Ruby and Ivory" side bet makes it even worse: 1,000 to 1 on all red; 35 to 1 on all white.
—I got all white on one hand, and disapproval of my non-bet was expressed. But it extended to another woman at the table, so it's equal opportunity judginess. Someone seemed to hit it about every 10 hands or so at our table of five players, including a woman who was actually betting it.
—Despite seemingly experienced players at the table, nobody banked the game.
—I finished down $62.25

I went over to play 50-9-5 DDB (97.87%) VP and hit four queens to finish up $36.25
Trip total: Lost $26.

Cache Creek is one of the only California casinos that I never made it to. Over 30 years working in the casino industry I have been to most of the casinos in the U.S.