Phoenix Area Casinos?

Hello all, I am going to be spending a week in the phoenix area from June 22nd-29th. I'll be coaching a team for the USA Baseball Championships and we will only have one game a day, thus lots of down time. I have seen there are many casinos in the area, but was wondering if anyone had favorites or knew info on which casinos have a wide array of games, best rules, etc. Any help is much appreciated, thank you.

Quote: Knuckleball3

Hello all, I am going to be spending a week in the phoenix area from June 22nd-29th. I'll be coaching a team for the USA Baseball Championships and we will only have one game a day, thus lots of down time. I have seen there are many casinos in the area, but was wondering if anyone had favorites or knew info on which casinos have a wide array of games, best rules, etc. Any help is much appreciated, thank you.

What part of the Valley are you going to be in? There are a few to choose from, rules will be about the same, but IIRC:


Vee-Queeva: Southwest Valley. 100% a locals joint, though I went because, well, I was local to it. If you are close and just want to play, stop by. If you are expecting anything more than a locals grind joint, you will be dissapointed. Did I say this is just a locals joint?

Harrah's Ak-Chin: Southeast Valley. As the name implies, the local tribe has Harrah's running the concession. Nothing special, but nice. A bit of a haul, I used to go to the poker tourneys after I learned the shortcut.

Casino Arizona: Northeast Valley. This one comes close to what you think a "casino-resort" really is. Probably the most glitzy and most popular.

Search this website, someone already did a big review some time back. I would do it but am leaving for work.


One more thing, they have a few statewide rules:

No Shirt
No Shoes
No Dice


So you have to g to NV to play craps, unless they changed that.

No roulette either. I recommend talking stick resort. Vee quiva's being remodeled.

If this is important to you, you may want to know that alcoholic beverages at the Arizona casinos are NOT free. If you're accustomed to Las Vegas style beverage service, you need to be aware of this.

That being said, if you are playing table games and giving action, you can always ask the pit boss for a drink, or drink coupon. As long as you aren't too aggressive about asking for this, they will usually accommodate you. They'll notify the waitress to bring you a drink and they will pay for it. Your success at receiving free drinks, and the number you will receive, is probably inversely proportional to the size and glamour of the casino. Larger casinos, like Casino Arizona tend to be stingier with the drinks. Smaller, locals-type places, like Vee Quiva, are more likely to give you a drink.

If you're a cheap eater (cafe style foods), and want to eat even cheaper, two of the Gila River Casinos (Vee Quiva and Wild Horse Pass) have poker rooms. Join a game, a cheap game, without the intention of actually playing any hands. The waitresses will take orders and deliver food from the cafe, for HALF price. If you're at the casino with someone, you can even place orders and have them bring them to you in TO GO boxes. They'll bring you two orders of food, for half price. Then just cash up your chips and leave with your food. Find a place to sit down and eat. Fair warning: it's cafe food; don't expect quality.

Arizona casinos do not have LIVE roulette (ie, with a croupier) or LIVE craps (ie, with stick, dealers, and box). However, they do have computer controlled roulette and craps. These use a roulette wheel and ball, or dice in the case of craps, but they are enclosed in bubbles and never touched by human hands.

The bubble dice game is quite fun. Low min.... I believe it is $1, and this allows one to cheaply play full odds quite readily (they are 3-4-5x odds). I've had very positive variance with the game at Talking Stick.

TalkingStick Resort is about a mile from my office. Though I rarely play any of the games, I do visit frequently. They have a wonderful cigar lounge with live music, one of the top rated restaurants in the state occupying the entire top floor, and two amazing golf courses. It also seems to attract a much younger, more affluent, more recreational crowd. It's obvious that the casino was built to be a resort amenity not as the primary attraction. If you're more into the chain smoking, oxygen tank wheeling, Indian Reservation casino crowd, try "Casino Arizona" three miles down the road managed by the same company.

The Casinos Arizona do the drink tickets. Gila Rivers do the pit boss comp for drinks. (As an aside, my friends had a stack of Casino Arizona drink tickets about three feet high at home. We will never pay for drinks!) Casino Arizona 101 & McKellips will comp a cafe breakfast if you are at the tables at 6 A.M. on weekdays. (Yeah, total degenerates :) ). It's an excellent breakfast. I actually liked the older Casino Arizona (it was my "local"), but I still recommend Talking Stick. My review.

Play the World Poker Tour table game with a 0.15% house edge. Don't play any of the ridiculous sidebets.

Quote: teddys

The Casinos Arizona do the drink tickets.

I had forgotten about the drink tickets. I haven't been over to CA in a long time. However, at one point, I was friendly with a table games dealer, who was also a pit boss. As such, she had access to the drink tickets. With some schmoozing and only a little bit of tipping, it was amazing how many drink tickets I accumulated in a short period of time. And since I don't drink, I didn't know what to do with them. I ended up giving them to a friend of mine, and like teddy, he never had to pay for a drink there. :)

I visited both Casino Arizona locations last month. Neither has decent video poker (Fort McDowell does) and the original location is being refurbished, so many of the slots I wanted to play were out of service. The Talking Stick location had decent slots with lower minimums, but still higher minimums than comparable machines in Atlantic City. The dealers there were very very nice and fun--I had a blast playing the tables there! But their Three-Card Poker does not pay an ante bonus for a straight. Only 6-1 for a set, 8-1 for a straight flush, and 50-1 for a mini royal. I was lucky with the sets and straight flushes so I came out ahead, but I'm guessing the house edge will get you in the long run.

I was at Talking Stick a couple times several weeks ago as well. My father-in-law enjoyed his results at the slots to the extreme. We ate at the excellent resort restaurant up top of the hotel courtesy of his winnings. I find their Video Poker pay tables to be obscenely poor, but he did find a slot machine to his strong liking.

The talking stick poker room might be one of the best in the world. Usually about 40 tables going and higher at peak times. Cheap food for players and tons of huge tv's to watch games

Quote: FarFromVegas

The dealers there were very very nice and fun--I had a blast playing the tables there!

That is because they keep their own tips.

I live in Scottsdale and never go to the local casinos. Not a fan of any of them.

Quote: Beardgoat

The talking stick poker room might be one of the best in the world. Usually about 40 tables going and higher at peak times. Cheap food for players and tons of huge tv's to watch games

It's the only place I can find a decent Omaha game.