Westbound Part 3 (Albuquerque Poker Rooms and Gram Parsons story)

Westbound - Albuquerque Old Town

Albuquerque Poker Rooms

The famous Nat King Cole song "Route 66" doesn't mention Albuquerque, but everything here is themed "66". On Hwy 40 going west to L.A. you can't miss Route 66 Casino. There are several other casinos in the area. The best source for daily tournaments is ThePokerAtlas.com

On my trip west I made a stop to play the Heartland Poker Tour at Route 66 Casino.  It was disappointing to find just one cash game table and it was $2-6 spread game. On weekends they may have no limit games when many truck drivers stop, and try to have some fun. Cash game is nothing better at Hard Rock. Casino where they play the same 2-6 spread game. At Route 66 the have many interesting daily promotions like "Aces cracked" where they pay you the size of a pot if your pocket aces lose.

The best cash game I found at Sandia Casino. It was Thursday, about 10 PM and there were nine full tables. I asked about No Limit game and they offered $1-2, $2-5 or $5-10. I got a seat at $1-2 game and heard that previous Tuesday someone from L.A. made over $100K in hot $10-20 NL game. Wow, this is the place where you want to play when in Albuquerque. Also, regularly they have limit games up to $20-40.

Rake in the game is 10% up to $3 plus $1 for the bad beat jackpot. I played for about two hours and I was lucky to double up in my first hand holding KK. Later, picked up a couple more pots for a total of $540. I'm definetly goin g back to Sandia.

Westbound Part 2 - No kicks on Route 66