Fresno Road Trip, Part I
By Debbie Burkhead (with a little help from Susie Isaacs)

What does Lemoore, Friant, Fresno and Bakersfield, California all have in common? Poker rooms with great live action games ranging from $1-$5 to no-limit hold'em and lots of poker promotions.

Last weekend we decided to take a road trip to the Fresno area and visit a few cardrooms. Neither of us had ever traveled to central California to play poker, so this was going to be a new adventure in unknown poker territory and we weren't sure what to expect. We were armed only with a list of poker emporiums. Since we had never been to this part of the country, we needed directions and the Internet provided Debbie, our aviator, with step-by-step or should we say mile-by-mile directions to each front door. What a great travel tool that is!

We headed out Wednesday and the plan was to casually drive to Club One in downtown Fresno and find a place to stay. When we arrived in Fresno it was about 9 p.m. and we were ready to eat some dinner and crash. A few miles up the road we found a super nice Red Roof Inn for $45.00 a day and settled in for the night.

The motel we chose, our "headquarters" for the next few days, was 7 or 8 miles from Club One in Fresno, about 35 miles north of Palace Indian Gaming in Lemoore and 18 miles south of Table Mountain in Friant.

Our first visit was Thursday morning at Club One. This club is smack dab in the middle of downtown Fresno's business district. You can't miss it. The club is on the first floor of an old bank building and quite nice. As we entered the club a thought crossed Debbie's mind, "If you worked in Fresno you could play poker on your lunch hour and eat right at the table." (Leave it to Deb to figure a way to break up a 9 to 5 job.)

The facility was very large and spacious with a beautiful glass enclosed off track betting room, a restaurant and adjoining bar, an Asian card section, a couple of California blackjack tables, and 18 live action poker tables. Three of these poker tables are sectioned off in a high-limit area reserved for the higher limit games which include a daily $6-$12 hold'em game with a full kill, a $15-$30 Pineapple game on Thursdays at 2 p.m. which was also going strong during our visit. We arrived around noon, just in time for lunch and decided to eat something while we waited for a seat in the $6-$12 hold'em game. We discovered a varied menu and great food in the resturant.

Club One also offers a $12-$24 hold'em game beginning every Friday at noon, a $5-$200 - that's right no misprint, a $5-$200 hold'em game with two $5 blinds which is spread every Wednesday at 2 p.m., and they spread lower limit hold'em games on a daily basis. After lunch we jumped into the $6-$12 hold'em game where the pots often resembled a $15-$30 game. The action was fast the people were friendly and the food was good. What more could a poker player ask for? New Cardroom Manager, Indy Turner is gearing up for a Grand Reopening under the new management and details on his upcoming new and exciting promotions can be found in an future issue of Poker Digest magazine. About four hours later we called it a day, cashed out winners and headed back to the Red Roof Inn.

Friday morning we set out for Palace Indian Gaming Casino in Lemoore. We arrived around 10 a.m. and much to our disappointment were too early for any of the poker games. The poker room is located on the third floor next to the table games which are located next to the gourmet restaurant. The room is presently open from noon to 4 a.m. daily. According to floorman Billy Blackman the Palace has the only regular $1-$5 seven-card stud game available in the Central Valley. This is their staple game and starts every day, seven days a week, promptly at noon. They also spread a $2-$4 hold'em game regularly, a $4-$8 hold'em with a full-kill and by player request they spread a $2-$4 Omaha with a full-kill. There are progressive bad-beat jackpots on all games. Also, the gospel according to Billy is that the room will soon be going 24/7 with new tournaments and promotions to be announced.

We enjoyed a tour of the property and decided to head up to Table Mountain Casino in Friant to check out their action. Stay tuned for the conclusion of our Fresno road trip which will reveal a hidden poker room along the way.