O'Shea's has two poker rooms - one for tournaments and the other for cash games. The cash games are played primarily at two tables right at the entrance to the casino. The entrance to O'Shea's in open-air, which can lead to a very distracting game. You have to deal with a number of factors, including traffic in and out of the casino, the noise from the casino itself and the bar right next to the tables, and the heat from outside if you're playing during the day. The tournament room is much nicer. It's well-inside the casino in it's own little room. There are only three tables, but they usually fill up for their five daily tournaments. The walls are mirrored, which gives players sitting any direction full view of the TVs. And don't worry, it's nearly impossible to see someone's cards in the mirror unless you tend to pick them up off the table to look at them.
I played in three of their $45 tournaments and cashed in two. The first one I played in had about 35 people and they paid top three. Once it got down to the final four, I chopped third place with another person with the same size stack. The third tournament had only 15 people and they paid the top two. Once it was down to three people, we all chopped evenly. About half the field is pretty bad. Another quarter is average. The remaining quarter are solid players, with one or two really good ones. If you play relatively tight only play at the weak players, you have a very good chance of cashing. You will almost always make the final table.
Dealers were all top quality - friendly, knowledgeable, fast.
At times, the waitress came through regularly. But at other times, you could wait a while for her to come through.
For such an inexpensive tournament, it was run very well.
