Okay, as far as the design of the room goes, I have to say its great. There are plenty of table. The room is well spaced and easily located in the center of the Casino. The room stays clean and has a nice waiting area in the corner with some couches and coffee/magazines
There is no other room in the city of Las Vegas that iv played in more. When I stay in Vegas, I stay about 2 miles from the Sante Fe and because of its location this is where I spend most of my time. Review = 1# Most of the players at the Sante Fe are regulars. 2# Day time play vs. night time play is completely different. Though most of my play has come at the night time hours ( 8pm - 4am ), I have played a good bit during the day. During the day the tables are filled mostly* with an older (tigher)crowd. The games are very rocky and I always feel like I 'm in my grandpa's home game. Not very profitable, for me at least. Now at night time things really start to turn around. The games begin to get younger and much looser :)I have made a ton of money in this place at night. Being that most of the players are regulars ,equals that aren't complete idiots, but there is money to be made. The most important thing to apply in this room is to learn your opponents, because they all know each other ; )
It is important to note - I am not rating this rooms Dealers a 2 because they can't "deal". As a matter a fact most of them are very efficient and ( and sometimes at a fault ) keep the game moving. I have played at Sante Fe a bunch. I know all the dealers and they know me, and being a locals poker room, that is the case with most of the other players. The problem with everyone knowing everyone, is that the dealers sometimes think they can get away with being a little to personal and pushy sometimes. I have never in my 14 years of playing in poker rooms seen dealers talk to players they way some of the dealers at Sante fe do. Heaven forbid you take longer than 10 sec on a call. Under tip the dealers expectation and just wait for the sarcastic remark. Trust me I know...I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in this room. Last week I had a dealer (cough cough george) in the middle of a hand, remind a player in the hand, how much bigger my stack was than he's, and that I was the one he should be looking out for - All this in the middle of a huge hand! All protocol is pushed to the limit at times in this poker room. Sigh~ im done now
Cocktails in this room are fine. Sometime if the room is real busy it can take a while to get them, but they do come. The servers aren't the hottest on the block and that's being nice...though there are always exceptions.
I'm rating the Management "below average" b/c they tend to take the dealers side no matter what the situation is(remember above). They also prefer not to listen too well, but that's another story. They do keep the room running well and kept in good shape. If they tended to player concerns more I would rate them much higher
Being a Sation casino they follow all the other station Comps. No matter what Sation poker room you play in, you will earn comps on your player card = 600 points an hour - 600 = 1 dollar. Also, they used to offer double points past a certain hour, not sure if they do that anymore. Over all I am very pleased with the comps they offer to Poker players