The room reminds me of a turn of the century gentleman's club. Dark wood paneling, a hushed atmosphere, nice art on the walls....I really like it. I don't smoke, so their new non-smoking policy makes me happy. The Monte Carlo uses the in-table card shufflers, which speed things up considerably. There's usually sports on the televisions, and I've never had more than a 2 minute wait to buy in or cash out, though lately there's been up to an hour wait for the $4-$8 games. (On weekend night. Weekdays or Sundays are still good.) I'm comfortable in the room.
The $2-$4 game can be a bunch of drunken college students, the $4-$8 game (half blinds!) varies from tough to fairly easy, and the NL games...well, walk over to the Excalibur instead. It's the same guys in that game EVERY SINGLE TIME. The locals stay out of each other's way and just nail the fish. Bad no limit, bad!
Dealers are awesome, very friendly and rarely mess up. Diane rules.
They had a Miss Texas there for a while... I don't drink much when I play, so it's hard to say for sure, but my orders come within a few minutes, never had problems. I do like the Monte Carlo microbrews.
Pilar (the poker room night manager) is one of the best, nicest human beings I know. Always friendly, she knows when to be nice and when to be tough (abusive players, etc.) She really is one of the main reasons I keep coming back to the Monte Carlo. She remembers my name (a polysyllabic Italian last name that I have to spell for everyone else) even though months go by between my trips. And I'm not a high roller, just an average joe who says hi to her. I really can't give this category a high enough rating.
Bad news is that the comps suck. $6 for 4 hours, so a weekend's worth of play (potentially $50-$60 at the IP) is worth about $18 in food. The cafe is overpriced, so that's one meal... The buffet is good though for breakfast.
The GOOD news is that the jackpots are awesome. I've had several bad nights turn into winners because I hit a high hand jackpot of 4 of a kind or better. 4 of a kind pays up to $500 and Royals pay up to $5000.
