After my visit to Ocean's 11 Casino, I headed back north toward LA and worked my way over to Hawaiian Gardens Casino for a brief look at their set-up. HG is located about 35 miles southeast of Santa Monica, about a mile off the 605 freeway in the city of, well, Hawaiian Gardens. The casino (actually, two Sprung structures www.sprung.com*) is spartan by LA cardroom standards. In its current state, there are two main structures, one for California games (blackjack variants, pai gow, etc.), one for poker action and a smaller structure sandwiched between. You can get an idea of the setup from a satellite image of the facility below...




Overview

The casino has about 190 tables in total, of which approximately 140 are oriented to poker games. The two main rooms are wide open rooms (from above, pai gow, blackjack, etc. in the tent on the left and poker in the one on the right) filled with tables with admin areas (brush, cage, etc.) along the perimeter. Imagine an airplane hanger with a Hawaiian theme that happens to have 140 poker tables and you get a sense of the poker room. Although Spartan and very active, HG is surprisingly comfortable with well-maintained equipment, flat screens everywhere and first-rate customer service.

The main poker room is partitioned into the general area and a VIP or higher stakes area with 15/30 limit and above and $300 NL and above. Note to the hungry: food is free in the VIP section. The smaller stakes limit, $100 NL, Omaha and stud action fill the remainder of the room and are scattered liberally around. You can check it out in a lousy camera phone photo below.

The main room




The smaller, middle "tent" used to house the Lahiana restaurant (among other things) but to accommodate HG’s growth over the last few years, management opted to replace the restaurant tables with baby NL games. HG was the originator in So Cal of the fixed buy-in NL game and, as with Ocean’s, they’ve seen tremendous demand for them. You can imagine the management meeting. “Well, the restaurant tables are busy twice a day with an average ticket of $8. If we took them out, we’d have room for about 30 NL tables generating about $100+ per hour an average of 18 hours per day.” It was probably an easy decision.


Low Stakes NL…Hawaiian G-style

As I mentioned above, the small stakes NL games are held in the room which used to house the Lahaina restaurant. There were roughly 30 tables in the room of which 16 were in operation on Thu night at around 8p. The majority, 11-12 were 1/1 blinds, $20 min-max buy-in tables; another 6 or so were 1/2 blinds, $40 min-max tables.

I wanted to try these tables, checked with the brush person and was immediately seated at a $20 table. The clientele at these tables seemed to be mostly social players with fewer of the older limit players I’d see at Ocean’s. The demographics pretty much mirrored the surrounding area—Hawaiian Gardens is an Asian community; Oceanside comprises more of an older, retiree market. Of course, given the So Cal locations, both have a strong complement of Hispanic patrons.

In the baby NL room, the tables themselves are quite close together and have an unusual nylon “felt”. I’m not a big fan of the faux felt—it makes me feel like there should be drains in the floor so they can just hose the whole room down at the end of the night. It wasn’t grungy by any sense, but it was definitely barebones and set up to accommodate lots of turnover with several staff persons focused on filling open seat and chip runners with $20 stacks of chips to facilitate the frequent reloads.

Although it’s a $20 min-max buy-in, it’s not uncommon to see players sitting relatively deep with 5-6 buy-ins. And as you might expect, you can see some very interesting hands at these levels with varying stacks and skills. Within moments of my arrival at the table, there were 5 limpers (including the two big stacks at the table, both sitting with $1000+) to me with some junk hand in the BB. The flop came 5T5 rainbow, and I folded to the small blind’s $6 lead. Both of the large stacks called. The turn was a blank completely the rainbow. The small blind again bet out, this time for $12. Call. Call. “Ok, someone’s lying.” I thought. The river bricked and the small blind shoved. When the first big stack called, the small blind announced, “Well, I think I’m beat. You must have a five.” I thought, “You led all three streets, OOP, on a non-draw board without a five? Bless your heart.” Oddly enough, the other big stack insta-called as well. Both big stacks showed T5o for flopped boats. The small blind tabled QTo and was promptly reloaded by one of the roving chip runners.

I ordered a Jack Daniels on the rocks to keep my head from exploding and settled in for some more of this dark comedy. Within another orbit or so, there were 5 limpers to me in the BB with 89. The flop was 8J6 rainbow, checked around. The small blind led out at the 8 turn and, with trips, I shoved for my all $18 or so of my stack. It folded back to the small blind, he called and showed J2c. Top pair, no kicker—I’ll take it.

A few hands later there was a min-raise with two callers to me in LP with TT. I raised to $10 and got one caller. Checked to me, I shoved the J high flop and the caller abandoned his hand.


Maelstrom!

One of the problems with multi-way pots with lots of limp calling is that you sometimes get sucked into being a calling station. A few hands later I played one of those hands and I still feel the shame of it. An UTG min-raiser made it $2 (Is there a book or something that advocates min-raising? If not, why on Earth do guys do so much of it live?) and there were four calls behind to me on the button with 33. In a limped pot, I sometimes re-pop this and take down a nice pot with a continuation bet, but that min-raise UTG had me beat and I knew it. I called for set value, and when the flop fell 245 rainbow, I started to hear a vague sucking noise.



The original raiser then bet $3 into the $12+ pot, leaving himself $8 behind. Everyone called to me and I considered shoving but thought all I’d accomplish was getting heads up with a short stack (the original raiser) who had me beat. I called the $3. The turn brought an eight (no flush draw) at which point the UTG raiser shoved and the vague sucking sound turned into a full on ship rattling maelstrom. Call, call, call, call. $8 to me into a $50+ pot in with two of the callers and myself sitting with chips behind. It occurred to me that a made straight (67) was a definite possibility and at a higher level I’d likely fold. But here, in the low stakes NL abyss, ANY HOLDINGS are possible and the thought of an A rolling off and a horribly played ATo taking this pot forced me to call the 8 bucks.

As it was, a second eight rolled off on the river and the hellish whirlpool stopped. Check check check check check. TT > 45 > A4 > 33 > 23 for a $60 pot at $20 min-max NL. God help us.

A few hands later I saw another fine play by one of the large stacks at the table. Six limpers to the BB (the big stack at the table with $120ish) who made it $10 to go. There was a call behind here, and then a shove for another $15 (?). What is the call then shove in MP—88…AQ? In any event, the table folded back to the BB. She called and big stack behind her called for a $75+ pot. Flop came 549. The original raise then bet $10 into the $75 pot, but the other stack was obviously not going anywhere with that bet. Call. Checked it down from there. AKo < A2 < 77.


Bigger and better things

At this point, I’d seen enough carnage, racked up (ok, so I picked up my $18 in chips) and went out to put my name on the list for the $500 NL game, played here with 5/10 blinds. Within a few minutes I was seated at what looked to be a pretty good table, lots of limp/calling, a strip-club obsessed “money manager” (henceforth, “Suit”) sitting with about a grand and just enough table passivity to be interesting.

Within minutes of sitting, I witnessed the following hand. Suit min-raises UTG to $20. Middle position player sitting $500 deep raises to $75. DB calls in position, and Suit folds. Flop 992. MP raiser fires $125 bet. DB calls. Turn is a blank. Check. Guy behind pushed for $240. Original raiser labors and calls with 88. 88 < TT. Suit shakes his head and shouts “I had A9!”.

A few hands later there are six limpers to me (and yes, I’m still at the 5/10 table) on the DB with AQo. I bump it to $50 and get two callers. Checked to me, I bet $100 at the A high flop. One player folds, the other one shoves for another $50 or so. Turn, river…blank, blank. AQo > POS.

I didn’t have too many more hands to report. Called in position with JTs, multi-way pot. Whiffed the flop. Folded to action in front of me. Later, I'm in middle position with AA and raised two limpers to $40. Everyone folded. Whatever.

The laugh-out-loud hand of the session was the following. Limped all around, six players (including me in the BB with 86) to the flop. KK5. Checked all the way around. Turn is a K. I check. Suit (to my left in the BB) pushed $20 into the $60 pot. Called all around except for me. River is the case K, at which point, three players jump up out of their chairs. Only two players show—JJ and QJ. Q takes the pot and the JJ player throws his hand to the felt shouting “JJ never wins for me!” Gee, I can’t imagine why.

The action was good enough that I came back down on Saturday night to check it out again. I poked my head in the low stakes NL room and it was PACKED. All 30 or so tables and some overflow tables running. The atmosphere was again pretty raucous—it’s more like a party than a poker room. I spent a little time watching and it’s obviously more of a social event than hard-core playing. I guess it has to be. At the $20 min-max tables, there’s only $180 on the table to start with and HG is pulling maybe $75/hour out of that economy.

In any event, I sat in a $300 NL table (3/5 blinds) that was much tighter than the one I’d played the Thursday before. Players were much more cautious—still limping, but fewer to the flop. I promptly blew off a buy-in in the following hand.

I’m in middle position with AJ. UTG limps to me, I bump it to $20. DB and UTG both called. I totally whiff the flop T76 but when UTG checked to me, I fired $35 at the pot. DB called and UTG folded. Turn was another T and I checked. DB checked behind. River was A which I checked hoping to get him to stab at it. He did that and then some, shoving for $200 and standing up. WTF? My immediate thought was that I didn’t have much in the pot so I should abandon the hand, but I couldn’t make sense of the bet. A big pocket pair re-raises PF or on the flop. A set, straight or T bets < pot here usually. He didn’t look particularly comfortable, showed way too much strength and over bet shoved the pot at the river. Sure looked like a busted flush draw to me. I called and it wasn’t, of course. He showed AQo but whatever. More than 50% of the time, that’s a busted draw. I’m more ticked off that I didn’t fire a second bullet at the turn.

In retrospect, that hand opened the table up considerably. The guy I doubled up promptly (next hand, in fact) donked off 80% of his stack to another player’s AA. As for me, I ended up getting action on AA, QQ (2x) and took down a nice pot with a straight flush draw shove into a multi-way pot. I’m pretty sure the table labeled me as a loose player, but I really only played quality hands (and not many hands overall) all night. I ended the session off a $100 and happy with my play.

A note on the service. The dealers and floor staff were, as at Ocean’s, noticeably friendlier than those at the Bike or Commerce. None of the thinly veiled contempt for players that you’ll often experience from dealers in the bigger LA rooms. Considering HG’s size and activity level, that’s impressive. As for table service, the $300+ NL games are played in the VIP section. Food’s free and quite good. I didn’t ordered food but several players had hamburgers and fruit plates that looked very good. As with all LA rooms, drinks are not free, but the cocktail service was responsive.

Overall, I think Hawaiian Gardens Casino is a nice alternative to the Commerce or the Bike. There’s bigger action at both those rooms, but plenty of action for mid-stakes players at HG. There’s plenty of parking, easy access from the 605 freeway, minimal wait times, decent food for $300+ players and guys that are willing to call off $200 with a pair of aces, jack kicker. What more could you want?

Still digging,

Edmond


Footnote

*Sprung structures are typically used for semi-permanent facilities that needed quick construction—military installations and Indian gaming facilities, for example. Hawaiian Gardens was one of the last (if not the last) California card room to be licensed prior to the moratorium on card room licenses and started up with five poker tables set up in trailers in December of 1997. It used the sprung structures thereafter add capacity cheaply and quickly. For a thorough account of the history and breadth of gaming in California, see Gambling in the Golden State – 1998 Forward by Charlene Wear Simmons, Ph. D, May 2006.

Gambling in the Golden State 1998 Forward - pages 1-92
Gambling in the Golden State 1998 Forward - pages 93-176

Recently, I’ve been compiling a comparison chart of LA card rooms for my own reference and as a simple way to respond to the frequent "I'm going to LA. Where should I play?" post that surfaces every couple of days in popular poker forums. You can see the most recent version of that chart here…

LA Card room comparisons

As much time as I’ve spent in local card rooms, I've never played the low stakes NL games and I was curious about reports that they've replaced the smaller limit games in many places. Last week, I took a mid-week trip down to Ocean's 11 and Hawaiian Gardens to update my info on those rooms and see how they’re spreading baby NL.

Ocean's 11

My first stop was Ocean's 11 Casino, a 45-table room in Oceanside, CA, 95 miles south of Santa Monica and 40 miles north of San Diego. The card room is located directly off the 5 freeway; it's visible from the highway and easy to access. That said, I drove right by it like a bonehead and had to circle back.

As you enter the casino, there's a small bar/restaurant (9 tables, 3 flat screen TVs) to the left and, to the right, the blackjack and pai gow room. In addition to poker, California card rooms are allowed to play a variety of games that aren't played against the house; of those, pai gow poker and tiles, variants of blackjack, three card poker and Caribbean stud are the most popular. These games aren’t my gig, but they do get a ton of play throughout the state.

A ramp leads from the front entrance down into the main poker room in which most of the larger buy-in poker games are spread. To the right, there's a separate room for the small stakes NL games and tournament. I managed to take a couple of photos of the rooms which you can see below.

Down the ramp into the main room




The main poker room




In the main room, Ocean’s spreads $3/6 limit hold’em and up and $2/3 NL and up; check the chart above for larger stakes games and the min-max buy-ins. There’s a sign-up area to the back left of the room and a cage to the back right. The sign-up list is automated and projected on the left hand wall—it’s easy to see from all points of the room. Players can call ahead to get on the list for $8/16 and up limit and $5/5 and up NL.


Wait list




Cage area (right hand side)




I usually travel solo to card rooms—I like to keep my vices to myself—but today I had a friend/older card room owner with me. He wanted to check out the action in the $6/12 game, but I was here to collect info on low stakes NL. So I left him with a gin martini (3:30p on a Thursday; I love the old guys!) and headed into the low stakes abyss.


Low stakes NL aka Baby NL

The low stakes room (also known as the tournament room) at Ocean’s has about 18 of the card room's forty-five total tables. On this particular day (Thu, 3:30p), nine of those tables were operating (six $1/2 NL and three $2/2 NL tables). The room has its own brush area with sign-up lists projected on the wall from any seat in the room.


Low stakes/Tournament room




Brush area




Wait list




Ocean’s spreads two types of low stake NL games, a 1/1 blind, 20/40 min-max buy-in game and a 2/2 blind, 40/100 min-max game. Both have effectively replaced the 1/2 and 2/4 limit games that used to be common in small rooms like this one. Of course, Ocean’s still maintains an interest list for $2/4 limit, but while I was there, no one summoned the courage to get out it. Note: on the following Saturday night, there was one 2/4 limit game going, with another 4-5 names of interest.

After a few minutes on each list, they called my name for a new 1/1 NL game. Ready to be a factor, I sat down deep with a full $40 and settled in for a few orbits. The players are an interesting mix of former limit players—older players who tend to call too much pre-flop, bet in methodical patterns and make minimum raises and younger, TV-bred players, with oversized raises and aggressive betting patterns.

Humorous note: there was a guy sitting to my right in his Fed Ex uniform at 4p. “I’m just playing a couple of hands and then I have to get back.” He was still sitting there an hour later.

As you might expect from the stakes and the players, the game alternates in style between something resembling multi-way limit play and 3-bet action you’d see in the early stages of a re-buy tournament. It is not uncommon to have a couple of “limp limp limp raise call call call flop check check check check turn check check check bet” hands and then a couple of “raise 3-bet stare down call flop shove stare-down call” by 20-somethings in hoodies, iPods and sunglasses.

Sunglasses are an odd accessory in this game. First of all, the stakes are low enough where no one really gives of confidence tells. Second, I’m not sure these lower stakes players have any good sense of how to read another player’s confidence anyway. It’s far more common to see a player overplay a marginal hand like ATo or QJs than exhibit some telling facial tick and I’d encourage beginning players to focus on bringing discipline not Oakleys to the table.

Overall, it seemed to be much more social than some of the larger stakes NL of southern California and a game in which beginning players could be very comfortable working on their table skills and demeanor. At each table I played, several players knew each other, and while not soft-playing, treated confrontations casually. In addition, while Ocean’s takes a healthy rake from each pot ($4 total from a 1/1 game and $5 total from the 2/2 game), no one seemed to mind. Ocean’s only takes its vig when the pot exceeds $7 and reduces the rake short-handed, but most pots easily exceeded the minimum. Overall, it’s a social game, first and foremost, and despite the rake, one in which someone playing ABC aggressive poker could beat for a modest gain.

A few hands

I didn’t play many hands, but as in ANY live game, there were some notable hands every few moments. Here are a few that stood out. After a few multi-way limped pots, one of the younger players raised UTG to 8. In the live version of the betting tells (discussed by Adanthar here Hand reading 101: Betting and timing tells online), this is usually something like JJ-AA. It folded around to a late position short stack, who pushed. UTG over-bet KK > short stack A5o push. A few hands later, one of the young players raised a multi-way limped pot from the blinds. He bet all three streets with three to a flush, a J and an A on board and was called down by player with pocket 4s. “You’re going to run over the table.” the pocket 4s holder announced. Awesome stuff.

Like I said, I didn’t play many hands in the session; I was really just trying to make some mental notes. That said, I did manage to find a couple of hands. Once, I had AKo in the blind and 4-5 players limped to me 4-5. I bumped it to 5 and four players stayed to see the KxT two diamond flop. I led out for $15 intending to shove/call any re-raise. As it was, only one caller stayed to see the turn, a 9. I thought about the possible straight but didn’t want to allow another free card, so I counted out my remaining stack, $20 and shoved it in. Other player promptly folded. A few hands later, I picked up QQ UTG and raised to $4 with two callers from the blinds. They both checked the ragged flop and folded to my $10 continuation.

In another hand, it was limped around to me with AQo on the cut-off. I raised to $5 and SIX callers opted to see the flop for a $35 pot. Remember, players only sit down with $20-$40 in this game, so this is a nice pot relative to what’s on the table. One of the blinds led out with a $4 bet at the A9x flop. Uh, what? It folded to me and I moved a stack of twenty $1 chips out. Back to him, he showed A3o and folded.

After about an hour of stack erosion (bleeding off a few chips set-mining, whiffing a flop with AKo multi-way, etc.), I decided to head back toward Los Angeles. I racked up my $70 or so and headed over to the main room to pull my friend away from the table. He was halfway through a rack of chips and his third Sapphire martini and grudgingly gave up his seat in “the juiciest game he’s seen in a while."

Conclusions

Some general thoughts on the small NL games. Some players seem to know what they’re doing but overall, the play is comparable to a 10c/25c or below game online with players routinely overvaluing hands like QJs, ATo, AJ, etc. I saw a couple of guys move in on EP raises for roughly 20 BBs with those hands. Call me a nit, but I don’t like to play those hands to an EP raise, even in this game. But many players, in fact, do and do so way too aggressively. It’s a game where a novice playing fundamental poker could likely stay ahead of the field, even with the beefy rake.

As for the service at Ocean’s, the floor staff and dealers were very friendly and efficient. There was none of the sour “I hate my job and these degenerates” attitude that you often encounter in So Cal rooms. Cocktail service was very prompt and the food deserves special mention. My experience with tableside food service at other local rooms ranges from mediocre (Hustler) to very nice (the Bike) with the Commerce somewhere in between. Ocean’s food service was well-beyond my expectations for even a much larger room. The turkey club was first-rate, with quality and presentation comparable to a lunch entrée at a nice restaurant. Another player ordered a fruit plate and another, a hamburger. All looked appetizing and were exceptionally cheap. Honestly, I’d look forward to eating there, something I wouldn’t say about any other room in the LA area.

In sum, I’d give Ocean's 11 Casino high marks as card room; if you’re in the San Diego/South Orange County area, you should check it out. If it were closer to my home, I’d make it my regular haunt. As for the low stakes NL, I think it’s a beatable game. There’s a heavy rake relative to pot size, but the play is uniformly weak and predictable. Solid, aggressive poker would easily prevail over the majority of opponents.

Still digging,

Edmond

Next up: LA Card rooms: Hawaiian Gardens

I must be clairvoyant. When the turn was a 3, I knew the 9 was coming...

Seat 1: IHeartTeaching (1,920)
Seat 2: CountMC (1,080)

CountMC posts the small blind of 15
IHeartTeaching posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #2

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CountMC T J
CountMC raises to 90
IHeartTeaching raises to 270
CountMC calls 180

*** FLOP *** 3 8 4
IHeartTeaching bets 1,650, and is all in
CountMC calls 810, and is all in
IHeartTeaching shows 9 9
CountMC shows T J
Uncalled bet of 840 returned to IHeartTeaching

*** TURN *** 3 8 4 3
*** RIVER *** 3 8 4 3 9

IHeartTeaching shows a full house, Nines full of Threes
CountMC shows a flush, Jack high
IHeartTeaching wins the pot (2,160) with a full house, Nines full of Threes

CountMC stands up
IHeartTeaching stands up

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,160 | Rake 0
Board: 3 8 4 3 9
Seat 1: IHeartTeaching (big blind) showed 9 9 and won (2,160) with a full house, Nines full of Threes
Seat 2: CountMC (small blind) showed T J and lost with a flush, Jack high


Edmond

Mr. Calvin Ayre, Bon Vivant
Bodog Poker
Costa Rica

Dear Mr. Ayre,

Just a quick note to thank you and your fine staff for the following...



Had you not delivered the river deuce, this hand would've gone the way of my other misplayed hands--a moment of embarrassment when the cards were shown and then buried forever in a hand history file. Instead, you've given me the opportunity to reflect on how poorly I played it and, importantly, the opportunity for others to mock me into perhaps thinking before acting. Like most of my college relationships, my actions seemed right at the time but, when exposed to sober reflection and honest critique by others, shameful and worthy of change.

Thanks again for the second chance.

Your friend,

Edmond

P.S. Following this hand with JJ v QQ on a ragged board was a nice touch. ED

Apparently, Full Tilt didn’t take kindly to my last post in which I referenced a heifer in a Full Tilt hat. I was mindlessly multi-tabling low stakes NL this morning while watching Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal mix it up in the finest Wimbledon men’s final in a number of years. The cooler team must’ve had the morning off, and I managed to grind out a buy-in or so when Tilt punished me with this little gem.

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.50/$1 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker HH Converter)

SB: $127.65
Hero (BB): $44.60
UTG: $95.50
MP: $32.20
CO: $115.85
BTN: $195.40

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 9 (6 Players)
UTG raises to $3.50, 4 folds, Hero calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 6 3 9 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $6.00, Hero raises to $15.00, UTG raises to $52.50, Hero calls all-in for $26.10
Uncalled bet of $11.40 returned to UTG

Turn: ($89.70) T (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($89.70) 7 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $89.70 ($3 Rake)

UTG had 8 8 (a straight, Ten high) and WON (+$42.10)
Hero had 9 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and LOST (-$44.60)

Fortunately, I’d just burned off a good chunk of my stack on the previous hand when AA < 88 so the wound wasn’t as deep as it could’ve been. Still, crack my AA with 88…whatever. But it is too much to ask that my top set actually holds to an under pair? Seriously, there’s some sickos behind the curtain at that site.

Edmond