Grab a sandwich, fellas. It’s a long one.

Strange utterances and horrible pronouncements

In the Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, the Roman poet Virgil guides Dante on a tour of Hell, moving past each of nine concentric circles of the damned toward the center of the Earth where Satan lies bound in ice. The inhabitants of each circle are progressively more heinous and their punishments are tailored to their crimes on Earth. It's an entertaining read (translated, of course) and offers surprising parallels to my recent run through the California State Poker Championships (CSPC) at the Commerce Casino.

I hadn’t played a live tournament since the World Series and decided it was time to take a run at a score. The CSPC culminates in a two-day event with a buy-in ($2590) and field that’s just painful enough to make winning it worth the effort. Past champions include Ferguson, Pham, Laak and even Ben Affleck (this is the event he won a couple years back before J-Lo made him kick his poker habit). My own poker skills suggest that writing an Academy Award winning screenplay or getting a PhD in computer science might be easier ways to break into this group, but I’d been off the felt just long enough to once again believe I could be a contender in a live event.

The last few tournaments I’ve played have been stinkers—several hours of awkward thrashing and hacking to stay above average only to be sent to the rail holding a heavy favorite. At best, I feel like I’m in the 5th Circle of Hell alternatively watching the wrathful fighting just above the surface of the Styx or struggling, with the other sullen and slothful, just beneath. Most times though, I feel like I’m stuck in the Vestibule, that nasty holding pen just beyond the gates inscribed “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” It’s in this spiritual grey area that those souls not quite worthy of heaven but not bad enough for Hell mill about. The wafflers, the ne’er-do-wells, those who never really took a stand in life find themselves here, tormented by hornets and wasps. It’s certainly nothing to look forward to and a great argument for taking action in life and its conflicts. It’s the punishment of the uncommitted, if you will, and not a bad metaphor for my typical tournament experience.

Of course, while I suffer my usual tournament fate, there’s always some cheery soul, breezing along with a monstrous pyramid of chips like Dante himself led safely through wretchedness by Virgil. In my poker career, I've been that carefree guy once—in the satellite I won to enter my first WSOP Main Event. In that sat, I was within a breath of the felt and then suddenly went on a tear that included flopping quads vs a boat, a boat vs trips and at least one three outer. Forty-five minutes later, I had the chip lead by some stupid amount with hours left to play. I can't remember the numbers exactly, but my stack size was so absurd that the tournament director confided to me that I could safely go have a nice dinner and just come back later to pick up my entry ticket. Instead, I stuck around to savor the feeling and, like sex for the first time, it left me convinced that the next time I was in a similar spot, I'd do even more with my stack whether I needed to or not.

The challenge is, of course, building the big stack without the gift of fortune. In the WSOP sat, it was all luck smiling on me, and I understand the math of this game enough to know that hope is not a winning game plan. With that and the “Abandon all hope” quote in mind, I therefore resolved to be more aggressive and take more chances to accumulate chips in this tournament, forsaking survival for the active creation of a stack that would make even LakeofFire blush. Of course, everyone thinks they're a bad-ass right up until the point that they actually NEED to be a bad-ass, so I was looking forward to seeing if I could actually prove myself worthy of my new mindset.

From the dark wood into the depths…

Like Dante’s own journey, the first day of the event started on a dreary note. It rained hard in LA on Friday night and continued off and on through Saturday. I woke up early, uploaded some photos that Landlord79 sent from his recent Biloxi tour—Hard Rock, Beau Rivage and Boomtown—and hit the gym for a nice workout. I like to get a good workout in before a long day of sloth but made a mental note to leave extra early. People in LA get The Fear when it rains—even the most minor drizzle creates all sorts of freeway havoc. As it turned out, though, the weather seemed to have scared them inside. I drove down to the Commerce (maybe 30 minutes from my house) without a hitch and arrived just in time to see Jamie Gold pull up in a new Toyota Prius. Hmmm. He’s shorter than I expected and Earth-friendly.

The tournament started in 20 minutes and I headed up to the second floor tournament area to pick up a new player card (required for entry) and sign up. Commerce holds its tournaments in a 2nd floor ballroom that houses the low stakes NL and limit games. For major tournaments, there's a room divider that's easily retracted creating a larger ballroom capable of handling 60+ tables. The room is self-sufficient with a cashier and snack bar which serves alcohol. There are only a few small flat screen TVs scattered about, but during major tournaments, the tournament clock is projected on a large screen easily visible from any seat in the room. You can get a sense of the room below…








Limbo

This year 362 wretches, including James Woods, Men Nguyen, Amir Vahedi, Kenna James, Cam Hua, John Phan et al., braved the rain to show up for the event. Most of these lost souls have little hope of redemption but are here in Limbo anyway making up a total prize pool of $877,850. Actually, the first Circle of Hell as Dante describes it (aka Limbo) isn’t all that bad; it’s where the pagans are corralled and their punishment is simply that they’ll never see God. Not good, of course, but not as bad as being immersed in a lake of boiling pitch with the corrupt politicians or being steeped in human excrement with the false flatterers. Fortunately, the majority had already secured their spot in Limbo prior to my arrival—the line was short and within five minutes I had my seating ticket and food voucher.

As with most Commerce tournaments, it started on time and without a hitch. For the biggest card room in the world, holding a forty table tournament is roughly comparable to Bond18 making a sandwich—a minor distraction from profitable ring games but critical to keep the machine moving forward.

We started with 5000 chips with the blinds at 25/50 and 60 minute levels. It’s not the deepest start obviously but, for the money, not a bad value. If you’re so inclined you can see the structure here…

The Structure

I didn't think to check early on but most of the tournament was played 9-handed or less. I’m guessing we were 9-handed throughout because I don’t remember ever feeling crowded at the table. In any event, it was a comfortable set up, and at 2p, we were off.

A nice start courtesy of a fraudulent soul

A few hands into the tournament, there was a limper to me in MP with 87. The new, cavalier me figured he’d experiment a little and limped, too. The DB came along and one of the blinds raised to 250. This may be a $2590 buy-in tournament, but it's also the Commerce low stakes NL room where building a pot out of position is sacrosanct, so we all called. There’s 1250 in the pot going to the flop.

A nice T46 flop gave me a double gutter with a flush draw. One of the blinds bet out for 500 and there was one other caller to me. I’m usually raising here but decided to just call, hit the turn and win a big pot instead of just blowing a misguided soul off a smaller one. Hey, Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are in the 2nd Circle with the rest of the lustful; I’ll take my chances. 2750 in the pot headed to the turn.

The turn was the lovely 5 giving me the nut straight. It's checked to me, and I bet 1300 with EP limper coming along. The river was Q something and the EP player…shoved? Uh, ok…I called and he mucked a missed diamond draw. Sir, the 8th Circle of Hell is for the fraudulent and thieves, and I believe they're waiting for you there. The rest of you wretches, meet your early chip leader.

Gluttonous and greedy

At this point, I picked up some nice hands but failed to make much progress. The 3rd Circle houses the gluttonous and the 4th the greedy, but I didn’t care. Like Bush after the 2004 elections, I felt I had a mandate and, however misguided, I intended to act upon it.

AQo. I raised pre-flop with two callers behind. I whiffed the flop but bet out anyway only to be renounced by two callers. The turn blanked and I check-folded in shame like a corrupt politician.

AKo. I raised pre-flop with three callers. Whiffed the flop and check-folded again. Bah! The uncommitted are damned, remember?

AK…with T exposed pre-flop. Like the sorcerers and false prophets in the 9th Circle, I can only see behind me, not the future, so with my royal flush draw ruined, I was satisfied to just raise and take the blinds.

On the last hand of the level, UTG raised to 150. I was on the DB with yet another stupid connector, 75, and called. The small blind re-raised to 750 and we both shamed the low stakes NL room and folded.

At this point, we were an hour in, I'd played about 15 of the 30 or so dealt hands and anyone at the table who hadn’t pegged me for some ridiculous LAG-tard had to be brain-dead.

Sighs and lamentations

The wonderful rush of quality hands deserted me and I treaded water until the last hand before the 10-minute break after Level 2 (50/100). Two limpers to me on the DB with 88, I raised to 400. The small blind completed and the others called to build a 1600 pot.

The flop = J87 with two spades. The small blind led out for 800 and leery of the draw nasty board , I bumped it to 2400. Despite my hyperactive first level, I failed to convince him I was full of crap and he folded. Whatever. It’s better than him hitting his four-outer straight on the turn, I guess. I now had a little over 12,000 chips and was the big stack at the table.

As an aside, one of things that's cool about playing a poker tournament in LA is that besides the usual raft of degenerates, you meet some interesting dudes. At my table directly to my left was Martin Shafer, Head of Castle Rock Entertainment and a regular high stakes player. CastleRock's credits include When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, The Shawshank Redemption, Best in Show and Seinfeld. We had a fun chat about the early years of Seinfeld and the most recent season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Unfortunately, his luck with TV and film picks was a little better than with his poker. He was out shortly before level 4.

Level 3 was uneventful but Level 4 (100/200) got spirited when two big stacks directly to my right decided to mix it up. Big stack limped in UTG and it folded around to 2nd big stack in the big blind to his direct right. BB raised to 800 and the big stack called.

Flop was KJ8. Check, check. Turn was a 9 at which point it turned into a silly min-raise fest. It all got in with the bigger big stack’s slow-played eights demolished by a turned set of nines. Slow player (SP) promptly hit a couple of good hands in a row and was back in contention and I tried to figure out where I stand at the table.

To my right, I had two loose players. SP to my direct right would call down with 3rd pair with Harpies shrieking in his face and the guy to his right was the big stack (courtesy of the set of 9s) at the table.

To my left, there was a calling station maybe three seats away and apparently, he’s anxious to see me progress to the next level with his chips. I raised an unopened pot with 9s to 750; he called. Flop came 8 high and I continued with 1300. He showed KJ and folded. Two hands later, I raised with AJo to 750. Same guy called. I continued with 1300 and took the pot. Sir, please report to the 7th Circle with the other prodigals who squandered their possessions.

What makes you think I’m coveting your jacket?

We're four hours in now, about halfway through the field with 20 tables still active—call it 180 players left. There were about 1.8 million chips in play and I was stuck around 12k-ish, a little over average courtesy of expert plays like the following.

Limped to me in the small blind with A9o, I completed and saw a JT8 flop. I check-called the flop and led out at the turn to take the pot. In retrospect, there’s nothing special about the hand other than how poorly I played it out of position, but like confession, it makes me feel better for having admitted and taken responsibility for it.

Looking around the table, there was a kid across from me in a Party Poker jacket. Not just any Party Poker jacket, mind you. He was sporting the tan faux suede one from the old days when it was the nicest item in the Party Poker store. He completed his look by putting on his Oakleys every time he was in a hand so I could tell he meant business.

To his right and across from me was a woman who I've seen in LA tournaments and remember blowing the old, nitty me off a pair of queens early in the LA Poker Classic. In her bust-out hand here, she raised UTG and PartyPoker jacket guy (PPJG) called and I called in position with 77. She bet out for 1200 on an 8 high flop. In turn, he raised to another 2700 and I ducked out of the hand. Back to her, she thought for a bit and moved all-in for another couple thousand. He snap-called with JJ. Her 89 didn’t improve and headed off to the 7th Circle to lament with the other suicides.

We broke for dinner with 20 minutes left at Level 5. I was still holding 12k, about average, and got encouragement from Adanthar, nath, LakeofFire, lakong and PianoMan. The general consensus was that I’ll need to get busy after dinner but not do anything stupid. Nice to know that, to a man, my poker colleagues felt the need to remind me not to be a lazy fool.

I stare death in the face

We returned from dinner with 17 tables left, 9 players per table. We were still at Level 5 with 100/200/25 ante. I was UTG+1 the gun with TT and raised to 1000, PartyPoker jacket guy (SB) and big stack (BB) both called.

The flop brought 987 and PartyPoker jacket guy led out for 300 (WTF?) into a 3000 pot. BB called, obviously. I was a suspicious of that laughable bet but made it 3000 straight. Back to you, sir. Are you virtuous or a hypocrite? While he was thinking, I was trying to sort out what I'd do if he shoved. I was mostly worried about a set, obv. I didn't figure he had an over pair given his PF play or the high end of a straight with me holding two of the Ts. I figured I had 30% equity in this pot, but I had 7-8k left behind. If he shoved, it would be a close call and I could be way behind. As it was, he folded QQ face up. Uh, what?

At this point, the big stack went on a rant about how I had AK and he'd have never laid down there…blah, blah, blah. I was tempted to point out to him that heretics in the 6th Circle are trapped in flaming tombs and the fraudulent advisers in 8th Circle are encased in individual flames so either way he wouldn’t be needing that stupid hoodie he was wearing much longer. But PPJG was convinced his read was good. "The only hand I'd want to see there was JJ. He's got a lot of outs if he had TT or the big flush draw, and I'm smoked if he's got kings." I'll give him credit. Despite his donkish flop bet, PartyPoker jacket guy thought it out.

That said, I'll never understand why guys recap their thought process openly at the table. From that little exchange, I pegged the big stack as a dope who'd think anybody was "making a move." and the PartyPoker jacket guy as a thoughtful player. Had they both kept quiet, I'd be none the wiser about either.

Confronting the heretic

A few hands later, it was limped to me on the dealer button with 88. I raised to 800 and was joined by two callers including the non-believer with the big stack.

Flop was T87.

Big stack bet 1000 and when I raised to 3000, he blurted out "I can't beat AKo." And shows 53. He then went through some expert analysis about how he should've re-raised me.

"Yeah, I don't know what I'd have done if you'd re-raised me." I said and let him stew on that. I'm not sure which circle of Hell is reserved for donuts, but just hang out in the 8th Circle with the other sowers of discord. We’ll let you know.

The heretic and I mix it up a little later, 30 minutes into level 6. There were 15 tables remaining with an average stack of 15,000. I was sitting with 17,500 chips and Q6 in SB. I taunted the Furies and completed.

The flop was KJT.

I checked and the all-knowing big stack bet 2000. I contemplated check-raising but opted to call since I wasn’t sure how I want to play the turn if he called a raise.

Turn was 4

Check. Check. Oooo…thanks.

4

Ok, then…I bet out 2000 with my flush, and the big stack was apoplectic. "I'm folding the winning hand! I can't believe I'm folding the winning hand!" I grinned and said, "You folded a made hand just ‘cause I repped the flush? Dude, you were getting 3 to 1 or something..." and stacked the chips. “That’s all right. You and I will meet again.” He countered. Oooooo, so foreboding…

On the last hand before the break, I was UTG with AK and raised. An Asian guy in LP called and we saw an awesome...

AK9 flop.

I bet 2500 with my top two. He called.

Turn was a 3. I bet 5000. He called.

River was another 3. I bet another 5000 and he folded his missed royal flush draw and we're on to Level 7 with me sitting with about 30k. What’s that? Nice hand, you say? Thanks…please note that false flatterers are in Circle 8.

Back from the abyss

Over the course of the next hour and a half I managed to evaporate 11 or 12k chips via general stupidity and had 19,000 chips as we headed into Level 8 (300/600 with 75 ante). We were playing eight people per table, so there was 1500 in the pot to start the hand.

Kenna James was now at my table with a slightly less than average stack. We also had a massive chip leader present who was on one of those heaters that’s just nauseating to watch. He flopped quads and got paid. Turned a boat and got paid. If he was in the hand, he hit it…and got paid. So fun to watch and live vicariously when you’re fighting to stay average. Ah, well, Dante dealt with envy in the Purgatorio. Perhaps another day.

Wielding my own stack like a three legged stool in a bar fight, I worked back up to 24,000 chips, but then promptly gave it back when I opened from the cut-off with QT and one of the blinds pushed on me. Couple thousand to call, whatever. He showed K3 and doubled through.

An orbit later I raised from DB with 33 and SB pushed on me for another couple thousand. He showed AK and the remaining seven aces and five kings in the deck found their way to the board. Anyone else here need chips while I’m at it?

I re-surveyed my situation. To my direct right, one guy who's been playing tight. I had him covered. Two and three spots to the right are two big chip stacks, maybe 40k and 50k. Two shorties to my direct left so I have to be careful about raising indiscriminately. I finally sorted it all out and was promptly moved to another table where now I was the short stack. Lovely.

I sat down and two to my left was some Middle Eastern guy with shiny gold rim sunglasses. My first hand in, I raised his blind with KTo. He defended against my obvious move and led out at the T high flop. Sir, this one’s for the violent ones over in the 7th Circle. I moved ALL IN for the first time of the day. He looked at me as if I’d stolen his pinkie ring and folded. Let that be a lesson to those who would defend their blind against me. I’ll flop TPGK and shove with conviction.

A few hands later I was UTG with 88 and raised. There was one caller behind, a younger, confident player who looked fully capable of floating some grey-haired pretender with a voice recorder.

The flop was 99x, two diamonds and I bet 4000. He called.

Turn was a blank. I bet 6000. He called. Eww. Sixes? Sevens? A9?

River was an ace.

Nath's recent post flashed through my mind, but I check anyway, and because he hadn't read said post, the player checked behind. 88 goot and I was healthy again with about 34k chips.

More confrontations with the damned

With the blinds going to 400/800/100 ante, we colored up the little ones. I had 35k chips with an average stack at 25k and 60 people left and set off on a little bit of a heater.

Some would be seducer raised my blind from the button. I re-raised with my beefy pair of 5s and took his chips. In the DB with QQ, I raised again and again took the pot. Next hand, AK in the CO. Guy in front limped, I raised for the third time in a row and again took the pot down. Can’t you guys see I’m just messing with you? Gimme some action! I was now sitting with over 40k chips.

We broke at level 10 (500/1000/200). It was quarter of one in the morning, we were playing down to 27 or 2a and with 52 players left, it looked like 2a. Side note: at 1a and there’s a ton of people playing baby NL upstairs at the Commerce. 8-10 tables fighting over $10 pots. Nice.

Back from the break, I raised with KJo from the CO and folded to re-raise from a guy who's been playing tight.

PartyPoker jacket guy was still in and re-seated to my right. He looked like the chip leader.

I picked up some chips when a short stack pushed from UTG and I called with JJ from the blind. He turned over K5o and the jacks held.

I had a nervous moment with TT in the DB when a woman with 60k two seats to my right raised to 4k. I re-raised another 10k. She stared at me for about two minutes and folded AQo face up.

The very next hand, I was in the CO with AK. Big stack to my direct right raised from the hijack to 3500. I re-raised another 10k. He folded. At this point, my table thinks I’m a bad-ass for playing sheriff to the two big stacks at the table.

It was quarter of 2 now and I made a mental note to not do something stupid from here out. We’re 42 players left and I was tired. I’d just as soon get some sleep before mixing it up any further.

I was moved to a table with Amir Vahedi. When I sat, Amir's in the middle of a one orbit timeout for language and was still whining his case from the other side of the velvet rope. What adult does that? Get some dignity, sir.

At 10 minutes of 2a, the level changed and the blinds increased to 600/1200/200. I folded my way to the finish, bagged up 42,800 chips and headed home pretty much in the middle of the pack going into day 2. I got home around 2:40a still would up from the day. I got a bite to eat, answered some emails and finally crashed around 3:30a.

Day 2

My wife and cats were annoyingly active by 8a so I got up, bummed around for a bit and rattled off 40 minutes of laps in the pool to get the blood flowing and feel good about sitting for another day. I pulled on a black t-shirt with Russian wording on it that I've convinced myself is from some seedy Moscow strip club. Next time I see him, Adanthar will probably point out to me that Alexi's construction business spelled "plumbing" wrong on their promo shirts, but for now I feel like an edgy bad-ass.

It was quarter of 2p when I got back to the Commerce. I looked at the day 2 seating draw and discovered I was 20th of 40 players with 42,800. At my table, I started the day with one of the chip leaders to my direct right and Vahedi to my far left. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle…

We started with 5 tables, eight to a table, and I made my way to the bubble staying pretty much even, raising when folded to me and 3-betting out of my blind at opportune moments. I managed to pick up some ok hands to work with—A5o, 99, whatever—so I held my own against a pretty active table.

The bubble

At 28 players, the two big stacks at my table (both to my right) got it all in with KK v AA. One player raised from the CO, the other re-raised from the BB. The big stack moved in and the other stack insta-called with AA. Cue much howling and celebration by the short stacks until they realized that KK player had AA slightly covered and both players were still alive after the hand. Sit down, fellas, and act like men.

As it turns out, the KK player kept his cool, tripled up and made the money easily. And in a divine twist of fate, the Bubble Boy was the heretic/sower of discord who'd been the big stack at my table and repeatedly miscalled my hand the prior day. The 8th Circle’s a nasty, nasty place, sir. Let that be a lesson to ya!

Where’s Virgil when you need him?

After the bubble broke, I moved to a new table with 50k+ versus the 64k average where I engaged in the first of several end game gaffes. With the blinds increased to 1000/2000/300 ante, there was an UTG raiser to 7000. With one caller to me on the DB with 67, I called. 19k pot, why not? Well, maybe because I’m not deep enough to make the implied odds work or outplay the other guys on the flop, but hey, we’re all just trying to learn, right? As the dealer burned, I mentally prepared to push with any pair and a draw. Of course, the flop was 833 two diamonds. 26k pot. UTG bet out 11k. I have 43k+ behind. I folded and wondered if they were still serving lunch back in Limbo with the other non-committals.

[As an aside, I posted this hand on 2+2 and the general consensus was fold pre-flop and jam flop as played. Oops.]

The next orbit brought the first limped pot in a while. It was limped to me on DB with A4. Not willing to spoil the moment or build a pot with a baby ace, I limped, too. When everyone checked the A on the flop, I bet 7500 and took the pot.

Down to 24 players, I had K8o in the BB. The CO, an Asian player I recognized from another tournament, raised my BB to 6500 for the second time in a row. I re-raised this obvious steal attempt another 16k and he folded without incident. 8th Circle for you, sir, perhaps? That’s right…with the other fraudulent ones.

I was still sitting relatively short with 50k and we were playing 5-handed while the TD sorted out the next table move. It was folded to me on DB with QJo so I raised to 10k just to blow the blinds out. Yikes…the small blind came over the top for 18k total. Gross, but I called getting a 3 or 4 to 1. He showed KK but a QJ on the flop sent him to the rail. Wow, so that’s what it feels like to suck-out late. Ok, then.

In which I’m labeled a Thief

I was now sitting with 80k chips with 23 players and raised to 8k from the CO with 55. The big blind, some guy named Dallas (“As in Texas.”…uh, right…I think I got that) re-raised another 10k and showed J9o. He said he raised dark because I've been raising his button EVERY TIME. The new me must be the new me, because that’s the first time anyone’s ever accused me of that. Somewhere LakeofFire was beaming with pride.

We were down to last two tables (18 people left) still at 1500/3000/500. I was using my 58k to steal blinds but making no headway to the field. There was a flurry of carnage when the panderers and seducers at the other table took on Eric Crisp, the big stack and eventual tournament winner, who celebrated each confrontation like Terrell Owens of old. This looks like his first real win and I’m sure he played well, but if I could have any wish in the poker world, it would be that people learn to win gracefully. I mean is it too much to ask to see a little more Tom Brady and a little less Chaz Michael Michaels on the felt?

The 9th Circle is not for the timid

In any event, we’re down to 15 players. Dante’s 9th Circle of Hell is reserved for traitors—not your basic two-face scum, but those who’ve committed crimes against their kin and God. I can’t say I’m overly religious but I am loyal and there’s no way the ultimate spot for me would include the likes of Judas, Cassius et tu, Brutus? That said, the following hand extended my betrayal of self-commitment and set off a nauseating hand sequence.

I was UTG with 44 with Can Kim Hua two seats my right. He was a big stack and raised any limped or unopened pot. I was sitting with 50k—just enough to wait for a better spot—and knowing a limp would draw a beefy raise and a raise could well result in a sickening raise, re-raise, fold sequence, I folded.

Of course, Hua raised and a couple of players joined him in the pot. I don’t remember anything from the rest of the hand except the giant 4 in the middle of it and the massive number of chips that found their way to the pot thereafter. I considered bludgeoning myself to death on the felt and joining the suicides in the 7th Circle but shook it off and regrouped.

Three hands later, I was on the DB with 44 again. There was a raise in front and then a re-raise. I folded, obv, and the original raiser called. Again I don’t remember much from the flop except yet another humungous 4 in the middle of it and a ton of gut-wrenching action.

No salvation for the patient

So now I’m headed into the break with 40k, demoralized, with the blinds going to 2000/4000/1000 ante when we return. I got a breath of air, when first hand back after the break, I picked up KK. Halleluiah…there’s a raise in front of me to 12k. I considered re-raising to 30k but figured leaving 10k behind pretty much turns my hand over pre-flop. I shoved for my 40k hoping to get action from a hand like 99 or AQ but was instead rewarded with a penitent fold. Ugh.

I added to my stack until right before dinner shoving with AJ and KQ from mid-late position but then gave it back when I raised with A7o and folded to a shove. The last hand before dinner sealed my fate.

I was UTG with AQo and about 42k. As soon as I saw my cards, I thought “Shove.” but I saw a conservative player with 100k in chips to my direct left reaching for chips. I’m not the connoisseur of live tells that Landlord79 is, but I’ve watched my cats wrestle each other enough to know that when one of them starts shaking with his hind legs in a crouch, there’s gonna be action. I opted to play it safe and raised to 14k—a raise that had been getting it done, but, in retrospect, was the worst of the available alternatives. My stalker behind labored and finally called. Hmm, that feels like AJ-AQ or a middle pair. Everyone else folded and I glued my eyes to him on the flop.

Ugh. He didn’t seem at all disappointed with the T84 flop.

In the absence of a read or holding the A or Q there, I shove the flop, but my instincts screamed “Check!” He bet, of course, and flashed a set of Ts when I folded. I congratulated myself for pulling myself out of the fiend’s mouth but it was little consolation—my swimming skills are suspect in my heated pool and now I was immersed in the burning lake and sinking fast.

I was in 13th place and thinking how apropos that finish would be when a player to my left with a 2x average stack raised and 4-bet with T8, his “favorite hand.” 3-better showed TT and T8 player was done. I never understood the favorite hands thing, especially when faced with a big re-raise. It’s sort of like wearing your favorite suit to a firing squad and expecting a happy ending. Well, no…I don’t think he was offering a massage, sir.

Back to the surface

In any event, we were playing 6-handed now and I was in horrible shape when we broke for dinner. As soon as we came back, I knew I had to find any spot to get it in. The problem was, we were short-handed and there was action on both my blinds. 62o, 84s…the usual. Finally, I was in the DB with 20k or so with KT. When the hijack raised (a big stack raising light…T9, A6 and the like), I shrugged and shoved. One caller behind (ugh) and they checked down a J9x flop. “Q!” I’m thinking but the poker gods did not see me worthy of salvation and my prayer went unanswered. JJ > KQo > KTo and I was out in 12th. Good game, sir, here's $10,535 for your 18 hours work.

Results of the CA State Poker Championships

Like Dante’s work, the end was pretty anti-climatic. One minute I was staring at the final Circle, and the next minute I was back on Earth. I cashed out the $10,535 in chips and drove home happy with my 1st day play but aware that I mangled a couple of critical spots on the 2nd day that cost me a spot at the final table. That said, I survived the Inferno and consider myself in a better position to find my way toward part 3 of the epic (Paradise, for those of you digging for the Cliff Notes). Unfortunately, in the three part classic, there’s a stop in Purgatory to deal with before Paradise can be enjoyed. Whatever, Purgatory’s where those whose vices include extravagance and sins of the flesh hang out. At least I’ll know my way around those parts.

Still digging,

Edmond

P.S. For reference...

Defying even the most aggressively managed expectations, I made it into day 2 of the California State Poker Championships with an average stack. 362 runners started the day; we're down to 40 players with the money at 27.

Play resumes tomorrow at 2p PST with blinds at 600/1200 and a 200 ante. I'm sitting with 42,800 (average is 45,000 or so). Remaining players include James Woods and Amir Vahedi; notables eliminated today include Jamie Gold, Men Nguyen, Kenna James, etc.

I've been hovering around an average stack since my early chip lead (15 minutes in a guy shoved into my flopped straight). I can't say I've been card dead--I flopped straights and sets, had AK a number of times and AA-99 repeatedly. Apparently, I've been unable to convince my opponents I'm full of crap so the vast majority of my hands have gone raise, nail flop, bet out, win modest pot. Whatever, it's better than the alternative.

I'll write something witty and poignant to convey the hurt and shame of my flame-out later tomorrow night, but for now I'm into day 2 with enough chips to see a flop.

Edmond

Last Thurs night around 9p, I headed down to the Commerce Casino to update my LA card room comparison chart and check out the low stakes NL games there. Some of you might not be familiar with the World’s Largest Poker Casino (ok, world’s largest LIVE poker casino) so here’s a quick tour.

The Commerce Casino/Crowne Plaza hotel complex is located directly off the 5 Freeway about 7-8 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The 5 Freeway is a major LA thoroughfare and traffic can be brutal midday, but at 9 pm, it’s a breeze. You can’t miss the casino from the highway—both the casino and the attached hotel are well-lit with excellent signage.



In the satellite image below, you can see the Commerce’s proximity to the freeway and massive parking lot. The hotel part of the complex is the curved building on the left of the property; the main casino comprises the rectangular portion. If you look carefully in the upper right of the parking lot, you can see a N/S tennis court that was built well before the hotel was built. Senior management at the Commerce took their tennis seriously in their younger years!




"Past the chariot..."

As you can see, there’s plenty of free parking on the property, but since I’m lazy I opted to valet (about $2 not including tip). As you enter from the valet, you’re confronted with two oversized statues. I never really understood the Roman/Egyptian theme, but they look great and definitely give the sense of Las Vegas grandeur.




The high stakes room

Directly behind the statues is the high stakes room where all the big games ($10/20+ NL, $20/40 limit, etc.) run. There’s a large multi-screen monitor in a corner of the room, but for now, all the waitlists are managed by hand. I think Commerce is probably moving toward an automated system at some point. The low stakes NL waiting list is automated and there are a number of new flat screen monitors located strategically throughout the other areas of the casino. But for now, it’s white boards and markers in the high stakes and main room.




The main room

Continuing the tour, from the high stakes room, you go through a California games room (blackjack variants, pai gow, etc.) to the main room of the casino where all the middle stakes games are spread. It’s a huge open room with several food court type restaurants around the perimeter. Like the high stakes room, waitlists are kept by hand but there’s a sign up board at all four sides of the room (yes, it’s that big) and there’s floor staff manning the boards and directing players to seats. As a result, there’s rarely a problem finding or getting into the game you’re looking for.






I did a quick walk around to see what kind of action was running. Check this out for a Thursday night…

7 tables of 1/2 $40
7 tables of 2/3 $100
9 tables of 3/5 $200
8 tables of 5/10 $400
6 tables of $10/20 $600-no max
3 tables of $20/40 $2000-no max
1 table of $100/200 $30k-no max (note: Commerce usually has $50/$100 NL with a $5k minimum)

That’s over 40 tables of NL! By comparison, the Bellagio has 40 tables IN TOTAL. Of course, the Commerce spreads all sorts of other games—limit, stud, a MONSTER mixed game ($300/$600 usually and sometimes $400/$800) and a few Omaha games. There are over 240 tables in the casino and I’m guessing about 160 or so are dedicated to poker. They also run daily tournaments and recently began running $40 sit n gos using Lightning Poker electronic tables. More on those later.


”Excuse me, which way to the mini-ballers?”

Checking my bankroll, I realized I was a little light for the $100/$200 NL and made a mental note to put 60-100 dimes in my backpack for my next trip. I’m rolled for $5/10 but, in a rare show of discipline, resisted the urge to grab four stacks of $5 chips and find a seat. Instead, I stuck to the task at hand, namely checking out the low stakes NL action.

Commerce spreads its low stakes NL in its tournament room, located on the 2nd floor in the tournament & banquet area. The room is directly above the high stakes area and is accessible by a wide staircase, which spirals above the aforementioned statues. I’m pretty sure this staircase is the steepest staircase on Earth not associated with a Mayan ruin or pharaoh’s tomb. There’s probably room here to continue the metaphor with some reference to bloody sacrifice, but I’m not a virgin and don’t even know one, so let’s leave it that it’s a climb to get to the room.

I think the 2nd floor location cuts down on the number of low stakes NL and limit tables Commerce spreads. Both Hawaiian Gardens and Ocean’s 11 had more small NL games running, but they were right off the main floor in both casinos and tough to miss. Then again, those guys didn’t have nearly as many of the larger games that Commerce has. Whatever...this place is huge and there's plenty of action for anyone.

The room itself is what you’d expect of a hotel ballroom, high ceilings and chandeliers, with the inclusion of 30 or so tables and a snack bar. To the far right of the room is the cashier and brush area, and there are two Lightning electronic poker tables against the far wall. In the low stakes NL room (seen below courtesy of my lousy cell phone camera), waitlists are kept via an electronic system. There are several other monitors not in use; presumably, these are used for tournaments. The staff does a nice job keeping the lists moving, although I did have to wait about 20 minutes (4th on the list) to get seated in $40 NL.




”I had pot odds!

As with other rooms in the area, small stakes NL at the Commerce tends to be more social than competitive. That’s not to say the players don’t take it seriously—they do. It’s just that the tension, personality clashes and other drama you sometimes experience at higher limits is pretty much non-existent at these levels. Players tend to shrug off bad beats and etiquette faux pas and move on without lingering resentment.

Despite the good intentions of some players, the play tends to range from awkward to poor. Most players have an understanding of what beats what but the insight typically stops there. Of course, players make vocal references to position, draws and odds but more often than not that thinking, as expressed, is WAY off base. That’s not to say that the players aren’t experienced—it’s obvious that many play A LOT. But the references to odds and, specifically pot odds, are often well off the mark and the resulting decisions and stacks reflect it. In short, for a player with solid fundamentals, there’s plenty of equity sloshing around in these games.

It’s interesting how quickly you can assess the table just by listening and watching. Players at this level have no qualms about thinking out loud and recapping their thought process or what they folded after the hand is completed. Of course, in a game of limited information, it’s always best to keep your thinking to yourself for at least two reasons. First, you should avoid giving anyone any edge on how you might play, and second, as Lincoln once said “Better to keep you mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.” In any event, just by watching a few hands and listening to the color commentary, you can get a quick sense of who’s got an idea of what they’re doing.

"Pot odds" is the default rationale for any action in these games whether it’s calling pre-flop or on the flop. Surprisingly, everyone seems to nod in agreement when it happens. I’m not a tank tapper, but I’ll be honest, I’ll throw an “O rly?’ glance around when someone attempts to validate a bonehead play with “I had pot odds!” I honestly think that the typical low stakes NL player really has no idea what his/her odds are in various situations.


My table

My table was pretty standard for So Cal baby NL—mostly younger guys (mid-20s), one or two guys in their 30s and a couple of Asian women…and me, a grey-haired exec—clean shaven, no tats, no surfer brand t-shirt—standing out like Angelina Jolie at a refugee camp.

To my immediate left was a former dealer turned tattoo technician, a skill he proudly noted he learned in prison using a tattoo gun made from a Walkman, guitar string and pencil. He was a nice enough guy, but you have to wonder about someone who discusses his prison stint with a total stranger within 15 minutes or so of introduction. In the off chance I ever end up in prison and get out, I can pretty much guarantee that I’m going out of my way to keep the topic OUT of random conversations. My tablemates will just have to speculate on how I learned to make moonshine and tie a nifty corn row, thank you very much.

In any event, I’m in seat 1, he’s on my left and very active, calling pretty much any raise and limping into any pot. To his left, is a disinterested Asian kid wearing headphones and reading a magazine. To his left is a guy who looked like Ferris Bueller after a few more days off. Seat 5 was an older Asian man. To his left, an older Asian woman, no relation. Seat 7 was younger guy with tats and sideways baseball hat who stood up every time and was visibly excited each time he made a monster hand.

Landlord79 wrote some thoughts on his favorite live tells here...Landlord79's forum post. Here’s mine. When your opponent stands up, insta-calls flop and turn bets each time (as in the instant his opponent said “I bet…” he shouts “Call!” whether it’s his turn to act or not), shoves the river and then shows down monsters each time—two flopped sets and a flopped straight…that’s a good tell to note.

Like all of Commerce's tables, the tables in the low stakes room all have auto-shufflers which keeps play moving. On the other hand, the game is social so there’s more chit-chat, commentary, cell phone play, etc. than in the higher stakes games. To their credit, the dealers and chip runners keep the games moving; I counted 29 hands in the first hour and 31 in the second and, over the two hour period, only saw two hands surrendered without a flop. That’s pretty much standard for what I’ve seen elsewhere in similar games (Hollywood Park: 33 hands/hr; Ocean’s 34; HG 32; etc.). I also noticed that almost all the hands make it to the river. Unlike that larger games where a stiff turn bet will often end the hand, hands here go the whole way. Figure 2-3 hands an hour to NOT make it to the river.


Finally, some hands

I only stayed for a couple of hours but here are some hands that are indicative of the quality of play. I tend to play a TAG style which is markedly different than the prevailing table style—I’d routinely be one of the only players not in the hand. These guys, though, don’t drive all the way from Pomona to FOLD, so you see some real gems.


Hand 1

Older Asian woman in EP raises to $15 pre-flop. Note: the blinds in this game are $1/$2. Tattoo guy next to me, the small blind, states “You’re not going to steal my button.” and calls. She’s at least five seats from him and stealing here never, but he’s defending.

Flop…225 rainbow. Check. Check.
8 on turn. Asian woman checks but pulls a stack of chips from her rack. Tat Guy bets $15 and Asian woman calls instantly.
T on the river. Check. Check.
TG's T8o > Asian woman’s AQs.

Ok, let’s recap…7.5x raise pre-flop. No continuation bet by Asian woman but she’s insta-calling a half pot bet on the turn with A high. And then TG checks his two pair when checked to. Nifty stuff.


Hand 2

Multi-way limped pot. 99x4 flop.

Checked around.
J on the turn. Tat Guy (again the small blind) min bets. Formerly disinterested Asian kid in headphones (the big blind) is suddenly interested and calls. Everybody else folds.

J on river. Min bet. Call.
97o = 92o. Split pot.


Hand 3, in which Edmond dips into the Luckbox

Limped to me on the button with AJ. I raise to $8 and everyone folds around to Asian woman, who calls. The pot ≈ $20.

Flop is Qxx with one heart. AW checks to me and I bet $15 with my A high backdoor straight and backdoor flush draw. She labors, commenting “You so tight! I know you have big pair!” Well, yes, ma’am…thank you…please fold, though. No such luck. She calls.

6 on the turn. She checks to me again. I figure she didn’t like her hand much on the flop so I move in for my last $20 with 9 good outs, maybe more. No laboring now, she insta-calls. WTF, you turn a set, lady?

I’m resigned to calling for the chip runner when the lovely 2 spins off giving me the nut flush. Asian woman triumphantly tables QTo and says “I have queen! If you have three queens you win!” I have no idea what she’s talking about, but show my flush and stack my chips.

At this point, the conversation somehow segues to Tat Guy commenting that 69o is his favorite hand, and when the other woman at the table gives him a disgusted look like he’s a prepubescent teen, he insists that his birthday was June 9th. She’s skeptical and because I’m one to stir things up a bit, I suggest he could confirm it with his driver’s license. "Uh, I don't have one." No, of course you don’t.


Hand 4

As I mentioned in my Ocean’s 11 and Hawaiian Gardens reviews of low stakes games, when players get short, the games play similar to the early stage of a re-buy tournament. For example, a few hands later, AW raised in early position to $10 or so. Short stack in the blind shoves for $20 and change. Folded back to AW, she calls without hesitation. Shover shows A4o; AW shows QJo. A high, all goot.


Hand 5

A few hands later Tat Guy pushes a T high flop for $200 (into a $30 pot) with two players still to act. One caller but Tat Boy’s QT held.


Hand 6, the hand of the night

Ferris limps UTG. Asian man to his left raises to $10. One caller to Tat Guy in the small blind, who again announces “You’re not stealing my blind.” and re-raises to $20. Ferris now re-raises $40, leaving $10 behind. Asian man concludes “I have pot odds.” and calls. Folded back to Tat Guy who now shoves putting Ferris in for his last tenner. Ferris instantly calls, of course, and turns over AA.

There is perhaps no more transparent play in poker than the EP limp and subsequent re-raise. That is, at all levels, almost always AA, KK or AK…with AA, by far, the most prevalent. Yet by for some reason, both Asian guy and Tat Boy concluded that they needed to play in the face of that action.

AA > Tat Guy’s 99 > Asian Guy’s K9s for $250 or so.

AG mucked his K9s and had no obligation to show, but without prompting by any player, the dealer retrieved the cards and opened them for the table, a pretty gross mistake. The Asian guy complained a little but no one else at the table seemed at all fazed by it. In a higher stakes game, guys would’ve been calling for the floor and howling like someone killed their dog.

At this point, Asian Guy stated that “I can’t win at these levels.” and vacated his seat. He’s played about 5-6 hands in similar fashion and reloaded twice. What’s amazing is that no one said anything about his K9s play and when a new player went to take the seat, two players warned him (seriously) that that was the “bad beat” seat.


Hand 7, in which Edmond again dips into the Luckbox

Limped to me, I have T9 on DB and call.

KJ7 flop. $4 bet by some EP player. One other caller to me; I call with my double gutter.

8x on turn. EP better checks and other player bets $4 again. $20 pot at this point with all indications suggesting that my opponents are chasing flushes. I raise another $20 and get one caller.

2 on river and min-better pushes for his last $12. Gross. I’m convinced he hit his flush given his play to the river but call the $12 in what had turned into a $60 pot.

Instead, he shows AJ and looks startled that he didn't scoop the pot. 2PTK no good on that board, sir.

Despite the play, it’s common to see guys sitting relatively deep in a short period of time. I had $100 or so. Tat Guy, despite every effort to stack off with marginal hands, had $160 to my left. Ferris had $240 or so and at least two others were sitting 2x buy-ins.


Hand 8

There is a pre-flop raise to $10 or so with two callers.

786 rainbow flop and three players, including a new older guy sitting in the “bad beat” seat, get all-in for a $300 pot. Q turn, J river. Let’s see the hands, fellas.

TT > 55 > K9 with the old guy showing the K9.

As he packs up to leave, a couple of people at the table again comment on the “bad beat” seat and how “old guys always get it in with draws.” Ouch.


Lightning Poker tables

Toward the end of my session, the floor initiated a new sit-n-go on one of the two Lightning Poker tables Commerce recently installed. These are 10-seat electronic tables which can be use for cash games or single table tournaments. At present, Commerce runs $40 sit n gos ($34 for the prize poll and $6 for the house) and starts the tournament whenever 10 people sign up. Note: on the board, it’s referenced as a $40 mixed game. You can see one in action below.




Players seemed to like the tables, commenting that the play was “fast” and “sit n gos are fun”. Players start with 500 chips and 10/20 initial blinds and level times increase every 10 minutes. Top spots pay in the tournament 60%/40% and the tournaments run about 40-45 minutes. Basically, you’re playing to heads up, chopping for 80% and playing for the balance.

I didn’t play it, but I’m guessing that a player with a good understanding of sit n go fundamentals could beat the game fairly regularly. Imagine Party $5 + $1 sit n gos paying to two spots with worse players.

You can read the Commerce’s press release or some more info on the tables here.

Commerce press release on Lightning Poker tables


Beating the game

Despite the rake ($3 + 50c jackpot fee), I believe the low stakes NL is a beatable game for a fundamentally sound player. Any time guys are putting capital at risk without thinking and, when they do think, do so OUT LOUD despite a known premium on information, it’s a beatable game. I finished the night up $40 ($20/hour or 20BB over 65 hands or so) without ever being really challenged.

The real challenge, of course, is to maintain discipline and play the opposite style of the table. In general, these games range from very loose passive to moderately loose aggressive without any moderation for hand value. I believe a player that adopts a tight, aggressive style—raising premium hands in position and betting those hands HARD can be a winner in the game.

Of course, it’s very seductive when 6-7 people limp or limp/min-raise/call to get sucked into limping with your 97o. The problem is, of course, that you rarely hit the flop hard enough to have real confidence from the flop and you can end up chasing draws and burning up chips.


Back again for more

On Saturday night, I headed back down to the casino with a friend to get a quick look at the $2/3 100 max buy-in game. This game is spread in the main room and, on Sat night, there were about 10 tables running. I was seated within 15 minutes.

Hands per hour tend to be a little higher in this game as players have a better handle on the game and fewer hands make it to the river. Figure about 35+ hands/hour with maybe 3-4 not seeing a flop and 5 or so not making it to the river.

The players at my table for this bigger game were somewhat more knowledgeable with 1-2 solid players, 3-4 ok players and the balance sort of mediocre. I was the swing man of the group, alternating between solid and mediocre throughout the session.

I finished the two hour session even despite stacking off early with AK on an A high flop versus a turned set of jacks by a short stack and then 4-betting AK into a pair of kings (oops!). I recovered nicely in the second hour getting paid on the last two hands before our table broke with AA v 66 on a low flop and then a set of 6s v TP2K.

There was definitely better play at this table—no ridiculous overbets (other than my 4-bet referenced above), players betting their good hands, more thoughtful reads of the flop. But there was still flashes of dead money including the following:

3-bet all-in and call for $60+ on AQx flop. Players showed 77 and KQo. What?

4-bet all-in and call by the nut flush for $60+ into a $150 pot on a 22588 board. Winner showed an 8, obv.

River re-raise all-in with K9s on AT936 board with three clubs. Winner called $100 with A3o without the slightest hesitation.


”Ok, who ordered the banana splits?”

Tom Wolfe, the author, once described a dinner with Hunter S. Thompson in which the gonzo journalist pulled a marine air horn from a bag and set it off stunning a crowded restaurant. Wolfe recounted another dinner where Thompson ordered two banana splits and two banana daiquiris for his entree. After polishing them off, Thompson called for the waitress and looped his finger in the air. “Do it again.” He downed another round to the disbelief of Wolfe’s wife-to-be and ended the evening, as he did many others, ejected from the premises in a drunken stupor.

When you were at dinner with the doctor, it was an event and, there was really no explanation other than “Well, what do you expect? It's Hunter.” So it is with low stakes NL in Southern California. You’ll repeatedly see behavior and plays that are at best, unusual and, at worst, worthy of open criticism and calls for the floor at higher stakes. But in low stakes NL, even the most egregious poker or social gaffe merits at best a resigned shrug and call for more chips. If you can handle the odd and often deviant behavior, there’s always entertainment and value!


Afterword

1) For those of you who are curious, apparently all you need to rig a homemade tattoo gun is a pencil, a guitar string and old Walkman. I was skeptical of Tat Guy's claim, but a quick search of YouTube shows that he wasn’t kidding. The assembler uses an electric toothbrush in the following video but you get the idea.



2) Tom Wolfe’s excellent piece on Hunter S. Thompson can be found here.

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