Played the new tournament room at the Hustler for the first time last night. About two months ago, the Hustler renovated the room behind the old tournament area and added 18 new tables with yellow felt (!) and automatic shufflers. There are new chairs, more room and flat screen TVs on the walls but other than that no other added amenities. I liked the intimacy of the old, smaller room, but larger tournaments often spilled out into the main floor. In contrast, the new room is spacious and well-lit with plenty of room to move around and accomodate larger turnouts.

Apparently, the new room is a nice draw. The Wed night $150 buy-in/$25 fee freezeout tournament used to draw about 120 entrants. Last night, there were 150+ entrants including Jerry Buss and a number of tawdry hotties that seemed to be hanging with him. For anyone that hasn't played this tournament, it's well-run and always has a pretty good mix of players. It usually has a prize pool of $15,000+ and runs about 5-6 hours; the blinds start at 25/25 and the level times are 25 minutes. The tournament starts at 7p, but late entries are allowed until the end of level 1. As it was, traffic was a bummer and I got there a little late so my starting stack had been whittled down to about 1900 when I finally took my seat.

On my second or third hand (blinds at 25/50), I'm in the big blind with J J . There was an early raiser to 200 by the big stack at the table (an attractive friend of Jerry's with a lap dog...gotta love the Hustler!) with one other limper behind her. Without any reads and not wild about committing a 1/3 of my stack out of position, I decide to call and re-evaluate post-flop. Flop came Kxx...gross...I check, two checks behind. Ok, I figure maybe I'm good and I'll bet a blank turn. Ace on the turn...ugh...check, check, check. Uh, what are you guys playing? The river was a blank, I checked again, with the intention of calling a reasonable bet. Check, check...JJ is good. Ok, that was pitiful, but I'll take the 600 chips.

Four or five hands later, I'm in middle position with Q Q . EP raiser had made it 200, and I bumped it to 600. One of the blinds pushed for another 275, and the original raiser called for 875. I called the additional 275, and the flop came Axx two spades. EP pushes for another 1000 or so. I figure I'm cooked and fold. EP turns over 85s (nh, sir!) and the re-raiser from the blinds shows KK. Turn was a spade and 85s took the pot and sent KK packing. I'm back down to 1800 or so.

Card dead through the 100/200 level and blinded down to about 1200, I pushed from late position with A T . BB (shorter than me) called with TT. I don't improve and I'm 75 chips from the felt. Two hands later, I'm in with A 9 and called by BB with T2o. 9 on the flop, but T-bagged on the river and off to the cash games!

Note on service in the new room. The tableside service was noticably worse than usual. The cocktail waitress serving the room made only occasional trips to the room and I had to twice remind her of my order. The food was also sketchy at best; I order chicken teriyaki which was two grilled chicken breasts (dry), some white rice and a side of coagulated, salty brown sauce more like bad maple syrup than teriyaki sauce. It was kind of disgusting (although I did eat it!) and a sharp contrast to the Bike and Commerce, which, I've found, serve pretty good food. Despite the service shortcomings, I'd still give the new room good marks. It and the Wednesday tournament are worth checking out.

Ok, time to win back my buy-in in the ring games. When I got to the NL ring section, they were just calling players for a new $2/5 $100 min/$300 max NL game. Note on other NL action: at 9p, I counted at least five $1/2 $50 NL tables, four other $2/5 tables and a $5/10 table.

At the new table, the other players included a couple of guys who seemed like good players and the balance limp/call/call any draw types. I didn't recognize anyone and figured I'd just play my typical TAG style and people watch. As it was, I only mixed it up in a few hands.

Hand #1. In late position, with A Q , middle position pushed for $88 behind two EP limpers. When I asked "How much is that?", the pusher looked like he wanted to vomit so I figured I was probably up against a middle pair, maybe even something like AJ or KQ. I called, table folded behind me. Flop, turn, river all blanks. I show the AQ, and the MP pusher mucked. Ship it! I'm usually not one to make a 15 BB call with AQ, but the pusher had been aggressive with hands like QJo and A5s so I figured his range here is pretty wide. Admittedly, there may have been a little post-tournament frustration leaking out but whatever. AQ...winner, winner, skip the chicken dinner!

Hand #2. In EP with AA, I raised to $20. A $150 stack behind me (younger, tech type that seemed ok although he'd chased several draws) insta-raised to $60. Table folded around and I re-raised $200 more. The second I did I regretted it since given my tight image (I'd played 2-3 hands at that point) I might just as well have announced "I have aces.", but he surprised me and said "Ok, let's gamble." and showed JJ. Uh, dude, no gambling here. Ship it! In retrospect, I was thinking when the table folded to his $60 re-raise, I could've just called and tried to coax the rest of his stack in on the flop. Not unhappy with the result, obviously, but sometimes I think I could be a little less thuggish with AA preflop. In any event, now at $500+.

Hand #3. A J in EP, not a hand I like to play OOP, but I made it $15 to go with 4 callers behind. Flop was TT8 two spades. Checked to me, and I considered betting but figured with five players my continuation bet is called for sure and any spade or straight draw calls me so I checked. Check, check. Turn is an A. Again, checked to me. I usually bet for value here, but for some reason I figured I'd check and call a bet. Nope. Check, check. River is another 8. Check, check. Ok, now I bet $20 and am called by a guy with pocket fours. "I have a pocket pair.", he says. I show the ace thinking, "Uh, no...you have the board." and stack my chips. $570+, up $270 on the session. Not my best tournament and ring play, but I'll take it.

Final note: the Hustler recently bumped its rake to help offset the California minimum wage increases. In the $2/5 game I played, they now pull $1 pre-flop, $5 on the flop and $1 for the jackpot. At 35 hands/hour, that's about $225/hour coming out of player bankrolls. Of the nine players at the table, only two of us were sitting with $300+, so figure about $2000 or less was on the table. Kind of crazy to think that 10-15% of that was being pulled each hour for rake, and I'm not sure anyone but me even noticed or cared!

For reference, if anyone wants to check out other info I collected on Hustler ring games, you can check it out here.

Comparison of LA poker rooms

Edmond

I played the Hustler Wednesday night tournament tonight. For those of you who haven't played it, it's a $150 buy-in with a $25 fee, no rebuy freezeout that draws around 110 entrants and pays 9-10 spots. The tournament has a decent structure; you start with 2000 chips and the level times are 25 minutes. You have to get active early, though, because the jump around level 5 (from 100/200/25 ante to 200/400/50 ante) is brutal. Fortunately, tonight I had the good fortune of getting cards. Not that it mattered.

I got there a little late (the tournament starts at 7p and they seat until 7:30 or so) and sat midway through level 1. On my 3rd or 4th hand in, I was UTG with AA with the blinds now at 25/50. I raised to 200 hoping I'd get some loose action behind me and was pleased when MP player pushed for another 1500 or so and a 3rd player re-raised all-in behind him. I called instantly and tripled up when my AA held v QQ and JJ. Nice start.

A few hands later, I raised in late position with AKs and the BB pushed for another 1000 or so more. I called and added another 1500 or so to my stack when my AK held versus his ATs.

At that point I was content to fold for a while, but within three orbits I had AA again in mid position. With the blinds now at 100/200/no ante, I raised to 600. The big stack directly to my left called and one of the blinds pushed for another 1500. With action back to me, I contemplated a minor re-raise, but decided I might get some loose action from the big stack. I pushed, hoping he'd think I was trying to isolate with a weaker holding and call. He went into the tank and folded (confiding later that he held T5s) and my AA held versus a smaller pair.

At this point, I was the big stack at the table and managed to add chips with a UTG raise with AKs and a BB raise with ATs with 3 limpers in the pot. I also avoided some trouble with top pair in the BB, playing cautiously and ducking a flopped straight by another player. I felt good about my stack size and table image with a well-above average stack and blinds moving up.

The the trouble started. At level 7, with the blinds were 300/600/75 ante, I was in the cutoff with KQs and made it 2500 to go. The button pushed (ugh!) and I called off another 2200 on a 6500 chip pot, hoping I'd see an underpair. He showed JJ (not so bad) and a lovely Q hit the flop. Unfortunately, a gruesome J hit the turn and I was beaten down to 4000 chips, slightly below average. I'm fine with the play but the result was definitely a bummer.

With the blinds where they were, the carnage was widespread and within minutes, my table broke and I was seated in the big blind at my new table. Action folded to the button (the big stack), who limped. The small blind (a short stack) pushed for 1500 and I looked down and found AJs. I pushed hoping for some folding equity and was relieved when the button folded. Unfortunately, the SB showed AQo v my AJs, and with no help on the board I was getting closer to the felt. I folded my SB (K2s) to an EP push and figured the next decent hand I had I'd push. I didn't have to wait long; on the very next hand I found myself with AKo on the button (nice!). When the cut-off (again the big stack at the table) raised to 1800, I welcomed the action and pushed. I was a little disheartened, though, when the big blind pushed behind me for another 4000 more. WTF? The big stack called and we showed my AKo v 66 (big blind) v the big stack's KTo. I hated seeing one of my outs in another hand but under the circumstances, I'd take it. The flop was AWESOME...AAx...two clubs. Unfortunately, the turn and river were horrid, running clubs to give the 66 a winning flush. I was out in 26th place or so.

Overall, I was happy with my play and I can't complain about not having cards. Of the 100+ hands I saw, I had AA twice, AK three times, ATs and AJs once each, KQs, KQo and AQo (I folded the KQo and AQo) to some nasty pre-flop action, A9s, 77, 44 and KJo. I also folded at least 3-4 other Ax hands pre-flop. But it just goes to show, that you really do need a little luck in these tournaments. Maybe next week.

Keep digging,

Edmond

I went to the Hustler the other night to check out some of the NL cash games. I sat in a $500 min buy-in (I bought in for $1000)...blinds were $5/$10. Hands of the night for me were as follows.

#1. UTG with AA. It had been an active table so I limp. Sure enough, there's a MP raiser to $30...two callers. Back to me...I reraise to $200. Two folds and the BB, who had called the $30...pushed. I called. He turned over A3o (ok then) and I took down a nice $600 pot. I was the only one all night who limped reraised. I would have done it EVERY time I had JJ+ in EP.

#2. 88 on the DB. An EP raiser to $40 had two callers. I called for $40. Flop came K68 (nice!), two spades. EP raiser bet $120...one caller...$120 to me to call...roughly $400 in the pot. I reraised $300 more (concerned about the flush draw). Both guys looked disgusted and folded.

#3. Couple hands later I'm UTG+1 with JJ. Asian guy (one of the disgusted caller/folders in hand #2 above) put on a $20 straddle. I make it $80 to go. Three callers! Flop comes Qxx, and I lead out with $200 stack of chips. I wouldn't advocate a continuation bet here with all those callers, but I felt pretty strongly my JJ was good (I wouldn't have fired at a A or K flop). Everyone looked disgusted and folded to the Asian guy that bought the straddle. He looked like he wanted to skin me alive...and folded. Note: I've played with him in a tournament before; he's very active PF.

Overall, I finished up about $1200 over my original $1000 buy-in. At his table, my friend Rick finished up $103 on his original $50 buy-in.

Couple of things I noted.

#1. It's a 9-handed table and 4-5 person pots were common. I was the tightest player at the table. Two other guys were almost as tight; very easy to duck them when they came into a pot.

#2. I saw people calling PF raises with K7o, T9o, A7s, 43s, etc. When I reraised hard PF with hands...AK a couple of times, JJ, etc....or on the flop...it was pretty disruptive. The only hand I showed down all night was the all-in AA v A3o.

#3. Guys repeatedly paid off A high flops. AKx flop. KQ calls to the river. Dude, WTF? Didn't you see the A on board and the PF raiser betting out the flop, turn and river?

#4. I think the ability to fire a second bullet (the turn bet) is important. Everyone seemed to call the flop bet whether they have a piece of it or not. 4th hand of the night, I raised with AK. Had one caller. Figure $100 in the pot. I whiff the flop but bet $100 at Q high flop. He calls (note that when guys had something, a draw, a piece of the flop, an underpair, etc., they call almost immediately in this game). Not that it matters, but the guy is some cheesy dude with an open shirt, no t-shirt, goatee and sunglasses, with an unlit cigar in his mouth. Seems to know everyone, casino manager, dealer, couple of other players, etc. In any event, I get the sense he's got something (but not much) and if I fire again, I'm good. I whiff the turn, but pause and state "Two hundred." and move a stack forward. He insta-folds.

#5. Guys bet straight and flush draws aggressively, i.e. reraising with them. And fishing for flushes was common. Q5d with two diamonds on the flop? To the river we go! Also, every time a third of a suit would hit, 2-3 guys would recheck their pocket cards. I personally think its much easier to play against the three flush card board when you're pretty sure your opponent only has 1 underneath.

#6. Guys don't respect the concept of a kicker. I saw A7 and A5 duking it out to the river. Likewise KT v K8. One hand early on, two guys were both playing a 5. Board was 5779Q. At showdown, one guy says, "I have a 5." The other guy says "How big?" The other says, "56." The guy who asked then checks his hand and says, "You're good" and mucks. He later confided that he made a mistake; he didn't even have a 5. $200 pot...betting what he THOUGHT he had.

Overall, it's a soft game, and the guy to my left, who says he plays there a lot, said it wasn't as good as it usually is. Put differently, I think the 9-handed $5/10 game on Bodog is somewhat tougher.

Keep digging.

Edmond