I spent the last few days in Fresno visiting Ed (aka the Rake, Bugsy, Moe Green) and had a great time. I don't write many trip reports for fear my literary talents will be discovered and The New Yorker will try to retain me. I don't write for money, only for the love of ruining perfectly good sentences...here it goes.

While I was there, I placed 5th in the nightly rebuy tournament (about 70 runners) which was alot of fun. I noticed people really like second pair and will call to the river. I was let in cheap constantly by min-raisers off my button or blinds and continually demolished the flop, which led to many new friends :(...AA no good sir. At the final table I was CL when this little gem came up. UTG min-raises and I look down at JJ. I push, MP pushes, and UTG calls with plenty of chips to wait for a better hand. MP shows AJ and UTG turns over Q10 (wtf). Runner, runner flush and JJ < Q10 (He told me he "had a feeling"; itmade me feel much better about his Nostradamus-like call). I was promptly dispatched with A8 the very next hand, but I really did have a great time.

"The Rake" has the casino is running like a well-oiled machine. The room is large, comfortable and very busy. They offer everything from 1/2 to 15/30 limit and 1/1 to 2/5 and up NL. The dealers are friendly (most are pretty) which helps when I am folding alot. I didn't see any big mistakes in the three days I played there. I did notice that some players really disliked being trapped...oops. I only waited about 15 min for 1/1 NL and 2/2 NL.

The food is great with American and Asian dishes to choose from. The wait staff were very friendly (maybe cause I was with Edmond), but it seemed the waitresses were familiar with everyone. The whole casino has a more welcoming feel now.

If any of you guys are planning a trip to Club One let me know I will try to meet you there. It's worth the trip. You can go to Yosemite during the day or Sequoia National Park and play poker all night. Sounds great to me, Cya there.

I'll have a couple of trip reports coming soon on my trip to Tahoe and Reno, but first I need to vent about a situation that came up yesterday. I went to Hollywood Park to try for my third win in a row. There were 95 entrants, and things weren't looking good by the 4th level. Finally, I flopped 2 pr on the BB for a big pot, and then had pocket AA hold up. Once I got some chips, I started to move in position. I told myself i would start stealing right before the bubble...and I did. I had a pretty big stack when we were down to about 17 players when people started to play back at me (bastards!). I lost about 8k, but managed to make the final table with about 16 big blinds--plenty for me to work with.

As soon as we're seated, I hear someone say "u wanna chop?" (9 handed). What? Are you kidding me? I object, but everyone else AGREES. I finally gave in, but I thought this was ridiculous. I have never chopped 9-handed and don't intend to again. Should I have just stood my ground and let them be pissed? In my mind I assumed they would all be gunning for me if I said no, but I guess I could have used it to my advantage. Any comments appreciated.

LoF

I have played the 11:30a $25 rebuy tournament at Hollywood Park twice in the last couple of days and what a marshmallow it is! It is impossible to raise without at least three callers from any position. No kicker/no problem reigns sumpreme! You get 300 starting chips and for $20 rebuy you get 1000 chips. I play the cards mostly but the players make it easy to play them, too. Here are a couple of hands from the last one.

Blinds 50/100
average stack 1200

I raise 500 2nd pos with KK
Mid pos reraises all in with 44.
I win!

Blinds 200/400
Average 3200
I raise 4bb with AA (mid pos)
BB calls
Flop Q 9 10
BB pushes (wtf?)
I call and he shows j8o for the straight.
Ugh!

I cashed in the first tournament and bubbled the 2nd and will definitely be back.

I was in San Diego over the weekend and I found a cool little poker room called the Lucky Lady. The cardroom is smaller than most LA rooms (about 7 tables, due to city restrictions) but I recommend it if you are in the area. No limit 5/5 and 5/10 games were offered with some 3/6 HE with lots of action. The casino also has a pai gow room if you like to gamble. The staff and room manager were very friendly.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served daily. Nothing on the menu is over four dollars and you get a big plate of food. Look for the room review on this site for more details. If you're in San Diego, check out Lucky Lady.
LakeofFire

I just got back from Vegas and while I was there i had time to play in a $50 rebuy at the Aladdin. The "room" is small because it is under construction but don't let it stop you from checking out a few games. Tourists abound! The hotel will be Planet Hollywood soon--that's the reason for the construction. The staff was nice and were very helpful. I like the hotel because it's reasonably priced and centrally located on the Strip.

I took 6th place in the tournament and would have done better but it was one of those days that the bb always had a hand which made it difficult to steal from the button. In this tournament, I recommend raising your good hands a large amount (5xbb) because you will get a call or two. Don't get too creative, though, because you don't have to. A simple check and an all in worked for me on a few occasions.

Overall, I like the Aladdin, but if you want great food you might have to walk across the street. With the construction, there are not a lot of good places to eat in the casino area yet. Thanks for reading!

Lake of Fire