My only comment would be that, having played at both places, the 8-16HK at Bay 101 plays very differently than the 6-12 at the Oaks. The 6-12, in my experience, is full of loose-passives and is relatively easy to beat. The 8-16HK very often a loose-very aggressive game that often is way more aggressive than 20-40, and 40-80. Betting is typically 3-4 bet pre-flop by many players.

Not saying that is bad, just different than the typical 6-12 games in the bay area (I have played 6-12 at virtually every casino in No. Calif.

That's no problem, I can stand, if not thrive on, LAGgy opponents. I've been taking shots at the 15/30 and am comfortable with the step up in aggression.

Is the casino a nice place to visit? Is it unique enough so that, should I take a 1-5 year break from live poker starting in May, that I will regret not having played there when I had the chance? Are the players idiot angleshooters who strive to make life miserable for all around them, or is it a relatively friendly atmosphere?

All,
I am about 40% sure I saw one of the dealers at Bay palm a chip from the pot last night in a 5-200 game (mostly just saw a flash of yellow followed by some interesting eye contact). Clearly 40% is not high enough to go to the CSM but I thought I would mention it so more eyes could keep track of pot size and we can present something if we become sure.

If you want to help out shoot me a PM.

No.

It doesn't look that much different than LC. And depending on how the wind is blowing, you might have an hour or two wait after you sign up before you can get a seat. Not to mention that if you can get from Emeryville to SJ in an hour on a Saturday, you are running well indeed. It won't be a 2 hour diff in playing time, more like 3 minimum, or as much as 5.

HTJ,

If $100 was taken across before 50 was said then its 100 in a lot of places. If 50 was said before it went across the line it should be 50.

Never been to LC, either.

Google Maps sez 52 minutes from my house (a mile or so from the Oaks) to Bay 101 (1 hour, 10 minutes in traffic). This jibes well with my actual experience.

The Nimitz freeway can be hell during rush hour, but on the weekends it's just fine.

What? Bay101 looks nothing like LC., especially on the inside.

Bay101 is worth visiting IMO. It is the premier cardroom in the Bay Area. That doesn't really mean much because the Bay Area is not Vegas or LA, but it's true.

I think weekend daytime waits are reasonable. Weekend evening waits are definitely not unless you play 20/40+.

You run good, sir. I seldom drive up and down 880 on weekends, but every time I have, it's been pretty friggin' horrible.

The googlenerds are insane to think that drive takes an hour 10 in traffic. I drive 880 every day (in the opposite direction) and I cannot remember the last day that 880 southbound was NOT a parking lot at some point.

It looks almost identical to LC to me, except that it's all one level.

Meh, a poker room is a poker room as far as I'm concerned. I'm in a similar situation, living close to Bay 101. It never entered my mind to drive up to the Oaks when I can take a short trip to Bay 101, although I would probably get into a game in less time if I drove up to Emeryville.

I think I'm gonna make the trip.

I drive to San Jose every day from the East Bay. Its 45 minutes from OAkland. FRom Emeryvile, its another 15-20 minutes. I drive at 3pm during the wek and there is no traffic unless there is an accident.

Without any traffic the drive from Emeryville is about an hour.

The carpool lane switches over at 3 pm. Try it at 5 pm. Or worse yet, at 8 am.

I live in Canada and go play at the bay 3 times a year. I find that the floor people have a good memory and usually hook me up right away..... with a modest $5-$10 tip I get a seat on the busiest days in 10-15 mins max lol.. I'm sure if you have regularly juiced a certain guy over the months/years he'd have no problem getting you in a game right away.

The only part of Oakland that's 15 minutes away from Emeryville is, like, Hegenberger & International. Or maybe somewhere along Skyline Drive. Heck, I can WALK from my house in Oakland to Emeryville in about 15 minutes.

Except that the maze is between E-ville and Oakland. It takes 10-15 min to get through in normal commute-time traffic. If there's a "problem" it can take an hour.

I was at the Powell St. onramp at 11:01 am, and pulled into the Bay101 parking lot at 11:39 am. This includes a major slowdown at the 880/92 interchange.

I posted my blind at a 6/12 table at 11:47 am.

Mini-TR

- Bay101 is nice, but honestly I expected nicer. There seems to be a lot of "dead" space in the building, which I guess makes it look better, but they could probably squeeze in a ton more tables if it weren't laid out like a Texas airport (unnecessarily big).

- 9-handed tables, again, which is makes the tables nice and uncrowded, but makes it seem silly if you've got a huge waiting list.

- Waiting lists were reasonable all afternoon. 5-10 names on 6/12, 3-5 on 8/16. They were good about starting new games so long as there were extra tables.

- WTFangleshooting. Player A bets, Player B calls, Player A instamucks, Player A invokes IWTSTH and wants to see Player B's cards. Player C holds out chips over the betting circle and checks, Player D checks behind, next street Player C drops the chips into the betting circle and Player D argues Player C checked. Raised to Player E in the BB, Player E slides out 6 chips, and then attempts to take back his BB in an obvious attempt to induce an angleshooting accusation; Player F (the initial raiser) falls for it, tries to argue it's a raise, Player E puts up token resistance and then says, "Fine, I raise!" Suddenly Player F realizes what's going on and just calls. (Player E had AA, of course.)

- Food was excellent; I had the prime rib sandwich which was great but the other food I saw people eating was great too.

- WTF is up with the off-duty dealers and ex-dealers who insist on being table captains? I realize that a lot of it is understood as joking around by the regulars, but when you make the same comments to non-regulars, it's at the very least not funny and at worst pisses people off. Seriously, I'm not tipping you if you're ever dealing to me. You make the other fish (and I say "other" because you're fishes too, albeit slightly better) play better when you berate their play. I can't believe Bay101 puts up with this ****.

- People are much more tolerant to playing shorthanded than at the Oaks. Most of the time the tables were 7-handed (9-max with 2 lobbiers) and people never made a peep about it.

Overall, great trip, great games, wish I lived closer so I could play the 8/16 on a regular basis, but for 6/12 probably not worth the trip.

games are nine handed because it is a raked game and they get more that way. but that is also good for the players as ten handed is slow and people get bored and quit more easily especially the action players who get tired of seeing big pairs all the time in ten handed games.

the place is big and thats nice. partly the reason they have so much room is they are limited by law on how many tables can be in the joint.

i like the knock out bounties you guys have! always wanted to play at bay 101 but i absolutely HATE the bay area/san francisco! guess i'll have to just swallow hard and make it happen. the only reason i would even venture up north would be to play at the bay. seems like it would be a nice switch up from la and vegas.

Wednesday and Thursday night, $150 buyin, 10k starting chips. 20 minute levels. It starts an hour earlier than the bay tournament. The tournament director, Corey, is a great guy and willing to experiment with new ideas if there's interest.

Of course, for the higher buyins, bay's $530 twice-monthly sunday tournaments are better. But that, in turn, is dominated by LC's 40k tournament,which frequently doesn't meet the guarantee I've heard.

Would someone please fill me in on the blind structures of the spread limit-no limit games at Bay? I played at GC last night in their stupid 1/2/5 100 max bet game and I'm thinking of giving Bay 101 a try.

Bay 101 has a single spread limit game: 5-200 with 2/3/5 blinds. GC also spreads the same game. The difference is in the max buy-in limits. At Bay, you can buy from $50-$300. GC will let you buy in up to $500. The drop is $1 if there is no flop. If there is a flop, the drop depends on the number of players dealt into the hand: 5 or less -> $1, 6 -> $3, 7 or more -> $5.

Games usually run 7-9 handed. Sometimes 10-handed if a game breaks. Sometime players will play short handed (3 players) but that's rare.

The Bay 101 5-200 Spread has more fish plus they can keep a game going overnight through the week. They usually have 4-6 spread tables going.

Garden City 5-200 Spread is deeper, has lots of fish but more ratholing. THey usually have 2-3 tables going but can't keep a game going 24/7 during the week. Games usually break around 4am during the week (if you are a serious night owl).

Garden City has nicer chairs, food is pricey, floor people are horrible

Bay 101 has better floor people, food is better, chairs are like sitting on wood slabs (especially compared to Vegas chairs, GC, or Lucky Chances)

The city is about to pass a law that will enable both casinos to have more tables and a jackpot. Voting takes place in June

Several inaccuracies in previous report.
The city isn't passing a law. There is a proposal before the voters on June 8 to change rules for the casinos as follows:
1) move from 40 to 49 tables
2) raise rake tax from 13% to 15%
3) remove the $200 max limitation.

There is no proposed change that would allow jackpots