The players club is moving to a new location on Friday June 17th - 8250 Auto Center Drive. The new location will have 18 tables up from 6 and be located less than 1 mile off of 101 Exit 63. At the current location 1-3 NL HE, Big Omaha HL (5 card) daily and 10-20 NL HE often. They are very interested in having PLO action and have recruited a home game 10-25 for Fri. and Sat. nights. This is the only poker room located between Los Angeles and Lompoc. Come on in and check out the action.

Can't wait to check this place out! I'm looking for good low stakes NL ($1/$2), and some NL tourneys that are $50 and under. I see them on the schedule, and hope you get enough attendance to keep them there!

Cant wait to get back up there and check it out....no offense, but the old room left a lot to be desired.

I knew the old place existed, but it was never on my mind when I thought of going to play live. I'd just go to Hustler once every month or two. Just came back from checking it out. Pleasantly surprised. I thought I was going to find a dead room mid-day Monday but decided to go anyway to at least see what the space looked like. I drove past it once because it didn't stick out as a card room in any way. I'm pretty sure the room used to be an auto showroom. I got there around 1 and found about 10 tables going and by the time I left just before 4 a couple more opened. I counted 14 tables plus a couple of "California" games. There were a couple of 1-2 nl and 2-3 nl games along with a 5-10 game going. Also saw 4-8 and maybe 6-12 limit going plus a game of pan going. Not sure about the limit though since I don't pay attention to that.

I noticed TV's everywhere. I think I counted 12 or 13. Almost 1 per table, lol.

Everyone said it was packed on opening night and based on what I saw today, it's going to be a busy place a lot of the time. This being less than 30 min. from my house, I'll be going 1-2 times a week. Yay!

Are you saying the only planned PLO game is going to be $10-$25 blinds? Also what about offering big O in pot limit form rather than limit? Thanks

Long trip report from an old reg.

****Cliff's Notes: This new Players Casino in Ventura is big upgrade over the old Players Club in comfort, accessibility, and cleanliness. They're still working out bugs in efficency, and are overwhelmed with players right now. The small family atmosphere is sadly gone. Tiny stakes NL holdem dominates the landscape, but there are some other small flop games and look to be some mid-stakes games from time to time.****


I have a job and a family, but I play decent enough cash poker to beat live players for spending money. I am not an online grinder anymore. I never play tournaments. I play about 300-350 hours of live cash game poker a year, and manage my bankroll fastidiously. My online hours have steadily dwindled from a lot in 2003-04 to just a trickle in around 2009, to altogether dead since Black Friday. I have been a recreational winning regular at the old Players Club since about 2004. When I first started, I was playing their staple $4/8 LHE game because it fit my bankroll and it was most similar to my online game of choice (which was $3/6 6-max LHE back then), and I could beat the $4/pot drop because the play was atrocious.

I eventually moved up to playing $6/12, $8/16, and $10/20 when those bigger games went. But as NL became popular, those bigger LHE games became rarer and rarer at the Players Club. My bankroll eventually got to be too big for $4/8, so I moved over to the only game in the room that did fit my roll, which was the $3/5 blinds uncapped buyin NLH game, which had been running regularly at this location for over 20 years. It was probably a bad move, because I wasn't a very good NL player then, and there were some tough players in the game. But I had good poker sense, there were enough very bad players, and I managed my BR well and ran good enough to keep me in action as I learned the nuances of the game. I'm still not a NL whiz, but I've managed to keep myself in the black.

The old Players Club, in operation since the 1930s, was dark and dirty, was in a questionable neighborhood, and had almost no parking. They had only six tables, the widescreen TVs had no HD, and the food menu was fairly limited. They served no alcohol and closed down every night at 2:00 am, per city ordinance. The clientele was so small that they had to schedule which games went on which days just to keep games going. However, because it was a small club, it had a very friendly and quaint atmosphere. The dealers and floor were affable and casual, but ran clean and efficient games, and didn't put up with any abuse. You could get chips, food service, or a floorman just with a nod of your head. If you were even a semi-regular, everyone knew you by name, and asked about your life, your job, and your family whenever you came in to play. The staff and players were generally very welcoming to any strangers who were willing to put in the brave effort not only to find out about the place (the club hardly advertised), but then drive to Ventura, then drive to THAT part of Ventura, then find street parking, and then finally get the courage to skulk inside.

All that is changed with the new Players Casino. It's still in Ventura, but is now visible from the 101 freeway in a big, well-lit building with ample parking. There are 18-ish tables and nearly that many HDTVs. They don't have a restaurant yet, but will have one by this fall, including a liquor license. So for now there's no booze and a generator-powered truck that prepares burgers and tacos for everyone. They are allowed to stay open almost 24/7 now, but a quirky deal with the city states that they must close for 20 hours per week, so they shut down Monday and Tuesday nights--i.e., Tuesday and Wednesday morning--from 1am to 11am. The micro/small stakes NL games still dominate like they did at the old place, but the $4/8 LHE is back in action, along with the $3/6 and $6/12 Big-O (5-card Omaha 8/b) that carried over from the old place. It remains to be seen how regular the mid-stakes NL games will be, and whether they will be able to build back up to an $8/16 or bigger LHE game.

I went for the first time yesterday, Monday 6/20, the fourth day of operation. They still had some real bugs in efficiency--the boards weren't working, so they used pen and spiral bound notebook for game lists--and the floormen, chip runners, and cage workers seemed overwhelmed with the numbers of players. They had to hire 100 new staff for this place, increasing their workforce fourfold from around 30-something at the old club to 130 staff here. It was strange to see all the new faces mixed in among the familiar ones, both players and staff. And it sure was odd to see Pizza Mike, Sean, and Mikey C. in a coat and tie. I thought I had maybe stumbled into Bellagio.

After I got inside and figured out which way was up, I found the podium and learned that they had one $5/10 uncapped NL game running over in the corner, with mostly regs from the old place, and a short list for the game. There were fully 12 or 13 tables in full operation, with long lists for almost every smaller limit game. Floor staff, dealers, and service people buzzed around the room. While I waited for $5/10, I helped start an astonishingly good $2/3 $300-cap NL holdem game, and played for an hour. The $5/10 game was a bit tougher, but still pretty passive, and I knew almost everyone in the game. The game almost broke at around 7pm when they started a little $120 rebuy tourney, but we kept it alive 4-handed until some new blood came in.

I talked to the "Omaha Host", the staffer/player from the old place who has been tasked with building up PLO and PL Big-O games. He said he was looking to establish some small tournaments and cash games ($1/3) at first, in hopes of building up a player pool for the move to bigger stakes, but he wasn't sure whether there was enough interest for the bigger games right away. I'm planning to go in on Thursday to play in a tiny stakes PLO game to help him get it going. I am aware of the $10/25 PLO home game that OP mentioned, but I'll believe it when I see it going with any regularity.

So, while I'm sad at the loss of the friendliness of the old club, I think the new place will be a big improvement, all other things considered. This is probably *not* the place for you if you live in San Diego or LA, or even the Valley, and you're looking to grind mid-stakes holdem for a living every day. It's just too far a drive, and the stakes are too small for it to be worth choosing over Ocean's, Commerce, The Bike, HG, Hollywood Park, etc. You'll be siphoning your winnings right back into your gas tank. But if you live in the Santa Barbara or Ventura County areas, or you're just looking to change things up once in a while, I think you'll find the new Players Casino a nice alternative to your regular spots.

An acquaintance of mine who plays at Hustler (and lives not that far away from the Players Club) told me that on opening day, there were so many people there that you couldn't get a table for hours. Of course, that's good news, not bad, in the long run.

I've played at the Player's Club 2 different days - both days the action was very very juicy, but I took some gross beats on the first day! Second day, justice was done. I only played 1/2NLHE but they have a 1/3NLHE and bigger games too.

The structure of the cash games is a wonderland after the stifling buy-in restrictions at the Chumash, but this location also feels a bit like playing poker at a YMCA. Yea the big-screens are "nice" but it still looks like an office building; neither solemn stage nor gaudy "casino". I'm sure the opulence will increase as they settle in, and start making bank!

I went to Players Casino in Ventura the other night while I was trapped in Oxnard for the first half of the week. They've officially changed their name and their chips (used to be Paulson chips looking at their out-of-date website).



The room is now in Auto-Mall just off the 101 freeway. It's an a building that used to be a small Audi dealership. The room contains 12 or 16 poker tables, and then ~4 player-banked California-style blackjack tables. There may have been Pai Gow or similar in progress, but I never peeked.

They're applying for food service. Until then there's a roach coach permanently parked outside the employee door, and they have take-in service that the wait staff will bring you, in addition to drink service.

They still have to close 10 hours a week, so they close from 1am-10am (11am?) on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (Mon/Tues nights).

They were using a copy of Excel with a couple of macros to work as their board. It was on one of the dozen or so large flatscreen TVs scattered across the room - tuned to your standard SportsCenter fare.

They had your usual line-up of 1/2NL and 3/6, 6/12 limit Hold'em and Omaha games, interest for a couple bigger games, and 1/3PL BigO/8 game going when I showed up. I played the BigO/8 game and enjoyed it -- quite loose and sociable.

They do use blue ones (fine) and GREEN $5 chips (wut?!?) so on at least one occasion I made a bet of $9 when I wanted, instead, to pot pre-flop. [Pot limit there was calculated exactly to the dollar, no rounding, and blinds counted as actual, not complete.] At least the hundreds were still black.

I enjoyed it and I'd return.

u guys opened thr 17th? damn i was in oxnard and we didnt know when it opened so we drove down to commerce. would have been betetr to stay int own i guess.

this is cool ill def. check it out next time im in oxnard since my gf family lives like 10 mins from this spot.

so 1/3 is the only NL running? nothing higher? Is it 300 mx BI?

I've been playing almost every day. Not really much to complain about. Lots of new faces compared to that of the old place, which is a good thing. Played until 8am Thursday night and 2 games of 1/2 were running. Definitely beats driving up to Chumash or Commerce.

Update: I've been back to the Players Casino twice since my last post. They have the board working now, and everything is running a LOT smoother than on my first visit. The roach coach is now serving a full menu of decent food (the Tri-tip BBQ sandwich is amazing) and the staff don't seem nearly as overwhelmed. Two weeks in, and the place seems to have things under control for the most part.

I've played both in the PL Big-O game (pot limit five card Omaha/8) and the PLO (standard four card pot limit high only) games. Both have the exact same structure: $1/3 blinds with optional $6 straddle (UTG only) and a $100-$500 buyin. They're trying to spread the Big-O game on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and the PLO game on Thursdays. So far the response to the Big-O game has been fantastic; long waitlists and loose play. The PLO is having a little more trouble going, with play dropping to 5 or 6 or 7 handed at times throughout the day. They're committed to both games, and are working hard to build a good small stakes player pool in hopes that a larger stakes game (maybe $5/5) will come out eventually.

Dealers in both games are reasonably competent, but some are much better than others. A few of them appreciate the help from the good regs in keeping track of pot size so the game doesn't bog down with chip counting all the time. With experience, everyone will get used to the standard opening amounts, and betting the pot will become second nature both for players and for dealers.

If you like tourneys, they are offering these games on Tues and Thurs mornings before the cash games get going. I think they're something like $25 for T1000, with the option of $10 more for T1000 more. Unlimited $20 rebuys for T1000 during the first three levels (20 mins each). Addon at the first break, $20 for T2000. Structures are turbo fast, with doubles pretty much most of the way through the first several 20 min levels.

Are all of the turnys shallow stacked rebuys? It'd be great if they had a deepstack turny or just a normal 5k chip starting stack with no rebuys.

I always passed up the old Players Club and drove to Chumash because of the turny structure up there.

The Monday 7pm tourney is deeper. For a $120 buyin and $100 addon, you get T10,000 chips. Last Monday they guaranteed a $5k prize pool. I think that's standard, but you can call and ask. I only play cash.

There is a deep stack tournament also on Sat morning at 10am where a $65 buy-in will get you a 5k starting stack with 25/50 blinds. A $10 dealer tip bonus can get you an extra 5k in chips. There is no rebuys for the sat morn tounament.

Last week there was 7 tables going with a full table of alternates who got into the tournament. If you do register b4 the tournament starts you will get in! Registration starts 30 min b4 the tounament starts!

Also update on the new casino,

They are spreading a 15/30 LHE games every friday starting 1pm! Last week the game went for like 4-5 hrs and the action was fast and furious.

Also, they are spreading PLO (thurs) and PL BigO (tues, sat) starting 1pm. Blinds are 1/3 with buy-in of $100-500.

Stopped in last week, wanting to play 4-8 (or any LHE) or Big-O - but could not get a seat. Place was packed.

Very convenient to 101 and very new,clean, and safe looking. Its the first auto dealer showroom that I've seen turned into a poker room. Very nice.

Played the old place once a few years ago. Inside was small but ok. Outside was NOT ok. It had about 3 tables going mid afternoon. One floorman in sports clothes, -- sold chips, worked the list, played in the game and would probably cook you a burger too. What a change.

Will try again NEXT July.

I live about 30 minutes away and I've been thinking about going...but I keep hearing its packed to hell since its new and nobody can play online.

Also I'm not sure if they spread enough LHE for me. The reason I stopped going to Chumash was because everybody switched over to this horrible NLHE max buyin game and limit is nonexistent.

They do consistently spread 4/8 HE, the problem they run into is that not enough people go to play 4/8 at once so when they sit at another game, they might want to stay at other game instead of moving to start the 4/8.

If they do get the game to start however, it usually doesn't break until late into the evening.

1) Is the PLO H/L?
2) Aren't they closed one day of the week? (I heard it was Tues afternoon through Wed morn)

Been meaning to hit this place up, just too damn busy recently. Will prob hit it next weekend.

Read what I said a few posts ago about the details of all the PLO games.

I also covered this in a previous post, but here's the cliffs notes on the closing: The city mandates that every business close 20 hrs per week. So the cardroom closes on Monday and Tuesday nights for ten hours each, from 1:00 am to 11:00 am (technically these hours are on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, but you get it).

You should. It's a very nice place to play cards.

How often does the $5/$10 nlhe game run?

Every day.

Recently the 10/20 nlhe game has been running everyday as well. There are maybe 4-5 regulars that play in it everyday and are there around 10-11am to get the games started. Very action oriented and big pots are pushed very often.

belloc, i've been meaning to ask you who u are. It seems like you are a regular player at the Players' Casino, but i can't tell who u are based on your writing style. :P

pm me if you want to tell me.

What is players club? Is it a typical card room casino? I couldn't find their website.