Next in my wanderings to new Southern California pokers rooms was Diamond Jim's Casino, in Rosamund, Ca, about 90 minutes north of Central Los Angeles.

Trip report:

Very easy to get to and find, it is located right off CA-14 in the Antelope Valley north of Lancaster. This is not the middle of nowhere, but it is the last exit before you get there. I live in the San Fernando Valley, so it was slightly over an hour to get there on a Sunday evening with light to nonexistent traffic. Your mileage will vary.

I was at first a little surprised to find a casino this far out, until I looked at the Google maps and saw it was the closest card room to Edwards Air Force Base. That, plus the locals in Palmdale and Lancaster are apparently enough to support what turns out to be a nice little card room.

Unlike many rooms, they specifically have different areas for cash play and tournament, with 6 cash games and 7 tournament tables, plus 5 tables of Cali card game (BJ, 3-card poker, etc). Also rare for SoCal, they use the Bravo. They get a cool point just for that. I wish I knew why most of the rooms in SoCal don't use the Bravo, but I digress.

The casino itself is rather nice looking inside and out, well-lit, with very visible security (inside and out), good parking, and a fairly spectacular vista if you are a geology buff like me.

There is food service, drinks and alcohol, plus an attached restaurant that apparently has a good rep on its own. The room has free Wi-Fi, was pleasantly cool, and the chairs were comfy.

When I first walked in, I was almost immediately greeted by the floor, who was quite friendly and remembered my name all evening. Another point for good customer service. I got on the list for my games and got a player's card.

It was a Sunday evening, and the games going were 2 tables of 1/2 ($40-100), 1 table of 3/5 ($100-300) and one interest list for 4/8 Omaha which never ran. I was 5th on the list and seated within 15 minutes. I played the 40-100 game for about 4 hours. It was fairly passive but decent, with one or two players who thought they were quite the WPT ballers (they weren't). They were almost all well behaved, but even the one guy who was talking some crap did it in a low volume and quickly settled down. No real drama.

The dealers were all good technically, with various levels of friendliness and banter. There was only one time a floor was called, and it was a routine thing quickly cleared up. The place apparently does use props, as a comment about them coming on at midnight was made, but when I asked, none were playing at the time.

Overall, this is a nice little card room in a rural/suburban area, close enough to me that I will go back on a Saturday night to check it out again. The Commerce/Bike are closer physically (traffic notwithstanding) and have better game selection, but this place has a better small room feel, and isn't really any farther from the SF Valley that it makes much of a difference.

This made me chuckle.

Nice TR. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you're having a good time out there!

This was the first California casino I've ever played in. Coming from Vegas its ridiculous to have such a short buy in for a 1/2 but then action was great and I was up slightly because I didn't stop lol. Loved the free food. Would play there again I'd I was in vicinity.

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