Saturday night found me at the Hustler, the next stop in my survey of Southern California poker rooms.
It was easy enough to find, being right off the 110 freeway. Big bright Vegas-style sign visible from blocks away. There was a good amount of parking when I arrived about 6 or so. It took me slightly over an hour to get there from the San Fernando Valley, about a 30 mile trip. I parked and went in (there is valet available). The room looks smaller on the inside due to the shape; it is setup like 3/4 of a donut, curving around a central area. California table games were to my left, limit poker to my right, and no-limit beyond the limit, to the far right. They do not use the Bravo (boo) but have an internal system that they use to take names and seat players (computer, not whiteboard).
When I arrived, they were spreading 18 tables (of 50 or so available)
10 tables of limit poker:
2 tables of 3/6, 5 tables of 4/8 with a half kill, and 3 tables of 8/16 with a half kill.
8 tables of NL:
3 tables of 1/2 ($50-100), 3 tables of 2/5 ($100-300), and 2 tables of 5(?)/5 ($300-1000). I'm not 100% on the 5/5, might have been 3/5 blinds.
I got a players club card, got on a 5-person list for 2/5 and was seated within 15 minutes. Staff is fairly friendly, more so than the Bike/Commerce, but maybe not as much as smaller rooms I've visited lately. The dealers I had were all decent or better, but I did have one dealer for almost 2 hours (see below). The floors I interacted with were very professional and pleasant.
Details: Play is 9-handed, they have autoshufflers, new players do not post, no hoodies are allowed (dress code on doors as you enter). There is free Wi-Fi, but you have to go up to the desk and sign up for in their system. That was odd, and I didn't bother. The play was fairly average for LA, no real outstanding players, but no true donks, except one who left quickly. Massage available for $1 a minute. Food is available for cash/chips/comp, decent menu, underwhelming but fast service.
The highlight of the evening was 45 minutes after I sat down, when a new player sat at our table, picked up pocket Jacks in his first hand, it gets all-in on the turn with an A-2-A-10 board, and the river brings a third ace. New guy has Aces full of Jacks, opponent shows A-10 for Quad Aces, kicker plays, and we hit the $22,200 jackpot, thank you very much. New guy wins $8880 on his first hand, buys us all a round of drink, and we play on for the 90 minutes it takes to do paperwork.
The players themselves were pretty well-behaved, no name-calling, berating bad play, etc, and no dealer abuse that I saw. My sample is a little skewed, though, as we had one dealer for 2 of the 5 hours I played, and most folks were happy from winning jackpot shares.
Overall not a bad room. The tables are pushed together a little tight for a large guy like myself, and the room has a crowded feel to it due to the shape. I wasn't a big fan of the color scheme, but they didn't ask my opinion
If I lived closer, I'd play here more often, but I would have to live very close for this to be my regular room.