Commerce 3-5 was fantastic for me when I was there last week. Still a lot of fish.

13 miles from Hawaiian Gardens to Commerce. That ain't ever 5 minutes.

Why would you drive to Hawaiian Gardens and then Commerce if you were going to Commerce?

From Disneyland area around 8pm it's about 20 minutes to Gardens and about 25 minutes to Commerce.

This is HEAVILY dependent on traffic. To get to Commerce from Anaheim you have to take the 5. This is a nightmare most of the time. To get to HG, you can take the 22, which is not as bad generally. That said, both of these routes can be brutal at the wrong time (i.e. if there is a game [USC, dodgers, Lakers, etc] or if there is a accident. At least with HG, you could conceivably take side streets.

Ill be in L.A. for a couple days next month exclusively to play poker. I'll have a car. My only requirements are that I want to play about 24 hours of poker in 2 1/2 days. I want to play mostly 5/10 but I guess 5/5 will do as well.

Where should I play for best table selection, availability of games during the week...daytime hours as well as the evening. I wont be playing very late due to 3 hour time difference.

I see that Hollywood Park is closest to the airport which would be nice. Is that place big enough with enough games for my requirements? Is it in a nicer area than Commerce?

Mike- Although I'm from NorCal, my wife is from Inglewood, and I'm in the LA area frequently.
Specifically, Inglewood and the Hollywood Park area is currently under construction and is being transformed into a world-class entertainment district. Now, we'll get locals scoffing at this description. But, I'll stand by it- The racetrack and adjoining casino were demolished some time ago, and a beautiful new building was put up for the cardroom/other card games customers. The Casiono is finished, complete. OK, so the same customers in a beautiful new building. Still, its an improvement. And at the level of Buy-in you play and seek, those low-level denizens matter little. I encourage you and others to check out the new HP.
The game you seek will be characterized more by the Buy-in limits rather than the blind limits. I "think" the 5-10 game has a soft cap of 2500 (i don't play this level)
My other impression for you is table selection, and if a game is running. You will find the most, and most levels, of spread at Commerce. And the larger spread game you will be in at Commerce will be in the front, the nicer area, rather than the back, cattle car area.
They are different properties in many ways- my impression is the games are more diverse at Commerce, perhaps a bit looser. Food is pretty average at both. Commerce does have an attached hotel.
Check out The Bicycle, and Hustler. The Bike is newly renovated, has a wonderful hotel attached, has some decent food options. Might be tough to find a game level you want earlier in the week. Hustler- different crowd, different vibe, some like it, just not my kind of place in general.

So thats it- my impressions as a visitor from NorCal who is in LA about 6-10x yearly. Perhaps I'll run into you in FL in October or Feb, March. Hve a nice trip.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a 5/10 game at any LA casino except Commerce during the daytime hours. I mainly play at the Bike and although they have random nights (last night was nuts) where multiple 5/10 and 5/10/20 games pop up, it’s mostly comprised of 2/3 tables with 1-3 reg-heavy 5/5 games. 5/5 at the Commerce has always been solid action regardless of time of day for the most part. HPC is similar to the Bike in terms of game selection and are usually running a handful of 3/5 games but I can’t speak on 5/5+ since I’ve only been there a few times.

Limon said it best: “If you wanna sit in comfy chairs and check out the cocktail waitresses you go to the Bike. If you wanna make money you go to Commerce.”

Good luck on the trip!

There's a good chance Gardens will have 5/T daytime. There's one going right now.

Looking to trade some Euros (€) for USD ($) at market exchange rate. Will be in LA the weekend of Sept. 28th. PM me.

Is there any place to see what games are running? I only see Commerce on Bravo

I think bike and hustler is on poker atlas. Gardens has its own app that you can find in Google play or Apple app store.

Hustler is not on poker atlas for live games, only bike in La and oceans in SD in Southern California

What games do they regularly play in the bigger mix at HG?

I know for awhile it was lowball draw game heavy. I'm not really sure if it's changed or not.

I heard HP has a 5/T game running regularly. I'm there once a year though and this is hearsay from some CLP grinders. It's 2.5k cap. 5/5 has a 500 cap.

Near-by is Hustler, which has a 1k 5/5. Try getting there before 3pm unless you like waiting an hour to get in.

Bike has a 5/5 1k cap as well that usually gets going around noon and gets good after 8 pm. Most of my hours are logged here. Wed-Sat nights & all day Sunday are the best. A 5/10 3k cap might go on the weekends. There will be a tourney series in October which should improve the quantity and quality of the games.

Hawaiian Gardens (furthest from you, but 405 traffic favors a daytime schedule. Going south in the morning/early afternoon is clear, and going north at night is a breeze) 5/5 is capped at $600 and is the most action I've ever seen at almost any hour. It's like 2008 over there. After 1pm there's 3+ tables. I like going here Mon-Wed when Bike is slow. 5/10 is capped at 1.5k. I've been there on Monday afternoons with 2 games going. Also have seen it not run during prime weekend hours for some reason. The 5/10 at HG is a weird mix of people either moving up a level, or down one from 10/20 uncapped.

Commerce. This place is a ****hole, but offers the most selection. Should be plenty of 5/5 tables capped at 500. Action will be decent. By the evening, you should have ~5 5/T 1.5k cap tables to choose from. You'll see lots of Euros. They're not necessarily the best, but clearly suck up the win rate as they're not losing players. Plenty of fish in the sea, but this is def the hotspot for 4 guy groups from across the Atlantic to split a room for several months and grind because they're on a mission to turn live poker into online. Also, commerce doesn't allow straddles. All other places have UTG straddles that are often utilized. I feel like the 1k cap 5/5 games are really 5/5/T at least 35% of the time.

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tl;dr Settle into your lodging. Use Bravo Poker to check Commerce action. Use PokerAtlas to check Bike action. Use the Gardens Casino app (yes, their own app) to check the games there. HP and Hustler, you gotta call in to inquire.

I was at HP on Wednesday afternoon and there was at least one 5/10 going possibly 2

Hi All. I've read through about a year of this thread but I don't think I'm seeing much on point for me. I've never been to LA for poker. I'll be in LA Friday the 19th-22nd of October and San Diego the following week for work. I usually play 20/40 limit at the Borgata in AC.

Where should I stay and play? It's hard to figure out my best option as Commerce/Bike/Hustler all seem pretty good. Looking to play anywhere from 8/16 to 20/40 limit. The impression I get is the limit games are better than NL, is this true? I was thinking of staying either at Commerce or Bike, but it's hard to say which is better. TIA

The 8/16 games at Commerce, Hawaiian Gardens, and Hustler are all good. I haven't played at The Bike in over a decade, so I don't know about that. The downside is the rake. The 8/16 in all those rooms take a $1 jackpot collection, $5 on the flop, and another $1 if you see the turn (and when don't you in a limit HE game?). Yep. That's almost one big blind down the hole. Even more egregiously, Commerce takes both a $1 house collection AND the jackpot drop even if you don't see the flop. Hustler and HG only take the $1 house collection.

The 20/40 at Commerce was soft when I played it, but that's stale information. But the thing about Commerce is you usually have at least three tables to choose from at those stakes. The Hustler has a 25/50 that I've heard is full of action, but I've not personally played it. I believe the rake is the same as the 8/16, so it's a much better deal relative to pot sizes.

As for the hotels at Commerce and the The Bike, I'm a local so I've had no use for them and can't provide any guidance.

Hustler 25/50 looks lit AF and makes me wish I knew the first thing about LHE. Plays with $5 chips which seems a bit ridiculous, but I guess they like to splash around and create physically massive pots.

As someone whose lived and played in both CA and NJ, The 20/40 at Commerce is much softer than the 20/40 at Borgata, and will only have one must move so you can table change rather than being at the mercy of the must move lists. 20/40 also runs at HG/Bike with fewer tables and tougher games (with props, usually). 25/50 at Hustler can be a great game on the weekends when there's more than one table going.

Good point. I rarely see more than one table of 25/50 except on weekends, and rarely see three, even on weekends. The 20/40 at Commerce will pretty much always have more tables going than the Hustler 25/50.

Thanks for the info, good to know.

Hey all, been a long while since my last post here. I'll be in Long Beach CA for a business event next month and, when I'm not with my business partners, might try to squeeze in some live LLSNL. Currently I'm accustomed to playing 1/3NL max buy-in $300. What's in or near Long Beach that isn't like two hours traffic + another hour to wait for a game?

The bicycle casino in Bell gardens has a 1/3 with a 300 max buy. It's not too far from Long Beach. The Gardens casino in Hawaiian gardens is closer to LB than the bike. They have a 2/3 with a $200 max buy. Either one shouldn't take too long to get too. Probably 15 minutes to gardens and 30 in traffic to bike

3/5 300 min 300 max and 5/5 300 min 600 max will go around the clock at Gardens in the beautiful VIP room. Can call or text 562-412-4994 to get on the list (you'll have 30 minutes to arrive). You should be able to get into a game more or less right away.