playerscasinoventura.com

It's basically a card room with california BJ

one question or two from a guy whose not familiar with california since they are from vegas. how do i get there on PUBLIC transportation coming out of los angeles? can i use a commuter train and where do i get off, and make transfers, or do i have to bus it the entire way?

and whats a good SAFE CHEAP motel, preferably with a low weekly rate to save money convenient to public transportation right there nearby, or at least a very small cabfare. please dont list motels that charge big money such as the nice places. LOL

and also if i arrived at the wrong time and neither the high or the hilow omaha was going, what could i find going for holdem NL structures and buyins?

hopefully someone will be nice enough to answer me before saturday when i will be leaving los angeles when my weeks stay at this motel ends.

Though I've lived in this area for fifteen years, I know nothing about public transportation, taxis, nor motels. I have a house and a car and have never had to look into these things. Sorry I can't help you there.

But I know about the card games. Generally, the NL structures for the games that go every day, all day, are these: $1$/2 blinds with $100 max buyin, $2/$3 blinds with $300 max buyin, and $5/$10 with no max buyin. I've never been in there during normal hours when all three of these games were not going strong. Sometimes the bigger players will start a $10/$20 game which plays very big, but there has to be the right mix of guys there at the right time. They've been trying to fill a $2/$5 game with a $500 max buyin, but there hasn't been much interest in that, since people that can afford that game tend to buy in short to the 5/10 instead, or just play 2/3.

Last weekend there was an interesting game going when I got there. Half NLHoldem, half PLO. Blinds were 5/10 for holdem, 5/5 for PLO. No cap on the buyin. I played in it for about 5 or 6 hours, and it was fantastic. They're going to try to get this game going regularly on Fridays starting at 11am, and also whenever the regulars can get it going.

I sure hope they are still playing PL BigO on Thursday nights because I'm coming by.

Thinking about playing the deepstack tourney at players tomorrow. Have played the Fri rebuy a few times but not crazy about the structure. Anyone been playing this? Wondering how big the field usually is and what the payout structure is like.

They normally get about 40-50 runners for this one with 1st being around $1k. Gl.

When is the best time to find a limit game?

I'd try looking about five years ago.

Seriously, if by "limit" you mean limit holdem, it's dead at the players casino. 4/8 limit holdem was the bread and butter game at the old club for years and years, but that gradually got choked out by the (apparently) more exciting low limit capped NL games, with 1/2 and 2/3 blinds. We had robust 6/12 and 8/16 limit holdem games, and even sustained 10/20 for a while back in '05 or '06. Every once in a while you can still find an interest list for 4/8 turn into an actual poker game, but it's pretty rare these days.

We tried to encourage a 15/30 holdem game at the new place last fall to attract some of the bigger gamblers, and it went a few times but it quickly died because everyone who can afford those stakes mostly seems to just want to play NL and PLO. It's sad, really.

But if by "limit" you mean "any game with a limited betting structure, not just holdem", then you're in luck. They still spread 3/6 Big O (five card Omaha/8) daily, and 6/12 runs pretty regularly as well.

belloc

Was in Ventura for 7 days ending last week. Motel only a mile away from the cardroom, so I was there a lot. Getting there was faster than walking across the street in LV.

I was the only "tourist" in the room as everyone else was a local/regular.

Great fun in the "Big O" game. My first time playing in the new (car dealership) facility. Much nicer than the old downtown-ish place -- more tables, better equipment and supplies, better parking, etc etc. Players very friendly and dealers MUCH better than I expected. One player said he had played at the old club since 1963 and he had some great stories about old time CA poker.
Top notch brush (Stacey) seemed to be able to handle the whole room of players and tables by herself with no problem. Have see many rooms where multiple people could not keep up with it.
Excellent floorman was on duty several of the evenings --did not get his name, but he had worked at Splash when it opened in Tunica. One time he makes a ruling in a NL game and a player wants to contest it. Wants to argue about various possibilities and arcane theoretical differences. (typical NL goof) Floorman is patient and tries to be helpful even though the game has come to a standstill for a few minutes.

Its so refreshing to be pleasantly surprised by a new poker room. Its usually just the reverse. I'll go back in July.

I was a prop player at the now-defunct Ash St. Card Club in downtown Ventura from 1994-1997.

some one there say hello to the newer dealer chelse from me. she is from my hometown in montana.

When I was playing sunday morning I heard someone mention they were going to try and set up a 4-8 limit game (no kill) next sunday at 2pm.

Biggest limit game north of LA is in Grover Beach, CA. Usually 10-20 on Saturday and I think Wednesday too. 6-12 on Friday. www.slopoker.com

Nice small room.

Well managed, good vibe, better mix of people than commerce/bike games. Action isn't as great.

tl; dr

i had a chance to check out the new Player's Casino the other day. i got there at about 10pm, and i noticed when i walked in that a sign in the window posted the hours of operation that were NOT 24/7, and that it would be closing at 1am that night. pretty unusual for a printing press to shut down voluntarily, so i assumed that it had something to do with their permit conditions.

anyway, i immediately got a seat in 2/3nl and doubled up within about 5 minutes, when i was 4-bet shoved on by KJo and my QQ held. i had also put my name down for Big-O, as i do like omaha and i had never played the 5-card variation of 8 or better. i figured it would provide that many more ways to lose after flopping the nuts (which is generally a death sentence in omaha, much less 5 card omaha). anyway, i took the BigO seat and proceeded to run like death for a rack or two until the tides turned and i scooped a few and won some other pots as well -- ended up a small winner before the game broke about 20 minutes before closing time.

i jumped in an open seat of 1-2nl for the last 20 minutes of the night. it was evident that people were looking to gambooooool and to go double or nothing on their last buy ins. i think the last 30 minutes before closing time of a poker room can be the most profitable but also the most volatile. i lost a couple smaller pots, then i won a decent pot by making the nut flush, which i am notoriously bad at making.

and then they made the announcement: "Two more hands." ok. cool. i booked a win in 3 different games in less than 3 hours here, so i'm happy. but i might as well look at these last two hands.
ok, J8o -- fold.

"Last Hand!"

i was UTG+1, and had chips in the rack ready to cash out. UTG limps and i look down at AA !! Oh Noooooo! just what i need, players with their absolute last chance of the night to get even or at least closer to even, looking to score a big pot.

i raise to $25, which is totally out of my normal game plan to open so large. a spewy rich guy who i played with at BigO called in the small blind and the UTG limper called. flop was 994. pretty good flop for a massively raised pot and the (hopefully) narrow ranges that i was up against.

they both check to me and i bet $60. older guy calls, UTG folds. turn is the J. great (sarcasm meter alert) card for me. of course the flush completes. he open shoves the turn. i'm getting a great price, so i call and he says, "Can you beat a pair of Aces?" i'm thinking "no, but at least we chop."

boom, dealer puts down the river K. that makes 4 clubs on the board and i have two red aces. if he also has pocket AA, i lose. ugh. i knew it !!

he rolls over AsKh for an airball that rivered top pair. whew! that was a close one.



anyway - it was a nice place with some pretty damn good action. i would definitely return if i'm ever in the area again.

What PLO hi games have been running lately?

when i was there last week it was a 5-5 no cap plo game

Went by for a little bit this afternoon and it was really busy. Kind of thought I'd see a couple of empty tables around 1pm, but the place was full. It looks like the restaurant and bar should open up any time now. It isn't quite open for sit down yet, but the food truck is gone and they're serving food out of their kitchen now and of more significance they're now selling alcohol. I've loved playing here since they opened but been looking forward to the games getting even better now that people can start drinking when they play. Also hoping that the restaurant and bar brings more casual players to the games. Should be great though.

Do they ever run 10/20nl?

Ever? I guess, since I've seen interest lists, but I couldn't tell you if its at all regular.
I'm going tonight and will look out.

@Lucid: The 5-10 NL there plays huge. No cap, bigger than you're standard 10-20 NL game. 6 out of 9 players straddle.

Ok thanks,

How many 5/10s do they have on a random Tue afternoon/evening? How many on a random Fri or Sat afternoon/evening?

Restaurant and bar now open. Traffic definitely seemed up on Friday, some people were absolutely hammered, and people appeared to be playing longer than usual. Nice to be able to put your name on the list (tell her you'll be in the bar), and have the bartender notify you when you're called.

Favorite play of the night was at 2/3, cutoff guy raised w/ 25dd, hit a straight on the turn, and took down a $500-600 pot, sending loser (w/ high pocket pair) into megatilt. 5/10 did appear to have several tables open, but 1/2 dominated the landscape.

it good to see some places still having bigger and action games. usaully have to be near a money area for that.

the trend is for the games to get smaller and smaller again. i think that is a factor of the much higher rakes nowadays, and players find it too hard to get over the hump and move up in poker.

How many tables does the Players club spread on normal Thursday-Saturday nights?

Also, what are the buy-ins for the different games?