http://www.oakscardclub.com/tournaments_calendar.asp

New addition to the Bay Area poker database:

101 in Petaluma has a 1/2/3 PLO game running almost (and seemingly building toward) every day of the week. Usually starts mid afternoon. $500 max buy-in to start, but one can match largest stack if one chooses.
I haven't played in it myself, but I know all the players who do, so I can say from that, and anecdotal evidence, that the game is lively.

Bay101 has no flop $1 drop. CG is the only one with no flop full drop as far as I know.

I'm contemplating moving from NYC to California. I was thinking close to the San Fran area but I'm wondering whether LA might not be better for poker. What do you think? I would like to play poker after work, 3-4x a week. LA has Commerce, Bike, Hawaiian Gardens in a fairly close proximity. SF, at least downtown, really doesn't have something close. I've been to Bay 101 and Oak Clubs but they are a travel from downtown SF. I'm in IT so Silicon Valley and downtown SF are good candidates to find work.

From a poker perspective, what's the best 1/2, 2/5 games? LA or SF area?

If you think the Oaks Club is too far to drive from downtown SF, you probably oughtn't move to California.

Actually the one time I visited Oaks Club, I decided to use BART. It was like a mile walk to the club. Neighborhood was pretty bad. I doubt I would want to play there on a regular basis, especially if I had to leave at night.

One interesting thing was that I didn't realize Pixar was around the corner. Would have loved to stop by there.

There's a free shuttle called Emery Go Round that will take you to all the places in Emeryville that you actually want to go to.

LA has better poker by far, but honestly for IT you'd have to be really good at poker (or really bad at IT) for this decision to be driven by a hobby rather than your job/career.

Yeah, you're right about that. But I'm at the point in my life where I want a little more fun and willing to give up some of the salary for a while. I make well over 100k but it's a grind that I've done for 15 years. It's slim chance that I could ever replace that with poker.

If I decided on LA, where should I stay? That's the other concern. It's seem like LA has a lot of areas where you wouldn't want to live.

FWIW, the one time I tried to take the Emery Go Round from near the Oaks back to Macarthur BART at the end of the work day, it was full and wasn't picking up (the Oaks stop is near the end of the loop).

I did tell some 30/60 regs about taking BART when I arrived and they just started laughing at me and telling me about props getting mugged in the parking lot and taking bets on whether they'd see me alive again.

LOL 30/60 regs. Bunch of pussies IMO.

Regs should use the player's bank.

They're not pussies. Their fears are very well founded. Unfortunately, follow home robberies and muggings in the parking lot are part of the game at Oak's.

BTW, you think robbers keep track of who uses the player's bank and who doesn't? Moreover if you they rob you and you don't have cash to give them, they might just shoot you for that. It's not really about limiting monetary losses. In any robbery situation your life is on the line.

Let's just use the Socratic method on this one. Suppose follow home robberies and parking lot muggings are super common. Why is taking BART any worse than driving?

What say we get some Oaks regs in here to give their opinions? Preferably those who play 30/60.

I'm an Oaks reg, play the 200 max and 15/30

I mostly play during the day, and it's totally fine. I even feel comfortable riding my bike there as long as I leave during daylight. If it's nighttime I'll park in the valet or take a cab. People certainly do get mugged occasionally (I remember hearing about a dealer getting mugged a year ago or so), but he was parked outside the parking lot and it was late. Just use common sense.

Though I did once get the shuttle to drive me home, and the driver told me would wait till he saw me get inside, because he'd heard of people being followed home.

I use a players' bank and admit to feeling a little conspicuous if I carry 2-3 racks of yellow up to the cage, because that's more money than is on many of the tables, so I've taken to have the chiprunners log me in from the table.

I'd also be curious to hear from any regs who've actually had bad experiences themselves.

How does that work? So you have the dealer call the chiprunner for you. Chiprunner comes, counts your chips, takes chips, and makes a "credit" note on your "players bank account" somewhere? You probably tip the runner too, right?

Me too.

I think you will find very few, if any. Everyone talks about hearing of a guy or knows someone who once, but I have never heard of anyone themselves getting in any sort of trouble outside of the normal, everyday trouble that you find in any big city.

Since purplebliss isn't taking the trollbait, let me just point out that I'm a 30/60 reg, which is why I can say with some confidence that many regs are pussies. They're sheltered upper and uppermiddle class professionals who have never walked around Union Square after dark and hence have no concept of what is generally dangerous and what is specifically dangerous.

Absolutely don't stand outside the Oaks and count $3,000 in cash where the Black & White patrons can see you. Absolutely don't walk to BART half-drunk at midnight, no matter how much cash you have on you. Also don't do it at Cal Grand or Lucky Chances or Palace either. Also don't do it at Union Square or Jack London Square after dark either.

Leave your Pokerstars hoodie at home when you ride the BART, and nobody knows whether you're heAded to the Oaks for high stakes gambol or to Bay Street to whack off in the Barnes & Noble bathroom. Turn off the gd iPod and pay attention to your surroundings wherever you walk. Make a few unusual turns when driving home to see if you're being followed. Do this ALL the time if you live in a major urban area.

What say we simply not feed the troll?

What say we simply look at the facts?

http://www.alamedasun.com/index.php?...2605&Itemid=10

"This is the eighth robbery that has occurred in Alameda in the past 10 months and the 11th over the past two years where the victim appears to have just left the Oaks Card Club in Emeryville, or the San Pablo Casino."

And this is just reported robberies - almost certainly there are also unreported ones. If you say that such a high frequency of follow home robberies is normal or average for a casino - well, I guess we'll just have to disagree then. There are also muggings that are much more frequent.

I get robbed every time I play 30/60 at the Oaks.

Just because I end up with all your chips doesn't mean you got robbed.

I am flying to SF from Seattle in March to see the WBC championships and im staying a couple miles from AT&T park. Where would the closest casino (by taxi) or casino direct shuttle be to that area. I'll play either lhe, nl, or O8 i just want to get in a game, preferably in the mid limits. Also, i would like to avoid sketchy or unsafe scenes. Thanks for any info...

Will be visiting S.F. Bay Area in a few months, any low stakes games around?

no low stakes in the bay area; everyone's rich.

Here's a fact to look at: that news article you keep linking to is seven years old.

There is a spread sheet on first post will give you what you need.

Yeah, yeah, and do you have any evidence things got better? From what I'm hearing from players, staff (including security staff) things are not any better - in fact worse. But we must all be part of a widespread conspiracy to make Oaks look more dangerous than it really is (because we're racist of course), and I'm apparently the leader of it. You win, I retire from that position.

P.S. The article is 5 years old, not 7.