There is a separate thread on the Oaks in this subforum, with over 1,000 posts made since November 2011:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...le-ca-1125254/
That thread has lots of information about what games they spread and what's good to eat there.

The issue of safety in the area comes up frequently. See post #895 for a helpful reply. If you take an Uber or taxi there or use valet parking, you should be fine. I sometimes park a block or two down Park Street (toward Pixar headquarters), and I feel perfectly safe walking to my car in the wee hours of the morning.

Is it mostly local regs? Yes, but "local" includes people who live in San Francisco, the peninsula, and Marin as well as the East Bay.

Oops forgot to use the search function... thanks for the info & directing me to the thread!

I'll be travelling to the bay area for business in a couple weeks and decided to check Bravo, and was surprised to see so few of the bay-area casinos not listed - parkwest, livermore, california grand, bay 101, palace - none of them are on there.

Anyone happen to know the reason for that?

Is there a way to check the action in the rooms before getting there without bravo (other than calling them all one at a time)?

if i were to proffer a theory about the bravo question: when you have a duopoly in a market as with bay and matrix, it is a disadvantage to get on bravo first. if a player sees that the waiting list is particularly long, he might head to the other casino first to see if the situation is better, and if it's no better or worse, he will stay at that casino while he monitors the situation online. in other words, it's generally more useful to be physically present at the casino without bravo. once you have a critical mass like in Vegas, where most casinos are on bravo, you're at a disadvantage if you are not on bravo, as many customers will exclude you from consideration.

palace very much caters to locals who call in to the poker desk on a first-name basis.

the other far-off casinos probably would gain nothing from advertising the seating situation when they are two hours away from most of their client-base.

A few years ago I had a conversation with the GM of the Oaks about this. He told me he didn't want a player to check Bravo only to find that the game he wanted to play wasn't running, and then not come; he wanted that player to show up and play one of the games that was running.

He also told me that he and the GMs of the other Bay Area card rooms had communicated about this and were in agreement. The implication was that if one of them got on Bravo, they'd all have to follow suit to stay competitive.

The only card room within 50 miles of San Francisco that's on the Bravo app is Graton Casino, which is in Sonoma County. Technically, that's within the nine-county Bay Area, but it's a long way from the major cities and airports (San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose).

No, not really. You mostly play low-stakes LHE and Omaha, right? Here are some options to consider*:

Bay 101 in San Jose has $4/$8 and $8/$16 LHE and $8/$16 Omaha. Both those $8/$16 games are played with a half kill.

Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno (very close to SFO) has $3/$6 and $6/$12 LHE but hasn't spread an Omaha game in at least 5 years.

Lucky Chances in Colma (just south of San Francisco) has $3/$6 LHE and $4/$8 Omaha with a half kill. The action isn't great, in my view (passive play, small pots), but there are a ton of promotions: jackpots, aces cracked, rack attacks, and high hand bonuses for quads, straight flushes, and Aces full of Kings during specified hours.

The Oaks in Emeryville has $3/$6 and $6/$12 LHE and $6/$12 Omaha with a one-third kill. The action is outstanding in the $6/$12 games—that's my preferred place to play.

The California Grand in Pacheco has the same games as the Oaks, but they will never open more than one Omaha table, not even with 40 names on the waiting list. The last time I went there, I waited 5-1/2 hours to get into an Omaha game.

Casino Graton has $4/$8 LHE and either $4/$8 Omaha with a half kill or $6/$12 Big O with a two-thirds kill (the latter usually runs Friday and Saturday).

I would say choose where you want to go based on proximity (to your hotel and/or workplace) and the games offered, then read the dedicated thread(s) on the venue(s) that most interest you for further info. You will find plenty of action every day and night of the week at all of the above rooms.

I also recommend a thread called "Is the Oaks 6-12 beatable?" for further info on the Oaks in particular and Bay Area LHE in general:
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...able-1702984/?

Hope this helps. Have fun and good luck to you!

*All of the rooms I've listed have NLHE games; some of them have LHE games at higher stakes like $20/$40. I've tried to focus on (a) your wheelhouse and (b) those rooms I've actually played in.

Your theory is sound, though your duopolistic view of the (San Francisco) Bay Area is oddly San Jose-centric. I've lived in the Mission District of San Francisco for 24 years. Artichoke Joe's, Lucky Chances, and the Oaks are all within 10.5 miles of my house. For me, Bay 101 is a far-off casino at 43.7 miles away.

Damn dude, thanks! You've been consistently giving me awesome advice and help, and it's appreciated! If you happen to see me, I'll buy you a beer!

I'll PM you.

Most of the cardrooms are usually packed, so there's no need to pay for advertising (Bravo). The other aspect of Bravo is tracking play for comps, and comps are not allowed in San Jose by law.

There's almost always plenty of games running. The two San Jose rooms usually have long lists in the evening, 2 or 3 hours or more on Friday nights.

hey guys-whats the biggest nl/plo/mix that runs in the bay area these days?
going to be in town for work in a couple weeks and was wondering...
does 10/25-50/100+ nl/plo
or
40/80-200/400 mix run anywhere?

As you could see from Pokeratlas (https://www.pokeratlas.com/poker-cash-games/sf-bay-area) The biggest NLHE games in the area are the 10-25 game at Casino M8trix and the 10-20 game at Bay 101. These have no buy-in caps. The other no-cap games in the area include the 1-2-2 game at the Palace, which plays small unless a whale is throwing money around and the 5-10 game at Lucky Chances.

There are 5-5 PLO games at M8trix and Lucky Chances. The M8trix game has a 2K buyin cap; the Lucky Chances game is uncapped.

No mix games to speak of; Bay Area players haven't discovered them yet.

thank you!

They used to run big NL games at Graton in the north bay sometimes too.

Bay Area Poker Strategy: Discussions focusing on local play

What we're about

This is a group for anyone interested in advancing their poker skills through discussions, hand analyzing, professional instructional videos, and much more. The focus of the group is to learn through each other and apply our learnings to live local cash games and tournaments. I have experience running and facilitating a poker education camp in the past and have always wanted to facilitate a small group. This group is not intended to meet and play poker and is only intended for educational purposes. There will be opportunities for all members to review their recent hands and discuss them amongst the group. I encourage everyone to join with an open mind and a willingness to learn from others.

We will meet on a regular basis at a safe and quiet venue. The success of the group is up to the individual contributors. Consider the group as a think tank for poker players. The only requirement is that you know Texas Hold’em rules and basic game theory.

Topics:

• Money management

• Note-taking

• Identifying leaks in your game

• Exploiting weak players

• Stack sizing

• Hand ranges

• Profiling your opponents

• And more...

Check your ego at the door, this is a group of many levels of experience and poker knowledge.

“The name of the game is no-limit Texas Hold’em, the game that takes a minute to learn but a lifetime to master.” - Mike Sexton

Face-to-face meetups are so twentieth-century. Got a Discord server?

What happened to the bigger games at M8trix?
They used to have 5-5-10-20 and 10-25 multiple times a week. Don't see those anymore. Everyone moved to Bay101? All the whales disappeared?

Yeah I moved further away. Also I prefer Bay 101.

I didn't move; Bay 101 did.

IIRC there was a host for the big M8trix games. Maybe he got enticed elsewhere.

As of 22 January, the Oaks has been offering $1 (on the button) - $2 - $3 No-Limit Hold'em. $100 minimum, $500 maximum buy-in. Drop in a full game is $5+$1 (just like in the 2-3-5). I didn't look closely to see what the drop is for short games, but I would guess it is the same as for the larger game.

Concurrently the minimum buy-in in the 2-3-5 game has been raised from $100 to $200.

The 1-1-2 has the same structure as ever.

I was in the club tonight (Thursday, 30 January), and they had at least two tables each of all three games going. I spent most of the evening in a 1-2-3 game that started shortly after I arrived. The games went strong, and the players were weak.

This is good news especially for the players for whom the 1-1-2 is just a bit small but who find the 2-3-5 game tough to play when the winner straddle is on and the game becomes effectively a 5-10 game.

The increased minimum buy-in for the 2-3-5 game is also good news, because it makes the problem of shortstackers rather less drastic. With 40bb they actually have to play two or more streets.

Awesome thanks for this update I havent been over there in awhile but Ill def check this out. Oakland has some live ones for sure

Hello SF Bay People Just thought I would introduce myself to this sub thread.

I am in San Francisco, specifically Inner Sunset, if anyone in SF might want to grab a brew it would be cool to talk about hands.

[edit]

I also try to play at Lucky Chances on Tuesday's since the 200$ Buyin makes it a little bit sweeter,

Cheers

I'm in Oakland and don't get out to the Sunset that often. But your ACR handle looked familiar, and it turns out that we've played a few hands in 10NL about a year an a half ago.

Never played at Oaks, but now other than Livermore Casino that's the closest place to me. What's the max buy in for 2/3/5? And you say it's really a 2/3/5/10? Or is that a separate game?

just sounds like they auto-straddle