Waits look long but it's mostly call ins

Hey guys, new on these forums, normally don’t come onto places like these, but no other resort because I’m confused and don’t know where else to go. Does anyone know when tournaments are coming back to the Bay Area? Things seem to be moving as slow as molasses! I’d bet $500 that the first place to throw a tournament will get 500 people wanting to play in it! It’s been what, 2 years? For an old guy like me, that used to be my only sources of entertainment! What’s going on?!? I seem to remember Lucky Chances and Oaks having some good tournaments.

Thanks, please let me know, it’s my only source of socializing. And you can call me Scatman for short. Thank you.

Manager at LC tells me no tournaments planned until 2022. Tournaments generally a money loser for card rooms vs cash games. With dealer shortages, they need to have dealers on OT already (or close to it) just to fill cash games. And LC already has fewer dealers than they need at peak times, so tournaments just not a priority

I went to the Oaks on Friday afternoon. Plexiglass partitions are down and tables are nine-handed. But there are still only seven tables being used, masks are still required for everyone, there remains a non-contact temperature test at the door, and the restaurant remains closed.

Ah, I guess a lot of those guys are still on unemployment.

It took about 20 minutes because they called. 2/5 no game and drew a lot of people from 1/3. This was @10pm on a Thursday.

Just wondering, can I find consistent 10/20 or 10/25 or bigger at Bay 101 now?

Also can you open a box easily or deposit into membership card?

Thanks

There's one big table that runs everyday. Just call in to see what is playing. Most days it's 2/3/5 Deep Stack with a $10 kill. I think Monday and Wednesdays they run a 2/3/5 Monster Stack with a $10/$20 kill. $5000 max buy in. Recently that might have been converted to a 5/5/10 (+kill) $7500 max buy in game. Haven't seen a 10/25 officially run, but have played in $40 kill games on Friday.

Boxes are still available and needs a shift manager's approval. I think you have to be a known reg to get one though.

Thank you

Was at the Oaks the other day. Place was poppin'/almost returned to it's former/great self! Omaha was back and was told tournaments are coming back soon as well. Restaurant and bar (who would have thought?!) - as well. I, personally, am looking forward - many great times at the Oaks!

How can they spread tournaments when they are limited to nine tables?

Maybe case counts have peaked, but if I ran the zoo, I would want to wait a week or two to be sure, and maybe even wait until case counts drop back down to June levels before expanding any further.

Damn county.

Reporting from Thunder right now - someone 5 mins late to the tourney was placed as 99th alternate. Alternates looking at 3 hour wait to get in, prize pool projects to be 100K, 400 people showed up to play. Bay Area venues would be making a killing right now, players have been rearingÂ’ to play tournies and have been for a while now.

Wait - in what way would they be limited to 9 tables? Governor Newsom ended the state Covid restrictions (except for the mask mandate) back in June . . . And why would the hofbrau be closed?

Also, it been a month since your post and three months since June . . . Why is it taking so long when there are no more restrictions? Thanks, and I appreciate you sharing if you know why.

When I first talked to a shift manager in early June, that person told me that, although the state's restrictions were being lifted on 6/15, they were awaiting guidance from CalOSHA on, from the point of view of employee safety, they could expand their activities. Not long after that, the plexiglass barriers came down, available poker tables expanded from seven to nine, and seating expanded from eight players to nine players per table. Masks for everyone inside the building were still required, and all people entering the building had to pass a non-contact temperature check.

The hofbrau is closed, obviously, because it is a hofbrau: a steam-table restaurant where patrons line past the food to pick out what they are ordering to eat. This is not the most sanitary way to serve food.

It is absolutely not the case that there are no more restrictions. Since that time, as you would be aware if you were paying attention, there has been another wave of cases primarily due to the Delta variant, surging in August. In response, many California cities and counties, including Alameda County, re-imposed the indoor mask mandate for all businesses. The county mask mandate remains in place. Case counts are dropping, but they have not returned to the levels of the early summer.

I do not know where the determination to limit poker tables at the Oaks to nine (and to limit a comparable number of Asian-game tables) has come from. It might be handed down by the county public health department. It might be handed down by CalOSHA. It might simply be a decision made by John and/or Cole Tibbetts, the owners, based on their own evaluation of the safety of their employees and their customers.

I was at Artichoke Joe's last night. The parking lot was surprisingly full for a Monday, but only five tables are dedicated to poker these days. The vast majority of the casino is now California/Asian games like Blackjack, Baccarat, Pai Gow, etc. They had one $20/$40 game going and three $6/$12 games going. The five poker tables are in a narrow alley between the main casino floor and the restaurant/bar. There's also a Double-Hand table in that alley, though it was not in use while I was there.

Tables are 8-handed with plexiglass. You're supposed to wear masks except when actively eating or drinking, but I saw several players not wearing their masks properly and no real enforcement of the rule. I guess if you're a dealer (or floor) and your income depends on tips, you're not going to give regs a hard time. And it's such a small poker room at this point that pretty much everyone is a reg.

The action in my $6/$12 game was mixed. There were lots of chops preflop and soft play among friends. Many players seemed reluctant to raise or reraise preflop with top-10 hands; at the same time, players are happy to cold-call raises with just about any two cards. One player liked to straddle when he was UTG; he won several large pots with hands like T3o that he never would have played otherwise. Another player got tilted when his pocket QQs got beaten by low suited connectors that made a flush. I saw a lot of mediocre play overall but occasional big pots. I won a $260 pot at the end of my short session to book a $200 win.

I started playing at AJs in the mid-90s, when half the casino floor was poker. Over time I've seen a gradual shrinkage in the number of tables devoted to poker. Before the pandemic, it was down to 10 or 12. On a busy Friday or Saturday night, they might have two or three $3/$6 games running, three to five $6/$12 games, two or three $20/$40 games, and maybe one no-limit game. Now it seems they're using the pandemic as an excuse to cut back on poker even further.

The other big change: They now play music on the casino floor. Soft rock, or mellow versions of classic rock songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Things like "Sunshine on My Shoulders" by John Denver and "Running in the Shadows" by Fleetwood Mac. There was even a Simon & Garfunkel song, though I forget which one. The volume wasn't too loud. I thought it would bother me, but all the songs were really mellow, almost soothing. I wonder if the playlist is designed to placate gamblers while they're losing, so they stay and continue to lose.

Is the 2/3/5 NL at the Oaks worth playing during a weekday? Or should I just go to Bay 101?

It's about an additional 20min drive to Bay 101 which is why if the game is decent I wouldn't mind going to the closer location for the convenience. Also a plus if the game plays bigger. Ideally would like to play 10/20 or 25/50 but don't think they spread those around here though I'm not sure as I haven't ventured out in a very long time.

I haven't played any NL at Bay 101 since before they changed locations, so I can't say how those games compare to the Oaks.

I would say that the daytime games are good but not great, but that the evening games (after about roughly 8PM) are excellent.

One thing about the 2-3-5 game is that more often than not it is played with a "winner straddle": the winner of the previous pot, by table consensus, posts the straddle $10 for the next hand. It makes the game play like 2-3-5-10, except that the straddle, which can be in any seat depending in the previous hand, changes the preflop position and table dynamic dramatically. Buy-in cap for the game is $1000, so when the straddle is on, people can be playing with 100bb stacks.

Thanks for the info that's very helpful. I think the Bay has a similar game with the exception of the any position straddle and you can buy in up to 1500 and a level above that where it's capped at 7500.

The any position straddle aspect sounds kind of fun and I may give it a shot despite the buy in being a bit restrictively shallow.

Drop in tomorrow if you want some free money.

Changed my mind and just went to Bay 101. Currently only running 3 tables of 2/3/5 ($200 - $800 buy in) with 4 on the list.

I put my name on the board for the 2/3/5 deep stack ($500 - $3k buy in) but I'm the only name so far. Probably just an evening game which is too bad.

M8trix only taking callins Sun-Thurs apparently. That was a weird phone call.

also believe they only take call ins until 4 pm weekdays

Hey guys, I'm visiting the bay area and have a couple questions.

1) Which casinos regularly run PLO cash games? Normal PLO not Hi/Lo. Doesn't matter if its in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, wherever.

2) This is related to the above, but how do I find out what's happening in bay area casinos? I don't see Oaks, Bay 101, M8trix, etc. on bravo poker and poker atlas doesn't seem to have live updates. Is there any way to tell what games are currently running without doing some boomer **** like driving down there in person or calling them on the phone?

Don't know about PLO, but yeah the only way is to just call them and ask. No apps unfortunately. Which is kind of ironic given the location.

M8trix has live games on their website

https://www.casinom8trix.com/games/

M8trix seems to be running a 5/10 PLO game at this present moment

No cardroom want to pay Bravo for promotion, which is all the listings are, when they're packed, with long lists.