I am going to LA for a few days in January, and I was was wondering what is the best place to play there.
I am interested in a Limit holdem games, anywhere from 4-8 to 10-20. I will be living in Sherman Oaks.
Any advice is appreciated.

umm.... low stakes LHE? Pretty much everywhere. LA is limit poker MECCA!!!!!!1!!!!!2

thats nice, but where close to sherman oaks? rake, competition, etc.

Commerce.

Closest to Sherman Oaks is probably Hollywood Park. I've never played there though, so I don't know how often what games are spread or what the competition is like. Commerce is a farther, but might be worth the extra drive due to better game selection.

There is no rake in California. There is drop instead - at the lower stakes $4-$5 (regardless of pot size) plus a $1 BBJ. There is usually some type of modified ($1-$2) drop if there is no flop.

This, all the 4/8 & 8/16 you can handle...

The Bicycle will have about 8 tables total of 4/8 and 8/16.

Hawaiian gardens has a lot of tables too, maybe slightly less than commerce but more than bike.

Where would be the best place to start playing $1/$2 NL? I just moved to LA and just started figuring out "the scene."

1/2 you say?

They're all the same. $40 buyin, shove fest

L.A. is kind of big. Where in L.A.? I live in Orange County, so play a lot in North San Diego where you can actually find 1/2 for 100BBs.

Here's a spreadsheet of low stakes where I play from Commerce south into San Diego: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...Vptd0pKMjZIMmc

Good luck!

Don't waste your money trying to play 1-2, 2-3NL in LA. You can't beat the rake. Either move to Vegas or just keep saving money and take shots at 2-5/3-5/5-5.

In LA that's the minimum game you can play and even have a shot at building a roll. The rake is just too big.

The main places to play are Commerce, The Bike, Hollywood Park, Hustler, and Hawaiian Gardens.
The following are from memory last time I played, but doubt they have changed.

Commerce has 2-3NL w/ $100 min/max buy-in, 3-5 $200, 5-10 $400 or $500-$1500.

Bike: 2-3 $300 max, 3-5 $500 max, 5-10 no cap.

HP: 2-3 $100, 3-5 $200, 5-5 $300-$500, 5-10 no cap.

HG: 2-3 $100, 3-5 $300, 5-10 $500-$1k.

Hey guys,
Went to Commerce. Took me a while to get there because I went too late and hit the traffic, but well worth the drive.
Great place!!! Want to move to LA just because of it now
People are different then where I play. Maybe it was the table, but you don’t see as may ******s (not talking about poker skills) as where I am from. Food is good and cheap, cards were coming in like there is no tomorrow (there was no tomorrow, only went there once). Pretty much paid for the whole trip with winnings.
So thanks for great advice to whoever suggested Commerce.

Guys, I'm working on a website (directory) of California Casinos and poker rooms. Any suggestions on what I should add or remove? Remember, it's a work in progress. Thank!

Casinos in California

Just copy this

http://california.casinocity.com/

Thanks! That's a good resource. I want to add a poker rooms section definitely because that's the main reason I'm working on the site.

try Hustler...it's prolly the most "Vegas" looking casino in cali. during the weekends there are at least 8 tables of 4/8 and 8/16...however, both are 1/2 kill games. the 4/8 only has one blind too.

Limit holdem 4/8 (kill is fine).

Is rake any less that $5 at Bicycle or Gardens .. will be on Saturday ..

Commerce is fine but god the rake .. !!!

Play is so bad that it is beatable .. but might want to try another spot. Have to make it count with gas at 4.30 .. just kidding but don't want to get there at 9:00 and wait to 12:00 for a table ..

Suck it up and go to commerce or is there another place I should try.

Landing at LAX Sunday around noon and have to be in Thousand Oaks at around 6PM. If you wanted to try to play a few hours of low limit Omaha 8 where would you go?

Have a rental car so transpo not an issue.

Well - land at noon, take an hour to get out of LAX and to your rental car, somewhere around 30 minutes to drive out to Thousand Oaks - leaves you about 4 hours to get to a casino and play. The closest casino is Hollywood Park. Not sure they spread O8. Commerce is at least 30 minutes of extra driving....

I'm planning to spend a few days in the LA card rooms and I need '
a hotel room that is livable, in a reasonable safe place, and relatively
inexpensive. And by livable, I mean at or above motel 6 quality.

I am not expecting Compton to have such digs, but I am willing to
drive up to about an hour if necessary.

Since I am also planning to visit Ocean's 11, something down south
along the I-5 would be ideal.

Any suggestions.

Do the card rooms have player rates? If so, how good
and does it depend on what I am playing?

went to Hawaiian gardens recently, i got to say, the casino is massive, much bigger than i thought, the place was packed on a monday night and there were about 12-15 3-5 NL games going, action was very juicy, however i didn't like that this casino is the only one i have been to where your allowed to keep racks on the table (everyone was doing this in the omaha tables)

Overall, the best action is found at Commerce and the Garden. The nicest casino is Hustler.

got referred here from B&M and am copy pasting both posts


i'll do my best to make this as short as possible, although i'm pretty bad at that lol. i live in southern california, at the moment in orange county. last year i got a dui (technically my 2nd, joke 10 year law) 6 days before black friday. merge is ok i guess, but is still a far fall from the glory days of ftp and stars. i never really outed myself, never really went out of my way to meet a large number of people in the community, and generally really enjoyed the anonymity that comes w/ poker, especially playing online. it never really mattered that much to me either, i just went everywhere alone anyways. last few trips out to the wsop, other side events around socal, up north. it was never a problem, i dont mind the driving. but now, i can't drive. it's very difficult to make it to any of the surrounding casinos / side games without a car, and i dont excatly have a ton of friends who grind poker that want to hit up a card club for numerous hours on end, or for a tournament that could potentially last all night. the bus & train combo is a complete nightmare and always take hours involving at least one missed connector due to lag; & they dont even run in the middle of the night when most of the better action in the games dries up. wtf to do at 3am on wednesday etc


looking for some people interested in hitting up some of the local casinos and or side games, for tournaments and cash, that don't mind driving. obviously i can throw in on the gas.





^both are two of the casinos i'm talking about (commerce & the bike), and the ones i play at the most. the 3rd would be hawaiian gardens, which is probably the easiest to get to (only need 2 busses), but still a nightmare. and i'm still left holdin my *&^% at like 3 or 4am. and cutting the session short at like 11:30 is just
drunks gonna drunk and i enjoy staying around for that

typically to get to commerce, i need to take a train walk and catch a bus, maybe two. the bike is the same but add on at least one more bus ride.

plus, if one bus is even like 5-10 min late (its more surprising for them to be on time) then you're left standing around waiting for the next one just to stand around waiting for another missed connector and can exponentially increase the time it takes to get there. try doing that in the rain. NOT fun, i can assure you. i dont mind walking, but ffs i live in fullerton. it's like 20 miles to the commerce, and a $50 cab ride each way (have done it more than once)


i just feel like it can't possibly be that difficult to find someone w/ similar interests who's willing & able to go on some grind trips.




reply / pm me if anyone's willing to help or in a similar situation. thanks in advance

how far above "inexpensive" can you go? motel 6 rooms m-f are advertised at $49.99 per night generally but the large motel 6 by LAX is more than that. crystal park (the casino in compton) is inside of a hotel as is the commerce. personally, i would stay at a nice hotel close to LAX then take the quick drive down century blvd to hollywood park casino. (the casino is less than 4 miles from LAX.)

but if push comes to shove, the hacienda hotel is a mile from lax, right off the 105 fwy. i'd say it's a step above a motel 6 but below a radisson or sheraton. listed price is $74 per night.

http://www.expedia.com/Los-Angeles-H...-30461&rm1=a2&

the radisson is one block from LAX and much closer to hollywood park casino. also a much nicer hotel but it runs $125 per night.

http://www.expedia.com/Los-Angeles-H...lt&rfrr=-30461

there are many other "generic brand" motels on century blvd but i would stay away from those. on late night drives to hollywood park i have seen prostitutes walking towards and around those particular motels

I am curious to find out why you dont play more often at the Garden if that is the closest casino to you?

I do play at hg. Quite frequently actually. The staff setting food and accommodations are all infinitely much better at the commerce. While I dont see eye to eye with everything at the bike, it's still a much better spot as well. Also, 'easier' still involves at min 2 buses and the dreaded 'now what' from 11p-5a for bus schedule. Its the least desirable spot to play of the three by a pretty decent margin imo. There are a ton of Degens at hg, but they're every place else already.
I guess I'm down to try out Hollywood park, heard the games good there too but never been.