I have gone to crystal about 6 times and they have never ran more than 2 tables of poker including limit, no limit, plo, etc.

I would say the playing field is soft but because most buy in at the minimum, it is difficult to make money. Parking is far compared to other casinos and its pretty easy to get robbed. I lived in cpt for a few years so i know.

It is worth the drive to Hustler, garden, commerce, or Bike. IMO

I drive past the hustler to go to Crystal because of the action there. And they always a have a security guard in the parking lot at night so you wont get robbed. They also get normally 3-5 games running and bigger games are starting to become more regular.

Just FWIW in the 1/2 game there i have been making $20+/hour which is better then any other blue chip game in the city

IDK how comfortable i'd feel in that area though. Especially considering my car is kinda flashy.

The way the casino is was built is the major problem. The casino parking lot seems to have a lot of through traffic to stores located next to casino. Another problem is parking is not immediately next to casino unless you valet. Lastly, because of the limited size there is only one "guard" in the parking lot which I believe is unarmed. With all that being said, crystal is probably not more shady than normandie or hollywood park. I personally have not seen the action necesarry to warrant going there rather than gardens, bike, commerce, or hustler.

IMO

Well I would suggest trying it out and I feel like you will be pleasantly surprised.

Just my .02

Seems like the bike 2/3 game is the best around. Is the drop the same in all these games?

This.

Plus bike free food at 100/300

Drop is $4+1.$1 modified drop if no flop. HG 's 2/3game is the same. Commerce's 2/3 is $4+1 with $1+1 modified drop. The issue with HG and Commerce is the $100 max buyin at the 2/3 game. I haven't played the other LA casinos.

I went with 2+2's decision and decided to venture off to Hustler last night.

The buy-in was enough for fish to shove every other hand, but enough for me to fold weak hands, and maximize profits with big hands since there was always action..

The end result

This was the 1/3 game I presume?

Yes

I have played at Hustler more than any other casino and it has the best poker environment(friendly people, atmosphere, staff, decor, etc). The problem is fishes are allowed to buy in $50(blinds 1/3). For most poker players this makes no sense but at least half buy in at that amount. So most decisions are preflop, especially if its a new table. On the plus side players are softer there than other casinos(less grinders). Overall, I would not recommend playing at Hustler to grind since the $50 buy in makes pots smaller.

This is from years of playing at Hustler.

IMHO.

I like HG as well. Mainly because it's closest to me, the action is almost always good, and the food is pretty solid as well. The 2/3 and 3/5 are becoming almost equal in talent, with maybe 1 or 2 thinkers countered by 1 or 2 older, spew/draw at any cost dudes. I've had ridiculous win rates over the last 3 yrs there, but low sample size b/c of my real job (maybe that's a good thing tho lol).

The drop and starting stack sizes, esp in the 2/3 are gross, but can be adapted to. And the BBJ is the biggest in town, w/ 100k every other hour (I've been in two). To the poster who mentioned straddling, are you sure about that? I was there last night and they let you blind raise, but no straddle. I think they change their minds about every 2 weeks

Anyway, I know HG gets a bad rap on this site, but the Friday tourney is butter (used to be bigger, but still not bad), and most of the tables are fun and profitable.

Just keep your head on a swivel walking out with any kind of score

Garden has the best jackpots in so cal, its my number one spot when they run the daily cash drawings.

I guess it depends on taste but food is gross nor free.