Essentially, which of these 3 markets has the most fish, thereby increasing a grinder's EV?

For Bay Area I'm mostly talking about Bay 101 and M8trix.

LA mostly Commerce

Vegas--anywhere

Laughlin, NV

I've never played in Vegas, but from my experience the Bay Area > LA. Bay Area has juicy 10-25 mon, wed, Friday, as well as a good 5/10/10 at bay 101 Mon and Wed, and a 10/20 at lucky chances on Thursdays

Even though commerce 10/20 is says running, the games aren't as good
Imo

gtk. tyvm

These are not accurate/current as far as bay area (feel free to pm me and I can get specific and/or answer any questions you have about the scene).

It's also not as simple as where are the most fish. You have to factor in many things like game availability/variety, rake, commute traffic, cost of living, ect.

Overall, I would say LA is the best place in the world to grind live cash. Bay area is great too, just not quite as good. Vegas is 3rd, but the cost of living (huge factor), traffic, rake are all soooo much less than LA or Bay. So it really just depends, and is much more complicated than simply easiest games means most profitable place to play.

I would recommend you tell us roughly what limits you want to play.

low stakes, Vegas hands down

mid stakes, LA

Not only limits, but also lifestyle.

Let's say there's a juicy game that runs from 8pm to 4am Thu-Sat, but you need to sit through rush hour traffic to not get blocked out and give up your entire weekend social life.

Or, you can take a moderately profitable game which allows you to drop off kids at daycare and pick them up at the end of the day.

Or, there's an extraordinarily juicy game which runs but spontaneously and at erratic times - if you get a text at dinner with your girlfriend, you have to ask her to cab home herself and get to the casino in 15 minutes.

Which one is "best"?

The problem with Bay and M8trix is they are in one of the higher cost of living regions. It's getting difficult to find a livable apartment within a reasonable driving distance for under $2000 a month, and may be nearly impossible within a few years. You can try the roommate thing, but it won't be easy without a job.

should've stated that originally. my bad. something in the 5-10-10 range. 2-3-5 deep stack on the low end. 10-20 (or 10-25 in the case of the m8trix) on the high end.

all valid points. i'm seeking the juiciest games, regardless of time of day or day of the week. i've learned to become flexible that way from years of grinding online. unfortunately it's rarely m-f, 9-5.

it's even worse than you think, i'm afraid. i'm already based in the (south) bay. cost of living is out of this world here. despite all that it's my home (for now), and it's where my family happens to be. so it's the easiest place to play in the sense that i can play bay area casinos today. but i'm not at all opposed to relocating to SoCal or LV either.

Yeah, if you want a 1 BR apartment with covered parking in a gated community in Cupertino; or if you want to live in SoMa and compete with Google millionaires for apartments.

I pay just over $2000 for a detatched single family house in a non-shooting, upper-middle class part of Oakland. It's a horrible commute to San Jose for a 9-5 job but probably 30-40 min each way for a 2-10 poker job.

Hayward and Fremont are probably more obvious choices. Why do you think 880 is so crowded? Because tons of people live in the East Bay and work in the South Bay.

As a poker pro, you have the luxury of a nonstandard work schedule. Use that to your advantage if you choose to stay here.

I abhor that freeway.

Indeed

Unless you are playing the nosebleeds, Vegas will be more profitable assuming you are supporting yourself (not living in mom's basement or off your wife) and not a tax evader. Cost of living is significantly lower, rake is much lower, and there is no state income tax. Plus if you want to play higher, there are good private games you can become involved in and weekend trips to LA are fairly easy to do.

Brokaw to 680, exit Mission and take that up to 580.

(Shh.)

lol yup. was my go to route when i was commuting between SJ and Berkeley.

Bay 101
Lucky Chances (SF area)
Thunder Valley (SF area)
Commerce
The Bike (LA area)
Hollywood Park (LA area)

Blech. Not only is it 5 or 10 miles longer, 580 sucks through Oaktown almost any part of the day. Does Brokaw go to 680? It's possible, but there are a hundred traffic lights through north San Jose.

While the cost of living in Vegas can be significantly lower than at the other options, that highly depends on your lifestyle.

While you can have hookers and blow everywhere, Vegas is the one place that offers you all kinds of party options the very second you step out of the poker room. Same goes for expensive dining options.

It's not too difficult to spend >10k/month in Vegas without being BOC.

If you have a regular family life and want to live off-strip, Vegas is definitely the cheapest option though.

I mean all of this is easily verified or disproved with a 30 second visit to maps.google.com.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether Vegas 2/5nl or Commerce 5/5nl is more profitable per hour? I make around $40/hr at Bellagio 100bb right now and am wondering if I should make the move to SoCal for softer games.

5/5 is obviously > than 2/5

but moving up in levels your winrate will either rise or drop
if youre already making 40 an hour why dont you move up and play 5-5 there and compare winrates before making the jump

I'd definitely say Vegas>LA>Bay Area

Been playing in the bay close to the past 10 years consistently, between the south bay and sacramento (60-90 min north) you can find a few places that have steady, profitable games. other than that, the card rooms can be spotty, especially at the low-mid range nlhe end, to find a steady, profitable game to make a living from.