What is the best place to go in SF area for some mid-stakes cash FR NL? I only tried Lucky Chances before and did not enjoy it that much. Thinking of giving Oaks a try. Please name rooms with:

1. Softest competition
2. Many tables
3. Lowest rake
3. Best playing environment (space, food, temperature, noise, etc.)

Don't care about fee alcohol that much cause I don't drink when I play

The Oaks doesn't spread NLHE; the city of Emeryville has a $300 betting limit. Strictly limit hold'em up to $30-$60, plus some low-limit stud, and The Lowball Game That Would Not Die.

Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno has a 1-2-2 game with a $300 cap, typically only table going. The Palace, across the bay in Hayward, has a single 2-3-5 game with no buy-in cap. The Lytton San Pablo Casino usually has two 1-1-2 $100 cap games going, and spreads 2-3-5 $500 cap on Tuesdays and Thursdays. A bit further afield is the California Grand in Pacheco, on the other side of the East Bay hills, which spreads a $200 game that often is running as a main game and a must-move game.

Best for game selection is San Pablo, which gives you two games to choose from. The competition is terrible at all these locations (although tougher at the Palace). Rake is pretty bad everywhere -- typically, the sum total of the blinds represent $1 that actually makes it into the pot. Best food at San Pablo. The biggest minus for San Pablo is that it is now an Indian casino, and smoking is allowed on the main floor, and some second-hand smoke drifts into the poker area. Artichoke Joe's is another good playing environment, although the food isn't as good.

Rake at San Pablo is great, $3 max iirc. The $100 cap NL is nuts though, in that they use $1 chips only.

And with blinds of $1, $1, and $2, that means that only $1 of the blinds makes it into the pot. I'd hardly describe that as "great."

Of course, that's better than the game at Cache Creek, in which ALL of the blind money is dropped, and players start out fighting over a vacuum. Bless their pointy little heads, they generally put up a significant fight anyway.

http://poker.wikia.com/wiki/Bay_Area

lots of info on there. i pretty much only play at lucky chances and think that its pretty decent

I will be moving from Chicago to the Bay Area later this year, so I was looking for games comparable to the NLHE cash games in the Chicago area (e.g., Majestic Star, Rockford Charitable Games). It looks like the Palace and Lucky Chances are the most similar, although I've never heard of spread limit until I read the poker wiki. Any thoughts on that? Is it worth driving to Reno to play poker? It seems like LA is too far away to drive there. What about home games in the Bay Area?

I've been trying for a while to get a regular mid stakes NL homegame going...weekly or biweekly.

I host a 2+2 homegame every 4 or 5 months...in fact, I think we are about due.

Yes!

I can see why people would be hesitant about mid-stakes NL. The players you usually get would be quite a murderer's row.