My California Poker Tour

[shane88888]

So I'm going to California from the 15th to the 22nd.

Of the trip, 36 hours are dedicated to a wedding with another 12 hours of recovery. Shane no longer plays poker hung over.

The rest of the time will be spent in a chair.

I'll be flying into SF and renting a car. I will most certainly be going to LA to 1) see my friend Doc Hollywood 2) check out the women and 3) to play at the Commerce.

I'm bringing a healthy roll of $3k, but I'm not looking to play above 2/5 NL or 5/10 Limit, so most any room that spreads a game will do. I would like to hit a number of different rooms, but if I'm killing a room somewhere - I'm staying.

Card Player's room finder tells me there are 102 rooms in California. What rooms should I hit, between and including San Fran and LA? Any rooms to avoid? Any other general suggestions for my poker tour?

A trip report of my odyssey will follow.

[cjk73]

You probably know this but if not, SF to LA is 5+ hrs with no traffic. There are several card rooms in the Bay Area including a fairly large one, Bay 101 (hosts a WPT event) in San Jose that is 40 minutes from SF airport.

[shane88888]

Oh, I'm aware - I'd like to make the drive anyway and at least see some of California. Plus, I'm sure there are some good rooms in between.

[jok3rzwild]

Check out the Golden West Casino. In Bakersfield,CA (juicy NL games)

Golden West Casino

[pucks32]

In San Jose, Garden City and Bay 101 are about 15 minutes apart, both with juicy NL games. (well, spread limit...but it's essentially the same)

Also, in Santa Barbara, there's an Indian Casino that's 18+, and while I've never been there, I've heard the age limit makes the games quite juicy. I forget the name of it though.

[EdmondDantes]

From SF airport south, you're going to have a trouble finding 5/10 limit (plenty of 6/12 or 8/16, tho). You'll also find only limited NL action (other than the Indian casinos and GW in Bakersfield). With that qualification, the ones worth playing include...

Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno (near SF airport); 6/12; note: you could end up just hammering this one for a week!

Garden City and Bay 101 in San Jose; plenty of limit and spread limit, no NL (illegal to spread it in San Jose). Both easily accessible from the freeway(s).

Further south toward Fresno...

Club One Casino in downtown Fresno has plenty of 6/12 and 15/30, no NL yet; for NL try the three Indian casinos within 45 miles of Fresno; no 6/12 and up limit, tho...

Chukchansi Gold
Table Mountain
Tachi Palace

Toward Bakersfield...Golden West, as mentioned (note: haven't played here)

In Los Angeles...

Commerce
Bicycle

There's obviously lots more limit and NL to choose from in the LA area. You can see a chart of the LA rooms here...

LA Card rooms

Hope this helps.

Edmond

P.S. My No. Cal info is dated (corrections anyone?) but my So Cal info is current as of Aug 07.

Addendum: the casino outside of Santa Barbara is the Chumash Casino.

[bigbrett]

I was just in fresno and played the Saturdays morning Omaha 8 tourney at Club One and really liked it. I liked the room quife a bit, the dealers wefe all pretty good and they were spreading a nice variety of games for a saturday morning, up to the 15/30 game mentioned above. The structure wasn't horrible for the o8ament either

The chuchansi room was alright if you need nolimit action. Of course all you're going to do is play poker if you go to Fresno.

[Warren Harding]

[ QUOTE ]
Oh, I'm aware - I'd like to make the drive anyway and at least see some of California. Plus, I'm sure there are some good rooms in between.

[/ QUOTE ]

There's nothing to see in this drive unless you take the longer coastal route. I wouldn't make the trip just for poker/seeing CA: you'd be better off staying in the bay. You should be making the trip for friendship sake.

[djkelly69]

Edmund, i will be in LA shortly as well, are those buyin limits for NL serious?? 40min/max on 1/2!
Am i right in assuming these games are just about getting it in preflop?

Maybe i should save my money for when i get to vegas.

[belligerent]

[ QUOTE ]
Of course all you're going to do is play poker if you go to Fresno.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFMFT

Seriously, I wouldn't waste any of your California trip on stopping in Fresno just to play poker. I live in Fresno and I'll vouch for the cardrooms being nice & everything, but there's nothing to do in Fresno (or Bakersfield for that matter) and it's going to be hotter than hell during the time you'll be here.

In fact, I'd suggest taking the coastal route when you drive down unless you have great air conditioning in your car. There's also nothing at all to see by way of scenery if you go down the middle of the state. The coastal route will take longer, but at least you won't want to shoot yourself from boredom.

Plus, the LA cardrooms are way, way better than anything we have in central California. Club One has some juicy games at times, but it's no Commerce. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]