Trip Report: Hollywood Park and The Bike

[Bulldog]

First, thanks to everyone who helped me out with card room and directions info over in this thread: thread

I'm an East Coaster, and most of my live play is in a home game near Philly or in AC. I've also played B & M in Indiana and at Turning Stone in New York. Business took me to Los Angeles last week and I was able to get two sessions in.

First Wednesday. I flew cross-country in the morning, got the rental car and checked in to the Marriott by noon, and made it to my meeting in Gardena by 1 after cleaning up. We were done by 3 and not meeting for dinner with clients until 7. I went to Hollywood Park since it was convenient for this short session. (I considered Hustler but I wanted to be close to the airport hotel where we were meeting to go to dinner, because I was concerned about traffic.)

Hollywood Park
Interesting place. I sat in a 4/8 limit game waiting for a 6/12 seat, but got called before I got my first hand. Chip runners were a new experience for me, but I like it. There wasn't much of interest to report here. Several weak-tight regulars but I couldn't get anything going. I hit several sets but none of them led to big pots for me. I did have a jackpot experience though. I knew the BBJ existed, but didn't really find anything out about it because I figured it wasn't coming up in a few hours of play. However, I called a raise with 66 in the BB and a flop of AK5 missed me completely. The other two players gave me a free card, 6 on the turn. Bingo! or so I thought. Other guy who only had like $40 left raises me, I raise back and he gets the rest in and shows his AA. When I show the 66 he starts caling for a 6! I thought it was one of those "call for the card you don't want to come" but it seems the HP jackpot is aces full of anything beaten by at least quads. I missed my one-outer for a $100ish pot and a $2,000ish share of the jackpot of course.

I had a big presentation Thursday morning, so I decided against going back out after a late dinner. We ate at Kincaid's in Redondo Beach right on the water, which was nice, but it was 2 AM EDT by the time I was back at the hotel, and after starting my day at 4 AM, I couldn't push it.

The Bike
The presentation and meeting was over by noon, and after lunch I went back to the hotel to get out of the monkey suit and took off for Bell Gardens. My return flight was cleverly scheduled for Friday morning, so I had the whole day to poker it up. It was only 2:30ish but I still had a fair amount of freeway slowness on the 105 and the 710. If it is like that during midday, I can't imagine the rush hours.

I jumped right into an 8/16 game and was very surprised at how tight it was playing. It was easy to see that they all knew each other, but it smelled real fishy when it was folded to the cutoff in the 8 seat (I was in 6) and he showed AQ to the 7 and mucked it so the blinds could chop. I was just about to go seek out a game change when the floor came over and said we were breaking. He said, "I definitely have a seat for you sir," while looking at me apparently, which was odd because I was the newest player. I got into another 8/16 game and asked the guy next to me if I was playing with all props. He laughed and said "yep, every single one of them!"

I started out playing tight and got a nice reputation for it, so the gear-shifting was that much more effective. I ran my two racks into six (green $2 chips for 8/16 is the best idea ever) despite the sick $6 rake (yes, $5+$1, but whatever, it is still six bucks a hand). I played on and ran into a little bad luck and finally quit with four racks plus a bit.

The biggest difference I saw in LA was the latitude given to the players. Setups were called for every hour on the hour, which was painful to me. But more than anything, the dealer abuse that was tolerated was just ridiculous. One older lady was playing good poker but hit an unlucky stretch. It is LIMIT poker, and you have to love six to the flop for two bets, but that is sometimes going to result in some ridiculous river beats. She had five hands in a row where she lost on the river. (One was my QT cracking her KK on a T98 flop, J river.) She was cursing and MFing and flinging cards and the dealer was handling it as well as a person could who probably knows the floor doesn't have his back. A buddy of hers is walking by and she is complaining to him and his advice, while standing behind the dealer: "Just kill him. Just get him in the parking lot and (making a two-handed sword slash motion) whack the chinaman's head right off hahahahaha" Wow. Just wow.

The funniest thing is how about two out of every three players is extremely superstitious. The seat-changing was head-spinning. I said something once about it, and another guy jumped in with "that's true, the seat doesn't matter." I'm thinking good, I'm not the last intelligent person on earth. Until he continues with "it just matters if the dealer likes you or not. If he doesn't like you, you won't get the cards." More wow.

I did meet a couple cool people (like an Asian guy named Jason who could probably make a living at 8/16 limit poker with a $6 rake) but they were far outnumbered by the life-haters (like another Asian guy named "Lucky" who was the unhappiest person I've ever seen in my life).

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
The Bike

...I jumped right into an 8/16 game and was very surprised at how tight it was playing. It was easy to see that they all knew each other, but it smelled real fishy when it was folded to the cutoff in the 8 seat (I was in 6) and he showed AQ to the 7 and mucked it so the blinds could chop. I was just about to go seek out a game change when the floor came over and said we were breaking. He said, "I definitely have a seat for you sir," while looking at me apparently, which was odd because I was the newest player. I got into another 8/16 game and asked the guy next to me if I was playing with all props. He laughed and said "yep, every single one of them!"

[/ QUOTE ]
I was in charge of the 3/6 to 8/16 level props for about 2/3 of the four plus years I worked there (that part of my reign ending about three years ago). I constantly fought with poker room management to avoid starting or maintaining games with too many props. IMO if you need more than three (or perhaps four) props to start or hold a game it's usually wrong to start or maintain it. One of the main reasons is too many people run into something like the experience you did and it hurts the Bike by being part of the reason it seams to have a reputation for having tighter games than some of the others clubs in town. You often see that mentioned on this board (i.e., the games at the Bike being somewhat tighter).


[ QUOTE ]
The biggest difference I saw in LA was the latitude given to the players. Setups were called for every hour on the hour, which was painful to me. But more than anything, the dealer abuse that was tolerated was just ridiculous. One older lady was playing good poker but hit an unlucky stretch. It is LIMIT poker, and you have to love six to the flop for two bets, but that is sometimes going to result in some ridiculous river beats. She had five hands in a row where she lost on the river. (One was my QT cracking her KK on a T98 flop, J river.) She was cursing and MFing and flinging cards and the dealer was handling it as well as a person could who probably knows the floor doesn't have his back. A buddy of hers is walking by and she is complaining to him and his advice, while standing behind the dealer: "Just kill him. Just get him in the parking lot and (making a two-handed sword slash motion) whack the chinaman's head right off hahahahaha" Wow. Just wow.

[/ QUOTE ]
When the management cartel came up with the "Zero Tolerance" (for dealer abuse) campaign a few years ago I knew they wouldn't stick to it with any degree of seriousness. That said, the Bike is about in the middle on this with Hustler and Hawaiian Gardens probably being among the best (and Commerce the worse).


[ QUOTE ]
The funniest thing is how about two out of every three players is extremely superstitious. The seat-changing was head-spinning. I said something once about it, and another guy jumped in with "that's true, the seat doesn't matter." I'm thinking good, I'm not the last intelligent person on earth. Until he continues with "it just matters if the dealer likes you or not. If he doesn't like you, you won't get the cards." More wow.

[/ QUOTE ]
That guy must not have heard the story of the dealer who "dealt a jackpot" to the player who stole his wife and destroyed his marriage.

But don't be fooled by some of the superstitious comments; I use them routinely to justify seat changes. Of course the real reason I want the seat change is comfort/tactical but is someone asks I usually say that the seat I'm leaving has been unlucky (after a run of normal to bad cards) or about to run out of luck (if I had a run of good cards). The last thing I want to do is discuss a concept such as tactics or sensible thinking at the poker table. I also often switch a recently vacated seat with a fresh one from an empty table, especially if the seat was recently occupied by someone I suspect having poor hygiene. If someone asks better to say "He must have left because it's an unlucky seat." rather than "He looks like a guy who listens to Sheryl Crow's advice (regarding using only one sheet when wiping after serious bathroom business)."

Anyway, good report; glad you found some use for my traffic advice. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

~ Rick

[Rottersod]

Nice TR Bulldog. What did you think of the bike and HP compared to the places you've played? Ambiance? Food? etc?

[Bulldog]

I liked something about HP. I can't put my finger on it. The floor guy was very eager to please me (I did introduce myself as an AC guy playing in his room for the first time) which was nice. I didn't eat there.

The Bike was a decent place--I'd rank it ahead of the Trop and the Taj but behind the Borgata. I loved the action in that 8/16 game once I got away from the prop table. I couldn't shake how much dealer abuse they tolerated, however.

[Bulldog]

Of all the B&M rooms I've ever played in, here's the order in which I'd choose to play in them, all things considered, if location wasn't a factor:

1) Borgata (AC)
2) The Bike (LA)
3) Tropicana (AC)
4) Turning Stone (NY)
5) Hollywood Park (LA)
6) Taj Mahal (AC)
7) Caesar's (Southern Indiana)
8) Trump (Northern Indiana)
9) The Sands (AC)

[TonyLA]

[ QUOTE ]
I liked something about HP. I can't put my finger on it. The floor guy was very eager to please me (I did introduce myself as an AC guy playing in his room for the first time) which was nice. I didn't eat there.

The Bike was a decent place--I'd rank it ahead of the Trop and the Taj but behind the Borgata. I loved the action in that 8/16 game once I got away from the prop table. I couldn't shake how much dealer abuse they tolerated, however.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hollywood Park does have a certain ghetto charm to it. It's the poker circus in town. Always a lot of action. It's not in the best of neighborhoods but it's not horrible either.

Free food at the Bike (that usually isn't too bad!) is a nice perk though for sure.

[Transcend06]

You should have went to Commerce. It beats both places hands down.

[Bicycles_Biatch]

[ QUOTE ]
You should have went to Commerce. It beats both places hands down based on the number of A-holes and bad BO .

[/ QUOTE ]

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
I liked something about HP. I can't put my finger on it. The floor guy was very eager to please me (I did introduce myself as an AC guy playing in his room for the first time) which was nice. I didn't eat there.

The Bike was a decent place--I'd rank it ahead of the Trop and the Taj but behind the Borgata. I loved the action in that 8/16 game once I got away from the prop table. I couldn't shake how much dealer abuse they tolerated, however.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a Hollywood Park guy more than most and despite it's flaws (big one is by far the worse food) agree it has a certain charm that's hard to pinpoint.

I find table spacing at both places you visited to be superior to the other clubs which means I can handle longer sessions. Places like Commerce and Hawaiian Gardens really squeeze the tables quite a bit closer together and I simply get too claustrophobic. Those clubs I visit on slow days so I can find a seat with an empty table behind me.

Hustler is nicely laid out and has a cool ambiance but you can't move your chair one inch without picking it up. The carpet is plush but more importantly the chair glides might as well be chair needles. They should weld on something like those wide glides used in the Commerce main section.

~ Rick

[sternroolz]

Very good report. Glad you enjoyed it. Your observations are dead on and some of us that live here unfortunately built up a certain level of immunity.