Lake Forest, CA

drewjustdrew · #1 01-04-2006, 04:08 PM

What poker rooms are nearby? I will be visiting late January and would like to play one or two evenings. Probably a Monday or Tuesday. Any tournament or game info would be helpful as well.

crackhead · #2 01-04-2006, 08:13 PM

Sorry man, there really aren't any poker rooms that are "nearby" to Lake Forest. The closest one is probably Hawaiian Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens - approx. 30 miles away. Beyond the 30-50 mile range, you'll find a BUNCH of other poker rooms/casinos available to ya. If you go north into L.A. county, you've got the Hustler, the Bike, Commerce Casino, etc. If you go east into the desert areas, you've got Morongo, Agua Caliente, San Manuel. If you go south into San Diego county, you've got Pechanga, Harrahs Rinco, Pala, etc. Unfortunately, Lake Forest is in something of a poker room "dead zone" since it's in Orange County. There are no legal poker rooms in Orange County.

drewjustdrew · #3 01-04-2006, 08:51 PM

30 miles is not a big deal. It sounds like I am "close" to a lot of rooms. After checking a map, it appears that Elsinore may be the best deal since I shouldn't have to deal with LA traffic, from what I can tell.

crackhead · #4 01-04-2006, 09:04 PM

Oh yeah, forgot about Lake Elsinore. The traffic probably won't be too bad going out there. Same with heading out to the desert areas, i.e. Cabazon, Rancho Mirage, Indio. Not sure how big the poker room is in Lake Elsinore, so you might want to call them ahead of time. You might be limited in game choices / availability.

Good luck and welcome to So. Cal.

the_doantster · #5 01-05-2006, 12:04 PM

Oceans Eleven should be about a 30-40 minute drive from Lake Forest, but so should Commerce and the Bike. Personally, I would stay away from Hawaiian Gardens.

bnorthro · #6 01-05-2006, 12:33 PM

I live in Irvine. I'm kind of fond of HG. The place is a dive and it looks like a Circuis Tent, but the players are SOOOO bad, and the half kill 4-8 game is awesome.

That said, depending on when you go, traffic sucks going N from Orange County from like ~3-7ish.

bodie · #7 01-05-2006, 12:42 PM

But there's no easy way to get from Lake Forest to Elsinore without going through the traffic, or at least I can't think of one.

bnorthro · #8 01-05-2006, 01:02 PM

There's that toll road (can't remember) that goes over the mountains and comes out like on the 91 or something, kind over by Riverside.

SossMan · #9 01-05-2006, 01:21 PM

[ QUOTE ]
There's that toll road (can't remember) that goes over the mountains and comes out like on the 91 or something, kind over by Riverside.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, there's never any traffic on the 91

DaveyG013 · #10 01-05-2006, 01:47 PM

I live in Mission Viejo, Lake Forest's neighboring city. Lake Elsinore will take you an hour and a half to get to, if traffic is good. It's close on a map, but there are so few quick ways to get there with traffic and the hills that separate it from OC.

I'd recommend Ocean's 11, it's 35 miles south and easy to get to. It's a nice place that is almost entirely poker only, with somewhere between 40 and 50 tables. Commerce and The Bike are just a couple miles farther in the opposite direction, but traffic always blows going into LA.