Poker Wannabe: 6/28/2005

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« 6/23/2005 - Leaving for LA | Main | 7/2/2005 - June Recap and First Half Report »

6/28/2005 - LA

Thursday night, I flew off to Los Angeles for the second time in my life and first time to play poker.

Three of us were making the three-day trip, with the plan of doing nothing else besides eat, sleep and play poker at the Commerce. It was going to be great.

Commerce

I'd never been to the Commerce before so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I knew it was a big name in the poker world, what with the largest poker room in the world and all, but that was about it.

I have to admit--I was expecting a little more in general. It was nice, but I guess I was kind of expecting something that would live up to Vegas standards, just transplanted into LA. Rather, it was clearly a few steps below that--somewhat nicer than the casinos in Lake Charles, but still not quite as nice as, say, the Harrah's in New Orleans. It seemed to be about on par with, say, Canterbury Park near the twin cities in MN.

But whatever, how was the poker room?

Poker Room

Well, rooms actually. There was the low-limit room which was simply massive. You walk in and it's just a sea of tables nearly as far as you can see, all packed full at peak times, with countless 2/4, 3/6 and 4/8 games, with limits all the way up to 15/30. Around the corner a bit is the higher-limit area, which houses 20/40 and above games. Even that room was big--just from eyeballing it, the higher-limit area seemed to be at least as big and probably bigger than the Bellagio poker room.

One really nice feature about the Commerce poker room is that in the higher-limit room all food is free for all players. People would get feasts delivered to the table, steak and potatoes and veggies and fruit and soup and dessert, all at once. Even in the low-limit room, food was cheap, with some pretty decent meals available for $2 or $3.

More questionable was their decision not to offer free drinks to players. Even in the high-limit area, players had to shell out $7 or more for a drink. I like my opponents nice and wasted, and that certainly was not the case at the Commerce. This is certainly more of a concern for lower-limit players, as I've noticed players at 30/60 and above seem to be a lot more careful about (not) drinking while playing.

One thing I noticed about the Commerce is that at least the higher-limit area seems to be a completely player-run room. Players were doing a lot of things that would not be tolerated at, say, the Bellagio. On three separate occasions, I saw a player take his cards and literally crumple them up and spike them back at the dealer, and on none of those occasions was he so much as reprimanded--the dealer simply picked them up and called for a new setup. Dealers were berated mercilessly at times, players would yell and argue with each other as loudly and for as long as they wanted. Setups were called for and provided seemingly every eight or ten hands. Practically anything went.

Another thing that bugged me was that the "I want to see his hand" rule was abused relentlessly. It seemed to me that as one moved up in limits, that rule is used less and less. At least in Vegas that seemed to be the case. But in LA, suddenly every other hand that went to showdown was asked to be seen. I don't know why, but I can sit there and endure bad beat after bad beat and not really get bothered at all beyond maybe a minor annoyance. But people asking to see my hand time after time really, really irks me. Anyone who's played with me knows I generally stay pretty quiet and calm, but at one point this trip even I jumped on this guy for asking to see my hand for what must have been the tenth time in about three hours.

Playing Pokah

Ah, but the real concern would simply be this: how were the games?

Answer: great.

Thursday, I put myself on the 20/40 and 40/80 lists and was called almost immediately for 40/80. This isn't surprising as they had three 20/40 games going, but six 40/80 games going. Six! This would be my first time playing 40/80. I didn't let the size of the bets distract me any, but it took me a little while overall to stop being so cautious--I was giving people too much respect.

The first table I sat at was quite tight. The only decently-sized pot I saw in my hour there was when I was dealt KK and the guy to my left got AA. I did not improve. Doh.

I moved to a better game, but the cards didn't get any better. Top-two on the flop no good. I couldn't hit anything except a couple hands that were always second best and I dropped about $3000 pretty quickly. I went on a mini-rush over about 45 mins late in the evening to get back to even and I was able to tack on a little more to that to finish the night up about $1000.

Friday saw me back at 40/80 trying desperately to catch a hand. I still couldn't catch anything, but a few blind steals, a couple bluffed pots and the rare legitimate hand had me basically treading water. 10 hours I played, and I probably won one pot more than four or five BBs. I gave back all I had won the previous night, but I consider that a victory considering how the cards ran.

The game that night was amazing, though. There were two loose-aggressive maniacs, two loose-passive calling stations and two people who seemed as though they had no clue what they were doing. Add to that two tough players and lil' card-dead ol' me and it was quite an interesting table for all involved, even though I was essentially a spectator with my endless parade of J3o.

Saturday would find me in second place pretty consistently again, and I would quickly be $2500 in the hole, where I would tread water for hours. And hours. And hours. Nothing, no hands, no big pairs, no sets, no straights or flushes, only an occasional flopped two pair that wouldn't hold up, or a blind steal if I was lucky.

Then finally, after twenty hours of nothing (including Friday night), I would finally go on my second rush of the weekend, winning about $5000 in the span of about two or three hours. This was aided by one complete LAG two to my right and one total calling station on my left.

LAG raised UTG, as he was prone to do with any two cards. I three-bet from MP with 33, calling station (CS) called, and all else folded. Flop: K97. LAG checked, I bet, CS called, LAG folded (wow!!! he later told me he had 45o). Turn: A(K97). I bet, CS called. River: K(AK97). I bet, CS thought a while and finally folded. To show the table image I had at that point, two different players called out nearly simultaneously,

"Show your big slick!"

I couldn't resist. "Ok!" and I tabled my 33. Ah, yes, there's nothing like seeing 100% pure shock on all eight opponents' faces at a poker table.

Two things happened after that hand--1) I started hitting a few hands and 2) I was paid off handsomely.

That hand jump-started my rush that provided all of my profit for the weekend. At nearly 5am I finally stopped, up about $2500 for the night and therefore the trip. I finished the trip donking around at 4/8 with my friends, winning another $100 or so to finish up almost $2600 overall.

Definitely not a bad weekend, but seeing how I was up and down constantly, having at different times a $4000 downswing and a $5000 upswing, it's hard to feel great about the results--for all I know, I'm nothing more than a break-even player at that limit. I guess I feel good given how for the vast majority of the weekend I was hitting nothing, completely card dead, and yet I still managed to average about 1.2 BB/hr for the weekend.

Conclusion

The games in LA are great. And by great, I mean absopositivelyfuckinglutely wonderful. While the tables certainly got tight and tough at times, there were plenty of times when the games were loose-passive--six, seven, eight players seeing the flop for one bet--and plenty of other times when they were loose aggressive--four or five players seeing the flop for two or three bets.

I haven't played a whole lot at either limit, but it seemed in my short stints at each that the Commerce 40/80 had, on average, slightly weaker players than the Bellagio 30/60. There were certainly some real tough spots, and a few genuinely tricky players this past weekend, but there were also more downright bad and clueless players than I remember in my short time at the Bellagio 30/60. But, once again, small sample-size warnings apply.

So the plusses for the Commerce are plentifiul, juicy mid-limit games, free food delivered right to the tables and that it's located in LA with its great climate and plentiful beaches. The drawbacks are that LA is expensive, and the city overall is less exciting (in my opinion) than Vegas.

Vegas' advantages are that they have the nicest poker room I've ever been in (the Bellagio, of course), with its better dealers, better-run room, still nice mid-limit games. And it's Vegas, baby, Vegas!

So, as tempting as it might be to cancel my apartment in Vegas and move to LA instead, I think I'm going to stick to Vegas. Heck, LA is only a four-hour drive away...

Posted on June 27, 2005 at 15:33 | Permalink

Comments

Nice river bet.

Two things:
1. It sounds like the talk of capped bets 6 ways preflop and on the flop is a bit overdone? Did you experience any of this?

2. Free food starts at 20/40 and up? I thought the free food started at 10/20.

Posted by: Evan | June 28, 2005 at 20:22

Yes, keep the Vegas apartment, and institute a "Austin bloggers sleep free" policy....NOW. :D

Posted by: April | June 28, 2005 at 22:18

I think the Commerce high limit room is quite a bit bigger than Bellagio's room. That card-destroying and dealer abuse goes on everywhere in LA. No one not from there can understand it.

Posted by: Chris | June 28, 2005 at 22:48

Evan--I'm not sure if it was such a nice river bet in retrospect. I mean he was a calling station after all. I think it was one of those situations where all my options were -EV. I certainly couldn't check-fold. If I bet, I'll only get called if he beats me but won't get called if not. And if I check-call, well he'll bet anything that beats me but probably check anything that doesn't. I was just in a horrible situation that ended up working out, I think. At the time, I was simply thinking "damnit if I'm going to let up now!" And since I'd call if he bet anyways, I might as well do the betting...

I did not see six-way capped flops, but then I only played for one weekend. I'd certainly not be surprised if occasional games like that broke out.

From what I've read, free food starts at 15/30, but the rooms were divided starting at 20/40. Since I didn't play the 15/30 in the other room, I can't really say for sure where it starts.

April--of course that policy is in place! But get in line. I think my couch is already booked for all of August.

Chris--I know in baccarat, a popular game with Asians, card mutilation is allowed and happens a lot. It's probably related.

Posted by: pokerwannabe | June 29, 2005 at 04:21

Yeah, I don't want to be results oriented here.

That said, it sounds like your table image was really at the point where if he was thinking at all, he'll make the fold. Ed Miller and others have claimed that folding headsup on the river is one of the biggest mistakes good players make (you and I have had arguments about this before, I know). A calling station obviously isn't a good player, but if he's playing that high, he's probably thinking somewhat and is aware that you're very tight.

So, with 8+ BBs in the pot, will he fold any piece of the board enough? I don't know, it's pretty player dependent and one of those spots where tells from playing live can really help. It sounded me to me like you had him profiled well...but maybe you were just getting frustrated and LAGgy (though that's not the Eric I've played with...well except for that family pot you lost by flopping two pair at the Bellagio 15 game).

Also, he could very easily have Ax here. All in all, I think this is one of these spots where you're slightly +EV.

Posted by: Evan | June 30, 2005 at 03:17