Bay Area Card Rooms

[DaNoob]

I'm in San Jose on business for the next couple of weeks and am thinking about getting into a low limit ring game or $20-$50 tourney or two. Any rec's on good card rooms in the area?

[sierra 1]

Go no farther then Bay 101 In SJ and has everything. Good luck.

[DaNoob]

I heard that from a friend, but wanted to confirm. Are the games there usually pretty soft or should I expect to find pretty tough competition (at lower limits)?

[DanS]

The competition is some of the crappiest you'll ever come across. However, you're going to pay $10-15/hr to play ($3 on the button), so the drop is kinda steep. $3-6 is beatable, I'd suggest 6-12 if you can afford it. The player base is a bit more aware, but stills sucks badly.

Dan

P.S. Garden City is an older place about 5 miles from Bay 101, but the games are a bit wilder and better. Can't go wrong either way.

[bad beetz]

IMHO (I'm not actually sure what that means, but it seems to preface opinions, which I'm about to give) Garden city games are way better than Bay 101. I'm basing this off the assumption that I'd played 60 hours at GC and 6 hours at Bay 101, the 60 hours at GC were ludicrously loose/stupid (passive's just not good enough a word) and the Bay 101 session was the most difficult $6/$12 I've ever played in (it was harder than mirage $10/$20 I played in a month ago).

forshizzle dizzle.

[DaNoob]

maneezy,

Do you oft confront the same problems at loose/wild $6/$12 games as you do with the online micro limit games, like losing to the 53o with AKs because every jackass and his mother pay to see the river. And, what kind of bankroll do you need to sit down at a $6/$12 table and thrive?

[Jeffage]

Don't you want people chasing your better hands down with 53o? If they hit, it's just a loan. Basically you need to adapt to wild games and you will get the money. For a session of 6-12, I'd buy in 300 and have another 300 in reserve. For a few-day a week playing roll, I'd rec. 4k to be safe, maybe more if the games are REAL wild.

Jeff

[DanS]

Hey Jeffage,
Agreed. The best part about these games is that since you will have position more often than they will and they're so passive postflop, they'll extract the minimum from you even when you hit. Part of adapting to the games here is learning when to put on the brakes against these sorts of passive opponents.

I generally buy-in $400 for these games, but your suggestion of 300 x 2 is a pretty reasonable standard too. I'll force bad beetz and haakee to chime in on this thread if they don't see it themselves tomorrow.

Dan

[J.A.Sucker]

Either San Jo card room is great for 6/12 (which I would also recommend over 3/6, whose steep drop may make the game unbeatable). Bay 101 is a big, bright room, whereas GC is a scuzzy, dark place, where I swear you can still see smoke swirling above the tables, though smoking has been banned for several years. It's kind of like going into a side-alley poker game, and is pretty cool. That said, I haven't been over there for awhile, and I imagine that Bay's taking a bit of their business. If you like small buy-in tournies, GC may be a better bet, as I recall them having several tournies, though I'd call them for details, and Bay 101 has recently hired Matt Savage as their tourney director, so maybe the tourney scene will improve now that he's there.

As for playing the 6/12, I can assure you that those games are VERY beatable, and good (at either casino) 24/7. You really don't need much of a bankroll at all to play those games, IMO. I started playing those games when I was broke and first came to the Bay Area for grad school with a 3K bankroll (overall). If I lost it, it was gone... and I only had one bad run that jeopardized it (though I stayed in action). I would always just buy a rack (200) and if I lost a hundred, I'd buy another. If you want to just buy 2 racks to begin with, that's a fine plan, too. I like having chips in front of me.

As for playing the game, the strategy is a basically "loose games" strategy taken to the max. This is as much because of the structure as for the players. You need to be extremely TIGHT in EP (especially the SB) and extremely LOOSE in LP (especially the button). The blinds are 1 chip/ 3 chip, and thus it bascially plays like there is no SB. If you're in the SB, I'd almost never complete the 2 chips, unless I had a pocket pair or hand like AQo/AJs. If I had big, suited cards or a big pair (AQs or > JJ), then raise. I'd call every pocket pair, and check-fold if I missed my set (or overpair). Fold everything else. If it's raised, then play normal, which is to say similarly tight.

On the button, the $3 drop is LIVE, so loosen up a lot. If it's a single bet with a couple of limpers, any 2 suited cards are playable to see if you hit a flush draw. Further, hands like 7-8o can also become playable if you're willing to dump if the flop comes something like K-7-2 and somebody bets. Further, people play A-any so you should be willing to pound them for doing so when you have a hand like A9s and you flop an A. If they 3 bet you on an A hi flop, then you can slow down. The structure also makes it easier to steal the blinds, since it's so damned cheap to do so. I realize that people won't really ever fold, but if it's folded to you and you have any sort of hand, I'd pop it, and bet the flop when the inevitably check to you. The SB will often call that 2 chips and that is equity for your steal, which usually occurs on the flop, in my experience. Position is the sh!t in this game, just remember that and you'll be fine. For playing for a week, 1500 is more than ample, IMO. Good luck!

Remember, these are just my opinions, and I'm Just Another Sucker. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[bad beetz]

1. yes.

2. I have lost $800 in a crazy $6/$12 game just peddling nuts.

3. I always buy in for two racks, hakee and I believe it gives you special powers.

[sierra 1]

I played at garden city before bay 101 opened.Played at 101 about 6mos ago for 7hrs and really enjoyed it.You have info to go with ,but,much is very subjective.How do you know until you land in the game and get the feel for the players and the rythem of the game.Passive, agressive, ect
good luck

[DanS]

Unlike bad beetz, I'm no pwofeshunal, but I would say that with good (loose passive game selection), even $800 would get you through a week (four days or so) of playing the S.J. 6-12s with only a 20-30% ROR.

Dan

[bad beetz]

I'm negative for the year. I'm am the ultimate professional poker player.

[haakee]

3. I always buy in for two racks, hakee and I believe it gives you special powers.

Yeah. I just started doing this. People fear you when you do this. Five minutes later they forget that you bought in for all of it and think you're way ahead. Make sure you get it all in $2 chips and not $100. The more chips you have in front of you the better.

FWIW, I find Garden City games to be slightly better than Bay 101 games. I know bad beetz feels the same way. Also, I have lost $700 in one 5 hour session at a very crazy 6-12 at Bay 101 (I got 12 S&M group 1&2 hands, most of which I paid > 2 bets before the flop and I lost every single one of them). So wear your seatbelt, and err on the side of caution when figuring out your bankroll. On a bad run you could lose more than $1000 at $6-12 in three or four 5 hour sessions.

[DiamondDave]

In the crazy 6-12 game, were you seeing the flop for 2 small bets or two big bets?

Either way, those are some tough beats you took. The cards you played will hold up against 9 random hands from about 1/5 of the time (TT, KQs, AJs) to about 1/3 of the time (AA).

[haakee]

*MORE THAN* two small bets pre-flop with each S&M group 1&2 hand (cap is at 4 bets per round at Bay 101). I probably averaged seeing the flop for 3 small bets. Also, I paid some bets on the flop and beyond depending upon what the flop looked like and how the action came. I was able to sneak in with some other hands that I missed as well. It's probably hard for somebody who hasn't played poker in California to understand how insane these games can get sometimes. I was amused when one woman in my game won two consecutive pots with 69 (once suited, once unsuited -- i think one was with two pair, the other with a flush, both played in relatively early position). Each of those pots was capped preflop and she stayed in.

Clearly these games are very profitable when they get this crazy. Variance can be very high, however. I usually leave the table after losing 25BB to prevent tilt (even though I'm pretty tilt-proof), but in this instance the game was so amazingly good I decided to stay for a while, even after dropping 3 racks.

[RichardG]