View Full Version : Trip Report: JV goes to LA
I just got back from L.A. The goal of the trip was to spend the Friday-Sunday hanging out in Hermosa Beach with some friends and then to go play three days at the Commerce Monday-Wednesday. My poker goal of the trip was to make 10k. I fell just shy, -13k off pace. Here are some random comments about my trip to L.A.
First off, the weather in L.A. is obviously phenomenal. I'm very tempted not to go back to Chicago. It seems like L.A. would be the perfect place to live for an internet poker player.
I don't know how many of you L.A. guys are familiar with Hermosa Beach, but it's not a bad place to be. It seems like most the of partying is done down by the pier. It was a very spring break like atmosphere. On Saturday, we went to a place called Sharkees. Playboy called it the third best pick-up spot in the United States. And, yes it was quite the meat market. A virtual HOasis.
One thing I noticed is that L.A. girls are much more aggressive when it comes to meeting guys. I had more girls approach me in one weekend than I do in months at Chicago. God bless aggressive girls. I wonder if its the weather. It also dawned on me that girls should be the aggressors in all of these situations. It makes more sense. Guys just want to hook up. Some have higher standards than others, but as a whole the decision on whether or not the guy scores comes down to the girl. So it makes more sense that the guys stand around and the girls pick out which guys they want to talk to. Business would be much more efficient this way. Maybe sklansky, could write about that is he is next Poker, Gaming, and Life. It's more interesting than why the debris ends up in the middle of the road (Not to bash that book, cause its my favorite).
Second thing, the girls of L.A. were as a whole not as good-looking on average as the girls in my neighborhood in Chicago. That is, except for Hollywood, where a lot of the girls were off the hook. God bless silicon.
I played 30/60, 40/80, and 80/160. I only made it two days before I tapped out. A man can only stand so much torture.
One thing I noticed was that at night in the 40 and 80 games, I was the only whiteboy in site. It's a little disconcerting when the whole table is speaking a different language....the same language. Anyway, the 40's ranged from good to phenomenal, with some patch tight points. It was annoying cause games were never full and always seemed to be breaking.
What's with all the Vietnamese. Is L.A. a stomping ground for lots of Vietnamese or just the Commerce?
The 80 games I was in were never great, but still beatable. The games had one or two gamblers and a couple tight wannabe kids, who thought limping UTG w/ A-10o and K-Jc was a good idea in the most aggressive games ever assembled. They must not have heard but Vietnamese means "raise" in Spanish.
I played with some very good players, a lot of whom I play w/ online. Someone told me that there was an asian girl with pink hair who played very well. And she did play well. Suprise, Suprise. Pink hair...I had my doubts. I forgot her name but she played a lot like Angelina did on the internet. A little different style than most but very tough and tight. I was expecting a few Big Blind, Small blind melee's with her, but it never developed.
Comments about the Commerce. I love the food, but the way they have it set up makes games shorthanded and breaks them way too often.
I hate the massages. I can see how you could get used to them after a while, but they are very degrading, IMO. Is poker that taxing?
The dealer abuse was out of hand. I had to speak up a few times. I played w/ this one willy mammoth named Iris or something, who has to be the most miserable broad on the planet. I had no choice but to pipe up, not that did any good. At least I didn't let her scramble the deck until it was her button.
I have no real hands stories to tell. Maybe I'll post af few. One thing I noticed is that you can play much better poker live than on the internet, simply because you have more information.
In general, I am really beginning to despise live poker. It's too slow and I can't stand being around most of the people in the cardroom. I'd rather go party in L.A. than play poker. I wish I had some time to go down to sunset and party there. That sounds like fun.
Mike Gallo
03-10-2004, 11:26 PM
Awesome post dude.
If you dont share poker hands can you tell us more about the aggressive women /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
"I played w/ this one willy mammoth named Iris or something, who has to be the most miserable broad on the planet. "
Iris.
Clarkmeister
03-10-2004, 11:43 PM
I have a great friend who has a place in Redondo Beach, and a friend of his lives on the beachfront in Hermosa. I make 3-4 trips per summer there, strictly for the booze and broads. Poker is an afterthought on those trips.
Near as I can tell, the 40 is never bad. Your post reinforces that. 3k isn't remotely enough for the game though. On one day I was into the game for 6 racks before cashing out a small loser for the day.
I'll post my favorite hand of the trip. 40/80. Four limpers, I knuckle in the BB w/ the monster 5h-2h. Flop comes Jc-3d-4h. So I'm all over it. I check the this UTG lady who bets. Two callers.
Now this I c/raised. Here is my trick. This is how you get the free card out of position. When you check-raise. You do it very visibly and obnoxiously. So, I stood up reached to the middle of the table and yelled "Raaiiiiiissssssssseeee it up!." Everyone called. Turn was a 9c. I looked suspiciously over at the lady and said Check it Yououououooooouuuuu in the most mysterious voice I had. The whole key here is how you roll the ouoouououououou. The goal is to make it so obvious that you are up to something, that they are embarrased to be double c/raised. It may be obvious that I have crap, but you embarrass them into checking. Anyway, she snorted and checked. As did everyone else. And I laughed out loud. I couldn't help it. River was shite and I check-folded.
She said, "you need two pair to c/r there, what are you doing?"
As for the aggressive girls, one girl came up to me and asked me if I was single and put her arms around my waist. Of course she was using me as a crutch to stand cuz she was so drunk, but still. Another girl grabbed my ass, and three airline stewardesses asked us if we wanted to come back and watch porn with them at their hotel room. It was quite nice. And it's not like I'm the Brad Pitt of poker or anything close. In fact, I'm closer to the Randy Johnson of baseball or the Sam Cassell of basketball.
Oh, i wasn't "tapped." I just tapped out. I brought like 12k, just in case. I was just frustrated.
I'll be coming out again sometime, probably in the summer. If you're ever coming to Hermosa, drop me a line.
CrackerZack
03-10-2004, 11:59 PM
[ QUOTE ]
In fact, I'm closer to the Randy Johnson of baseball or the Sam Cassell of basketball.
[/ QUOTE ]
This is truly one of the funniest things I've read on this site. Unfortunately its the 2nd funniest I've read today (sheriff in the zoo wins) but still, tremendous.
It should be "the xxxx of poker" regardless of who xxxx actually is.
Hope that helps.
Josh W
03-11-2004, 07:32 AM
Welcome to my world. Really.
I live in Hermosa Beach....1 block from the beach, but a few blocks south of the pier. When I disappear from cardrooms for months at a time, then return, people always ask where I've been, like I musta been in Topeka. Hermosa Beach is about the only part of LA I can tolerate.
And the 40s at Commerce. Yeah, they are phenomenal. But as I've started to realize, it's getting harder and harder to find a tough game in town. Not that I'm looking....
Sharkeez is tight...did you get any drinks that were served in their buckets (shark attack or....don't remembeer the other one)...a novely, and hangover that go so damn well together...
And Iris...yeah. She's a real, well, she's...
Glad I never saw her on the pier!!!
Josh
[ QUOTE ]
and three airline stewardesses asked us if we wanted to come back and watch porn with them at their hotel room. It was quite nice
[/ QUOTE ]
Can you please be a bit more specific? How can we make a proper reply if we don't know sizes, current action and how many people are in? Details! Please!
Sounds like a fun trip ;-)
Regards
Paluka
03-11-2004, 12:54 PM
My favorite party of the Commerce 80-160 game (which, by the way, completely transplants itself to the Bellagio during the WSOP) is the clones. Asian girls, red/pink hair, all with Ipods. There are at least 50 of them. Those Ipods may actually be transmitting some sort of signals from a hive mind of some sort.
J.A.Sucker
03-11-2004, 02:02 PM
Hi JV,
Glad you had fun in Hermosa. I used to have 2 buddies who lived a block from the pier, and someday I'll get a house on the Strand... *sigh* The buddies moved away from the beach, however, though I have lots of fond memories (or lack thereof) regarding drunken weekends down there. Sharkies and the others are all great, and the women are loose, aggressive, and all have the same lower-back tatoos. (t)It's lovely!
My trips to LA usually don't involve any poker (or maybe a quick 3 hour session in the morning while hungover), which is a shame, because the games are terrific, though I think that the games aren't as good as people brag about at 30-60 and above (though still plenty juicy). Then again, it's not a shame that I don't play poker on those trips - the beach, the sun, the fake titties... waking up hungover, strolling down to the beach for some sun, taking a dip in the ocean, passing out on the beach while waiting for my nuts to return to their original position, and hitting the BackBurner for a greasy breakfast at 2pm before grabbing some beers and doing it again. Yeah, I miss Hermosa.
I'm also glad that you mentioned the Flight Attendents - they are a bellweather aspect of the Hermosa/Manhattan Beach scene, and are wonderful in their own right... I think of that scene from Blow, where they're all hitting the bong in Manhattan Beach and all these young chickadees say what they do for a living "I'm a flight attendent!" "I'm a flight attendent!" "I'm a flight attendent!"... it's high comedy... mainly because it's true.
slavic
03-11-2004, 03:48 PM
and three airline stewardesses asked us if we wanted to come back and watch porn with them at their hotel room
When someone makes this type of raise you have to ask yourself what do they think you hold and how do they feel about your play before calling. In this case your hand is too strong to fold and you should at least call.
Oh the lower back tatoos. Every tatoo is -EV, except the lower back tatoo, which is like Ace King suited on the button.
Is that signal...."must three bet top pair," "must raise turn and check river?"
Heaven forbid you try to get a free card in that 80 game.
El Dukie
03-12-2004, 01:38 AM
[ QUOTE ]
Hermosa Beach is about the only part of LA I can tolerate.
[/ QUOTE ]
I can handle most of the Beach Cities, but that's about it. My wife's an L.A. native. After we had lived here for a couple years, I told her if she wanted to stay in L.A., we'd have to live someplace I liked. That meant south of Rosecrans, west of the 405, and north of Long Beach.
I lived in Hermosa from 1998 to 2001, though I was happily engaged/married the whole time and didn't try to take advantage of the porn-loving flight attendants. /images/graemlins/wink.gif After we close escrow on the new house in Manhattan, I'll have to host a South Bay 2+2 meet-up....
Thats got the makings of the party of the year.l
Josh W
03-12-2004, 02:46 AM
You really closing on a house in Manhattan? I've started looking, and, well, if I wanna buy a house in Manhattan/Hermosa, poker is gonna have to really get carried away, and soon! I'd be happy with Redondo/Torrance right about now....
Congrats,
Josh
snakehead
03-12-2004, 04:01 AM
I don't think it's nice to talk like that about andy's first wife.
symphonic
03-12-2004, 04:03 AM
I also recently got back from LA/San Diego. I was quite impressed with Commerce casino, but Oceans 11 in SD wasn't too great. I am moving to Santa Monica in a few months and I can't wait.
I was wondering who had bad enough taste, yet enough money to outfit her w/ that god-awful jewelry.
andyfox
03-12-2004, 02:26 PM
Gee, I make one slightly out-of-line comment about Snakehead and now I get this. I'm going to have to start reading all of his posts.
FYI, she was not my first wife. She was my second wife.
And while I've never been with a 10, I am currently paying alimony to two 5's. Iris is not one of them.
andyfox
03-12-2004, 02:34 PM
How'd you get a place in Santa Monica? There are never any apartments available, and condos and homes there are more expensive than anywhere else in the L.A. area. Seriously, we just recently bought in Beverly Hills and an equivalent home in Santa Monica would have cost 20-25% more.
All the L.A. bashers are jealous. We have the best weather in the world, including everyplace. I can be at the beach in 15 minutes, in the mountains in an hour, in the desert in an hour. We have the Getty Center, Huntington Library, the new Disney Concert Hall and the 4th or 5th beest orchestra in the world, a spectacular new cathedral, a great legacy of modern architecture built by Frank Lloyd Wright, Schindler, Neutra, and the Greene Brothers. We have the Lakers, the Kings, and the Dodgers. We have Commerce and Larry Flynt. We have Rodeo Drive, Old Town Pasadena, 3rd Street Promenade, and Universal City Walk. We have the two most beautiful residential streets in America (La Mesa Drive in Santa Monica and Prospect Terrace in Pasadena). We have great Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Korean, French, Italian, and fusion food. The women here are better to look at than any city in the world, and I was in London, Paris, and Amsterdam recently. L.A. is paradise.
I love L.A.
El Dukie
03-12-2004, 02:43 PM
Don't forget: We have smog, freeways, and urban sprawl, too!!! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif
limon
03-12-2004, 03:14 PM
El Dukie
03-12-2004, 04:46 PM
My day job takes away from poker, but it does have its advantages! /images/graemlins/smile.gif If you're looking, and you don't have a buyer's agent yet, I've got an guy who specializes in the South Bay. We used him to buy our current house, for the sale of the current house, and the purchase of the new house. I don't know your exact price range, but he's pretty good at finding a range of places (He's also one of Shorewood's top producers, and he only works off referrals). If you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll give you his contact info.
symphonic
03-12-2004, 10:15 PM
I got in with a couple other friends when one of their roommates moved out. 3200 a month (800 a piece)for a very nice 4 bedroom place isn't bad. Oh, and I also agree that L.A is paradise.
Bill Murphy
03-13-2004, 01:13 AM
"Don't forget: We have smog, freeways, and urban sprawl, too!!!"
Everybody's got all that. /images/graemlins/frown.gif
Josh W
03-13-2004, 06:23 AM
No No No No.
The weather down here is not good. I'll take any coastal city south of boston or on the west coast. I'll take any rockies weather.
The sports teams down here are a disgrace. The Lakers are the most despicable, classless group of athletes ever assembled. The Angels are led by bandwagon jumpers (sooga not included, he's always been loyal to them). The dodgers have real fans, and are a respectable ballclub, if you can tolerate the occasional parking lot shooting after playing the Giants.
The people are very snobish. Having spent a chunk of time in NY, Chi, St.L, the south, Seattle, LV, Montana, Utah, Denver, etc...The people elsewhere are ALWAYS friendlier...in NY they ignore you, in LA they hate you.
The culture is amazing. This is a (the?) good thing about LA.
The poker is....well, it's great, but live action has so many downsides that you have to put up with here.
The architecture is nice. But the city is amazingly gray. Take a drive. You'll be surrounded by gray air, gray buildings, gray concrete, maybe gray sand if near the water. Of course, the overabundance of graffiti helps spice up the gray somewhat.
Put another way....I'm strongly considering up and moving to a different city. Any different city. Seriously, the top couple options (other than Seattle) are places I'VE NEVER EVEN VISITED. Cuz right now, I'd take a random number over LA.
Oh, I got hit in the face today by a thrown chip in a casino. Did I mention the people???
I have a group of very close friends who I'd give my life for in a heartbeat. If not for them, I'd never set foot in LA again. None (as in zero) of them are LA natives. Go figger.
Josh
How about this punch line:
Iris and two 5's.
Allan
03-13-2004, 12:29 PM
4th or 5th beest orchestra in the world
Gimmee a break.....It's not that good.
Allan
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