Las Vegas or So. Cal. ?

[raptor]

Trying to decide on the two. Will be moving this Spring to one or the other. Not just concerned with game selection, but also things like cost of living, ( L.A. obviously higher), weather,(L.A. better), the advantage of L.A. being smoke free, things like that. Any comments from those who have lived and played poker in both places for a substantial period of time, would be appreciated.

[Dynasty]

The two largest rooms in Las Vegas (Bellagio and Mirage) are also smoke free. And, the weather here is fantastic except from about late May until early September when it gets over 100 degrees routinely.

[Randy_Refeld]

I have lived in both Vegas and LA and I like both of them. If you want to be at the casino 24/7 then you want to live in Vegas; you can't get away from a casino. If you want to live in the real world and just visit the casino to play poker than go to LA.

Randy

[mdlm]

If you want to be at the casino 24/7 then you want to live in Vegas; you can't get away from a casino. If you want to live in the real world and just visit the casino to play poker than go to LA.

I was just in Vegas and lived in Orange County (just south of LA) for 8 years.

The point that Randy makes is the key point. Las Vegas is a horrifying, sickening, disgusting city during the day and outside of the casino. That is why poker pros sleep until 1pm and then go straight to the casino. Unless you are sitting at the poker table LV is simply hellish. It looks like a ghost town. My guess is that most people will go insane.

LA, on the other hand, is a real city in a real state with beaches, mountains, state parks, Hollywood, basketball teams, etc.

[Clarkmeister]

"The point that Randy makes is the key point. Las Vegas is a horrifying, sickening, disgusting city during the day and outside of the casino. ..... Unless you are sitting at the poker table LV is simply hellish."

If your only experience off the strip is limited to heading to the Gamblers Book Club, then you have no basis for making that arguement. Its similar to making a judgement about LA if all you have seen is Compton. Once you have seen Summerlin, Green Valley, Red Rock and Mt. Charleston you can make a judgement about quality of life in Vegas.

[raptor]

Thanks; this is the kind of input I am looking for. I have been to Vegas many times for tournaments but have never made it out to L.A. Did not realize that Belagio and Mirage had gone smoke free, thanks for that info. Would have to agree that vegas is dead during the day, but I, like most full time players, am rarely up before noon. I do not have any "leaks", I play nothing but poker, so there is really nothing else about Vegas that I am really interested in, ( except the restuarants ) I would probably prefer LA, but am concerned with cost of living, how far have to drive daily to get to, lets say, Commerce, crime rate, that kind of stuff. Anyways, thanks for the input!

[Boris]

Read the bad beat stories on the mid limit forum. You will definitely want to move to Vegas. Great games, lower variance, lower cost of living.

[AmericanAirlines]

I can't say about L.A. or San Fran, since never been to either, but I did live in Vegas for 2 years.

As some folks suggest, in general Vegas "isn't a very good place to live". I have 2 vehicles broken into or stolen.

But like an "metropolitan" area, if you have the money to be in the nice sections it can be "great". My favorite example of that is Memphis. Most of it s*cks... but of course the rich sections with stone houses and golf courses are nice.

As for calling Summerlin "nice" well, I lived in the apt. complex across from Citicorp's HQ and right next to Canyon Gate and very near to "The Lakes" (both exclusive) when my car and motorbike were screwed with. The place I was in was gated. So my neighbors or the gaurds were probably involved right?

Make no bones about it LV has a high crime rate that they play down.

That having been said, if you don't mind driving, there's places to see and things to do, but the terrain out there is very spartan to say the least. And being Vegas, well it's very transient. Lots of folks come, find out they hate it and leave. A couple that sold real estate moved in next to me from Tampa and in 6 months they left. They'd heard the market was booming out there (1998) but decided they just didn't give a diddly, they wanted out.

Another thing to consider, it's biological crud farm. 60,80 million folks a year come through from everywhere. Bringing every virus and flu that there is. After being in that scene for a while, I can tell you... people come to Vegas, make a mess for a week and go home. One memorable situation was watching some guy bring his drink into the men's room at the Mirage, putting it on a cruddy urinal, not washing his hands and taking the dripping filthy glass back out to the table. Now ask what's in some of the clay chips that may be older than you are.

I won't even tell you 'bout the time I watched a chefm when I was working Sahara, that put his tools on a dirty bench in the locker room.

Anyways, any casino is a crud incubator, no matter where it is. But then so is the office building I work in. People are cruds in general. Just watch them close some time ;-)

So, never having done the West Coast, I'd subjectively think there's more diversions away from the casino, closer on the West Coast.

But, having seen the films of riots in LA and more recently, Oakland, ummm... seems to be some boiling discontent out there. And well, Compton, on the map is very near Commerce, and well "Crystal Park" I think it is, is right there. Compton, I believe, is home to "The Compton Crypts" or whatever gang. Adversaries to "The Bloods". That's what all those silly hand signs Rappers make in videos are about. "Gang Signs". I mean come on, SoCal is the source of the "Gangsta" baggy clothes look. or at least Hollywood is the point of distribution of that BS.

But then I definitely saw skin heads in Vegas. And one night some 17 year old punk thought he was going to give me a hard time on the street. Shocked the sh*t out of him when he went in one door of the Frontier, I went in another and caught him in the middle. The clown took his shirt off like he was going to "kick my ass" in the middle of the Frontier. Good thing for him I didn't want an "assaulting a minor" charge. When he got his shirt over his head I could've easily dropped him. What a clown. Security handled it. I told him to grow up a get a job to support his little girlfriend he was showing off for.

Suffice to say neither locations "casino districts" are country clubs. It's a shame poker can't be located in nice places. But this is as it is. Suck to have the trade off for pursing pro poker be crappy locations. But I suspect wealthy folks with power to affect zoning don't really want a casino in thier back yard. To bad poker clubs can't be more like country clubs. But gaming attracts everything from average folks to scammers to the wealthy. I guess risk taking and competive urges ar just human common denominators.

In any event, I'm curious, as you are, about the ease or difficulty of being a true "make your living at poker" pro in any of the big poker locations vrs. Las Vegas.

Two things that do stand out to me. 1) The CA card barns seem to have more tables than the big LV card rooms. 2) I wonder, since CA card rooms don't attract the tourism crowd, whether or not the density of pros is greater in CA.

Sincerely,
AA

[andyfox]

"the weather here is fantastic except from about late May until early September when it gets over 100 degrees routinely."

That's about 30% of the year. "Over 100 degrees routinely" is a euphemism for a suburb of hell. It's frigging hot in Las Vegas. We're told it's a dry heat. It's a hot heat.

When the Veteran's Administration wanted the spot with the best climate in the country in the 1920s, they picked the west side of Los Angeles. It still has the best climate in the world, including everywhere. The smog is forbidden to go west of La Cienega Blvd. by order of the city council.

[raptor]

Again I want to thank any and all responses on this subject!! I do not want this to turn into a bashing contest between the two cities, I just want to get as much input I can get from people who have " been there - done that". There is obviously a lot more to consider than just the "games". As far as AA's comment about the possibility of there being a higher density of pros in LA, I would have thought that the opposite would be the case. Since there are no table games, slots, or sports betting, it's either poker or nothing! I would think that there would be a lot more casual players than in normal casinos. Obviously, I could be completely wrong on this. Plus you have a lot of people, who, lets say, are in a higher tax bracket, that have a lot of disposable income! The gang problems, I have given some thought to, but without being there, I have no way of knowing how much I here about is true, how much is exagerrated, or how much is toned down? I have learned through experience not to believe much of what is said on the news, or in the paper. As for the bad beat stories, yes, I know all about the way the asians play hold-em out on the coast! There is a lot of different ways to look at the good and bad points of playing poker in both cities, that is why I started this thread, and appreciate all insight from other players!! Thanks again, and keep it coming!!