Where to play in SF bay area

[Casey240Z]

I have been playing on the internet for the last few months and now I want to give a card room a try. I am in Oakland and I know of the Oaks Card Club and Bay 101. Does anyone have a opinion on either one. I assume the lowest limit is 2/4. Any advise would be helpful.
Thanks.

[thirddan]

lucky chances is in colma and you can take the bart, just go to colma station and take the casino shuttle, the lowest games they have are 3/6 and 6/12...

[viennagreen]

i used to live in berkeley, and have played at the oaks and lucky chances.

i like the oaks much better... last time i was there was in june--- i think that they even have 1/2 games...

but don't play the 1/2... if you can beat the 1/2 games on party, you should be able to beat the 6/12 at the oaks (on the weekends at least)--- not sure if the games are really tight during the week...

also-- late at night (early in the morning), the oaks has props... they wear a badge designating themselves as that though. from my experience, the props are rocks-- they don't get very creative with hands, and only get involved with premium hands.

hope this helps.

[chaos]

When I lived in SF I played at The Oaks, Lucky Chances, and occasionally at Artichoke Joe's. I like The Oaks best. They collect time charges which works out cheaper than raking the pot. Also I thought the games were better.

[DonkeyKong]

I hadn't played live in a long time so I went to Lucky Chances 3/6 recently just for variety. Generally loose but it depends. The 2 loose players at my table busted out and then it would be a rock garden until the seats got filled with more looseys... so as always, be prepared to shift gears.

I would say its about the same as PartyPoker 3/6, some loose games and then occassionally some pretty good players.

You pay $3 to the house when you have the button so you are automatically in if unraised pot (equivalent of paying 2 BB's + 1 SB/round). You tip the dealer a piece when you win a pot so at 3/6, you are paying $7/round in blinds ($4 rake per pot) and maybe $2 when you win a pot... it's slower too so much better online but its still fun once in a while.

The choices at Lucky for Hold Em when I was there were:
3/6, 6/12, 9/18
NL was 1/1/2 and 5/5/10 (didn't play that though)

[jmark]

The Oaks has 1/2, it plays like online 0.01 / 0.02. It's very expensive though, $2.5/half hour and $1 jackpot drop. 2/4 there is $3/half hour + the $1 drop and the play is not much better.

As the other poster said, if you're good you should sit in the higher games, 6/12 should be fine based on the 15/30 I watched for a half hour. 8 players and 3 had bought in for $200. Each of the 3 rebought for $200 while I was still there.

[Casey240Z]

I think I will check out Oaks. Do you guys really think I should play 6/12? I usually play 1/2 at Party and have played some 2/4. It just seems like a big jump. If I do play 6/12 how much money should I bring?

[TomCollins]

I didn't play 6/12 much, but I wouldn't consider it much harder than Party 1/2 (if at all). 25 BB is 300, so that sounds about good. If losing $300 is a lot for you, I would play smaller.

[jslag]

[ QUOTE ]
When I lived in SF I played at The Oaks, Lucky Chances, and occasionally at Artichoke Joe's. I like The Oaks best. They collect time charges which works out cheaper than raking the pot. Also I thought the games were better.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was at Artichoke Joe's a few months ago, they had the same blind/drop structure as Lucky Chances. They take the small blind for the bad beat jackpot and the added button blind as a drop. I think they did away with the time charge method.

I like the environment at Joe's a lot more than Lucky Chances. If you search the archives, you will find a trip report where I compare the two a bit. Search under Artichoke Joe's and put my name in as the poster.

I have not played at Bay 101 or the Oaks Club yet, would like to though.

Anyone have any opinion on who has the best tournaments? Main factors I'm interested in are prize pool size, blind/ante structure, and skill level...

j.

[jslag]

Just realized you were referring to the Oaks about the time charge... anyhow, Joe's has the same rake structure for limit games as LC.

J.