Soft Play in Los Angeles CA Area

Hello poker pros,

I will be making a 5 day trip out to Anaheim California with my fiance' for her cousins 2017 World Championship Pokemon tournament from August 17th -August 23rd at the Anaheim Convention Center.

I looked at some neighboring casino's in the Los Angeles Area to play- I will definitely be checking out Commerce casino for the poker room.

I was wondering if anybody can recommend some casinos' with soft poker play for the NL tables any limit (I play 1/2 nl all the way up to 10/10nl -) within close proximity to the Anaheim Convention Center - in the Los Angeles /Riverside/San Bernardino/San Diego County's?

Any help or guidance is definitely appreciated as always!

I would not refer to myself as a "poker pro." But, I am something more than a casual recreational player.

I've found I do generally like the poker room at San Manuel casino, in San Bernardino. That said, the quality of play will vary a lot day to day, hour to hour, table to table. But it is a large busy room with a wide variety of games and stakes that rivals some of the larger poker rooms on the Las Vegas Strip, in a nice property that seems to attract recreational players from a wide slice of the greater LA metro area & suburbs & so-called "inland Empire" & beyond to some extent. I think you'd likely find some of their cash games to your liking, But, be aware that they don't do tournaments, in case you're also looking for that. Just cash games.

thanks for the feedback - drawingdead -

Yes to update - I am looking to play "ONLY" NL Hold em cash games. Won't have much time to play tournaments as I will be with fiance and daughter. I will most likely be playing at night after they fall asleep - and as far as I know - tournaments are rarely if not ever run at nighttime.. Mohegan Sun in Connecticut use to have a midnight tournament years ago.

After some further research - I read that the Bicycle club and Hawaiian Gardens has some good action and soft play.

The San Manuel Casino - might be too far of a drive from Disneyworld/Anaheim Convention Center (where I will be staying). google mapped it 60 miles. Commerce/Bike/ and HG seemed like better options since they are 20 miles away.

You need to check your route with a local. 20 miles through LA at 20 mph may take longer than a trip to another casino.

LA and other cities have card clubs with poker and card based games like blackjack. These are not what most people mean by casino. There are no machines for example. The real casinos are all owned by Indian tribes.

There is no such thing as a poker room with soft games. Hopefully you understand why. The LA style is loose-aggressive. Observing the game, you might think these are bad, soft players. Some are, many aren't. The LA clubs do offer active tables.

Pechanga is the biggest casino in SoCal. It is the closet thing to a Las Vegas casino in the area. They have machines and one of the largest poker rooms in the country. Quite a few people from Orange county, south and west sides of LA make the drive.

Unless it has changed the poker games in CA are completely different than anywhere else. Last I played the 1/2 had a max buy in of $100. Maybe that was just a specific game I played or location. It was 10 years ago so my memory is foggy on the details.

If you are happy with a card room, Oceans 11 in Oceanside is comparable in size to the LA card rooms.
Depending on traffic and your starting point it may be an option. It's straight south and sits next to I-5.

The main consideration is having a lot of active tables. You can change tables if you don't like the game. The LA clubs, Pechanga, and Oceans are busy most of the time.

They all still offer low max buyin games. These can be fun if you are at a good table.

In case you weren't already familiar with it, to see exactly what games are actually running (as well as the waiting or interest lists for each of them) at > 80% of the poker rooms in the country with > 90% of the games, the Genesis/Bravo system automatically broadcasts that information continuously in real time from the poker rooms for all those using a modern player-card/table-swipe tracking system You can check that information online yourself at: https://www.bravopokerlive.com/venues/ or use their mobile app, and then drill down to see what's actually happening at any moment in specific game structures/stakes for each room that uses the computerized comp/rewards/tracking/table-management system.

Size of the larger area poker rooms, listed by number of tables, according to PokerAtlas.com:
1. Commerce 210 tables
2. Bicycle 185 tables
3. Hawaiian Gardens 110 tables
4. San Manuel 60 tables
5. Pechanga 54 tables
6-8. Ocean's 11, Hollywood Park, Hustler: 50-51 tables
Multiple others < 50 tables.

Number of actual active cash games (total - all stakes and game types) as of 6:32pm today, Wednesday, June 21st, as broadcast on the Genesis/Bravo system:
Commerce 61
San Manuel 18
Pechanga 6
[Bicycle, HG, O11, etc. not on Bravo tracking system]

Thank for the info, Yes, I have the Bravo app on my phone. I will use that.

I actually signed up to be on "live at the bike" playing the 5/10NL. That sounds like it will be fun.

Quote: stabworld

Thank for the info, Yes, I have the Bravo app on my phone. I will use that.

I actually signed up to be on "live at the bike" playing the 5/10NL. That sounds like it will be fun.

Good luck! Hehe...Maybe Zuga will pay you a few bucks to wear a big WoO patch uncomfortably high on your chest for the camera.

So 2nd day out here in Anaheim - Orange county /Los Angeles Area- and I played at the Commerce Casino last night. I played 5/5NL- was a good table with some great action - $20 -$40 blind raises. had a good session +$508 on a 7 hour session.

Tonight, I think I may check out Hawaiin Gardens. Tuesday I play the 5/10NL at live at the bike - Bicycle Club.