Commerce Casino Trip Report
Hi Everyone,
With horrid cash games in Ontario I decided that enough was enough and take a bit of cash that I would normally bring to fallsview on a weekend and buy myself a flight and hotel room at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for 4 days.
Now if you have never been to Commerce before and you love cash games you need to goto LA one time in your life.
The games now are a little odd. Here is a breakdown of the games that I play when I goto Commerce:
NL400- 5/10 game min/max 400 (in otherwords you need to sit down with 400 if you wish to play, nothing less). You are able to re-load for 600 once you bust your 400.
NL500 - 5/10 game min 500 max 1500.
There is also NL40,NL80,NL100,NL 200, as well but those games are 1/1,1/2,3/5 games which I don't really play but I assume they are just as soft (in case your bankroll doesn't support a 400.00 buy in)
Now here are the perks of playing in commerce:
1. Food service to your table - free for anyone playing NL400 or more, the menu is a book full of different food with specials everyday. There is something for everyone. I usually end up eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the tables.
Food examples:
Breakfast: eggs,cereal,pancakes,fruit, etc etc
Lunch: burgers,wings,sandwiches etc etc
Dinner: Steaks, asian thai food, pastas, etc etc
Snacks: Pastries, pies, cakes, ice cream
Drinks: Pop,shakes,water,alcohol (not free)
So essentially you can eat as much as you want and also you can order your food while you are waiting to sit in a game (however that wait time is nominal 5-10mins max) . The floor are very responsive and all they do is validate with the food service that you are on the list and bingo free food. There were occasions where I was taking a break and I just ordered food watching a buddy play and we just ate together. Basically if they have seen you playing the NL400 or above games they don't care.
Poker room rate:
It is usually 123.00 a night, but if you go online and book in advance it works out to avg 118.00 per night. Cheap and the rooms are similar to a Holiday Inn or Best Western. Better quality than the IP. So essentially a clean place to sleep etc.
Transportation:
If you do play at the poker room, get to know the floor and tip them. They will set up free Limos from the airport to pick you up and drop you off.
tip tip tip (1-5 bucks) to chip runners (1 dollar) and floor (5 dollars) and they take care of you. Tell you where the juicy games are, make sure you get anything you need essentially
Now the games:
----NL400
This was the game I primarily played while I was there. It is like a giant home game. There are anywhere between 1-10 tables going 24hrs a day. Usually in the morning it takes a bit of time to get going, but if you arrive around 11am ish the game usually starts.
The action is insane. When I mean insane, I mean where people should never been calling with Ax Kx Qx (x being a shitty kicker) its the norm. With the blinds at 5-10 it does make it a shortstack ninjafest until you get to 800+. Then you just go nutzo re-raising and squeezing limpers and domino callers (those who call raises in succession meanwhile the original raiser is LAG and will not call 200 preflop)
Advice for this game, you basically sit back and play a lot of position and when you make your hand, get your money in. That's anything from top pairs, and draws. Someone will call and pay you off. The best is when you flop a set and they call with 1 pair they won't fold.
If you have played at Fallsview you notice the 2-5game is very tight and no one really puts their money in without the nuts. Well here is the total opposite, enjoy the chips getting slided to you as they call with bottom pair hoping to hit their magical 2 pair.
Keep in mind the swings are wild if these guys do hit but you will be able to pick up tendencies on them very quickly.
Things you pick up every easily are:
1. Habitual limpers
2. Habitual raisers
3. Habitual callers
Very very quickly identify these people and you will be fine. It's really the only things you need to know about the game. Obviously there are the rocks but I don't think I need to identify those (if you can't then you aren't paying enough attention or have played enough cash games)
My advice is once you build up your stack to 1200-1500 ask for a table change and reset at 400. It's an easy way to manage your wins and limit your losses. For the most part there will be 2-3 people at every table that have 1200+ in front of them so you can easily pick up chips.
For those who follow me on twitter they saw pictures of my stacks and the first night on Friday I picked up 1200 in a matter of about 1hr or so. The hands included QQ, AK, 10s, and 8s. So really I don't gamble too much but people just pay you off when you hit top pair or over pair.
An example of the action is as follows:
Effective stacks 800
I am utg and i raise to 55 with QQ. I get 5 callers. Flop comes J85. I bet 200 and 1 person calls and the next person jams 800.00, I snap off and he flips over j10 and the board bricks.
But as you can see 55.00 raises mean absolutely nothing to people and they will stick their money in no problem.
They don't believe and most continuation bets mean absolutely nothing so when they saw me doing it they just figured I will fold. Having played there before I knew regulars like to push around tourists and they figure if I don't have a decent hand I will fold, and it works but when you look at their hand ranges they are so wide, its quite an easily call with over pairs most times.
----NL500----
This game is a little bigger same blinds. The game play is similar to NL400 but you just need more money to sit in it. Just keep that in mind, the floor will try to push you to the NL500 if they see you with a lot of cash in front of you. Just make a judgement call and look at the table before you decide to sit down.
----Overall
I would go over more hands but I am so exhausted from playing 18hr days and barely sleeping I just figure if you are a poker fiend you will enjoy a quick review of the commerce room and give you an idea of what is out there.
The players are very nice and enjoy chatting and you will learn that LA has a ton of money and they don't care about giving it to your fellow canadian. It was my birthday on Saturday when I was playing and I think everyone that passed by me in the poker room playing NL400 and NL500 said happy birthday after I had mentioned it to one of the regulars. Just be friendly and they will enjoy your company and enjoy having you take their money too
With horrid cash games in Ontario I decided that enough was enough and take a bit of cash that I would normally bring to fallsview on a weekend and buy myself a flight and hotel room at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for 4 days.
Now if you have never been to Commerce before and you love cash games you need to goto LA one time in your life.
The games now are a little odd. Here is a breakdown of the games that I play when I goto Commerce:
NL400- 5/10 game min/max 400 (in otherwords you need to sit down with 400 if you wish to play, nothing less). You are able to re-load for 600 once you bust your 400.
NL500 - 5/10 game min 500 max 1500.
There is also NL40,NL80,NL100,NL 200, as well but those games are 1/1,1/2,3/5 games which I don't really play but I assume they are just as soft (in case your bankroll doesn't support a 400.00 buy in)
Now here are the perks of playing in commerce:
1. Food service to your table - free for anyone playing NL400 or more, the menu is a book full of different food with specials everyday. There is something for everyone. I usually end up eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at the tables.
Food examples:
Breakfast: eggs,cereal,pancakes,fruit, etc etc
Lunch: burgers,wings,sandwiches etc etc
Dinner: Steaks, asian thai food, pastas, etc etc
Snacks: Pastries, pies, cakes, ice cream
Drinks: Pop,shakes,water,alcohol (not free)
So essentially you can eat as much as you want and also you can order your food while you are waiting to sit in a game (however that wait time is nominal 5-10mins max) . The floor are very responsive and all they do is validate with the food service that you are on the list and bingo free food. There were occasions where I was taking a break and I just ordered food watching a buddy play and we just ate together. Basically if they have seen you playing the NL400 or above games they don't care.
Poker room rate:
It is usually 123.00 a night, but if you go online and book in advance it works out to avg 118.00 per night. Cheap and the rooms are similar to a Holiday Inn or Best Western. Better quality than the IP. So essentially a clean place to sleep etc.
Transportation:
If you do play at the poker room, get to know the floor and tip them. They will set up free Limos from the airport to pick you up and drop you off.
tip tip tip (1-5 bucks) to chip runners (1 dollar) and floor (5 dollars) and they take care of you. Tell you where the juicy games are, make sure you get anything you need essentially
Now the games:
----NL400
This was the game I primarily played while I was there. It is like a giant home game. There are anywhere between 1-10 tables going 24hrs a day. Usually in the morning it takes a bit of time to get going, but if you arrive around 11am ish the game usually starts.
The action is insane. When I mean insane, I mean where people should never been calling with Ax Kx Qx (x being a shitty kicker) its the norm. With the blinds at 5-10 it does make it a shortstack ninjafest until you get to 800+. Then you just go nutzo re-raising and squeezing limpers and domino callers (those who call raises in succession meanwhile the original raiser is LAG and will not call 200 preflop)
Advice for this game, you basically sit back and play a lot of position and when you make your hand, get your money in. That's anything from top pairs, and draws. Someone will call and pay you off. The best is when you flop a set and they call with 1 pair they won't fold.
If you have played at Fallsview you notice the 2-5game is very tight and no one really puts their money in without the nuts. Well here is the total opposite, enjoy the chips getting slided to you as they call with bottom pair hoping to hit their magical 2 pair.
Keep in mind the swings are wild if these guys do hit but you will be able to pick up tendencies on them very quickly.
Things you pick up every easily are:
1. Habitual limpers
2. Habitual raisers
3. Habitual callers
Very very quickly identify these people and you will be fine. It's really the only things you need to know about the game. Obviously there are the rocks but I don't think I need to identify those (if you can't then you aren't paying enough attention or have played enough cash games)
My advice is once you build up your stack to 1200-1500 ask for a table change and reset at 400. It's an easy way to manage your wins and limit your losses. For the most part there will be 2-3 people at every table that have 1200+ in front of them so you can easily pick up chips.
For those who follow me on twitter they saw pictures of my stacks and the first night on Friday I picked up 1200 in a matter of about 1hr or so. The hands included QQ, AK, 10s, and 8s. So really I don't gamble too much but people just pay you off when you hit top pair or over pair.
An example of the action is as follows:
Effective stacks 800
I am utg and i raise to 55 with QQ. I get 5 callers. Flop comes J85. I bet 200 and 1 person calls and the next person jams 800.00, I snap off and he flips over j10 and the board bricks.
But as you can see 55.00 raises mean absolutely nothing to people and they will stick their money in no problem.
They don't believe and most continuation bets mean absolutely nothing so when they saw me doing it they just figured I will fold. Having played there before I knew regulars like to push around tourists and they figure if I don't have a decent hand I will fold, and it works but when you look at their hand ranges they are so wide, its quite an easily call with over pairs most times.
----NL500----
This game is a little bigger same blinds. The game play is similar to NL400 but you just need more money to sit in it. Just keep that in mind, the floor will try to push you to the NL500 if they see you with a lot of cash in front of you. Just make a judgement call and look at the table before you decide to sit down.
----Overall
I would go over more hands but I am so exhausted from playing 18hr days and barely sleeping I just figure if you are a poker fiend you will enjoy a quick review of the commerce room and give you an idea of what is out there.
The players are very nice and enjoy chatting and you will learn that LA has a ton of money and they don't care about giving it to your fellow canadian. It was my birthday on Saturday when I was playing and I think everyone that passed by me in the poker room playing NL400 and NL500 said happy birthday after I had mentioned it to one of the regulars. Just be friendly and they will enjoy your company and enjoy having you take their money too
Comments
Is it +ev to fly to the commerce vs drive (from Hamilton) to Fallsview?
So you have to play 5/10 min.
This.
Other good stuff in there too. (Feel like I need to go to Foxwoods one day too but don't know anything about it.)
Thanks for the report.
They use a drop not a rake.
Great TR. The NL400 sounds awful to me personally as a player (40bb) but the 5/10 1500max sounds like a decent game. I'd rather sit in the 3/5 500 than have to be a nit in the 400...but I like to play lots of hands...variance is obviously much larger in the 400 and I wonder if long term winrate is comparable between 3/5 500 and 5/10 400.
LA is known for its loose players. I wonder if the 2/5 1000-1500-no cap games in Vegas are better or worse than the 3/5 500max in LA.
I assume the 5/10 1500max in LA is better than the current 5/10 scene in Vegas due to local economies even though the 5/10s in Vegas play uncapped.
The one drawback is that Commerce is in a terrible area of LA, but if you're just there to play poker then I guess it doesn't matter.
Oh geez, my trips are always open invite. For sure next trip you get a personal one!
Yes flight hotel = 600.00 total, first hour sitting @ Commerce +1200
Yeah 1 dollar for jackpot and then a drop.
Yeah agreed to all of the above. You don't goto Commerce to sight see and basically keep inside the casino at night and you are fine or take cabs/rental car where ever you need to go.