The Commerce ... it's huge and it's ugly

The Vegas part of the trip ended with another nice win at the Wynn.
Had a short 2 hour session before my flight and got a nice 4/8 table.

Comment of my neighbor: "This is a tough table". Mmmh...I thought it was an easy one. Easy to dominate. Different perspectives.

As I wasn't willing to pay the $129,- per night at the Commerce I found a much cheaper and good hotel (with free internet) nearby.
Good choice! The commerce is a cultural shock if you're used to Las Vegas poker. The place is huge! The biggest poker rooms in Vegas (Bellagio, MGM, Wynn, Orleans) have around 30 Tables. The Commerce has 5(!) times of that. About 150 Tables. But the place is an ugly dump. I never saw so much morons on one place together. "I play always low unsuited cards...they hit more often on the river. You can only lose with high cards. Believe me! I've seen this so often", "No, I'm not drunk I just had my fourth Heinecken in one hour...raise...I've only sh*** but I raise. See my 7,2 hit on the river". Wow, I hate this place. And to top this I had a horrible night. QQ lost, KK lost, some others failed...and at the end I lost a big pot with KJ. Me and to others at the end of a huge pot. I beat one with a pair of Jacks and the King. But the 3rd one had AJ for the better kicker. The only good thing: The guy I lost too was one of the few good players. He deserved it...as well as I :-((

I learned an important (but expensive lesson) that night: Never play were you don't feel comfortable. This place may be a cash cow (if you can stand the swings) but I don't feel comfortable at this dump. While BJ is a game of pure math you can play this without faults even if you don't feel good. Poker is different. There is a lot of math involved but you have to deal with the unknown. You have to make decisions that will be influenced from the way you feel. If you don't feel good you will play badly. That's one more reason why I prefer places like the Wynn - even if my longterm winrate is lower.
BTW - Moron lost all of his big stack he accumulated in just an hour and left...enter next moron...

So I decided to go to the Bycicle Casino in Bell Gardens on the next day. They have a noon Tournament which I wanted to enter. The "Bike" is much nicer than the Commerce. I didn't play for cash there as the tournament took 5 hours and I was exhausted and needed a break...but the overall impression was much better.

The tournament was very interesting. Most memorable hands: I hit my second Jack (had AJ) on the river while being all-in and beat a pair of sixes early in the tournament. At the end I was short-stacked and had barely enough for my big-blind in the next round (2000/4000 blinds and 500 ante - that's tough!) as I got pocket queens. Went all in, got two callers and got a third queen on the flop. Strrrrike! :-) At this time we all were in the money but I wanted to end better than 16th place. And I did. And it could have been better. Some rounds later I was the big blind (and again had just enough left for the small blind) and was dealt AK. All-In. One caller with A4s. I was clear favorite until the river...were the dreaded 4 hit the board. Out on 11th place. Too bad I missed the final table for just one place. But still made $130 for $60 buy-in and 5 hours of play. 1st place paid about $1.700.

I was too exhausted to play a round of cash game and went for some shopping time to Santa Monica. I had a great time and decided not to go back to the Bike that night. I took my time and went back to the hotel by midnight.

Maybe I will play tomorrow morning before my flight (if I'm up early enough).

This week went so fast - but I had a great time. I'm down so far but I learned a lot. And I can't wait for the next trip.