I’ve returned recently from a week of poker playing at the Commerce Casino, and it was one of the best weeks of my life. I’m not saying that most weeks of my life aren’t right out of a fairy tale; actually, I’m a lucky individual when it comes to being content with my life. I’m just saying that when I play poker, I am usually hosting an event, teaching a camp, doing a fundraiser, or running a cruise.
My plan for my six nights at Commerce was to play poker—the games I wanted to play, when I wanted to play them, and as long as I wanted to play. That’s exactly what I did and it was sweet. I left the building only once, to have lunch with 12 friends and kill multiple birds in one fell swoop. I played an average of 13 hours a day, or I should say night and early morning. It was poker nirvana!
I went during a particular week, planning to play about five events of their “54 events in 44 days” LAPC but was so enamored by the live action I only made it into two tournaments. Yes, I’m an Omaholic (limit Omaha/8) at heart and there just aren’t games around often enough, but there were at Commerce. They also were typical LA games—lots of crazy players, lots of very bad behavior, and lots of money on the table.
But I digress. I did play the HORSE event and saw where they do some things I really like. Since eight games of each discipline are played, instead of the dealers moving lammers inside the box, there are eight brightly colored Lucite disks beside the tray numbered one to eight. The dealer merely moves one button before cutting the cards each time. They’re numbered so it’s pretty hard to screw up or forget.
They also use large game plaques on each table to denote the game being played. In a HOE mix it’s obvious … three cards mean 7-stud/8, two is hold’em, and four is Omaha/8. In HORSE you have three stud-format games so it can be confusing if you aren’t paying attention. It is very sad when you finally make a hand, only to find out that you’re playing the wrong game. Funny, the table has little sympathy for you when this happens. Oddly, those are the easiest times to make a hand!
A men’s long-sleeved T-shirt or a ladies capped-sleeve version was given to each entrant. It was nice to have an option for the ladies in the field. I guess the hats were unisex, but they were cool too. Commerce has several new eating venues, including the yummy Manhattan Deli. I’m not good when faced with too many choices, so between deciding where to eat and whether to play live games or tournaments, I had a hard time planning my days.
Not only did Commerce offer the standard spread of no-limit, no-limit, and more no-limit, but they also had HORSE, Omaha/8, seven-game mix, limit hold’em, 7-card stud, 7-stud/8, and Chinese poker among the games to whet the appetite of any player.
They also had tourney buy-ins ranging from $125 to $25,000 and the $125 events had first-place guarantees of $100,000. Needless to say, they met their guarantee easily. The $335 no-limit tournament had a $1,000,000 total payout guarantee.
With the European contingency set to arrive later in the series, the games will only get even better, if that’s possible. Matt Savage and his team are doing a great job and the dealers and staff were excellent. I already am looking forward to heading back for the WPT Invitational. You never know, I might be sitting next to your favorite celebrity or poker player! I’m hoping the Omaha/8 games will still be going while I’m there. Moving right along…
Jan Fisher has 30 years experience as a poker player, tournament director, strategist/columnist, co-founder of the Tournament Directors Association, Partner in Card Player Cruises, WPT Boot Camp instructor and statistician, and live studio announcer for the Professional Poker Tour. E-mail Jan at Jan@cardplayercruises.com.
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