First the good stuff. Everyone here is friendly and players are having a good time. The players come to hang out, drink, and gamble and not play much serious poker. The No Limit game is easily beatable if you know what you’re doing and have patience.
There’s a self serve soda dispenser in the corner, the bartender swung by fairly often and I assume they have a full bar if drinking and poker is your thing. There’s plenty of parking in the lot.
OK, the bad stuff. Management here is the worst I’ve ever seen, more so in lack of organization and professionalism than anything else (and for the record I didn’t have a bad experience or bad ruling). The website lists their schedule of games including weeknight tournaments, and the outgoing message when you call the poker room says roughly the same. But there are no longer regular weeknight tournaments just a cash game (with different buy-ins from described on the outgoing message) and from what I could tell, the tournament schedule predates the start of the pandemic. I know it’s hard to keep the website up to date, but that’s why people call in; how hard is it to update once a year?
But that’s not the worst of it. When I arrived shortly before 5:30 there was a big todo about the signup list and wait list for the cash game. I guess you can call the bartender or stop in to add yourself to the list and it’s a player maintained whiteboard as no casino employees are present until open at 5:30. People had photos of the board from when they signed up, so feels like issues are common. About 15 minutes after the cash game started a player had to run and errand and another player played over him or “for him”. Then there was an another fuss whether the second player could buy more chips when playing someone else’s money and seat. Letting someone play someone else’s money is dicey at best, but if you’re going to allow it have a clear policy on how that works.
I asked the floor/manager about the newish weekend tournament, and they couldn’t even tell me what the buy-in was, much less the structure. I know a lot of small rooms don’t have posted details of the tournament as most players don’t care, but they should at least know the basics. Somehow they’ve misplaced all missed blind buttons and use random markers of some sort; seems like something you could afford to buy if you’re dropping $200/hour.
Management was polite and composed through all these issues but the players have too much say of what goes on.
One note on play. The no limit game is atypical — 1-2 blinds but a $5 bring in. Unless… someone does their version of a Mississippi straddle, and then it can be up to $20 to come in, which is crazy when people buying in for $100. It’s clear people are there to gamble and have fun; saw plenty of players with a lot of money in the pot with nothing. For better or worse, it feels like a home game rather than a regulated casino game.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood and are looking for a game, stop in for fun. But if you’re looking for a game in the East Bay, I’d recommend any of the other poker rooms.
