MT and I went down to Gardena today to get in a few hours at the Hustler Casino. Much better than Hollywood Park, in my opinion. First of all, the parking lot is right next to the casino, as opposed to a couple hundred yards away. Inside, it’s kept clean and the materials are somewhat better than the Park’s. The clientele’s not as sketchy or obnoxious, and the food/cocktail/coffee servers come by pretty frequently. In terms of the games, the rake’s the same as at Hollywood Park, but there’s no small blind at the 3-6 and 4-8 tables, and the bad beat jackpot money comes from the blind instead of the button. So for every orbit, you’re only forced to put in one small bet versus two. That’s 5BB/100 hands you’re saving, which is pretty substantial.

I played 3-6 while MT hit the 4-8 and 6-12 tables. I ended up +8.5BB after a little over 3 hours of play. Not a monster session, but much preferable to losing money. In terms of BB/100 hands, it’s really not bad at all. Having a small blind and a separate bad beat contribution would have probably eroded most of my winnings.

The first hand I got dealt was AT. Flop showed a ten high and I bet every round and took the pot after the river without having to show. No fold ’em indeed.

Raised pre-flop only twice, both times with Big Slick–offsuit and suited. Won the first time when the board came up AQJ9A. Again, I won on the river without having to show. I’m sure some of them had the odds to call to the river. The second time I bet the flop then check-folded the turn when the flop and turn missed me completely. It’s hard to bluff these guys if they’ve got top pair (or any pair, for that matter). The winning hand was a pair of eights with a ten kicker.

I profitably check-raised the turn a couple times: had T8s and flopped trips the first time (she folded to my raise), had AXs and flopped two pair the second time (he called to the showdown).

One guy tried to bluff every hand by leading the betting. One time I had pocket 8’s and the flop came up 77x. The bluffer bet and the next guy called. The caller worried me, and I folded. Of course an 8 appeared on the turn. Blah. Folding pocket pairs for one small bet is really questionable. On another hand I had KTo and the flop was Kxx. The bluffer bet every round and then mucked his cards at the showdown before I even had to show. Okay. On another hand I had AT (got this hand four times) and the flop came up QJ8. The bluffer bet, the guy next to him raised all-in ($2 more) and I called with 8 outs. The turn was a rag and I checked, only to discover that the bluffer was already all-in. Lucky me. The king appeared on the river. Lucky me. Turns out the bluffer had pocket eights and was pretty mad about his set losing to my straight.

I don’t think I had anyone suck out on me, which is pretty lucky. On the other hand, a woman at our table had a bad beat handed to her early on when she flopped the wheel, bet and raised at every opportunity, and lost to a 7-high straight on the river. A few hands later, her top pair lost to the wheel on the river. Insult to injury. She had to rebuy soon after that. Other people had pocket aces, kings, queens, or jacks, and lost to players with flushes and straights that had no business being in the pot in the first place. Love it.

All in all, it was a good way to spend the afternoon. MT lost several big bets (mostly through blind attrition, though his cowboys failed to hold up a couple times), but we agreed that we should try to make it out there more often.