I’ve been playing cash games at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles for the better part of the year. The few exceptions were trips to the Bahamas for the PCA, Melbourne for the Aussie Millions, and San Jose for the WPT tournament at Bay 101. The Commerce is the largest poker room in the world and the cash game action there is very steady. Although bigger games occasionally come together in Las Vegas, there’s always poker for me to play at the Commerce, with $100/$200 to $400/$800 mixed games running consistently.
Actually, the biggest games this year at the Commerce have been pot-limit Omaha. I rarely play in them, but it seems like almost every day, certainly in February when the WPT L.A. Poker Classic was going on, that three decent-sized PLO games were running. Buy-ins ranged from $5,000 to as much as $50,000. The smaller games had $10/$20 and $20/$40 blinds, but the big game had $100/$200 blinds and was often straddled to $400/$800. Right now the Commerce is a great place for PLO players, and the action is probably better than any other kind of poker.
I took another short break from the cash games in late April and traveled to Monte Carlo for the EPT Grand Final. I played the Main Event, but unfortunately I didn’t cash. Soon I’ll be heading out to Las Vegas for the summer but I have concerns about some of the tournaments at the upcoming World Series of Poker. Many of the World Championship events that had a $5,000 buy-in the last few years have been increased to $10,000 this year. My immediate concern is that some of these events will draw fewer than 100 players. The poker economy isn’t strong enough right now to warrant taking those buy-ins up to $10,000. I think they should have waited until online poker is back in full force in the United States. As we know, the online sites, most notably PokerStars, were a key satellite venue for many of the bigger events, especially the WSOP Main Event.
Nevertheless, I’m ready to play anywhere from 20 to 25 events at this year’s World Series. Until then I’ll be at the Commerce, grinding away in the cash games.
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