Trip Report: Hustler Casino

As I mentioned in my last post, I finally broke through with a decent win at the Commerce Casino.  I followed up my win at Commerce with a nice session at Hustler.  The Hustler Casino is quite a bit closer to my hotel, so I decided to head out for dinner prior to my session.  Since I was in the mood for sushi, the front desk recommended a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Sakura Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Los Angeles.  I highly recommend it; prices were incredibly cheap and the food was very good - particularly for the price.

Entrance to the Hustler Casino

Stomach filled, I headed out to Larry Flynt's casino.  The casino is somewhat small, with an understated entrance.  I was figuring there would be tons of neon, bright lights and half-dressed women roaming the property, akin to what I'd imagine the Playboy mansion is like.  At any rate, I was not there to check out women nor party it up; I was there to make some money.

The poker floor at Hustler Casino

Consistent with the exterior, the interior was pleasant and clean, but smaller than the cavern I had seen at the Commerce on the prior night.  The buy in structures for Hustler are different, as well.  They offered a 1 / 3 game (I think; perhaps it was 1 / 2) with a lower buy in, but 2 2 / 5 games - one with a $100 - $300 buy in and one with a $300 - $500 buy in.  I opted for the 2 / 5 $300 buy in game, starting with $200.

Having had one prior experience with a 2 / 5 game, the players at this game seemed unlike prior players I have encountered.  The action was typically loose passive - players limp / calling large raises to check / fold cbets.  I got nice value from JTs to a pocket second pair on a Jack high board, and stacked a player with a turn check / raise where I flopped a set to another player's AA (which totally tilted him, FTW!), but other than that, I had very few decisions.  The one "threat" at the table wound up quitting, leaving me as the table aggro.

A few observations: In this game, I would constantly raise my button to the limpers - a price of $40 would force the limpers to fold, as they were not keen on playing a large pot out of position.  In this game, players were able to fold their hands a lot easier than the 2 / 3 or 1 / 2 games I have played.  Finally, I walked away with a decent profit of $475 for the 3-4 hours of play - not a bad profit for a Wednesday night.

The coolest thing about the night, though, was a fellow player who was involved with movie production - a contractor who started a company applying EVMS to movie schedules / costs.  This is in my bailiwick as an engineer, so my interest was definitely piqued.  We exchanged emails and he'll hopefully contact with future opportunity.