Been a while since I've written up a legit poker trip report, but given my recent move to the San Diego area, checking out a new card room, and a handful of interesting hands, I figured why not. A coworker who is a big holdem player has been pestering me to go play cards with him for a while so we decided to meet up at Oceans 11 card room in Oceanside CA around 11:30am on Sunday. I checked with DocXXX to see if he would have time to meet up for lunch or to joint for a session but he and Mrs. XXX had other plans for the day. We’ll be getting together for a mini M&G soon I’m sure, and hopefully Hirize can join once he’s moved from Hawaii as well.
Arrived at Oceans 11 a little early and put my name on the lists. They run some strangely structured games here for NLHE, but that’s somewhat common in the southern CA region. The games they run (that are in my playable range) include a 1/2 NL with a buy in range of $20 - $60 dollars, a 2/2 NL game with a buy-in range of $100-$200, a 2/3 NL with a buy-in range of $100-$300, and a 5/5 NL game (couldn’t tell what the max buy-in was but many people had well over $1k in chips at the table). My target game was the 2/3NL but I also signed up for the 2/2. Of course while I’m waiting they open a new 1/2NL table, and I’m bored so I sit down for a bit. No hands to report here, paid a few blind and won one hand, blinds only, but the rake is devastating. If the pot gets over $10, they take $4+1, 4 for the drop and 1 for the jackpot. Just in playing for 1.5 orbits, the only winner at this game was the house. Completely unbeatable game, period. I will never play it again, regardless of how bored I am. The only way to make money on that game is if you happen to hit a bad beat jackpot. I came to find that the 2/2 and 2/3 games drop $5+1 in larger pots which is too much, but has become the norm in SoCal I guess.
I shortly was called to the 2/3 NL game and took seat 3. Bought in a bit light for $200. Most of the stacks at the table ranged from $200-$400 although 2 people had $100 or less and one guy had around $1100. I came with my usual strategy of playing tight/aggressive for a few orbits to feel out the table and adjust my strategy as the table dictates. Folded several hands, limped in once or twice but folded preflop to a raise. Most hands were raised preflop between $10-25. The first notable hand I was in early mid position and limped with :Ah:2h. The guy with $1100 (lets call him Joe Cool for his sunglasses) raised to $12 and a couple others called so I came along as well. Flop was :8s :5h :2s giving me the lovely prospects of bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw. I checked and Joe bets $20, and everyone folded to me. I called thinking he could easily have two overs or a flush draw. The turn was a brick, something like :7c, I check and he checks behind. Now I really think he’s on a draw taking the free card. That board is way too coordinated to not bet a big pair or other made hand. The river is a :5d pairing the board. I check he bets $45 which is the usual I missed and have to bet to win move. I think for a few moments and call with my pair of ducks. He says good call and turns up AJ rainbow for just two overs. Had the guy muttering for a while after I tabled my hand and picked up some credibility with the rest of the table.
Now I’m up to about $300 in chips and a few orbits later get into it again with Joe Cool again, who I would soon find out was a loose cannon and just the type of player you want to have with a huge stack at a table you sit down to. I look down at :Ac:As in late position and make it $15 to go. I get 3 or 4 callers including Joe in seat 5. The flop comes :Kh:6c:3s pretty much the perfect flop for me my hand and Joe opens for $35. Folds around to seat 1 who shoves all in for $65. This is plenty of action for my one big pair so I go ahead and make it $165 all day figuring to isolate against the all in guy. Joe goes into the tank big time. After much hesitation he flat calls and I see this as a crying call with a big K, not a great acting job holding a small set. I start to shove the remaining $140 of my stack even before the turn comes out :5h. He thinks a long time again and eventually calls and tables :Ks:Jh. The river is a :9d and I show my bullets but alas, the monkey in seat one shoved all in with 93 (bottom pair no draw on the flop!!!) and takes the ~$250 main pot with a rivered two pair. I have to be content with the $500 side pot taken off Joe Cool.
Over the next 90 minutes, I watch a pretty nasty array of wild play, bad beats, and crazy action, mostly involving Joe Cool, in some form or another. His stack goes from the $1100 he had when I sat down to as low as $400 then back up to $1000 when he stacks a guy after flopping a set. Then back down to $300. This entire time I’m just drooling hoping to catch anything to play against him, but alas I’ve gone completely card dead. Also since he’s to my left and raising many hands, I can’t limp in a see flops. Eventually he gets down to about $140 and has gotten completely reckless shoving with anything. He shoves preflop and I wake up with JJ in the hole. He tables :Qc:3c and spikes a Q on the flop to beat me out of a $300 pot.
Down to about $350 I play a couple hands a miss everything or win a small pot now and then but nothing to report. Then this hand which I’m still on tilt over. I look down at :Kd:Qs in the big blind. The action is raised to $16 which I call then the player UTG raises to $70 after limping in! Joe Cool calls and one other player calls as well and as much as I want the action I make what seems like a no brainer choice to fold thinking UTG could easily have AA or KK and made the standard limp reraise play with a huge hand. Flop comes :Jd:10s:9h. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. And to make matters worse, Joe Cool goes all in for a hundred, gets raised, and called by the other two players. Fuck my life. I don’t recal the exact hands but I think UTG had AQ (open ended nut straight draw) and the other guy had AJ (for top pair). If I’d called the $70 pfr I might have more than tripled up my $350. I played a short while longer and ended up cashing out $304 for a $104 profit.
Overall this is an excellent room. The place is clean, the outside and inside feels safe, there are probably nearly 100 tables with every game you could want, and the action (at my table at least) was excellent. The downside is the high rake, but what are you going to do about that. If things had gone a bit differently in either of the two big hands I played, I could have been cashing out $600-800 more. You can’t ask for a better spot that that. I'll definitely be heading back to this room in the future. Another bonus was that for signing up for the players card as a new member, I got a free meal which I made the most of. The food was surprisingly good too. I’ll leave you with this gem.
Arrived at Oceans 11 a little early and put my name on the lists. They run some strangely structured games here for NLHE, but that’s somewhat common in the southern CA region. The games they run (that are in my playable range) include a 1/2 NL with a buy in range of $20 - $60 dollars, a 2/2 NL game with a buy-in range of $100-$200, a 2/3 NL with a buy-in range of $100-$300, and a 5/5 NL game (couldn’t tell what the max buy-in was but many people had well over $1k in chips at the table). My target game was the 2/3NL but I also signed up for the 2/2. Of course while I’m waiting they open a new 1/2NL table, and I’m bored so I sit down for a bit. No hands to report here, paid a few blind and won one hand, blinds only, but the rake is devastating. If the pot gets over $10, they take $4+1, 4 for the drop and 1 for the jackpot. Just in playing for 1.5 orbits, the only winner at this game was the house. Completely unbeatable game, period. I will never play it again, regardless of how bored I am. The only way to make money on that game is if you happen to hit a bad beat jackpot. I came to find that the 2/2 and 2/3 games drop $5+1 in larger pots which is too much, but has become the norm in SoCal I guess.
I shortly was called to the 2/3 NL game and took seat 3. Bought in a bit light for $200. Most of the stacks at the table ranged from $200-$400 although 2 people had $100 or less and one guy had around $1100. I came with my usual strategy of playing tight/aggressive for a few orbits to feel out the table and adjust my strategy as the table dictates. Folded several hands, limped in once or twice but folded preflop to a raise. Most hands were raised preflop between $10-25. The first notable hand I was in early mid position and limped with :Ah:2h. The guy with $1100 (lets call him Joe Cool for his sunglasses) raised to $12 and a couple others called so I came along as well. Flop was :8s :5h :2s giving me the lovely prospects of bottom pair and a backdoor flush draw. I checked and Joe bets $20, and everyone folded to me. I called thinking he could easily have two overs or a flush draw. The turn was a brick, something like :7c, I check and he checks behind. Now I really think he’s on a draw taking the free card. That board is way too coordinated to not bet a big pair or other made hand. The river is a :5d pairing the board. I check he bets $45 which is the usual I missed and have to bet to win move. I think for a few moments and call with my pair of ducks. He says good call and turns up AJ rainbow for just two overs. Had the guy muttering for a while after I tabled my hand and picked up some credibility with the rest of the table.
Now I’m up to about $300 in chips and a few orbits later get into it again with Joe Cool again, who I would soon find out was a loose cannon and just the type of player you want to have with a huge stack at a table you sit down to. I look down at :Ac:As in late position and make it $15 to go. I get 3 or 4 callers including Joe in seat 5. The flop comes :Kh:6c:3s pretty much the perfect flop for me my hand and Joe opens for $35. Folds around to seat 1 who shoves all in for $65. This is plenty of action for my one big pair so I go ahead and make it $165 all day figuring to isolate against the all in guy. Joe goes into the tank big time. After much hesitation he flat calls and I see this as a crying call with a big K, not a great acting job holding a small set. I start to shove the remaining $140 of my stack even before the turn comes out :5h. He thinks a long time again and eventually calls and tables :Ks:Jh. The river is a :9d and I show my bullets but alas, the monkey in seat one shoved all in with 93 (bottom pair no draw on the flop!!!) and takes the ~$250 main pot with a rivered two pair. I have to be content with the $500 side pot taken off Joe Cool.
Over the next 90 minutes, I watch a pretty nasty array of wild play, bad beats, and crazy action, mostly involving Joe Cool, in some form or another. His stack goes from the $1100 he had when I sat down to as low as $400 then back up to $1000 when he stacks a guy after flopping a set. Then back down to $300. This entire time I’m just drooling hoping to catch anything to play against him, but alas I’ve gone completely card dead. Also since he’s to my left and raising many hands, I can’t limp in a see flops. Eventually he gets down to about $140 and has gotten completely reckless shoving with anything. He shoves preflop and I wake up with JJ in the hole. He tables :Qc:3c and spikes a Q on the flop to beat me out of a $300 pot.
Down to about $350 I play a couple hands a miss everything or win a small pot now and then but nothing to report. Then this hand which I’m still on tilt over. I look down at :Kd:Qs in the big blind. The action is raised to $16 which I call then the player UTG raises to $70 after limping in! Joe Cool calls and one other player calls as well and as much as I want the action I make what seems like a no brainer choice to fold thinking UTG could easily have AA or KK and made the standard limp reraise play with a huge hand. Flop comes :Jd:10s:9h. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. And to make matters worse, Joe Cool goes all in for a hundred, gets raised, and called by the other two players. Fuck my life. I don’t recal the exact hands but I think UTG had AQ (open ended nut straight draw) and the other guy had AJ (for top pair). If I’d called the $70 pfr I might have more than tripled up my $350. I played a short while longer and ended up cashing out $304 for a $104 profit.
Overall this is an excellent room. The place is clean, the outside and inside feels safe, there are probably nearly 100 tables with every game you could want, and the action (at my table at least) was excellent. The downside is the high rake, but what are you going to do about that. If things had gone a bit differently in either of the two big hands I played, I could have been cashing out $600-800 more. You can’t ask for a better spot that that. I'll definitely be heading back to this room in the future. Another bonus was that for signing up for the players card as a new member, I got a free meal which I made the most of. The food was surprisingly good too. I’ll leave you with this gem.