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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Hustler Casino
1000 W Redondo Beach Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247
www.hustlercasino.com
Located just minutes from both the 110 and the 405 freeways, Hustler Casino is probably best-known for its famous owner, Larry Flynt. It is not, however, what you might expect from a casino named after his adult entertainment publication. There are no strippers and the waitresses are no more scantily-clad than those at other casinos. They do, however, hold a bikini contest every year during the summer with DJs, food and drink specials, go-go dancers and, of course, the scantily-clad beauties competing for cash and prizes. Smaller in size than most local casinos, Hustler Casino has more of a casual, local cardroom feel than the big, bustling casino energy you'd find at Commerce Casino.
Larry is known to play there quite frequently and often hosts some very high stakes private poker games with pro players. You can read more about my own celebrity sightings at Hustler Casino in our Poker Forum here:
http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...pic.php?t=2036
Shopping
In Shorty's Stuff Gift Shop, you can find a large selection of Hustler-branded merchandise -- everything from lighters and T-shirts to jackets and, of course, all the Hustler publications.
Dining
There are 4 dining options at Hustler Casino.
Royal Court Restaurant: Affordable Continental cuisine in an elegant but casual setting.
Sports Bar: Nice-looking sports bar with lots of bigscreen TVs and satellite sports. Frequent live entertainment.
Corky's Snack Bar: Located right on the main casino floor, it's a good place to take a break for a quick bite.
At the tables: Hustler Casino's game table dining menu is quite good. They offer select dishes from their various restaurants and the food is carted to you right at the table.
No-Limit Hold'em Tournaments
Every Monday night at 7:00pm, Hustler Casino hosts $10,000 guaranteed no-limit Hold'em tournaments. The buy-in is $100 + $25 with one $100 re-buy allowed. If you're going to play, arrive early, as only the first 150 players may enter.
Fresh Fish
Okay. Let's get to the poker.
There are many poker tables to choose from. They have 2/4, 3/6, 4/8 and 6/12 limit Hold'em. They also have Omaha and 7 Card Stud. I've only played at their no-limit Hold'em tables, of which they usually have at least 2 or 3, with one of them being the "must-move" table. This means that it is a temporary table and players must move to the other tables when seats open up to keep them full.
After just a handful of visits, it is apparent that there are a lot of regulars at Hustler Casino. On my second time there, there were knowing looks from the NLHE players acknowledging that they recognized me, as I recognized them. But no matter, as they aren't all sharks. And there are plenty of fish there to feed all of us.
The buy-in for no-limit Hold'em is a minimum of $100 up to $300. The blinds are $2/$5.
I've only been there to play on Friday nights. I'd get there about 6:30pm, sign up for the NLHE waiting list, and get seated within 20 minutes. A friend had told me that he'd arrived there at around 10:00pm once, but waited well over an hour before deciding to leave. So if you're going there during the week, I'd suggest getting there ahead of the after-work crowd. On weekends, I'd imagine they would open up more NLHE tables, but I have not confirmed this.
My first couple of times there, I'd lost my initial $100 after several hours of playing. Each time, I was up a hundred or two, but lost it all in the final minutes of my visit. The first time, my QQ was cracked when a 88 flopped a set. The second time was even more brutal. I'd turned my $100 buy-in into $240 after 5 hours of playing. It was getting close to midnight, and I told myself that I would leave after playing the button one last time. Midnight comes and I'm on the button. I am dealt TT. A couple limp in and one guy raises to 6xBB. Now, this was a fairly loose and very aggressive table, and players raising to 4xBB pre-flop with mediocre hands like KT was not uncommon. This guy, however, was not too loose but overplayed a lot of his hands. I decided to isolate him and also see if he had a monster pair or just two high cards. I wanted him to know that I had a real pair and bet my 10s strongly in hopes that he would fold. I re-raised to $100. The others fold. He'd seen that I only bet pre-flop with very strong cards. He stopped, thought for a while, and then called. The flop came T-rag-rag! But all were spades. He paused for a long time, looked at his cards again, played with his chips like he wanted to bet, but checked. I put him on the draw... maybe AKo? I went all-in with my remaining $140. Again, he pauses, takes one more peek at his cards, pauses again and calls. I show my set of 10s and he is reluctant to show his cards. He had AQo... Ace of spades. He got his spade on the river.
Another memorable guy was so bad (and somewhat drunk) that he had gone through $500 in the couple of hours he was at my table. In one hand, I was dealt KK in late position. A couple limp in, this guy raises to 3xBB, the next guy re-raises to 6xBB. I had about $110 at that point and went all-in. Everyone folds except for this guy. He calls and shows KT! No help came for him.
My last trip finally brought me the profit that I knew was there. The two tables I played at were rather passive and pretty loose. I played for about 3 hours and finished up $440. But it was a struggle at first. The second hand that I played, I was dealt KK. I raised to 6xBB and got one caller. The flop was all rags with two diamonds. He checked. I went all-in with the remainder of my $100 buy-in. He called. He showed Ad Td! Nothing but a draw! No diamonds came for him, but he spiked an Ace on the river. Another hand was a repeat of my previous experience with the set of 10s on the flop. But in this instance, there were only two suited cards on the flop and I had bet more than the pot to put the other guy all-in. He called with just two suited overcards -- AK -- and got his flush on the river!
In the end, though, I got it all back, then made a nice profit. Several times, I took advantage of how passive the tables were by just betting in late position when checked to me on the flop. This was, of course, after they had seen me with some monster hands, so table image was a big factor. One guy lost close to $200 to me within an hour. He was a loose cannon and I'd seen him bluff at the wrong times twice and saw the mediocre hands he was overplaying. I was dealt TT (seems like I get a lot of pocket 10s at Hustler) and made it 4xBB pre-flop. Two players called and he went all-in with about $60. By then, I had a few hundred in chips. I stared him down. He wouldn't look at me, but just stared blankly at the middle of the table. I thought for a while. I'd seen him go all-in pre-flop like this before with no pair. Isolate. I re-raised $40 more. The other two folded. Before I even showed my hand, he chuckled and said meekly, "I don't really wanna show...." I showed my TT and he reluctantly showed his AQ. Another 10 came on the turn and the Ace on the river was too late for him. To my glee, he bought in for more. Later, I was dealt KK. He bet $20 pre-flop. I raised to $40. He called. The flop came Q-rag-rag, rainbow. He checked. I paused for a while for drama and went from looking at the board to his chips, then to my chips and finally began to bet. But oddly, he pushed all-in before I even finished counting out my chips, so I just left my bet at $40... then quickly announced, "I call." Again, he showed AQ, but with more confidence this time. He wasn't too thrilled, however, when he saw my cowboys. The Ace he needed did not come this time.
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