Club San Rafael



Located inside Pete's 881 Sports Bar, Club San Rafael is a local hangout, restaurant, sports bar, jazz bar, dance hall, pool room, and casino. The place is open every day at 10am, but poker is only played on certain days (not on Tuesdays or Wednesdays) and only after 6pm on weeknights. Other nights, they tear down the poker tables and have live jazz, or big dances instead.

Games
Limit hold 'em: (only available on Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat) 3/6. Blinds are backwards, with the player on the button posting a dollar and the player to the left of the button posting 3 dollars.

No-limit hold 'em: 1/1/2 blinds, $5 to open, $40-100 buyin. Only spread Mon, Thu, Fri, Sat.

Omaha/8: Mon, Sun (3/6). Thu (4/8).

Rake is taken post-flop: $4 jackpot for games with 7 or more players. $3 for games with 6 players, $2 for games with 5 or fewer players. No flop, no drop.

Game Character: Typical small-bar poker crowds: fairly loose aggressive, with some calling stations.

Posting: New players do not need to post.

Shuffling: All tables are hand-shuffled.

Wait Time: Varies from time to time, but will generally be from 0-30 minutes.

Tournaments

 * Saturdays 12noon, LHE (first 4 levels)/NLHE(later levels): 40+5, 1x20 rb
 * Sundays 3pm, Limit Omaha/8 (first 4 levels), then No-limit Omaha/8(later levels): 40+5, 1x20 rb

Jackpots and Promotions
none

Atmosphere
This is a slightly rowdy lively hangout for many of the oldtimer locals. It's also the only casino of any kind in all of Marin County, so it attracts a broads selection of poker players, most of whom aren't all that good (better players probably head to the Oaks or Lucky Chances) but are there to have fun and while away an evening. Everyone was unfailingly friendly, and most were at least slightly inebriated.



The general atmosphere is an open college sports bar. It's got a pool table in back, a half dozen tables set up near to bar for people to sit at and eat food if they want, and a covered patio area for smokers (complete with picnic tables for eating at). It's also got a single "California 22" pseudo-blackjack table, though I didn't see anyone play it for the hours I visited. The two big televisions were tuned to late night talk shows as players gambled at no-limit and at limit. There was one main table of each of no-limit and limit, and a third must move table for the limit, on the night I was there.

On the back wall is a posting from the fire marshal dictating Max Occupancy. It's got different numbers of people allowed depending on whether the room is being used "for dancing", and whether it is currently "with pool table" or "without pool table". Clearly a multi-function bar, it hosts regular "Lingerie Shows" on Monday and Thursday nights, jazz music on some nights, and more.

Neighborhood: An industrial part of town just west of downtown, surrounded by car repair, metalworking, and other industry. Not inhospitable, but a bit foreboding. The 881 Sports Bar is the only food place anywheer nearby.

Parking: Seemed to only have about a dozen spaces in back; otherwise, use street parking.

Tables and Chairs: 9-seat tables, but only one is a commercially-made poker table. The others are homemade folding-tables-with-padded-felt-on-top, one of which doesn't have any sort of armrail (your chips just slide off the side if you're not careful). The chairs are a motely assortment ranging from literal folding chairs to fixed restaurant wooden chairs.

Service and Comps
There was no formal service, but the sports bar is open late and serves both drinks and food. The regulars there say the food is "really good and reasonably priced". Food stops being served at 1am, and the whole places closes at 2.

Links and Notes

 * MarkT visited in September 2006.
 * Closest competitor is probably the Oaks in Emeryville.