Hollywood Park

More or less near the intersection of the 405 and the 110, you can take the Century Blvd exit from the 405 and go one mile east, or the Prairie Ave exit from the 110 and go one mile north. The complex itself is a vast multi-acre combination horse race track and casino, and on race days can get swamped with race fans. Don't use the huge drive-in entrances off Prairie Ave; they mostly go to the race doors - instead use the single main entrance on Century Blvd itself, which leads more directly to the casino.

The Hollywood Park Casino and Racetrack was formerly associated with the Crystal Park casino in nearby Compton, but has since become independent.

Games
Game Info: Generally at the low limits (anything below 6/12) it's pretty bad. Home of one of the worst (easiest to beat) 3/6 games in town. The play is similarly poor at the 40-NL and 100-NL, and while the play does improve notably at the 200-NL it is still a soft game - especially in comparison to other Los Angeles card clubs. A lot of regulars play the 200-NL and thus almost everyone knows everyone else's playing style. While they don't collude, regulars do often (not always and not everyone) stay out of each other's way.

Rake and Blinds: 3-6 and below, $4 rake plus $1 jackpot. 4-8 and up, and all no-limit games are $5 rake plus $1 jackpot. There is still a dollar drop from any game if there is no flop. Blinds are standard above 3/6; at 3/6 and below there is an extra dollar blind on the button (e.g. blinds at 3/6 are 1/1/3).

Posting: New players must post to enter the game.

Shuffling: All cash game tables have standard Shufflemaster machine shufflers. All tournament tables are hand-shuffled.

Wait Time: Due to high table count, wait time is usually quite short (under 15 minutes) unless you're waiting for seat at the highest levels or rarest game. 6/12 limit hold 'em, for some reason, is often the longest wait. It is almost always running, but usually only on one table.



Tournaments
Many tournaments, including a few annual series, like the Poker Derby. Most tournament entries include a $5 comp dollar coupon which can be used for food.

Smaller tournaments (under 60 players or so) are held in a secluded area near the blackjack tables, separated from the main poker floor. Larger tournaments (100 or more players) are held upstairs, in the third-floor ballroom, where they set up dozens of folding tables to handle the tournament crowds (they have room for 51 tables, though they only rarely have to set them all up). These tables are, naturally, all hand-shuffled.

Jackpots and Promotions
Players Club card earns somewhere around $1 per hour in comp dollars, spendable on food or casino merchandise (or redeemable at a lesser exchange rate for cash!). Players Club is free to join. To redeem, slide your card through one of the (two?) standalone Players Club kiosks, enter your PIN, and choose to redeem comp dollars as a food voucher or as a cash voucher. The kiosk prints the voucher with your picture on it, that says it can only be redeemed by you. Then, hand the voucher to the server is lieu of payment. You can only redeem in even-dollar amounts, and I don't think vouchers are valid for tips, so you still must tip with cash or chips.

Standard bad-beat jackpots. No high hand jackpots. Jackpot is Aces full of anything beaten by four-of-a-kind or better, both hole cards must play. Certain times or year or day offer double jackpots.

Food at 10/20 and up is $2 for whatever you order. There is a small menu of appetizers and cheaper fare that is free for players at 10/20 and higher. At lower limits, use your comp dollars.

Atmosphere
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Neighborhood: Somewhat scary neighborhood; best to stay inside the locked and secure gates around the complex. Hope your car doesn't break down while on the street.

Parking: A few hundred spaces in the parking lot intended for the casino, but literally thousands of spaces in the adjoining lots for the race track. On days when there is no race (which is 98% of the time), there is an insane number of free parking spaces.

Tables and Chairs: Standard 9-player tables with pretty blue felt, a clean commit line, and extra-wide black vinyl armrests. Chairs are serviceable but not great, fixed-leg standard chairs with OK padding. In the separate high-limit area (15 tables set off from the rest, for games 10/20 and higher), the chairs are much nicer wheeled office-style chairs.

Service and Comps
Fairly frequent service (though at busy times, they can get quite backed up) and a decently wide menu at reasonable but not cheap prices. When using comp dollars, you can get quite a nice meal here for cheap or "free".

Recommended dishes:
 * Any grilled, poached, or fried fish of the day (you may always request salmon)
 * Chinese broccoli
 * Pad-Ta-Le
 * Vietnamese rice noodles with beef and shrimp
 * Philly Cheese Steak (not particularly Philly-like, but a decent grilled steak sandwich)

They also have an in-house snack bar, a couple of separate bars, a lounge/bar/OTB, a gift shop which also has drinks and small snacks, and an in-house cart from Pink's ("L.A.'s famous hot dog!") which has cheap-but-good hot dogs and street-style tacos. Comp dollars are good at Pink's as well as snack bars and gift shops. During larger tournaments, they also set up a separate "tournament buffet" (whose price is usually $5, the exact amount of the food coupon they give with the tourney entry) which is a simple cafeteria-style affair that includes salads and carved beef or turkey. The food quality at the buffet is only so-so; you should probably stick to stuff that doesn't depend so much on quality preparation, like salads or turkey sandwiches.

Many different employees of the casino walk through the casino floor constantly. You can tell the type of wandering employee by their uniform shirt color:
 * Blue: Porter (cleanup of dishes, and also providing free/non-alcoholic drinks)
 * Red: Service (food wait staff)
 * Black: Cocktails (alcoholic drinks)
 * Yellow: Chip runner, also responsible for providing new setups on request.
 * Turquoise: Massage
 * Red with Paisley vest: Race card runner (yes, you can gamble on the horses, either racing here or at the in-house OTB, while you play poker).

Links & Info

 * Visited by MarkT Jan 2009.
 * Link to their horse-race track site: www.hollywoodpark.com