Lucky Chances Review
Lucky Chances Review
Hours, Tables, Location
Open 24/7. 23 poker tables (plus a dozen or so tables of pseudo-blackjack, pai-gow, etc).
1700 Hillside Blvd, Colma CA 94014. Nestled in the foothills just south of San Francisco. Not the easiest place to get to, but not hard. Not visible from the freeway, though, and the road twists as you get close, so pay attention!
Colma is the "cemetery capital of the Bay". The three industries are cemeteries, Lucky Chances, and big box retail. Lucky Chances is one of the largest and nicest card rooms in the Bay Area, and probably the closest to San Francisco (though the Oaks is pretty darn close, too).
Phone: 650-758-2237
Limit hold 'em: 3/6, 6/12, 9/18 with a kill (to 15/30), 20/40. Higher limits also appear to exist, but they're run from a different board.
No-limit spread-limit hold 'em: 1/1/2, 40-200 buyin. 2/3/5, 200-500 buyin. 5/5/10, 500-???? buyin. Max bet at all games is $200 (spreads are therefore 4-200, 10-200, and 20-200). The three amounts in the listing are the blind amounts (first amount is paid by the button, second by the small blind, third by the big blind). The big blind is still not in for a full bet, though; anyone who opens must put in a bet of double the big blind amount, minimum.
Lucky Chances used to spread true no-limit hold 'em, but doing so was apparently in violation of state law. They got caught and had to scale back to offering NLSL instead. Now, in Mar 2006, they are apparently in danger of having their license revoked entirely - see the article under Links below.
As of Jan 1, 2007, Lucky Chances has true no-limit hold 'em games again - at least one: $10-$10-$20 No Limit (no max on buy-in, the minimum buy-in is $2000).
Omaha/8: 4/8 with half kill. 10/20 half-kill runs on Thursdays.
7-Stud: 2/4, and sometimes 3/6 if demand warrants. Played with $1 ante and $1 bringin.
Rake for 3/6 and 6/12 is $3+$1 jackpot for 7-9 players, $2+$1 for 6 players, $1=$1 for 5 or fewer players, $1 if no flop. For 9/18 it is $4+$1 jackpot for 7-9 players, $2+$1 for 6 players, $1=$1 for 5 or fewer players, $1 if no flop For 1-1-2 NL, $1+$1 jackpot if no flop, $4+$1 jackpot with a flop. For 2-3-5 NL, the rake is the same as 1-1-2 (used to be $7 every half hour time charge, but sometime in 2006 they went to raking rather than time charge for the 2-3-5 game).
Rake is taken directly out of the pot after the flop.
Shuffling: Standard ShuffleMaster shuffling machines on many tables.
Wait Time
There is almost always a list on the board; but with this many tables, wait times average around 15 minutes or so.
Tournaments
10:30 AM Monday-Thursday and Sunday. All are spread limit (the Bay Area version of NLHE). Buyin and rebuys vary but they are between $50 and $100. See their tournament website for more details.
Occasional very large tournaments (e.g. the $60,000 Double Play Tournament on Feb 26 2006), and occasional single-table satellites to win entries into larger tournaments.
Jackpots and other Promotions
Standard bad beat jackpots:
* 7-Stud jackpot: any quads or better beaten. $7400 as of Feb 12 2006. Jackpot is doubled between 12n Thu and 6am Fri.
* Omaha/8 jackpot: quad 8's or better beaten. $11600 as of Feb 12 2006. Jackpot is doubled between 12n Tue at 6am Wed.
* Hold 'em jackpot: any quads or better beaten. Both hole cards must play for both high and low. $75000 as of Feb 12 2006.
Royal Flush Jackpot:
* Win with any royal flush in LHE, NLHE, Omaha, or Stud and win an additional $500. Only one hole card needs to play in LHE and NLHE games.
Other promotions (all subject to change at the casino's discretion):
* Aces Cracked Wins A Rack
From 6am-9am daily, lose with pocket aces in Limit Hold 'Em (must showdown), and win a rack of the chips in use at the table (e.g. $1 chips for 3/6, $2 chips for 6/12).
* Lucky Money Monday: Relatively highish hands in the games (e.g. Jacks full in Hold 'Em and Stud, Aces full of Jacks in Omaha) win an entry in Monday night's drawing. Drawings held at 7pm, 9pm, 11pm - one winner at each drawing wins $500. Must be present to win.
Atmosphere
Large open room in an upscale standalone building. They try to convey some fanciness with nicely-dressed staff and surroundings that make it look like you're in a hotel of some sort. They've even got a gift shop.
Neighborhood: Literally across the street from a large fancy cemetery (then again, every place in Colma is across the street from a cemetery). Remote, but lovely. Up on a hillside. Nobody walks up here; no sidewalks.
Parking: An underground parking garage with an upper floor together hold about 100 spaces or so. Free valet parking available on lower underground floor. There is also a parking lot across the street.
Tables and Chairs: Standard 9-player tables. Felt is nice, soft felt with good padding. Player chairs are standard metal-frame chairs with nice padding; no wheels.
Artist/Author: poker wikia April 1, 2007 |
