I am going to visit San Jose in a few weeks and i want to check out some casinos and card clubs.
Which ones are the best??
I only know of 2 card clubs in the San Jose area Bay 101 and Garden City. I just picked up the game, so I don't have the experience yet to tell you which is the better of the 2. I can tell you this much Bay 101 is more modern brightly lit, while Garden City a little older, I think it has a lot more tables. Hope this helps!!!
I have played both at Garden City and at Bay 101. I used to play at both places a lot. The highest limits ive played at either place is 3-6. I think the next jump up from there is 6-12 if im not mistaken. If playing 2-4 or 3-6 be ready for some no foldem holdem. The preflop raise gets little respect. People will cap because they want to gamble. Expect anywhere from 4-8 people seeing the flop, with 3-5 showing down at the river. However with that being said there is money to be made at both card rooms. You can easily make 200 playing three six in a few hours no joke. Be ready for some rivers. I do not know much about the higher limit games, sorry. If tournies are your thing then bay 101 has daily tournaments in the morning around 50 dollar buyins with rebuys (holdem that is) one day might be omaha if i remember right. Garden city has some good tournaments that start at 7pm. Some nights its limit some nights spread limit. Around 80 for the buy in is average. Small amounts of starting chips in both casino tournaments so you have to be aggresive early.
I live up in the Bay Area and know the places well. Garden City, Bay 101, and Lucky Chances are all well-known. GC and Bay are much closer to San Jose, neither more than a 15 min drive north. Bay is off the 101 freeway and Brokaw Rd. and GC is off the 280 Freeway and Saratoga Ave. LC is much farther off the 280, probably almost an hour away. Both Bay and GC have (for Hold 'em) 2-4, 3-6, 6-12, 8-16, 20-40. Bay has 40-80, 80-160, and 20-200 spread limit as well. They both also have 4-8 stud and I think Bay spreads an Omaha HL game sometimes. LC doesn't have 2-4 I don't think, but they are the only one that has 9-18 and NL games, and I believe they always spread Stud and Omaha. Bay probably has the loosest play, although they are all comparable. The best times to go are Fri and Sat nights (after 10, and particularly after midnight), when there are lots of drunk people willing to literally give away money. You'll find plenty of action at all of them. They all can get pretty crowded at times, so I would recommend you call your name in. I think Bay only allows this for 8-16 or higher and GC's policy changes with whoever is answering the phone. I don't know about LC though. Good luck playing, I don't think you'll need it.
I have played at the Bay 101 many times (I get to San Jose a lot on business). I think its a great place to play. A lot of action at the hold em tables at all levels. I usually play the 20/40, but the 4/8 and 8/16 have a ton of action. There is a strong mix of really good players and really bad players which keeps the money moving.
People are very nice, food is good (and unlike Vegas and Chicagoland, you can eat while you play). Free coffee - what more could you ask.
