Legendary Days III: Adventures In Commerce (Los Angeles)

After finishing 28th out of 643 in Graton’s $800 $300k Guarantee Main Event last Monday (May 12) for $3,780, I had a day off before flying to Los Angeles for the WSOP Tournament of Champions at the Commerce Casino – which I earned an invitation to by winning the WSOPc Monster Stack at Thunder Valley last October.

Early Thursday morning I set out for a breakfast place that looked the best from its reviews on Google about 5 miles from the Doubletree Hotel in Commerce where I was staying. As I started to drive, I noticed that Commerce is a very industrial city with a lot of warehouses and industrial properties. Not too long into my drive I got held up for 10 minutes by a train.

I was ready to go at 11am Thursday as the energy in the room was buzzing for the first bracelet event of the Summer. I got a lot of hands early and had the biggest stack at the table when Adam Greenlee – also from Davis – got moved to my table directly on my right. I had previously played with Greenlee at one of the events at WPT Rolling Thunder at Thunder Valley right after he took first in a chop of the $1100 for ~$140,000. In that event, I made a blocker bet on the river with 44 on a 10 high board after Greenlee had 3-bet me preflop but checked back the turn. Greenlee had a big stack and moved All In. I was very suspicious but couldn’t call with just a pair of 4s and Greenlee showed me AK.

So I was on guard when he got moved to my table. And sure enough we got into it again. A player in early position raised, Greenlee called from the cutoff and I called on the button with 76hh. The flop came down 753ssx. The initial raiser checked, Greenlee made a big bet and I called. The turn was Kx and Greenlee made another big bet. I picked up my chips to make the call but put them back on my stack again before eventually calling. I felt like he was setting up a huge river bet regardless of what card came. The river was Qx and sure enough Greenlee fired a huge bet. I tanked for a while but I wasn’t going to call with just a pair of 7s. While he could have a missed flush draw, he also could have had a set of 5s or 3s or KQ of spades. “What do you have?” I said out loud before throwing away my hand. Greenlee showed me 98cc for a missed gutshot straight draw. It didn’t tilt me because I still had a ton of chips and, like I said, I wasn’t going to put a big chunk of my stack at risk with just a pair of 7s. But having bluffed me twice and rubbing it in my face both times made it start to feel personal. “I knew you were going to be a problem”, I said to him after he won another hand shortly thereafter.

We were to play 15 40-minute levels on Day 1. Heading into level 13 and the last 2-hour segment of poker, the blinds were 2000/4000/4000 and I had 162,000 chips. Unfortunately I went completely card dead and my stack dwindled. During the 2500/5000/5000 level I got moved to a table with the eventual winner Kevin Li. On one hand towards the very end of the night, Li raised to 12,000 and I shoved All In for ~10 big blinds with AK. Li thought for a long time before making a good fold.

I went into Day 2 Friday with only 77,000 chips at 4000/8000/8000 but was in good spirits. While I was short stacked, I knew that one double up and I would be back in business. My friend Elisa Nakagawa was on my left and Adam Greenlee on her left. Unfortunately, I got the big blind on the first hand. A player in late position raised and I called with K10ss but missed the flop, checked and folded to his bet putting me All In. On the next hand, Adam Greenlee raised UTG and it folded around to me with 52,000 chips and A8ss. It was on obvious shove but Greenlee called with AKcc and knocked me out. At that point I was really tired of the kid.

I came back Friday night for the $250 Mega Satellite into the Main Event and the casino was buzzing. The poker cash games were mobbed as were the other table games and the WSOP tournament room on the second floor.

On Saturday I decided to fire Day 1B of the $1700 $2 million Guarantee Main Event. I ran up a big stack of ~200,000 chips at 2000/4000/4000 when I got coolered. The big stack at the table with ~300,000 chips raised to 10,000 UTG and I picked up AJdx in middle position. He had been playing very snug and it crossed my mind to fold but I quickly decided that was too weak. I had to trust myself to navigate the hand. The flop came down J72dd and he checked to me. Perfect flop. Not only did I flop top top but I had the Ad for the runner runner nut flush. He checked, I bet 10,000 into 26,000 and he called. The turn was 10x. He checked, I bet 16,000 into 46,000 and he check raised me to 45,000. I couldn’t see folding top top so I called creating a 136,000 chip pot heading to the river. The river was a Jx and he went All In. “Oh my God”, I said out loud. “I really think you have a full house.” While I put him on 77 or 22 or 1010, I couldn’t fold my hand. He flipped over 1010 and I was out. That was tough to take.

On Sunday morning I found a park in Downey – about 5 miles away – with a big dirt track. I felt like walking so I drove there and did one lap which took 16 or 17 minutes. On my way to Wells Fargo to get the $1700 buy in to fire another bullet on Day 1C, I coincidentally passed the headquarters of Rexford Industrial (REXR) – an industrial REIT with property in LA that I wrote a blog on last month. When I had been stuck waiting for the train, I wondered if REXR owned property in the area. When I got to Wells Fargo, I looked at the list of the properties they own in their 1Q25 report and sure enough they do own a few in Commerce.

In the first level of Day 1C – 100/200/200 – a player raised to 700 from the cutoff, the button called, and I 3-bet AJ to 2,500 from the small blind. I had previously 3-bet K3dd in the same exact spot a round earlier – I didn’t show as I folded my hand on the flop when it came 1087ssx – and the initial raiser glared at me this time behind his sunglasses before calling. (The button folded). The flop came down K32 and I c-bet 1,800 into 6,200. The cutoff raised me to 3,800 and I called creating a 13,800 pot heading to the turn. I binked the turn which was an Ace. I checked and the cutoff bet 7,000 which I quickly called. The pot had now swollen to 27,800 – about the size of my stack. The river was a 5 – which seemed innocuous – and I checked with the intention of check calling. The cutoff glared at me for at least a minute before going All In. I tanked and wondered out loud if he had some garbage two-pair hand but ultimately decided that it was a call given the dynamic. He flipped over 53ss for a rivered two pair and I was out. I normally take this kind of thing pretty well but I did curse him out a bit before getting back in line to rebuy.

My second bullet went about as well as the first. At 200/400/400 I picked up Q10hh in early position and raised. A player in mid position called as did the big blind. The flop came down K98hhx. I had flopped the second nut flush draw with a gut shot straight draw. I led out for 1500, the player in mid position called and the big blind – who was short stacked – went All In for ~6,500, I considered going All In to isolate but elected to just call. The player in mid position went All In putting me in a tough spot. The only hand I was really afraid of was the nut flush draw which would take away most of my outs. Ultimately I decided to call. The player in mid-position flipped over A3hh for the nut flush draw and the big blind KJ for top pair – and he had one of the Jacks I needed to make a straight. Their holdings were the worst case scenario for my hand. The turn was the 2h giving the hand to the player with the nut flush and eliminating me.

While the cards didn’t go my way at the poker table, I had a great time in my first trip to the legendary Commerce Casino. I will be back……