The new poker room at the Hollywood Park Casino

I just played poker for the first time since the renovation of the poker area at the Hollywood Park Casino near LAX. Frankly, I was disappointed.

The casino is now much smaller than what it was. The poker area has been moved into the space that used to be the "California Games" area. But tournaments are played elsewhere in the "Conference Center."

Yes, there are a lot of games at various buy-ins, and the dealers are good. The crowd hasn't changed much either which is also good because it is a non pretentious bunch who play there.

Hollywood Park now beats Commerce Casino for cleanliness. But the disappointment came in that the same old, grungy tables are being used. I thought for sure that when they moved the poker room into the much nicer "California Games" area that they would have invested in new poker tables. And -- they didn't. There are some better chairs but the poker tables need to be replaced.

Hollywood Park Casino still does not get the top marks in the market for the best poker room. I would have to say that in the LA area the best poker room is at The Hustler Casino on South Vermont. It is the most luxurious and the food and the food service are the best.

Next comes The Bicycle Casino, and then The Commerce and Hollywood Park.

Some will prefer The Commerce because it is the biggest poker casino in the world with more games than anything you will find at any casino in Vegas. Hollywood Park is not as big. But to be honest, the public restrooms on the casino floor at The Commerce are disgusting, and the food service is not as good as The Hustler or The Bicycle.

I put a lot of importance on casino restrooms. If a casino restroom is all "hands free" then it gets high marks from me, and the Bicycle has the best hands-free restrooms of any casino.

By the way, in Temecula which is about a 90-minute drive from LA, the poker room at the Pechanga Casino is almost on par with the Hustler for appearance. But Pechanga also lacks the total hands-free restrooms that The Bicycle has.

By the way I've taken some photos inside what I consider to be the best of casino public restrooms. You can see those photos here: http://alanbestbuys.com/id223.html

I did not take photos at Hollywood Park because this is not a touch-free restroom and you have to turn the water faucet on by hand, and you have to use your hand to make the towel dispenser dispense, and you need to pull on the door handle after using the restroom.

That's pretty much the situation at The Commerce too, but at least the staff at Hollywood Park can keep the restrooms floors and counters clean.