Daniel Cox
Editor, Poker Insider Magazine
November 7^th, 2008

Commerce, CA – The Commerce Casino in Los Angeles bills itself as “The Place where Hollywood Stars Play.” The casino, known for its innovations in card room play since 1983, is the largest poker room in the world. On November 4^th, they introduced the Commerce Casino University of Poker (CCUP). The Commerce has taken the concept of the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour’s Poker Academies and incorporated them into weekly two-hour sessions for both beginning and intermediate players. The Casino bills the CCUP as a “tuition-free institution where you can study all you want, never lose a penny, and laugh till you can't stop.”

The CCUP’s Professor Emeritus is Roger Rodd, a professional player for over 30 years. “We never heard of the term ‘Rounder’ before the movie came out, but that’s what I was,” noted Roger, as he told the class about himself. Besides his experience on the felt, his background includes comedian and poker instructor to Hollywood stars. When the director of Lucky You needed someone to coach Robert Duvall and Eric Bana as professional poker players, they were directed to Roger.

According to Dave Mosikian, the Commerce Casino's Player Relations Manager, the concept for the CCUP was developed due to player requests. "Our switchboard receives at least a handful of calls every day from people asking if we will teach them to play poker-and asking what it costs." He added, "Since people want to learn the game, we decided to offer instruction to them for free. At our University of Poker, Commerce Casino mixes first class instruction with laughs -- and there is no intimidation whatsoever."

The stated purpose of the Beginner’s Course is to demystify poker for any aspiring new player or to help those making the transition from the Internet to brick-and-mortar play. The beginning course will contain two classes to teach the ranking of hand values, an understanding of the blinds and Hold ’em fundamentals, including exposure to the jargon of the game. It then moves to casino poker play, establishing hand values, blinds, betting fundamentals and building and winning pots.

The intermediate course is for current home game or casino poker players who want to improve their results and step up their game. As Mosikian notes, “the CCUP wants to educate Intermediate players on how the pros play top set against a double double, an overpair in the two hole, and a donkey playing an airball who just picked up color with one to come!" The intermediate course is broken into two classes that cover General Hold ’em, Limit, No-Limit, Tournament Play and Cash Ring Games.

On November 5^th, I attended the inaugural Intermediate class and was extremely impressed. Roger’s lectures are a mix of humor, personal reminisces and Q & A. The General Hold’em class contains the necessary elements to help develop a winning style of play. Like any good instructor, Roger explained that what he was teaching may not be for everyone, but it is what has worked for him for 30 years. Most of what Roger teaches is similar to what I espouse in my book Winning Blue-Collar Hold’em. Though I do not agree with everything Roger taught, I agree that everything he taught was valuable. His tips on table image were especially intriguing and I am not above admitting I learned a thing or two during the evening. The class was a mix of personal stories, dynamic instruction and hands-on training around a poker table. Roger taught the class with an appropriate amount of levity to keep the attendees enthralled, but not so much that the humor detracted from the instruction.

Roger and Dave are still formulating the final structure of the courses. “Professor” Rodd teaches all of the sessions in a private room with no intimidation or distractions. They intend to limit enrollment to 25 students per session in order to insure maximum personal attention. Beginner's Course I and II meet on Tuesdays from 7 PM – 9 PM, while Intermediate Courses I and II are on Wednesdays from 7 PM – 9 PM. To register for classes or for more information, visit: http://www.commercecasino.com/pokerclasses.aspx.