Good July 1st Morning to All,
Doing a bit of research and thought it was time to set up a thread for the new poker room at Harrah's, Chester, PA. Haven't seen an exclusive thread for the property. May have missed it.

According to the news, the "live" testing for the table games by the PA gaming board is scheduled for Friday, July 16th. It is supposed to last for 8 hours.

The assumption is that the poker room will have an 8 hour window of play some time during that day.

If any of the powers that be read this, what time will the poker room be open for "live" testing?

After the test, there will be a 1 day assesment to determine if the casino is ready for business.

The tentative, official opening is scheduled for Sunday, July 18, 2010. Time is not yet posted on the website, www.harrahschester.com.

It looks like the poker room will be consistent with the number of tables at the Harrahs properties in AC - 24/25 tables.

No definitive rake has been posted. No definitive information regarding tournaments has been addressed. Supposedly waiting on the PA gaming commision.

If any insiders have more information, please let us know.

Take Care. HGWT.

I'm not an insider and can't answer any of your specific questions.

But I do know that the poker room(s) are on the same floor as the race book. Kind of all the way in the back past the snack bar.

Plz have a lhe game higher than 3/6.

I bet the games will be the same as Delaware Park. 1/2 and 2/5 NL and 3/6 Limit taking up 95% of the tables.

Higher limit players don't come til later in the night after the room has already devoted all its tables to other games.

I am a dealer at Harrah's. I would like to answer questions but I don't want to get in trouble and I am not authorized to speak on behalf of the casino in any forum so I will have to be careful.

I will be back at Harrah's tonight briefly for uniform fitting and will also drop by next week to practice, time-permitting. If I can find someone who will give me answers and let me know what is for public consumption, I shall post it.

How much are beers going to cost in the poker room? This to me is a far more important detail than rake amount and I haven't heard a peep. Can you get free beers at all at Harrah's Chester? Do they comp them?

For those who like a little light reading, you can download the TEMPORARY TABLE GAMES REGULATIONS from the PGCB. It was last updated on June 10th and now weighs in an a bureaucratic 736 pages. So good luck with that...

I will ask. They do charge for beer at Delaware Park, incidentally. Even for bottles of water.

Can the Moderator clarify what rules were broken in the above remarks?

I take it, that in order to post information that could be close to the truth about an operation, it must be by an authorized spokes person from that organization, approved by two plus two?

I do not think the poster was acting as a shill for the room, only giving hearsay info that is not being misused in any way.

It seemed honest and logical in respect to the soft opening of the table games including the poker room. In a perfect world, a press release addressing the questions posed in the forum would be best.

Thank you for the clarification.

HGWT

Chester declared a state of emergency a couple weeks ago due to a rash of murders. Even after the state of emergency, I saw on the news there was at least one more murder (and I'm probably more, but I stopped paying attention...) I mentioned this because I'm not exactly sure where Harrah's is located in Chester. Is it in a safe area? How about the drive from I95 to the casino - can you get there and still have your car in one piece? How about after dark?

Ever look at Atlantic city outside of the casinos? Or Detroit outside of Greektown? The fact is that even in the worst cities, casinos are usually the safest place to be. They certainly have a lot more law enforcement.

It's in the Forum FAQ under Guideline 3. Feel free to PM me or make a post in the low-content thread if you wish to discuss it further rather than derail this thread.

It's right across the street from the prison. How much safer could you be?

Rapini,
Sent a PM. Thanks.

HGWT

Harrah's Chester is about 1 mile from I 95, it's not the greatest neighborhood, but that doesn't stop thousands of people from visiting the place everyday.

There is stepped up police patrol, and Harrah's security patrols the perimeter of the property as well as the parking garage. You will be fine.

Based on how Harrah's Chester handles service of alcohol at the slots, I would say that beer will cost money. I don't even think you can use the Harrah's points, unless you are a Seven Stars player then you can get drink vouchers from a special kiosk.

Water, coffee, soda, etc. should be comped afaik.

Don't forget to "TURN RIGHT", as the sign in valet says, out of Chester. And even that's not the greatest of roads.

It's one thing to go there and drop $20 in slots, does anyone really want to bring or leave with anything resembling a 1/2 buy-in or more?

Oh yeah, BTW... rumor is the room will be smoking.

For goodness sake, I'm in and out of that place with more than a 1/2 buy in.

And according to the Casino Ops Shift Manager with whom I spoke earlier tonight, the room will be NON-Smoking. The place was, as usual, packed.

He said they will have Hold 'Em, Omaha and Stud. Doesn't know the rake. He expects that in about a year they will bring a WSOP circuit event there.

The room is next to the race book, but not in the location I originally described. They eliminated about 25-35 percent of the race book and the poker room will be there. The area is enclosed by 3 walls, the longest being an exterior wall with large windows. There is a half wall separating it from the race book. There are to be 25 tables, non of which are there yet. They still have a lot of work to do!

There is smoking in the race book area, but I've never noticed it to be that bad the few times I wandered down there.

PARKING, take note:

The ramp goes straight up, you can turn off the ramp onto floors 2,3 and 4. The ramp seems to end at 4, but if you go around in a circle you will come to another ramp leading to floors 5, 6, 7 and ? If it seems busy, don't frustrate yourself trying to park on the lower floors. Head straight up the ramp, go around to the other ramp and go to floor 6 or 7.

OK, that's all I can think of for now.

So, what will the rake be? As a Gambling house, Harrahs should know the rake will have to max at 4.00 from a 40.00 pot. But, will PA taxes get them to test those limits and try to grab 10% to 60.00 like West Virginia rooms do.

Don't count on a $4 rake. Even in Vegas with a low tax rate, the Harrah's standard for their casinos is $5+$1 BBJ. Bellagio and Venetian are $4 (no BBJ). Venetian even does $3 for some limit games. In my opinion, this is why the huge and pretty nice Caesars room in Vegas is empty. Anyway, since Harrah's does $5 in a low tax area like Vegas, I have to assume it will be a minimum of $5+$1 BBJ in PA.

I didn't know they were raking higher ($5.00) at the Caesers room in Vegas and it sure is a nice room. I've played there numerous times. Isn't Harrah's raking 4.00 in AC?

Here's my not-so-educated guess at games/limits ;

Definite : 1/2, 2/5 NLHE, 2/4 LHE, 1-5 7CS
Maybe : 3/6 LHE or 4/8 LHE, 4/8 O8, 2-10 7CS
Longshot : Any stud, omaha, or LHE > than 4/8, any mixed or HOSE game

If your coming from the city going south down 95 you'll get off the first exit for Harrah's (I think it is exit 6 the one before the 476 exit). The Boeing offices will be on your right. The second light you'll take a right and head straight until you see the Casino. You won't drive through any neighborhoods and is completely safe. Don't drive too fast though because there is always a cop hiding on your right at a driveway. Seen him pull over a couple people on my way there. You'll never feel nervous leaving there at any time during the day or night. Plenty of guards and police presence.

Yes, $4 + $1 BBJ. The Harrah 's in Pa. is in the same corporate division as the properties in AC.

MS@PD is $4 with no BBJ drop. So Harrah's Pa. may be $4 rake.

I know the casino slots are on floor #4, where is the race book- 5th floor?