Originally Posted by quietstorm

No, they opened the list at 7pm and it was a fairly smooth flow. I think they finally started seating around 830 or so. I was like 116 in line for the 1-2 and got there at 715. I think the 2-5 had 20 or so less names and the limit game maybe 30 or 40 less names. They originally started with the same setup as last night, but added 1 more 1-2 NL and one more 2-5 NL by the time I left around 1130.

I checked back periodically but the line really didn't move because I guess once you got a seat you weren't leaving after just one buyin. Most of the names I did hear getting called were for the limit game but a few for the 2-5 game.

I was told the same thing about the WV Lottery or Gaming commission not letting CTown get an early jump on setting everything up. Basically they weren't even able to have the camera installations going in until the 2nd and are waiting on approval forthe pro per installation of those.

I was assured that the full 27 tables would be running by Wed though. The floor was pretty strict about going to talk to friends and wouldn't let anyone other than players beyond the roped off area. They said this rule would be in place for a while. It was kind of frustrating not being able to check up on my friend, but with all of the other confusion this room has, I guess I can understand.

Originally Posted by Phineas T Poker

Scouting report:

I went up to CTown yesterday to see the new layouts and eyeball the poker room setup. For the most part, I was impressed, as was my friend who went with me. We went up in the mid afternoon, so the poker room was not open, but we talked to a cute and freckled (and unfortunately married ) security guard who was posted at the ropes. She confirmed the madness from the previous night and said the same schedule was set for Sat night. We weren't allowed to walk through the room, as they were working on the cameras and had live chips on the table, but it's a nice looking rooms. Two long rows of tables, restrooms right there, and it's set in a room totally separate from slots and other tables, so there is no slot noise or smoke coming in from the main casino. Note for those coming in: Do not park in the West Garage; go past it and the valet and park in the East Garage. It's much closer to the poker room that the West Garage. Randy wasn't there, but I spoke with him on my way home. He put in a 24-hour workday the previous day and had gone home to sleep some before coming in for the Sat night madness. He confirmed they are going to try and open more and more tables as they get approved and they have licensed dealers for them.

As for the table games, there were about 20 tables open. I saw 2 craps tables, 2 4-card poker, 2 3-card Poker, 2 roulette, and several blackjack tables open, all in the main pit area by the front entrance. The minimum bet of every table for the soft opening was $25, and went up to $50 while I was there. A little rich for my blood, but I spent some time watching. Let me tell you, if you play blackjack, pray for this dealer I saw. I won't name him, but this guy was the worst BJ dealer I've ever seen. I'm truly unsure on how he passed his audition. I personally saw him pay pushes on 6 different occasions, he declared a push on 3 other hands where the house actually won, and he let the players get away with murder. One player tried to double down on his third card, then when it was not a 10, he told the dealer, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not allowed to double on 3 cards". Nice angle shoot. The floor came over, pushed back the double down bet, and said the man had a 4-card hand, and to continue from there. This one dealer cost them at least $500 in mistakes in just the 1 hour I watched. My friend and I commented that the over camera tape of him dealing would be used in the future to train new dealers on what not to do.

Also, they played at least 85-90% into the 6-deck shoe, which was not constantly shuffled. They were machine shuffled, cut by a player, and then played on that shoe for a solid 30-40 minutes. I went home and dug up my book on card counting. They did not have any Pai-gow up yet, which is one of my favorites. They did have complimentary drink service. Apparently, the pits will be offering these table games:

Blackjack | Craps | Mini-Baccarat | Big Six Wheel | Caribbean Stud | Pai-Gow | Let it Ride | Roulette | Three Card Poker | Four Card Poker | Poker | Texas Hold 'Em

Accounting for the difficulties in having to hit the ground running on a holiday weekend while being handicapped by the WVa Gaming, I think they've got a good setup, and once they have the kinks worked out, it will be as good as any AC casino (except the Borgata). One of the pit bosses I saw I recognized as a pit boss from the Borgata. That bodes well to me that they have experienced pit bosses who also know how to take care of players.

On the driving front, I drove up there using by way of Route 7/Route 9 and came back via Route 340/Route 7. While the 340/7 route is several miles more, it was actually quicker due to being 4 lanes most of the way and having much less in the way of narrow, winding sections that 2-lane Route 9 is littered with.

I'm sure others will be heading up in the next few days. Please post Trip Reports so we can keep this thread. I probably won't be able to head back up until next weekend at the earliest. When I do, I'll post another TR then.

Good luck to all.

Originally Posted by cds0699

I played $1/$2 NL last night for about 4 hours. Was a great game, fish are deff playing. Dealers are a little slow right now, but most of them do well and are speeding up and we normally got in 10-15 hands every 30 minutes. They have auto shufflers that make it go by quicker. Atmosphere is nice, seats are comfy, and the drink girls come around regularly. All in all, I give it a 8/10 as it was last night.

Originally Posted by viii_ball

Was at CT both Friday night and again this afternoon (Sunday). Was up in the poker room about 6:30. As others have posted there was a line to get on the list. I waited about 30 minutes and when I go to the front of the line there was about 200 people on the list and the guy taking the names said only 6 tables were opening so I did not even bother.

The BJ tables were 3-4 deep waiting to get on a $25 table.

We knew from the web site that the poker room was not opening until 8:00 tonight but we thought we'd go up and try to get on a BJ table. There were about 8 BJ tables open all $100 min and all full.

So far two trips and not one cent gambled.

Originally Posted by ycastle

Thanks to everyone for their postings here. It really helped me out yesterday.

I played for about 6 hours yesterday, 1 on 3/6 Limit while waiting for the 1/2 NL.

Here's what I can tell everyone...

-There is a standard rake on the Limit tables.
-The timed rake on the NL tables was fairly disconcerting as I've never played on a Timed Rake table, throughout CA and in Vegas. But to be fair, I don't play much higher than 1/3 NL and I hear it's more common in the 2/5 games. I believe the argument for it is that the players will be saving money collectively once the dealers get up to speed. To me, the math somewhat supports this but you have to assume that every pot is moderately sized and that it's us vs them. But for those of us that play more tight, I think it's a toss up as we won't be challenging for as many pots. Additionally, some of the dealers were very slow though I expect they will improve or get weeded out soon. Lastly, the dealer change was excruciatingly slow. It took almost every one of them 5 minutes to verify their banks and then collect their $6 tithes. Throw in a slow dealer and a couple of drama queens and we were seeing 7 to 10 hands max per down. I'm on the fence here.
-Waitresses regularly came by with beer, water, and soda and I believe you just had to tip. I gave them a buck each time for my soda or water.
-They wouldn't allow anyone to line up to sign up until 5/5:30. They wouldn't even let us up stairs. I showed up at 4 and was sent away. I came back at 6 and they were letting people upstairs to line up and I was already 80th or so. Frustrating.
-They started calling names at 8:30. It took a good 45 minutes before they had all 6 tables going. They were later able to open up 2 more tables, a 1/2 NL and a 2/5 NL.
-It was very hot upstairs but the tables and chairs were very nice. I'm not sure what the chip weight was but they felt like thick tourney chips and not as light or nice as the ring chips I'm used to.
-There are no posted Poker Rules so we occasionally got conflicting info, which was the theme of the weekend for CTown.
-While none of the dealers were fast, most were ok speed wise. There were a lot of simple mistakes but nothing that time won't fix.
-You can live straddle in both Limit and in NL but you can't double straddle. In Limit, you can only straddle for the next sized bet. In NL, we were told that you can straddle for any amount you want. We mostly just did $4 or $5.
-Cashout was horrendous. You had to carry your chips downstairs to the cashier and the line was about 30 minutes long when I left. I was told that we can expect a cashier's cage in the poker room but it will be a couple of weeks.
-Lastly, I tried taking Route 7 to Route 9 on the way there and 340 to Route 15 on the way back. I'm thinking Route 7 to Route 9 was faster but it's anecdotal at this point.

Overall, I had a great time and cannot wait to go back.