Since this is going to be the best new casino in the Midwest, I figure it is going to need its own Official thread. Would love to keep hearing about peoples trip report their.
Yes we do know that most dealers are new so please do not complain about them, just give it a little more time.

so did they fire the old dealers and got new ones in?

any poker related promotions such as special room rate?

They just got a crap ton of news dealers and breaking them in, but still have the old ones, I think rooms are 129$ a night mon through thursday, and 199$ on the weekends, I doubt any promotions for poker players, but there are plenty of hotels around that area.

This is probably worth a call if you are planning a trip. I heard a rumor yesterday, TK was asking the players in the High Limit room if they were staying overnight, because he could get them a discount on their room.

This is a rumor so it may be complete BS but it doesn't cost much to dial a toll-free number.

Would be nice to get a discount

The regular rates are terrible. $300 on weekends.

For out of towners, use priceline centering on CVG and drive the 15 minutes. You won't pay more than $40 a night.

just 199 on the weekends, 129 during the week

How do you post pictures on here? I have some but can't figure it out.

Save the pic to some place like photobucket and insert the link using the image icon on the reply screen.

On Friday night a 10/20 LHE game got going and went for quite a while. It was the hope of everybody there that that game might become a regular game there. Does anybody know if it has been going at all since then?
They also had names on lists for 15/30, 20/40, and 30/60 LHE, none of which went, but the manager TK says he wants to get a 20/40 game a regular game too.

Regarding hotels:

The $129/$199 rates are just the rack rates. The few times I've stayed overnight I've asked the floor and they've gotten me either a $39 or $59 rate. Of course I play there 3 times a week and they know me, so if they didn't know you and you wanted to book in advance you might not get this kind of rate. This was also during the week and not on a weekend.

They also have an agreement with the Holiday Inn down the street for rooms for $79 during the week and $99 on weekends. They have a free shuttle to and from the casino. The nice thing about that deal is that if you check in after 6 am, it counts for the next day. So if you're a night owl you can get there Friday night, play all night, check in at 6 am Saturday morning, and not have to checkout until Sunday at noon.

Here are some pics....will try to get some more tonight.

http://s747.photobucket.com/albums/xx118/boileref/

Trying it this way if the other link didn't work

The color pattern of their felt reminds me of Venetian.

Thanks for the pictures. The color scheme is very pleasing.

Can't wait to visit this place on Friday. I'm expecting a big crowd since Friday is a holiday for many.

Sorry for being a nit but...if this is going to be the official thread could we get the title changed to say "Formerly" instead of "Formally"?

Yours truly,
Mr. Nit

I was thinking myself that it is formally "Hollywood" and formerly "Argosy," but don't you think that is expecting quite a bit of sober thought in regards to category and thread titles?

How early do you need to arrive to register for their tournaments on Saturdays like the 11am ones? Also, since I have never played a live tournament at a casino (noob). Do they basically take your money and have your tourney chips waiting at the tables or how do you know what table you are at? Would they separate a buddy and I if we came together and both played (i'd hope so)

also, is the lowest buy in for cash 1/2 and min 100?

You can register right up until the tournament begins usually. On the old boat they would limit the number of players because they didn't have enough tables so sometimes they would sell out. With the new boat I don't believe they're putting a limit on them any more.

They have a little podium in the back of the room where you register and pay your money. Once you've paid you'll get a slip of paper with your table and seat assignment. You take that slip of paper to your table, give it to the dealer, and the dealer gives you your chips. The seat draws are always random so you and your buddy could end up at the same table.

As for the cash games, they have 1/3, not 1/2. The buy-in is 100-300.

Driving out to Cinci tomorrow night for the 4th of July. Plan on going there one day while I'm there. I'll write up a small TR once I get back.

thanks for the info.
should be down in a couple weeks to donk off a couple buy-ins and a tourney buy in

that is of course, after i win it

Saturday night we had a group of 4 come in to play the tourney and they asked us if we wanted to be separated and he took care of it so we all started at different tables. He even asked what seat numbers we wanted. Maybe this is a change from the old boat? Anyway it can't hurt to ask...

Edit to add: I just remembered the guy running the registration said he had just learned the process so maybe he didn't know he wasn't supposed to do that.

I will be up there on Sat night, and hopefully be there all day Sunday, Will have a trip report win or lose! And you can not miss me, I stand 7'2 and wear a Hat with a feather and a pimp cane!

It might be worth the drive just to see.

Trip report for 7/1:
Got up there at 11:15 for the morning tourney. Decent structure for $80, the 33% rake kind of pissed me off but hey what do you expect for a low buyin. Starting chips $5k, no antes, 20 minute blinds- level of play was about what you'd expect for that price, a few decent players and a lot of bad ones. Was up to about $9k after 5 levels without a major confrontation, then proceeded to donk off my chips to the only guy who had me covered at my table, AQ in small blind, raise by chip leader, I reraised about 1/4 of my stack, call, flop comes AKQ rainbow, I bet $3.5k, he immediately moves all in, I'm 99% sure I'm beat but already have almost 2/3 of my stack in the pot so have to call and he has AK. Busto.

Grab some lunch and move on to some 3/6 limit. Sit down at 2:30, by 2:35 I realize this is probably the softest game I've ever played, was up 35 big blinds in 4 hours before I'm too hungry to continue despite not ever wanting to leave this goldmine. Decide after dinner to play the Wednesday 7:15 tourney, which is about the best structure I've ever seen for a $150 buyin. $6k starting, 30 minute blinds, very slow increases till the 2nd break. 93 players entered, there was a $7k guarantee that was easily surpassed. Dealers said it was the largest Weds tourney they could remember. Got called down on a 3 street semibluff early on and got dented, then called a short stack's all in with 14 outs on the flop and bricked, but then doubled up twice to get back to average by the first break. Right before the 2nd break hit a huge double up AK vs KQ preflop to get above average for the first time all tournament. Went extremely card dead over the next hour or so (counted I got dealt J5 or 96 13 times in the tournament!!) but managed to steal a few blinds to keep my stack around average. Blinds then jumped from 500/1k 100 ante to 1k/2k 200 ante and was down to 13k with 25 players remaining, took a stand with A5 on the button when it was folded around and was called by AJ in the small blind and didn't improve. Most interesting moment of the tourney was I got QQ EP, raise to 2.5BB's, min reraise MP, then all-in on the button. Both had me covered, I was 100% sure one of them had KK or AA and folded, MP calls with AA and button has JJ, flop comes Axx, turn Q, river Q, which means if we were playing a limit game we would have hit the bad beat jackpot.

My overall rating of the new facility: a strong A. There were several new dealers in the tourney which understandably were nervous and made mistakes, including one guy who dealt the flop before dealing any hands out (LOL) but overall I thought everyone treated them with respect and tried to help them. The floor was doing a good job checking up on them and walking them through more complicated situations. Everything in the physical plant is A++, great tables, chairs, etc. Love it. My new home room.

Since pictures of the poker room have already been posted, here's a pic of the very cool Hollywood Bowl bar on the main floor.