So, you didn't want my trip report?

4-deep limit game waiting lists take a LOT longer to cycle through than NL games, in my experience.

Nah, its all good I just feel bad for you that you invested the 30+ mins into getting to the room without the pleasure of playing. I hope that your next trip report tells tales of poor play and donkage everywhere around you. Heck, it may even be me sitting beside you the next time. Theres nothing more satisfying to me than giving my money away and then seeing it posted on here about the poor play I exhibited last night.

LOL

Yeah, I want to check out the room for real. Hopefully I'll have another opportunity near-term.

I've been there a few times now, doing well at 1/2. I have question and a story.

Question: is it a standard rule in most rooms that if a dealer is asked what is in the pot, it is the dealer's job to count it? I had a dealer who seemed otherwise decent, who told another player that he wouldn't stack pots purposely, that he mixed them up, etc... I said I think it's a rule that you have to count the pot if asked. He really thought I was nuts. Am I nuts?

OK - short story from this room. I swear this guy had to be some kind of performance artist, because I can hardly believe he was for real. I'm at a pretty tight table, and a young kid gets the seat right next to me that just opened. He is right behind the dealer, but won't post. He makes it a point to observe us all very closely, and after 3 hands, turns to the guy on his left and tells him "this is an easy table, I'm going to beat it easy." He finally puts in his BB when it comes, and the button raises to $10. He refuses to act like he knows what is happening. "What? How do you raise to $10? This is 1/2NL! The raise is supposed to be $12 - that is a bad bet." I ask him "you've seriously never seen a raise to $10 at a 1/2?" He tells me again how stupid the guy on my right is. Two hands later, the kid's initial $40 buyin is gone. Even the dumbest calling station at the table was making fun of him when he left. I find out that he not only told the guy in the other seat that he would crack us all up, but that he was a regular winner on Pokerstars. I really wanted his username.

Yes, you're nuts. The pot is NEVER counted in a NL game.

.... and perhaps, when I play there, I'm going to have to think about being rolled for $1/2.

Wow... though I'm really not as surprised as I perhaps should be.

The most I have ever seen as a requirement from a dealer in a casino was to spread the chips out so the player can count it himself (Player still not allowed to touch the chips).
It is the players responsibility to follow the action. It really isn't that hard to think "$12 raise, 4 players, about $48
I would not be surprised if a casino rule said the dealer cannot even spread the chips.

Heard from a friend that the wait for 1/2 at 9am on a MONDAY was over an hour and a half (didn't get the number of people on the list.)

Anyone experiencing something like this, and if so, is it worth even going on a Saturday or Sunday?

It seems that every day is different. Two weeks ago, the wait on Saturday at 4pm was like 1.5 to 2 hours but then last week it was only 20 to 25 minutes. I recommend calling ahead and asking. Unfortunately they won't put you on the list over the phone unless you know someone well in the poker room.

I've played here almost every Friday night (7:00 - 10:00 more or less), 1/2 NL. Every time, there was a long waiting list for NL, and I got to play about 30 minutes after I added my name.

I agree with an earlier comment; the dealer is VERY important for your table. There's a huge variance in dealer speed at Hollywood; there's some that are blazingly fast, and some that are crawling at a snail's pace that can't seem to talk and deal at the same time. I haven't asked for a tablechange yet, but I think I'll ask for one if I get a slow dealer next time.

There's usually 1 table of 3/6 limit, about 10 tables of 1/2 NL, and 1 or 2 tables of 2/5 NL. I've seen a 5/10 NL game once; either Friday or Sunday.

I've seen plenty of tourists and complete amateurs at the 1/2 tables. I might just be running hot, but the ratio of knowledgeable players versus amateur / 'hey this poker thing looks fun'-type players is pretty low, and that's definitely a good thing.

And PLEASE do something about the walk to the cage. I feel like an NFL running back walking my rack of reds and whites over to the blackjack area's cage, dodging and weaving the bluehair slotjockeys. (I have nothing against them; I just don't want to drop my chips all over the floor when they suddenly turn around or smash my foot with their walker or something.)

Oh, and I saw David Sklansky's and The Wizard of Odds's evil twins at my 1/2 table on Sunday, true story.

They are vicious.

OK, so the staff has been giving the impression that free drinks are forbidden by PA gaming regulations. Now, we have some really dumb regulations so far, but according to this site http://www.americangaming.org/Indust...tail.cfv?id=31 that is not true. I don't want to drink while playing, but I sure want it to be easier for the rest of the table. In a thread about the Sands, an alleged room staff person said drinks were comped there. Anyone know the real deal here?

My word from a player who seemed knowledgeable stated this, as well. The dealer at the time did not contradict that it was a house policy, rather than a state requirement.

It surprised me, as I'd assumed the PA Liquor Board would be involved.

I signed up for the Hollywood casino players card, and it states on the little pamphlet that you could get with it that comp alcoholic drinks are offered on the 2nd tier of play

So looks like at HC if you want free drinks, you better be willing to put in some slot play

$5 beers might be cheaper, in the long run.

What's up with not making 2/5 tables must move when first starting them in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday? My table is playing for 2 hours. They open a new table of 2/5 and within an hour our table breaks. Common sense?

Also, is it justifiable to rip the "We Care" button off the floor guy who refuses to give us half rake 5 handed?

Anyone have an email address of someone that has anything to do with the poker room? PM me.

Ha! More details on this later, but evidently it's a house policy that I'd like to send a message about, as well.

100% agree, even on weekends they can struggle to keep multiple 2/5 games going. I was there on Sunday and they should of made the second table of 2/5 a must move into the main game. All the players in the second game wanted to move to the main game anyway, because they had been playing all night and had the big stacks.

I think they want to keep multiple games of 2/5 going so they figure if they can juggle 2 or 3 tables 75% full, it is better than having all the empty seats at one table.

Anyone else notice some of the dealers don't mark there open seats and let the regs/pros jump into there games bypassing the waiting list?

You sure they aren't coming from other tables. I've seat changed from one table to another before when sitting with a bad dealer or at a table that I don't think will help me maximize my profit.

My experience is that most of the dealers forget to unmark seats, because they are too busy trying to remember how to deal.
Why not just ask them to mark the seat as open???????????????? or tell the floor there are seats open. I have done these things often and they seem to fix it right way.

As far as the buttons....there has to be a prop bet somewhere to in the midst of a dispute ask someone from floor to, "kindly remove your button mam" (or sir i guess) lol

Based on my experience recently, with the problems handling the board lists and open seats, I'm not surprised that this is going on.

More on that later.

The best way to handle this situation is to say, "No problem, we'll just wait until we get two or three more players."

See my review of Caesars in this post:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...26&postcount=4

No floorman wants the game to come to a standstill because that stops the rake entirely and stops the tips to his dealer on that table. A rare exception might be when the dealer is getting paid OT and the floorman wouldn't mind if the game broke so he could send that dealer home.

I think in a normal poker room this is a great idea. But here it seems like the floor ppl aren't really floor ppl. The dealer was amazed that he wouldn't let us play at half rake. The (so-called) floor person said it wasn't his call. No half rake is what he was told.

Who is this imaginary person that makes decisions for this poker room? How do I get in contact with this person? I've already tried through using the "contact us" option on the website, but have yet to get anywhere. These are common sense items that there is no excuse for.

Dealer tips are pooled at HCPN.

any news on getting a comp rate while sitting at the table. Last I heard they weren't going to give us anything for swiping our card?

I went last night for the first time.

The Good: The play is horrible. I had a losing session, but not from being outplayed. People are willing to stick their money in the middle and gamble...stuff like 4 way all ins ( a flopped 6 high flush, versus the 10 high flush, versus the nut draw, versus two pair). So its juicy but swingy.

Matt K...great dealer. But the other two dealers I had were decent as well. Friendly for sure. Not always fast, but no mistakes either.

Restaurant and food are good. A little slow, but good.

The other stuff:

Obv. the board situation sucks. I saw one player seated by just walking in and going to the floor while 35 names were on the list. Another player at 2/5 answered a page and his seat was gone.

At 9:00 pm on a Friday, I personally had no problems. I put my name on the board in 36th, went upstairs to get a beer, and was seated within 25 minutes. By 10:30, there were plenty of empty seats rotating through at all the tables.

The casino itself isn't laid out well and there's little signage. Once you have the layout i suppose you're fine, but initially it seemed like a bit of a mess.

Waitresses at good looking, but terrible.