I thought the max buy in is $300 there for 1/2.

I have never been here myself because of the 6 dollar rake but I here it 200 max @ this location.

Mohegan Sun @ PD has 300 max buy-in for 1/2. 1000 for 2/5

Well that didn't last long...

After reading 2+2 all day I was itching to go back and try again. I arrived ~4pm and was the first name on the 1/2 list. I was seated within 3 minutes! I expected more people on a late Friday afternoon. They had all but 2-3 tables running with 1 2/5, 1 3/6 and I believe the rest were all 1/2.

Played till ~6:30. Was card dead the entire time until the last 2-3 hands (of course. I HAD to leave by 6:30). Hand before my last I told the guy next to me that the next hand would be my last, just in case I hit a monster. I peeled up A10 and called the $6 bet in front of me. 5 total callers saw a flop of 10A10. I quadrupled up and left about even.

Personally, I don't want a player from a broken table or a table change to have to come in for just the buy in, essentially going south. I want all those chips there so that I can take them. I was playing just the other day, table broke, big stack moved in the big stack disappeared around the table, loosening up a squeaky tight game and resulting in a profitable night. I also don't want to be forced to drop to 200 when changing tables.
My opinion is if they come from another table, for whatever reason, I am happy to have them bring a big stack, and hopefully (unfortunately not always) I will adjust appropriately.
But to each his own....

Here lies the problem....make a rule and have everyone (dealers, floor, etc) stick to it. So we don't have to have these kind of useless discussions. Most of the issues I have seen people get upset about could be easily avoided by some clear and enforcible room rules.

This

I hear you. I think the biggest fault of my current room is that there is ZERO communication between shifts.
I have high hopes for my ability to do some good at Hollywood Casino. Any room I work in I want to be the #1 choice for players, and I feel like I can walk that line between what's best for guests and what's best for the room very well. My biggest fear will find my constant pushing towards improvement to be too much of a pain in the ass and sweep me aside.

You need to learn how to manage your efforts... and realize that you won't get to win every argument, so you have to learn to balance your attempts. Some good is better than no good, no matter how galling those compromises may be.

Here's why there is little chance of things getting better at Hollywood:

they don't have to.

They do not see themselves as having to compete with anything. The other PA casinos are enough of a drive, that the pool of players is mostly folks who are local. I did play with a blackjack dealer from West Virginia, who claimed it was his first time in another casino besides his employer. I met a guy who was driving through PA after vacation, and it was the closest to their route. Otherwise, it's not a card room that draws from a distance. The kinds of things that we note here, are not the things that the average gambler just playing around is going to know is any different. Maybe once the casino in Gettysburg gets approved, built, and is up and running, they will realize they have to compete. For now, the attitude is that we should all be thanking Ed Rendell for even allowing this here. For a week, I did.

But let me tell you why I play there: it's profitable for me.
I am within an hour of Grantville. I could get to Mohegan in about 90 minutes. I could add an hour to my trip each time out, to get to a better room with lower rake. But so far, I choose not to because the room is so ridiculously soft, I am making money at 1/2 every time I sit down. The rake sucks, but when you're up $200 in under 2 hours, regularly, meh - I'll deal with it. The conditions that drive better players to better pastures are exactly the conditions that keep it a soft room overall, and with my proximity, I will take it. I'll still venture to AC once in a while, Foxwoods for particular tournaments, and probably down to Delaware Park since I have friends with homes nearby. But as it's my local room, I will put up with all this nonsense that many players don't even notice, because they're the ones I want in my game. I'm not proud. I play to win cash, not the play the best. If I get the chance to "prove myself" in a better setting, I may take it. Besides, I don't drink alcohol while playing, and there are a few cute waitresses, so it's not all bad.

I'm pretty sure I read Penn National Gaming is in line to manage the Gettyburg casino, if Gettysburg is the site selected.

Oh, well, that kills my idea of competition.

Went down last night, and I was expressing frustration that we couldn't even buy chips at the podium for a long time because they were doing a count. A couple other players and I got a bit huffy with staff, and we ended up having a good conversation with them, because they share the same frustrations. Some of it comes from gaming regs, some of it is the "house" policies, which are decisions made by people way up from them, who aren't in the room.

Some weird rules that are in their book, pointed out to me by a nice older woman who was floating different duties that night:

This one is on the "engraved" rule board at the podium:

The house can raise the stakes on any table at any time.

This is proof that whoever is in charge has no concept that poker is a different animal than blackjack. The floor staff said this rule will never be used. It's laughable. Of course if a whole table of PLAYERS wants to change, that's a different matter.

The other rule she told me lasted "about 24 hours" and is not in the printed list (that I saw) - in a chopped pot with an extra dollar chip, the extra chip went to some sort of rank of suits of the high cards in hand. It is now the standard "closest to the button going left."

I feel a little bit better about the fact that much of the staff there has the same frustrations as the players. I told them "my biggest problem is that the powers that be seem to think that just because legal poker is new here, none of us has ever been in a card room before." Response: "tell me about it." - The ones in the know feel the same way.

I played 1/2 from ~6:30pm till 11pm last night. They only had 7 tables running, total. They tried to get an 8th table going a few times, but it looked like every time they had 6+ players someone else would leave. They had open seating for 1/2 for most of the night, I never saw the list more than 1-2 names long.

Shay was a good dealer, though he spent too much time apologizing to one player who was pissed that he wasn't allowed to string bet. He again confirmed that the poker room would be moving upstairs, but said that everything he has heard has come from players so he had no idea when it would be moving.

I brought along a friend, who, while competent in our home games, had never been in a casino and was unstandably nervous. I sat down and he decided to go smoke a cig before getting sat next to me. I can tell he's nervous and can see his hands shaking a little... wouldn't you know he gets AA his first hand! He opened the betting with a $5 bet and admitted later he had no idea what the standard betting was.

I had my most profitable session yet, by far. The table started off very tight until a tall, skinny guy with a bad blonde beard and a wicked case of B.O. joined us. He would bet any 2 cards preflop and pissed off most of the table. This ended up working in my favor as he seemed to get everyone off their game.

dude, you're KILLING me! HOW could you pass up on such a golden opportunity??!?!


"Hey, dude- you stink!"

and let him think about what it referred to

Self-ban for two hours, please.

Hi SVTHORD,

Was there a NL 2/5 game going on Tuesday night?

I play mostly on Saturdays, but was thinking of trying it some week nights if I know a 2/5 game will be there.

I'm not the guy you asked, but I was there Monday and the 2/5 went to about 1 or 2 am. I was at 1/2. I believe there were 2 tables of 2/5 from 7pm on, consolidated around 10 or 11.

If you want a game with alot of tough talking super aggressive guys,this is your game. I would imagine that someone properly rolled and patient could really profit there. I played it once. I did well, but the stake is really above where I should be for the time being.

My impression from about 10 visits recently is that you can get a 2/5 game pretty much every night. Depending on dealer situations, you may even find one with an 8 person wait list.

There has been at least 1 table of 2/5 every time I've been (3 total trips, 2 weeknights, 1 Friday). On Tuesday it looked like they had between 7 and 9 seats filled on the 1 table they had going. I've seen some of the same faces at the 2/5 table every time I've played 1/2.

Oh, i didn't completely pass up the opportunity. He was sitting between my previously mentioned friend and I and we made numerous jokes back and forth while he was sitting there. We'd say things like 'that just stunk like he flopped a set.' At least one other player picked up on it and threw a few of his own in (though they weren't that funny).

As I mentioned though, he completely changed the table and it became very profitable for me. I had no interest in running him off...at least until I took the last of his chips!

Played last night from 7-12:45. Dealer named [name removed] was our main dealer for the night. This was my second time there (first being opening weekend) and I must say the room was run a 100% better this time. The crowd was no where near the same but just having a dealer who knew what he was doing made a huge difference.
Fun table last night, lots of chatter, not much complaining (except for a guy who was called his all in with a flush draw for $110). Overall good night for me +260 after drinks, tips and such. Monster laydown with QQ vs AA after flop of rainbow low cards. I knew I was beat prior to flop but AA was +2 and made it 7, gentleman to my right made it 15 which I called and AA made it $50 on top. Gentleman folded and I said two hands can beat me and you got one of them. I called $50 with $100 in pot knowing if I could spike a set his money might all go in the pot, but flop came out and it wasnt to be. AA shoved $370 all in. Thought about it for a bit and couldn't get away of the smell of the overbet for a call and I showed him the QQ. He was stunned I folded, showed the AA and confirmed my read.
Now that summer is over I hope to make a few more appearances there.

Is Omaha or any other non-holdem game being spread at all?

I think a Stud game ran once or twice in the beginning, but ever since then I haven't seen it.

And no Omaha. Once on a Saturday afternoon, when there was still an empty table, I saw an interest list for Omaha-8 reach 10+ names. But since the list for 1/2 had 25-30 names on it, guess which game ran at the new table?

Once they (theoretically) move the room and double the # of tables, an O8 game might actually run. I hope so!

That does make the most sense.

was there today from 11a-5p. A little under half the tables were full when I got there, about three quarters were full when I left.

Besides 3/6holdem and 1/2NL, there was 2/5NL, and they were willing to spread 5/10NL, 7stud, and Omaha. Only the stud interest list had more than one name on it.

I played limit. Dealers were not fast, but at least steady. Our main dealer was fine as long as no one raised a complaint. He was easily pushed around by players and it didn't seem as if he cared one way or the other about some of the rules.

Fer instance: a player insisted that the first person into the pot pre-flop couldn't raise. At first, the everyone, was like WTF? The player said that 'a floor' had told her that 'the last time I was here.' The dealer said, 'oh, okay, I guess that's the way it is then.' We had to call ANOTHER floor over to straighten this basic rule of play out.

Later on, he let another player decide how the blinds should be when the SB stood up before he was dealt. He didn't even think it over, just said 'okay' and changed it. I asked him repeatedly if he knew what the rule was and he ignored me.

He was VERY conscientious about making sure the light display that showed which seats were occupied was right, though. So there's that.

I love the atmosphere at Hollywood though. No angry players, games are soft so soft, and you're right next to the racetrack. Absolutely beautiful view, a great place to take a breather.

I plan on stopping by around 12-1pm. Do I have to have a players card or can I play without one? Also, what are the max buy-ins for 1/2 and 2/5? Thanks. Will be wearing a black STL hat.

You do not need a card to play. I have one, but with no comps, I never dig it out.

The buy-ins for 1/2 go $40-200. 2/5 is $100-500.

Why do they even have this system? Can they really not tell? I guess the tables in the back half might find this useful, but on my visit they didn't seem to handle filling too well, even with the dealers putting in the seat data.

I agree. They pay for the Bravo system, but instead of using it they still walk around to count empty seats.