85 tables running now in the DC-Baltimore corridor: 10 @ HB, 49 @ MDL, and 26 @ the brand new MGMNH.

10 at HB seems about right for a Thursday. Maybe a little on the light side.

Friday at 2:45pm. ML has 50 tables going, MGM 36, and Shoe has 7. Both ML and MGM have long lists of people waiting (ML has 100 on the 1-2 list, MGM has 66 on the 1-3 list).

It is just day of MGM being open, so it will take a while until the market sorts itself out, but right now my guess is that the ML and MGM rooms will be 1 and 1a, in other words they will both be very good poker rooms with a lot of traffic. I think MGM opening is going to hurt the Shoe more than it hurts ML.

Interesting take, Dave. Why do you think HB would be hurt by MGMNH? Seems to me like there wouldn't be many people who would choose HB over MDL but then choose MGMNH over either.

I think MGMNH and ML will both be very well run rooms, with lots of benefits such as good comps, and good promos. Both rooms will also have a wide variety of games available, which is good depending on what games you like to play. People will have different reasons for choosing one over the other, but these 2 rooms I predict will pull in the majority of players. I think HB is already a bit behind the other rooms, and as the competition heats up, I think it will only fall farther behind. Maybe HB really steps up and tries to compete - that would be a good thing for the players, but I'm not sure it will happen. I will definitely check Bravo tonight to see if HB fills up like it normally does on a Friday night.

Update at 8:30pm on Friday nigh - HB with only 10 tables going, while both ML and MGM are maxed out.

It is only one day, and opening day for a new casino, so time will tell. But I think this is the beginning of some good competition for our poker playing business. Right now MGM has a shiny new casino, and ML has some popular promotions. I expect MGM and ML to continue to have a healthy competition. HB will have to step up their game in order to compete.

I see hb going the way of Charles town.

Charles town was so popular that they had to open an annex area for poker on the 1st floor.
now the main room on the 2nd floor is closed and the small annex area barely has any tables running.

Are all the tables still in the original area under the racetrack grandstands?

AFAIK, but the shufflers have been removed.

Games are still good there.


--klez

I would be happy with a casino with one table only, as long as I don't have to wait in line to get a seat. Unless you enjoy waiting in line for a couple of hours to play poker I don't see the point of going to MGM or MDL

Right now HSB is a nice fit for me. I walk in and get a seat that is all I want. I don't care how many tables are full as long as the one table I am playing at is full. For that I don't mind putting up with poor management there.

Don't like CT because they never have enough dealers. So the wait there is almost as much as MDL without the benefits.

I played for a couple hours at MGMNH this weekend. Just as I would never criticize a restaurant, bar, or other service industry business within the first couple weeks of opening, I will be sharing only positives here for now.

I'd like to provide some context first: I've been playing at MDL since its opening and it's a great room run by people who care. Things that MDL does not do well are drink service and cashiers, neither of which are under the direct control of Mike Smith and his staff.

Right off the bat, I noticed that--even though no one in his/her right mind would call MGMNH's drink service even adequate--drink service and the cashiers at MGMNH already are better than MDL's.

Given time to work out issues that are to be expected with any new business, MGMNH is going to be an incredibly valuable addition to the DMV poker scene.

Went to MDL when list was 50+ in middle of promo, seated in 20 minutes. Went Sunday twice, same promo, and waited <5 minutes each time.

Went to HSB last weekend, no promo, waited 10 minutes.

So: ya never know.

I went to HSB once when MDL was running the stupid bankroll builder tourney that takes half their tables on a Sunday morning. I think HSB had 3 tables going. Asked the floor for 1/3 he said "12". I said "table 12 where's that?" he said "No, twelfth on the list". I asked "First buy at the table or at the cage". He looked disgusted and gave a vague nod to the cage in the corner. Waited nearly an hour for them to open a 2/5 and get me seated at 1/3.

I haven't been back.

The one thing under Mike's control that they've never fixed is the speed of filling empty seats when they have a list. Specially when they've had a long list and people coming to the top might have left in the preceding hour.

I haven't been to MGM yet but I'm about equal travel time from MGM and MDL. My where to play is probably going to come down to:
- action (as long as MDL doesn't lose a lot of traffic this will likely be equal)
- food (highly favoring MGM even though I haven't been there it's gotta be better than MDL)
- parking (I'm not paying to park and MGM is gonna charge soon enough)
- the MDL platinum streak bonus

Sounds like you should get in your play at MGMNH now while they're not charging for parking then because it'll be MDL all the time for you after that.

The MDL streak bonus might even get me to go back to get my 100 hours in depending where the PLO action and low/mid-limit LHE ends up settling.

As for food @ MDL, make sure you try 8 if you haven't. The sushi was EXCELLENT both times I went.

As for HSB, I've played there 4 or 5 times. In my opinion and experience, very few of the staff even appear to give a **** and the people I've played with tend to be much more annoying and abrasive than those at MDL. But good lord are they bad at poker, so I end up winning every time I go.

Problem is I'm a purely recreational player so I'm not willing to put up with bull**** just to up my winrate, so the only time I go there is when I happen to be in Baltimore anyway for another event.

Does anyone who lives in the District bank with Wells Fargo? I moved here from Chicago in June and switched from Chase, and since there's a WF right across the street from my apartment, it was an easy enough choice. I opened a checking account and savings account with a low five figure balance and it's been increasing since, but I can't get them to raise my ATM limit above like $230 a day or something crazy. Bank manager I talked to said it's a geographic thing; IE., DC is a high crime area and they want to minimize the amount I can be ripped off. But Chase gave me $1500 a day in friggin downtown Chicago and all it took was a phone call. It's a pretty big pain in the ass not to be able to pull cash out to play poker outside of bank hours.

I bank with USAA and can use any ATM for free (rebate all my fees). Normal limit is $600 per day but one phone call and it can be raised up to $5000/day. Also, all deposits and banking can be done on my phone. I think USAA checking is open to anyone. (Update: My bad just looked it up....they stopped offering to everyone a few years back...sorry.)

Sounds like bull**** to me. Capital One's limit is like $800 or $1k if I recall correctly.

Just wanted to put this here so we can build on it later. I'll also insert it into the OP once it's complete.

MD LHE & Specialty Game Schedule

M --
T --
W --
R -- 20/40 @ MDL
F --
S -- 30/60 @ MDL
U --

I personally would like to see some pink and 15/30 mixes like HO, HOE, or HOAE and also maybe even something like 2/5 NLHE, 2/2 PLO, and 10/20 LHE.

Once the opening craziness of MGMNH has calmed down in a couple months, I'd like to see if there's enough demand to be able to persuade MGMNH, MDL, and/or HB to give us some concessions like reduced rake, enhanced comps, etc., to bring this sort of specialty business to them.

So far, the PLO action seems to have almost completely moved to MGM. Today at lunch time there were 2 tables of 1-2 going at MGM and no tables with only 4 on the list for MDL. I've been seeing at most 1 table at MDL even in the evenings, with 2 or 3 1-2 and a 5 card 1-2 at MGM at the same time. This is skewed right now with the new room and with MDL running the promotions. If MGM fills in the evening all the time with the tournaments going and MDL backs off the promotions, it may be so busy PLO starts to return to MDL, but right now, if you want PLO, MGM is the only real choice.

Thanks for the PLO info! Very useful.

Hello, not sure if this is the correct place to post this, if not, apologies.
Looking for some suggestions/info on apartment/house rentals in the area. Seeking at least 2BR that's under 1200/month. Top priorities would be: safe, parking, <20 minutes to MGM, not electric heat(if it's not included). Not a deal breaker, but ideally east, for an easier commute when I want to go to Live!.
If you don't have suggestions on specific homes, suggestions on areas are greatly appreciated also.
Lastly, I did numerous searches to see if this has been addressed previously in the forums, and I have not found anything.
Thanks in advance for your time!

Oh, and I already have checked the sources I know for rentals: Zillow, CL, Trulia, and Apartments. I have found a couple interesting leads, but have 0 idea of what to expect area wise. I am coming down next week for two days and trying to set some viewings up.

Is the next big tournament series coming to the area the WSOP at Shoe?

WPT Deepstacks at MD Live in mid April, Shoe WSOP-C starts last week of April afterwards.


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Thought this was worth a repost here: