I've played for the first time in over a year. I played 7 max 20/40 limit. Here are some observations.

1) It plays more like 5 handed with all of the walkers.
2) With the plexiglass set up and mask wearing there is very little socializing going on. It is very depressing and people do not look like they are having fun.
3) It appears that the older TAG/Fish regs have not come back yet. I didn't see many older folks in general. I don't think these folks like to play short handed.
4) No food service sucks! I had to bring a cooler with food and eat it in my car. I could go next store to the restaurant but I'm trying to eat healthy.
5) Every time you leave you have to get your temperature checked when coming back in. It's slightly annoying when there is a line.
6) You aren't allowed to wait in the poker room for your seat so you have to wait in the smoking area or go further away to find a seat.
7) having to wear a mask is not very comfortable.
8) It seems there is one or two TAG grinders and the rest are all very laggy to maniacle.

In the two times I played I had trouble with putting people on ranges. I was putting the unknowns on default short handed ranges. It seems that some people are still playing a full table strategy pre flop It seemed like the TAG grinders were playing very tight given the short handedness. I only played a total of 10 hours so it's a small sample. I'm wondering if I too need to tighten up a bit in a table full of lags. Maybe the grinders were just card dead.

It just didn't feel like a normal short handed table. Maybe I'm just rusty. Does anybody else notice differences with the 7 handed dynamic?

Where were you playing? I was at Borgata playing 20/40 all weekend, and agree with your observations. Though I was having fun! Even if I didn't look like it...

The hardest changes for me are:
1. The dealers are MISERABLE. I've known many of them for years and they all told me how awful things have been between changes in policy, pandemic scares, and little visibility into their shifts. I feel for them. Add to this that there are fewer games and more mistakes due to communication barriers and please people, tip your dealers and be kind.
2. I miss the table chit chat. It's impossible. Some people try but you can't look straight ahead and talk to someone next to you while there's plexiglass and masks in the way. It's just not possible. I mostly sat and listened to music / watched YouTube but it's definitely not preferred.
3. The games were G-R-E-A-T. I don't know if it's that the regs aren't back - I recognized most people - but whereas in the past if there were three walkers all the regs would say they didn't want to play short now they are forced to play 4-7 handed (mostly 6) and no one is adjusting. The running theme this week was players open limping in the co. No complaints.
4. The Covid protocol is both appreciated but also a joke. Am I glad casinos are taking temps, enforcing masks, and sanitizing consistently? Yes of course, and I hope they continue the sanitation practices indefinitely. But some of the rules, like not congregating, or that the seat needs to be wiped after each player seem like poorly thought out chores more than anything. At least at Borgata, you now put your name on a list and are texted, and you're not allowed to be in the room until you're playing. Problem is now you just have a group of people standing close outside the room, and the texts don't indicate your game, just that you have a seat. It leads to lots of confusion between floor, dealers and players.
5. I miss a fun casino vibe. Walking through was just depressing.
6. I asked people if they were vaxxed. Surprisingly, not everyone was which is a whole other boat of trouble.

Actually lags or just donkeys? If it's a table full of donkeys with a couple tags, that's a good table. If it's a table full of lags I probably wouldn't even play given all the other bullshit. How many handed per flop? What %SD? Adjusting in a game like that is highly dependent on what kind of mistakes people are making before and after the flop.

Sounds awful. On the bright side maybe the hands per hour are up . If people are still playing full table strategy 7 handed that sounds like a more profitable game .

1) yes - it’s almost always short

2) yes and no - it’s definitely harder to talk to each other but the guys I play with mostly know each so there is still table talk and still pretty fun . Glass comes down end of the month for us

3) some yes, some no.

4) we still have food service but you can’t eat at the table. I’m actually ok right that

5)l never a line but still kind of a joke

6). Seems like a dumb rule - we don’t have it

7) welcome to 2020 / 2021. Mask mandate should end in July for us

8). This is definitely true here. Games have been off the charts crazy and all the fish want to play 40/80 - which has all but killed 20/40

I am fully vaccinated now and recently played my first session since March 2020. I agree the plexiglass makes the game pretty antisocial. Seemed like a lot of the people I was playing with had already had COVID -- the jury is obviously still out on how long someone is safe after they have had it, but I'd like to think that it's basically burned itself out among the people in the game I play.

Playing 7 handed is great, and frankly I wish it was 6 handed. Especially when playing in a time game. Yes, some nits are irrationally afraid of playing shorter games, but what can you do? At the end of the day, the people you want in the games generally want to gamble more than they care about the game being 9 handed.

Mask compliance was spotty, esp. w/r/t exposed noses. I don't mind too much given that I am vaccinated, but as my first "high risk" activity in like 1.5 years it was a bit disconcerting. I don't really understand the complaints about masks being uncomfortable. I wore a KN95 mask for the entire 7+ hour session with absolutely no discomfort.

Bottom line -- the plexiglass is obnoxious and I don't even think the science suggests it does much. Take it down ASAP, but I'd like to see masks and player limits remain in place for a while yet.

I like the plexiglass. Now I have no uncertainty where my seat starts and where the other person's seat begins. However I'm not sure it actually does anything so I see no scientific reason to keep it up.

Well the glass is coming down on the 28th and it’s going to 8 handed, where I think it will stay.

Sounds good. Masks are also no longer required for vaccinated folks as of Friday. I wonder if that will accelerate the schedule on the plexiglass.