Quote:
Originally Posted by dgis back
Surprised no one has mentioned the "New" 52 Social that will be opening in a few weeks right next to Johnny Chan's 88. This is going to be good. 88 has gotten greedy so good to see some competition opening up right next door. Going to be interesting to watch.
Dgis Back,
You are correct, management at Johnny Chan's 88 have gotten a bit greedy. While it is still a great place to play, they have instituted a few things that are definitely negatives including: the door fee used to be $10 a day, $50 a month, or $200 a year. Now the only options are $10 a day or $88 a month. This is a huge increase from the yearly of $200 to now a minimum of $1,056. Even if the $200 for the year was too low, don't raise it 528%! make it $299, $399, or even $499.
The time charge is still reasonable at $8.00 to $12.00 an hour, depending on how much you buy at a time. However, they now require your card when you sign up so that when a seat opens up you are clocked in immediately, before you even get to the seat, get chips, and are dealt a hand. This is wrong in my opinion and very anti customer. Also, they have discontinued happy hour where they offered 1/2 off time ($12.00 to $6.00. so not much of a discount for people that buy time in larger quantities) at the less popular times of the day. Again, that doesn't affect me much as I buy time in bulk at the lower rates and also tend to play poker late, as "Poker is a Night Game" and not during the afternoon, but still it is a negative.
Finally, almost every player agrees that the food is much improved from prior ownership, but they are extremely proud and charge accordingly.
That being said, I very much enjoy playing there and recommend Johnny Chan's 88 to all poker players, especially if you prefer PLO. The action is pretty good and there are plenty of games at any/all hours, the Security is much improved and the dealers and floor are pretty solid, I just wish they would slow down on the price increases, and definitely hope they don't raise the hourly time rake. Prime Social had all the business 18-24 months ago, but the higher rake, inadequate parking, combined with management's poor attitude towards customer retention and satisfaction, has resulted in a place that is now almost empty (looking at poker atlas is says Prime Social has 1 live game currently while Johnny Chan's 88 has 17 live games).
Tuffbeat