I live in Hamilton and plan on going to Fallsview a few times each week for the indefinite future. I've put in approx. 120 hours in the last few months.

A few things about the room that some have already been touched on here:

- They did indeed revamp the aesthetics in the room and it's a big improvement. Very large TV's have been added to every wall.

- A couple of weeks ago they begun to allow for headphones and phone use at the table. Of course, no phone use while you are in a hand. This is a major step forward and both shocking they finally did it and that it took this long. I've had a gripe OLG poker rooms since poker became a mainstream thing many years ago.

- It's naive to group all regs into any one basket. Some are good at poker while some are bad. Some are friendly while others are reclusive.

- I literally just called Casino Niagara because I was curious about the BBJ. Apparently it was hit this past Thursday. It is currently $30k. I never went to CN during the crazy BBJ period because I heard of god awful 150+ player waiting lists. That and CN is a dive of a room, it's only 1/2, and I felt like the BBJ was on par with a massive slot machine jackpot.

- I find the wait times to be relatively good at FV. I always call in to put my name on the list and show up roughly 75 min later. They allow for 90 min call ins. I usually start between 2pm-6pm any day of the week. I'm on a table within 30min 80% of the time.

- As far as parking goes, you do not need to swipe out, or at least I never have. Of the 35-40ish times I've gone, I'd say I had one issue when leaving the parking lot. I threw a fuss over the $5 and that was that. I may have forgotten to swipe in but who knows. I give my card to the floorman before I begin every session. They swipe me in and that's all I have to think about with parking.

- The #1 issue I have with this poker room is that of purchasing chips. You cannot purchase, ever, from the dealer, and the only available cashier is roughly 100M away through a maze of slot machines and table games. I have a front money account (highly recommended for regs) which I withdraw from before every session. I take out a comfortable amount for me to play with on that day. What's hilarious is that the vast majority of the time at the end of my session, when I deposit back into my account, half of it seems to be cash. The cash comes from constantly selling chips to unprepared players at the poker table. It's atrocious. I have my own reasons for selling to you or not selling to you at the table but that's beside the point. I'd guess that I hear "Does anyone have any chips?" at least 5 times a day. This needs to be fixed somehow.

Anyways, the legal poker scene in Toronto is embarrassingly non-existent. Therefore, I take my business to Niagara Falls and specifically FV. FV is by far the best poker room in Ontario but it does have some things here and there that need to be sorted out. When I think of premium poker rooms that I've been to, casinos of Las Vegas come to mind. It's interesting and frustrating how so many things that make a good Las Vegas poker room are often overlooked at FV. I'd be curious to know if decision makers have ever invited players to have a discussion about what they can do to make the experience better for everyone. I doubt this is the case.

But hey, we can listen to music and got new TVs!

~Drew

Have wpt fallsview sats started yet? Havnet gone in a few weeks

What is a front money account?

I agree with you about live poker options in Toronto, they suck.

yes they started about 2 weeks ago....they have a list everyday but most nights they don't go. So far just Fridays -Sundays.

They hold your money at the cage so you don't have to bring wads of cash everytime....like a bank account with no fees.

Oh okay, didn't know they provided that service. Thanks for the answer.

Anybody know if casino Niagara charges a session fee instead of rake like fallsview does or do they just have rake instead?

Rake

Anybody know how packed Fallsview and Casino Niagara usually is on Xmas eve?

There were a total of eight tables running on Wednesday at Fallsview from <= 8 pm until ~3 am, so it may be similar on Thursday night.

Is 2/5 still smallest game here and is there bigger games or PLO that run at all?

Yes, 2/5 with minimum $100 buy-in. 5/10 will run today, Saturday. PLO may not run until the WPT Fallsview weeks.

Fallsview is insane tonight. Every table full with probably 80 people on the 2/5nl list. Any chance niagara would spread 2/5 of Fallsview is this busy?

Fallsview had already been insane during the holidays, when it was very frustrating waiting for so long while many of the 17 poker tables were unstaffed, such as New Year's Eve. The difference on Saturday was that more tables had dealers earlier, including three dedicated to the WPT FPC satellites after 2 pm, so a record number of satellites ran.

Casino Niagara becomes 2/5+ during the WPT FPC, but as Fallsview keeps getting more busy on weekends, 2/5 may happen earlier.

They had 1x 5/10 and 5x 2/5 at noon...

99% of the Time its just 2x 2/5 at that time

I'm planning on playing the $1,100 event at the Fallsview Poker Classic in February. Just called them up to get some information, and their policies seem a bit absurd. I don't play a lot of tournaments, so I'd like to know if this is standard practice.

I asked if I could buy a ticket for Day 1A and 1B. They said yes, but that I could not sell my Day 1B ticket or get a refund if I advanced on Day 1A! Id be stuck with it!

I understand there were issues with people reselling $1,100 tickets for almost double the price in previous years, but not allowing refunds on tickets that you purchase means that almost everyone who wants to play both Day 1s, would have to wait until they bust Day 1A before they buy their Day 1B ticket!

I live 2 hours away, and have already reserved my hotel room. It would really suck if day 1B was sold out by the time I bust Day 1A!

Anyone else get the same information from them? Or conflicting information?

With the new rules it is doubtful that it'll sell out the day before.

That's good to know! Thanks.

Have they indicated the max # of entries available for each day 1?

It's probably 600, there are usually 60 tables.

As I posted in the WPT FPC thread, one should only buy for the first flight when you are sure you can play on that date, and wait until you are eliminated before buying for your next game. Fallsview finally implemented several of my suggestions this year, but players will have to change their habits from the ten previous FPC.

Another common mistake is buying the $275 or $2,500 entry card with your $1,100 card, but if you are still in the $1,100 event, you are stuck with your non-transferable, non-refundable and non-replaceable cards. The improvement for next time is to have management waiver for reasonable exceptions, such as being allowed to get a refund or transfer when the conflicting event starts if you are still playing in an earlier event.

Crazy wait to be seated tonight. I have been waiting for over two hours and my name still isn't on the board. Apparently a bunch of the dealers called in sick so they can't open every table

Thats brutal on a Friday night. Its a really nice room but can be ran a lot better

That is their excuse pretty much every time.

Fallsview, where on a Friday, they have 4 dealers, 2 sitting at empty tables, and a full list, but wait an hour to open the table

With a full list, has a WPT satellite table opened up yet?