Quote:
Originally Posted by blue3715
Being that you ran from 5th to first on the list in just 15 minutes you probably shoulda been more attentive to your name being called. Try putting down "XYZ" as your initials, you probably will hear that being called better than the usual "JR", etc.
My name didn't go from 5th to 1st in 15 minutes. It was 5th or 6th before I went downstairs to get some food. About 45 minutes later, I came back up and it was 1st on the list. I waited for another 15 minutes or so to see if I would be called quickly before I sat at a 1/2NL table to kill some time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blue3715
Using a paging system would prompt people to leave the poker area and play craps, bj, slots, etc and could end up half way across the casino... then they would have to wait like 5 minutes after the "page" is sent for you to show up. So someone is now barreling thru the casino trying to get back to the poker room before the next name is called.
If it is a two-way communication system, like text messaging, then you can reply to lock up the seat and it will be locked up for 5 or 10 minutes (they will already lock up a seat for 10 minutes for you now). Even if you are on the other side of the casino, I don't think it will take 10 minutes to get to the poker room. And if you added in the notifications when you are in the top 3 or 5 on the list, this would let somebody know when they need to head back to the poker room so they will be even closer and you wouldn't even need to give them 10 minutes to get back.
Almost anything that adds some sort of additional notification would be better than the current system. Right now, taking a bathroom break could cost you your seat and place in line on the list, especially since it's not easy to tell where you are on the list (unless you happen to be at a table near one of the lists). If you happen to have gone to the bathroom, even if you hear your name being called from in the bathroom, it's not likely that you'd be able to get out of the bathroom and flag down a floor person to lock up the seat before they move on to the next name.
I'm all for keeping people that are waiting for a seat in the poker room so that there isn't much wait on people to take their seats, but the current system needs some help. I was actually going to mention the self-sign up kiosks at the Taj as one of the things I liked better than at the Borg, but the only real advantage is that you can put yourself on the lists instead of talking to somebody to do it for you. Since there isn't any additional functionality to be gained, I think it's nice, but not something that would put one room above another.
Something else that could be done with the self-sign up kiosks is to prioritize the games you get on the list for. Say you really want to play 20/40 LHE, but there is a list of 7 people. You put your name down for 20/40, 10/20, and 7.50/15 but specify that 20/40 is your preferred game with 10/20 next. Then if you get called for the 10/20, your name stays on the list for 20/40 but comes off the list for 7.50/15. This would keep the lists clean so you wouldn't have so many names being called for seats they don't want any more. Also, if the names on the list are tied to player's cards, when the player swipes out and leaves, they would be given the option to keep their names on any lists or remove them.
Something else that could be done with a text message type system is that after your name has been on a list for say 2 hours, you are sent a message asking you want to stay on the list. If you don't reply within a few minutes, your name is removed from the list. This would really help the interest lists for new games. I know that I've put my name on a list for a new game, sat down and played something else for a few hours and then left and didn't stop by to ask them to take my name off the lists. This is probably one of the reasons it's hard to get new games started. A list may have 8 or 9 names on it, but 4 of them could be 8 hours old and they aren't even in the casino any more.
I'm sure people much smarter than me will come up with (or have already come up with) a really good system, I just haven't seen it implemented anywhere yet. Hopefully the Borgata will be a pioneer in this area and really move things along.