Here's something I wanted to ask about that happened as I was cashing out yesterday:

I'm standing in line with 3 racks and obviously quite a few chips, and some random guy comes up and fans out $500 in 5 $100 bills and mumbles something about wanting to buy some of my chips. Since this is my first time at the Borgata, I wasn't sure if this was super standard or frowned upon or what, so I just said, sorry I'd rather wait to get my money from the cashier. A few minutes later a second guy comes up to me and does the same thing with $300. Again I said no.

I'll admit that in the back of my mind I did think about the risk of having someone trying to pawn off counterfeit bills on me like this, but this wasn't really a major concern. Basically, I just want to know if this is really standard and if any of you guys do this (buy/sell chips from people in line at the cashier)?

Super standard. The player doesn't want to wait in line to buy chips, he wants to get in his game as soon as possible. And, by you selling chips, maybe it also saves you some time at the cage if the guy decides to buy the exact amount. But, whatever, the main reason is so he doesn't have to wait in line. And, although I highly doubt that someone might try to pass you counterfeit bills...the bottom line is, if you don't feel comfortable with it, then don't do it. It's that simple. It's your money.

A dealer at Caesar's mentioned that several counterfeit hundreds were passed there in the same manner -someone waiting in line was asked if he would sell chips. So it does happen - I would rather wait the extra few minutes for peace of mind myself. But it is pretty standard.

Agreed, it's common, especially when there is a long line to the cage. I've bought and sold chips that way, though it's understandable if some people would rather not do it.

game report?

just stereotype the person hardcore IMO when worrying about conterfit bills at the cage-use them pokerz skillz

PLO@the Borgata : 6max or 10handed?

This is for the PLO players. I love playing PLO at the Borgata. I play from 2/5plo to 5/10plo when its running. I'll play some 1/2 but not very often. While the games are great and the action is crazy, I think the games are too slow when the table is full. Does any1 else see this? When the table gets 10 handed it is so slow that players start complaining, some leave, and in general it isn't as fun.

The most fun I've had playing PLO is when we get shorthanded.

I would prefer that the Borgata makes the PLO games be 6max and not 10 handed. The games are faster. The action is still the same.

i understand that smaller tables means the Borgata would need more dealers, more tables, etc to run the games.

Any thoughts from the PLO players at the borgata and other live PLO players. Would you prefer 6max or 10 handed games?

you will likely never get them to shut down 4 of the 10 seats at a table for PLO

Stan,

First 10/20 O.E. turned into 20/40 Omaha H/L with half kill
then you list 15/30 Omaha H/L
now you recently listed 10/20 Omaha H/L (I assume not kill)

It seems the game keeps coming back to 10/20. I hope it's spread next Friday when I come down.

I don't think 6-max tables work well in a live setting. The game breaks up far too easily among other things. That would be even worse for PLO, since even 10-handed the game can break up without much warning. I've played PLO at Borgata three times, always left the table when it was full or nearly full, and all three times it broke up within half an hour (yes, the thought you're having now occurred to me as well).

I didn't think about the "game breaking dynamic". I agree my major concern is having the game break up. Just because of the "game breaking" dynamic I dont think having the 6max option will work day to day when the player pool for PLO is average

During the major events is a different story. I think for the next series i will just ask the shift mgr to open lists for 6max.

During the events the player pool for PLO is much larger. I think for the winter open there were 2 5/10, 1 2/5, and 1 1/2 all on the same day. (I dont remember if they got the 10/25 going when all these games where running). there where also lists for all these games. The staff can create must moves to help keep the games solid.

BTW, I still think that PLO is the still the best and most entertaining game they have. I'm just wondering if there are legitimate ways to improve it.

bigger player pool would improve it.

Tab and/or Stan:
Have you noticed that the Sunday 11AM and 4PM $150+$30 Survivor tourneys are attracting far less players than the previous Sunday $100+$20 tourneys?
You might actually increase revenue by returning to the days of old.
I've always felt that the $100+$20 is the perfect buy-in amount - enough to create a decent prize pool and to keep out the riff-raff from the Boardwalk.
Whaddayathink?

That's a pretty long walk for the riff-raff!

Maybe it's the fact that it's a survivor and not a cash game.

I think people preferred getting back $1500, and not just $1000.

Live game report still shows 2:30am.. I guess maybe daylight savings broke it?

But, if the tournament were changed from $150+$30 to $100+$20, Borgata would need 50% more players to generate the same amount in entry fees, and 50% more dealers/tables and more time would be needed to run it.

Just a thought that I had when considering your suggestion.

Understood.
But yesterday's 11AM Survivor drew only 71 runners (fairly common for Survivor) compared to a year ago in the $100+$20 that often saw twice (100% more) as many entrants.

How many runners usually for the Saturday morning tournament?

I'm also not sure if the 100-500 buyin is most helpful for keeping the game alive. I realize that PLO 1/2 will always play bigger than 1/2 NL, but is it necessary to make it play as big as 2/5 NL?

greg how big are the buyin swings in the 25/50 game? Like how short would I be if I bought in for 10k?

how soft are the PLO games? I can generally kill the 1/2 and 2/5 NL live games and want to transition to PLO.

Very soft

its also alot of fun, Lots of characters in the game, U will see lots of flops cheaply, and u can pretty much play any 4 cards.

The spring open tournament is going to be fun aswell. I played in the last 2 omaha events. U get a ton of chips and lots of play for only $350

Do you recall when day 1 ended, how many people were left then?

thanks

Table report please?