I agree, the Borgata is very well run, and it's probably good that there is literally no other major problems so that the smoking issue is on the forefront. I haven't had much problems with this, but then again I avoid the poker bathroom during tournament breaks. I dislike smoke very much, and I think the the law should definitely be enforced.

Yeah, there have been a couple of times where the combination stink from the bathroom+smoke have made me gag.

I dont smoke, I do enjoy a nice cigar every now and again, but never in a bathroom lol. I say live and let live...who cares

Who cares? Well me, and everyone else in this thread who has commented on it, and you can probably multiply that number by about 10. Nothing significant I guess you could say. Why bother with rules if you don't enforce them?

Like you I enjoy a nice Partagas Black Label, or a Romeo y Julieta, but the smell of your average bathroom does not need to be enhanced by the smell of a cigarette, or the smell of pot I have smelled in the bathroom there. Why doesn't the B just use that small room in the far left hand corner of the room for a smoking room. Just wall it off and use an exhaust fan. Or just open up the doorway to the race-book. I come down like every other week or so, and it seems like every other time I use that bathroom, I do smell someone smoking.

Stan, given how many people were turned away and how long it took for some of the alternates to get a seat, maybe you would want to raise the buy-in slightly to the $450-$500 range. The prize pool will end up being the same, with slightly fewer players and significantly fewer complaints.

P.S. this semi-deep one-day event is a great tourney and you might be able to run it monthly, on a scheduled basis.

I would think they would rather try and accommodate all those who want to play in the tourneys (by adding tables/dealers) than turning away people and having alternates wait. Lowering the number of entrants isn't good for the rake collected either.

Please don't do this
Keep the buy-in same and if possible increase the seats to accommodate more

Last time i was there at your poker room it was soooo loud and noisy (coming from speakers calling people their seats and crap like that) that i decided not to ever go back until who knows when....

Anyway to lower/eliminate the unnecessary noise?

Time for a live game report Monday 2:30pm


(23) Live games


(2) 2-4 LHE
(1) 3-6 LHE
(1) 10-20 LHE
(1) 20-40 LHE


(1) 10-20 O.E.


(9) 1-2 NL
(6) 2-5 NL
(2) 5-10 NL


(49) 11am $100 + $20 NL Tournament


BBJP $290,424

Stan

Stanstrickland@theborgata.com

They have space constraints to deal with. The last two tourneys of this kind have caused major headaches for staff and players and there are lots of disgruntled people who couldn't register. For almost any event, the significant majority of the players register during the hour or two before the tourney starts, and it has become nearly impossible to do so at these events at Borgata. Not sue if you saw the crowd on Saturday, but they could have registered another 200+ people that got turned, and the list for cash games were 20-30 people long for many hours in the afternoon.

This of course happens because it's a one day tourney, with a big guarantee and small buy-in that results in a huge field on the absolute busiest day of the week.

Headphone?

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on a couple of points. I'm also wondering if your opinion on this one isn't colored by the fact that you were unable to register early online and faced the frustration of trying to either weather a ridiculous tournament line or stand around with a rack of chips, waiting for tables to be broken so more cash games would open up...

First, I felt that the staff learned a lot from the first 100k and that the process and tournament itself ran much more smoothly this time around. Online registration was available for nearly a week prior to the tournament. Yes, many people were still shut out. A lot of that was due to two things: A) the nature of the average poker player (generalizing here, of course) being inveterate procrastinators. Even with a long online reg period, only 50 or so people took advantage. I had difficulty registering, but that was due to my software platform, and I worked around it. B) the field was mainly made up of recreational players who were either staying at the B for the weekend or heard about it somewhere other than 2p2 and just showed up to play. For both groups, all I can say is 'sorry, sucks to get shut out.' I know, I've been there. But I don't think being shut out engendered too many bad feelings. The recreational players who didn't make it just chose to gamble another way, and the grinders who didn't make it knew about their options and waited til the last minute, as poker players are wont to do. I don't have much sympathy for the latter group in this situation.

Second, I don't want to see the buy-in go any higher just to lower the field size. Recreational players have thresholds as to what they're willing to risk to have a good time. Of course, there are many guys who will throw down $500 on a game they know they need to get really lucky to cash in, but the vast majority have a lower threshold. I know this from speaking to many recreational players who tell me they won't buy into tournies that cost much more than $350-400. The general consensus seems to be that higher amounts mean they'll be facing more professionals. This is hearsay and from an admittedly small sample size, so take it for what it's worth.

IMO, Borgata is really onto something with this one. There are still some rough edges, but if the improvements from March to June are any indication, they'll smooth them out and make this a regular game that is just right for recreational players, semi-pros and grinders alike.

Also to expand on pixel the signature room wasnt open... They used it for the preakness. Im sure come july itll be open for the next 100k

I have only smelled smoke in the bathroom once, maybe twice, and it was not that strong.

And you are dead on Pixel. As a rec. player, my threshold for tourny's is about $300. Anything over this takes away from the "fun factor" and I start thinking about cashing. I am not saying that I don't want to cash in smaller tournaments, I am just saying now it seems like I have to cash.

Anyone want to play 20/40 Stud or HOSE during the week?

Due to us turning on the Bravo system today the live game report will not update any more. Hopefully we will have a new game report up and running soon.

http://www.theborgata.com/poker_live_data.cfm

Stan

Time for a live game report Monday 5:45pm


(23) Live games


(2) 2-4 LHE
(1) 3-6 LHE
(1) 10-20 LHE
(1) 20-40 LHE


(1) 10-20 O.E.


(9) 1-2 NL
(6) 2-5 NL
(2) 5-10 NL


(49) 11am $100 + $20 NL Tournament


BBJP $290,424


Stan

Stanstrickland@theborgata.com

In other words Pixel is sayin dont mess with the 100k 1-day, 400 buy-in or else...

(to late, axe in car)

Time for a live game report Monday 11:00pm


(23) Live games


(3) 2-4 LHE
(1) 3-6 LHE
(1) 10-20 LHE
(1) 20-40 LHE


(9) 1-2 NL
(5) 2-5 NL
(3) 5-10 NL


(49) 11am $100 + $20 NL Tournament
(61) 7pm $100 + $20 NL Tournament


BBJP $290,424


Stan

Stanstrickland@theborgata.com

this is not a 'personal' argument, and has nothing to do with what happened to me on Saturday. As a matter of fact, I clearly posted in the MTTc-Live forum that die to the online registration having ended earlier than promised, and that I was not going to get to the B until 1PM anyway, I was foregoing this tourney for some ring games. I also found a table to play within 15 minutes of arriving, but the people after me weren't so fortunate... as the tourney players started busting mid-afternoon, the list for the ring games became absurdly long.

I disagree with your sentiment on the sentiment around the room though. Many people I played with (and I put in a 20 hour session on Saturday) were very unhappy with being shut out. And if it is the recreational players that this tourney is supposed to cater to, it is precisely those people whose majority will NOT register online and they will walk to the cage half an hour before the tourney starts. And no matter how many times they have seen the long lines, the casual player will NOT show up 3 hours before or the night before to register for these tourneys.

I encourage Borgata to have as many small buy-in deep events as they can run, as they get lots of players to show up, but there needs to be a consideration for capacity/room vs. client/poker player satisfaction. I understand that the Signature room was not available this time around and the tournament people were promised 60 tables and were given only 50 tables, but given the turnout for the last two 1-day 100K tourneys, even the Signature room wouldn't help much.

Just as an FYI, I hear that there is a possibility of them NOT running these tourneys again, given the chaos it creates for both the tournament and cash game players, especially on the busiest day of the week. I am trying to suggest an amicable solution so that they continue to provide this valuable 'niche' to lots of players. I do agree that Borgata has a successful hit on their hand, as lots of players like to play a 1-day semi-deep tourney with a reasonably good size 1st prize, that happens to be on a Saturday when most people can take off and play until the wee-hours, without worrying about work the next day. But I highly doubt the $300 or $350 incarnation of this event can last very long.

As the Director of Poker Operations, this is not a true statement that KK wrote. We will run this tournament again and you will see it scheduled in July and August.

Stan

Yeah, I saw lots of guys standing around, holding fresh racks, bumming.

We had different encounters then; maybe I ran into a happier crowd.

I see your point. Tough one.

I think we all can agree on that.

Hey, at least we have access to a room that contains all of the action that it does; that it routinely provides cash games and tournaments that everybody wants to be in.

The one thing I'm sure of is that Tab and Stan will figure out the best balance they can.

Why not put that saturday afternoon poker tournament outside on the car parking lot, rain or shine, they can smoke all they want on the park benches, west of the taxi-stand and the poker room can be left free for real (ie. cash game) players...a modest proposal, just tell 'em it's training for the WSOP...