Yippeeee!!!

Two questions:

Are the "low limit test games" that start tomorrow open to the public?

Once they go "live" next weekend, will they be open 24/7?

Many thanks for the post.

Delaware Park

Ok so it appears that Harrington open from the article above.
Is Delaware Park still planning on having the soft opening on the 14th and the hard opening on the 19th??

Why is it so hard to find the latest information about what's going on there?

You'd think they'd post it on the website????

where the maryland players gonna play it? which is closest?

Yesterday I took a trial run to Harrington to check things out. I am in Maryland and the trip took about 70 minutes (55 miles) with no traffic congestion or tolls. A pretty easy trip.
I got there about noon and walked around the casino floor and then signed up for the Players Card. Sure enough there was a soft opening scheduled for 2 pm with all kinds of preparation activity taking place around blackjack and craps tables.
It was my lucky day! There was a free ticket to the buffet for Players Club men. Normally $13.95 and it was pretty good.
After lunch I asked a dealer where the poker room was. It is located upstairs and across the hall from the sports book. I was not able to go in the room but it was evident that they were going to open for business. Ten tables and a few of us were told by an official looking person in response to a question that the rake would be 10% up to $5. I did notice that a bad beat jackpot would start at 10K. As of 2:20 the room still had not opened and so everyone milling around left and went downstairs as did I. I was not able to get information about games or limits.
As of 2:30 the sale of chips for craps had begun to two tables of customers at which time I left.
The hard opening is Friday and I think the place will be jammed. I plan to go back next week for the poker.

Delaware Park for Baltimorons

easy drive right off 95. just over an hour from Baltimore

Harrington for DCers

my guess

Coming from Salisbury I'll be playing at harrington. It will be interesting to see what games they spread.

I was there on Monday for the test run. They were running 2/4 Limit, 1/2 NL and 2/5 NL.

The poker room is small. It's long, but very narrow and only has 10 tables. Also, there is little to no room to wait if you're on a wait list.

Speaking of wait list, on Monday they didn't have anything setup for a wait list. I am optimistic they will have a white board and/or monitor displaying the wait list, and then run that to the Sportsbook which is next door. Having no room to wait is going to be an issue.

Basically, they didn't make the poker room big enough. Get there early or you may be waiting for quite some time.

Went up to Harrington yesterday and played for a few hours. They just had a couple tables of 1/2 going when I was there, but a 2/5 game was starting up as I was leaving. Overall the room and staff were better than I expected, but there are definitely some kinks that need to be worked out. First and foremost, the poker room is far away from the rest of the casino and there are zero signs indicating its location. I assume the signage issue will be corrected, but having it so far away from everything else is not great. Dealers seemed competent for the most part other than one guy who could barely shuffle the deck (autoshufflers are installed but they weren't using them yet) and one who took literally 3 minutes to count down a $169 stack of red and white.

One thing I really like is that the tables are 9-handed rather than 10. The room itself is reasonably nice, with plenty of flatscreens on the walls but little in the way of decoration. Buying chips and cashing out was very easy (they have chip runners, unlike in AC). Rake is indeed 10% up to $5 with a $1 BBJ drop, which kinda sucks, but at 2/5 and higher it's not too awful. I live in Salisbury and it's about a 50-minute drive each way for me, which sure beats 3.5 hours each way to AC. I'll definitely be playing here often.

Curious - any way to get to Delaware Park or Harrington via public transportation from DC? Buses? Trains?

Thanks,
Jeff

What happened to 10% max $4? Hopefully the 10% max $5 is a Harrington thing and not at Dover Downs and Delaware Park.

Hey Mods, maybe we can change the title of this thread to "Delaware Poker News" or something similar since this thread is going in the direction of having information about all three rooms?

Did you happen to catch the table minimum on the craps game. I am going to go tomorrow. I know they are doing a soft opening with low limit games, I just did not know how low of a limit they were talking.

One of the dealers said the max bet was $25 during the trial period, not sure about the minimum.

I did notice that the craps limit at both tables was $5 min $25 max.

Soft open for Delaware Park is June 14th, with the official open scheduled for June 19th.

The soft open period is in place so that the respective casinos can pass tests being run by the state making sure everything is up to snuff.

Delaware Park will have 20 tables, and has gotten acceptance from gaming to run lowball games, including 2-7, A-5, Razz, and Badugi (not 100% sure on that one but I believe it is). Obv bringing up the lowball games because they're not allowed in AC nor are they listed in the PA regs.

Rake at DP will be $4 + $1 for BBJ in raked games, timed games just time (not BBJ eligible, no BBJ taken obv). 1/2NL and 2/5NL are raked, 5/10+ time. As for LHE, I heard it will be 3/6, 6/12, 10/20 (all raked), anything above timed.

To answer Jeffage - you can take the train to Wilmington and I believe DP has a bus service or something of the sort that will bring you to the track from the station. I'd call Delaware Park for more info. I know there's something, but not exactly how it works.

I've seen the room. There's a ton of space between tables. Almost too much space. The tables look like they're gonna be almost twice as far apart as they are at Venetian. Could probably squeeze another 10 tables in there.

Update - I just stopped by this room today and talked to one of the floor people -

They are planning a soft opening on 6/14 and if all goes well a full opening on 6/18. The poker room area is still under construction however it looks almost complete. There are 20 tables in a pretty spacious room. There is a waiting list TV up front but not a lot of room to wait.

The tables look great and the chairs look descent - oddly enough no cupholders on the table....

Who is going to be there for the opening?

Where is the room at Harrington? I was there on Sunday and saw the pit (kinda small). I had no idea they even were having poker there. This is the best news Ive heard all week.

At the back of the casino, on the right hand side, through a hallway, upstairs on and to the left. Totally separate from the rest of he casino.

I think I know where you're talking about. Thanks

whats the chance of a $1-5 game?

are any of these rooms going to have PLO?

I visited the Harrington poker room Thursday afternoon. When I got there, they only had two games going, both 1/2 NL, with several people waiting for a seat. As soon as I walked in, the security guard at the door gave me information about the room and pointed out who I should talk to if I wanted additional information or wanted to get on a game. I asked the person about starting up limit games and she said she has not had much demand for it yet, but that she expected there to be after the weekend when the low-limit table game tests were completed and people actually found out there was a poker room and where it was, as there was no poker signage anywhere in the main casino. She was very friendly, but I did not catch her name or her position, whether she was the room manager or just the floor person on the shift.

The room and table layout was different, but I did not find it to be too cramped. Rectangle shaped table layout with four tables on the sides, one in the front, and one in the back. There was some space in the front of the room to wait, but not much. I do not believe I saw any chairs in that area either. I do not see it being a problem unless there are a large number of people waiting for a game. As other have stated, the wait list was kept manually, but there was a small podium in the front left corner with a television next to it, so a typical electronic wait list is coming.

Rake was 10% maximum $5 with a $1 BBJ drop, which is a little discouraging to me because from what others have posted, Delaware Park and Dover Downs will have a 10% maximum $4 rake and a BBJ drop. I like what I have seen at Harrington so far, but it takes me the same amount of time to get to Dover Downs or Harrington, so of course I am going to go where there is a lower rake..

Two questions I did forget to ask was what their comp rates were and if they were planning to have daily tournaments.

I got this information from a poker bud at work who visited Harrington this week.

They are offering limit and no limit holdem anywhere from 2/4 to 40/80. Also, they will have Omaha Hi-Lo and 7-card stud at opening which is today.

He said that the poker room manager informed there would be daily tournaments, but not during the first month, as they need to get all of their ducks in a row. Apparently, there will be high hand jackpots as well as bad beat jackpots. However, only time will tell.

As for location, if you were staring at the casino from the parking lot, enter at rightmost entrance, look for the high limit room on the right, and follow the signs to the poker room, which is near the sports bar, and horse race track, also known as the "grandstand". If you go up an escalator, you are headed in the correct direction.

As far as table games are concerned, the limits were $5 min, $25 max. Standard games include Blackjack (pays 3-2), Craps, Roulette, Baccarat (big table and mini), Pai Gow Poker. Carnival games include Three Card Poker (progressive), Four card poker, Let it Ride, Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, Crapless Craps, War, Blackjack Switch, and probably some other games I haven't heard of.

The friend also advised that the Pit manager said they would raise max limits once they got the room under control. Personally, I hope the $5 minimums don't go any higher, since I don't do $10 tables.

Lastly, I'm not affiliated with this site, but a good place to learn the table strategies for the carnival games is http://wizardofodds.com/

Common comps at the Harrington casino include monthly free buffets, and free slot play. There is no hotel on site. I imagine the buffet comps would be discretionary at the tables, meaning you could probably ask the pit boss to get you a coupon. The buffet isn't all that great, but they do have seafood on Wednesdays.

I plan to scope it out this weekend, and will report back if I find anything else of note. Do you have any questions for the pit or poker bosses?

Will be there for a nephew's baseball tourney this weekend, will give it a try Sat/Sun nites. Glad to have the option of poker, blackjack, and craps without the drive to AC.

Does anybody know what you can get comped for at Delaware Park? I mean there aren't hotel rooms - What can you use your comp $ for?

Food. They do have a store called Traditions Boutique where one can purchase items (electronics, household items) with comp dollars or points. Can also use comps for the golf course there, but last time I checked it was $100 a round during the summer.