[QUOTE=Man of Means;58665161]Wow, 11 tables of 1/2 and over 200 ppl on the wait list. Bravo doesn't say how they're doing it but it must be insane. Couldn't they have phased in the giveaway?[/QUOTE

Not really. They have a closing date time and the money must be gone.

Twitter post this morning indicates that only 35k of the 125 they started with yesterday morning is left. That's a lot of AAAxx going out the door!

It also means that the money wont make it through today and the poker room will probably close before Monday at 6am due to no one just wanting to hang out 'one last time' without the incentive of promo funds. GL

Hey all:

I went to MGM the other night. It is the only casino in Detroit that has a poker room at this point.

In the evening, the wait list for 1/3 was well over 50 people. I called in ahead, planning to get there about 80 minutes after the call. I took care of some small tasks and then stopped in at Bucharest Grill to get a carryout, as MGM can't really handle their food operations. Bucharest Grill was delicious and hit the spot.

When I got to MGM, I still had at least a 30 minute wait. This was around 10 PM, which is probably their peak time?

Every table was full. They have a LOT of people. I recognized many people that would play at Greektown and Motorcity.

My table had moderate action. I was up & down. I eventually walked away about $65 to the plus. Not a great night, but a win is a win.

One of the shocking things is the rake. I was in a small pot of $42 and the dealer took out $7! The pot was raised to $7/pre-flop with 3 callers and small blind folded ($22). I then bet $20 on the flop and everybody folded. I called that out and asked for a explanation of that level of rake. They take 10% of the pot, even $1 over, qualifies for the next highest rake. Thus, $41 is a $5 rake. There is also a $2 promotional drop once the pot hits $20. So I had $27 of my own money in the pot ($25 of other player's money, house takes $7 of the $25 win!).

There were a few players with micro-stacks ($50 or less). There were also a couple of players with small stacks of about $100.

So I would argue that unless you simply want to get out of the house and gamble recreationally, a lot of the 1/3 games are simply NOT playable for someone that wants to make money over the long term.

That might be different when the promotions are going on. I think on Thursdays, $500 is given away every 20 minutes to high hands (no rollovers). THAT might be playable because of the large promotion.

The room was packed, the cocktail waitress was very scarce. Their was 1 masseuse. Of course, no food or snacks. I didn't even know how long the wait was in the food court. So services stink at MGM.

Several of the players said that they heard rumors that rake would go up to $10 per pot ($8/rake, $2 promotion).

So I think that in the future, I will probably only play on big promotion days OR play $2/$5. The rake is simply too high.

It's true unfortunately that a $41 pot gets raked for $5+2 at MGM but your uncalled $20 bet should not count as part of the pot.

Not sure what happened in the hand there but a $7 raise with 3 callers + $1 SB = $29, which should be raked for $3+2.

Can you walk to LCA from MGM? Seeing a concert in a couple weeks and want to be sure.

I've only played here on one Detroit trip. But I was shocked at how sloppy the dealers were with rake. I saw several pots double raked. This would usually happen bc some dealers weren't dropping the rake every hand and wound drop it every few hahds. Not sure if it was intentional or not but it was shady as hell.

I mis-typed, or I was unclear....

There were 3 people in to see the flop. The raiser and 2 callers. The small blind folded and their $1 went in, so there was a total of $22 pre-flop, $7 of which was mine.

Flop comes. I bet out $20, everyone folds, and the $7 gets taken out for rake and promotion just before the dealer pushed the chips to me. I was furious over this.

This dealer had made NUMEROUS mistakes previously in that 30 minute session. She dealt 3 cards to several players a few times...she was thinking it was PLO? This twice resulted in a mis-deal, but 1 time it was caught before anybody looked at any of the dealt cards.

She also gave back $7 in change to a small blind ($1) who folded and had a $5 chip out. They should have got $4 back, not $7. I pointed this out....she said I was wrong, but several other players backed me and the small blind put back the right amount of $.

Mistakes happen, but for a dealer to be making this level of mistakes in one 30 minute session is not acceptable.

Hey all:

I called over to MGM and spoke to one of the floor managers.

He confirmed the rake structure...BUT...he also confirmed that an unanswered bet SHOULD NOT be raked.

I wonder how many hundreds of $$$ that dealer took off the tables that night? If she is doing this all the time OR very frequently, how much of player's money is she taking in a week? In a month? In a year?

I am not in many hands so I pay almost no attention to rake being taken out of hands that I am not in.

I also don't typically pay too much attention to rake, but on this one example hand, I was in a heightened state of attention as the dealer had made numerous errors. I also thought the money I was getting back was short.

It is certainly possible to do that. It is maybe 1/2 mile or so?

HOWEVER, if the concert is at night, I would be VERY carefully about walking that distance in that area! I would also be careful in the day/afternoon!

I've made lots of walks in and around all the casinos .. including MCC to Ford Field .. with no issues as various times of the day. It does come down to your comfort level as you 'will' see some vagrant type folks. Detroit is not what it used to be, but it's still a large city and you just never know whose having a bad day. I'm 6'3 or so but I approach these types of spots with an open mind .. say hello .. look confident as well. I've done it with a backpack most times and never even felt a sniff of nerves.

Uncalled bets shouldn't be raked .. but I would certainly agree that some Dealers in some rooms are so focused on the total of the chips put out that they make mistakes with the rake.

I played in a room where the Dealers would double rake some pots because the more rake they 'made' the more downs they would get. They would rake the Flop and then rake the River as well. GL

I've made the walk from MGM to Comerica many times without a hint of issue. I was basically curious if the trip to LCA is largely different. I think our plans will depend on what my friends want to do.

Outside of people occasionally joking around with me (Wanna buy a microwave? It costs $2 to occupy this space, etc...) I've always had a good time walking around Detroit.

Dude, c'mon you're fine. It's all the same vicinity, which is totally safe.

Source: Lived in the middle of this for the past 5 years. Walk all the time to the casino, w/ plenty of cash.

Hey all:

I was at MGM the other night.

I was playing 1/3. I think that I am not going to play that again. The amount of rake taken in that game is just "silly". It is $6+2. MGM also rounds up. MGM also has a LOT of poorly trained dealers and floor people. Once again, I got into an argument with perhaps the worst dealer I've ever had in 2 decades of playing poker.

There was $21 in the pot pre-flop. On the flop, I connected and bet $20. Pot is $21 + a $20 bet. Everybody else (2 players) fold. The dealer takes out $7 in rake and promotions. I challenge that, as I said the $20 bet was not called. Everybody folded! She said NO, the post is $41, I'm taking out $5 + $2 in promotions.

I go up to the floor (a new woman I've not seen before), and she is "confused" by the term "unanswered bet", I describe the events to her. She says the same thing, and can't understand that the $20 should not be raked....She is the only floor person there for a minute or two and I'm arguing with her. Another floor person comes up and wants to know what is going on. He has worked there a number of years. I explain it to him, and he sides with me. I am then REALLY angry. Why are dealers not trained properly? Why is the other floor manager NOT know the correct rules? Nobody has an answer for me.

I go back to the game. a couple/few hands pass. I'm not paying a ton of attention. Then there is another problem that other players are arguing about. Evidently, this is the 2nd hand in a row where the dealer is dealing cards to players who are NOT in their seat, and she then takes the cards when it is the missing player's turn to act. Some of the other players are arguing with her that she should NOT deal cards to somebody who is not in their seat (and not a second or two from being seated). She is arguing with them. I am just watching. Floor comes over and sets her straight.

Another few hands pass, and I'm out of the action. Showdown comes and the two players reveal their cards. One guy has a full house 666KK. The other play has TWO PAIR 10,10,K,K. The dealer mucks the player's cards with the full house, pushes the chips to the player with two pair. The guy with the full house is a NEW player and he starts stammering and looking around. I start objecting, another player also objects. The dealer then realizes the mistake and asks for the money back. She then tells me "chill out", she said she made a mistake and corrected it. I reply, yes, you are correct, but you've made NUMEROUS other mistakes in your 30 minutes.

OK, MGM has numerous other problems. The casino is starting to get dirty & run down. The drink stations are frequently dirty/disorganized (missing cup lids & such). Frequently out of ice, frequently out of syrup for Coke or other flavors.

The food court had a wait, but it was reasonably short. I got some Chinese food, and the quality was lower than I remembered it being in the past. Some of the food was not cooked all the way through.

MGM's parking structure is dirty, dirty, dirty. They are not running a cleaner over pavement, so there are stains & sticky spots everywhere. On the 4th level, a good number of lights on the East side of the structure are burned out/not working. The elevator bank in the middle of the structure has not been working for a few years, but there are NO signs saying they are broken/out of commission.

Some of the elevators in the main bank have busted operator panels. The ones that are busted now have clear plexiglass over them with a note saying it is broken and not to use.

Going back to poker, the rush was from about 9 PM till midnight. After 1 AM, it started to slow down considerably.

I am getting burned out. I want to have a reasonable chance to make some money, get out of my day to day grind, go to a nice place, eat a good meal, talk to decent people, have fun.

MGM is simply not providing the experience that I want to have. To be a "premier property", it needs to be clean. The physical plant needs to be in pretty good shape. The staff needs to be adequate and fully trained.

So I think I'll stop going to MGM. I'll go play at charity rooms or simply do something else entirely. If I have had bad experiences, I'm sure other players have also.

A lot going on there ..
1) Lots of rooms round up at 'the 7s' .. 27, 37, 47 for rake .. but you also have to have Dealers that know what's in the pot!
2) Although I would quickly adjust, 'unanswered' is not a poker term. You did put 'uncalled' in some text also .. much better terminology.

3) Floors not understanding rake drop is a surprise .. but yet there's Gaming Board Members who've never stepped foot into a casino also!
4) Lots of Rooms don't train as they would like to .. got a Gaming License? Here's your table is common place. They're just happy to have a body.

MGM is a union shop, it's very possible that both Floors and Dealers may come into a position due to seniority and without a full plate of knowledge.

5) It's very common for 'trained' Dealers to deal every seat at the table since most of them start out (or are trained) as tournament Dealers .. where every seat gets a hand. Yes, you'd think they could adjust and be more than willing to do less work, but I've even seen veteran Dealers slip into tournament mode from time to time.
6) Arguing with Players is certainly frowned upon. You don't know what they've been told as to when to call a Floor over. Shoot, they might even get penalized for Floor Calls or don't want to look bad to the Floors for 'simple' stuff.

7) It is sad to see a property slip. I'd have to look at the monthly reports I get from Gaming, but IMO live gaming is down from previous years or at least level. The first department that goes is usually 'service' positions that don't directly produce income for the facility. Who knows what executive is trying to cut costs for their bonus or what directive is coming down from MGM Corp. There's LOTS in a casino where employees have their hands tied to either Regulations or (poor) Corporate/Marketing directives.
8) Not sure how the action was or your style, but 1/3 is not really a place to 'grind' especially against the aforementioned rake structure and what is probably 3-5 short stacks looking for High Hands or AA/KK so they can double and leave.

9) I do think you'll have a better 'people' experience at a Charity Room. Since their Dealer pool is smaller you could assume that you will get a better poker experience. Not sure on food .. but Charity cash action has been outstanding this Summer and you'll find some deeper pockets since the only game offered is 1/2 or 1/3, thus forcing the deeper pockets to play smaller and typically they love to drive action.
10) Not sure how to help you with your overall experience expectations, but there's a lot of tongue biting that you need to do if you take poker seriously. Tournament poker is at an all-time high BUT the skill gap from newbie to Reg in cash games is a big as ever which can lead to games being stale IMO.

Overall .. When I'm at the table I lean towards 'discussion', not arguing. To some that may be one in the same, but every 'discussion' can be a learning moment for all. Call the Floor if you must 'at the time of the issue'. IMO the Dealer needs to know from the Floor as they will blow off a Player and do the same thing next time. GL