Thread for Dover Downs poker.

Last thing I heard, it was scheduled June 24th, but I do not know if that was the "test" opening or the official opening. I contacted a person I know there and I will post as soon as he gets back to me.

Test opening June 21-23 from 12PM-8PM. Official opening June 25.

Poker room not opening til Mid July, only table games start june 21st according to this article. http://www.ledgerdelaware.com/articl...8515127124.txt

YUMMY!
A new spot to get $'s from noobs VA to DOVER, DOVER to the Borgata
LONG LIVE THE BORG!!!!

I asked my friend that works there and also another source and they both gave me that answer, even when I said poker. Maybe they were thinking table games.

I plan on stopping by today and checking out the progress on the poker room. I will report back with what I find out.

Can anyone confirm when this poker room will be officially open. Also, what is the planned rake structure, how many tables, betting limits etc.?

I live in Salisbury, Md and DD is much more convenient than Atlantic City.

TIA

Official opening day for Delaware Park, about 30 minutes north of Dover, is today.

This room should be full of LAG fish when NASCAR events are held.

Please jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.

My understanding is that 3 casino/race tracks in De have been approved for table games including poker, Delaware Park, Harrington and Dover Downs.

Of those three Delaware Park and Harrington are up and running and Dover Downs may or may not be at this time (still awaiting confirmation from someone, anyone...please).

Has anyone been to all three and can compare them on rate structure, setup, size, dealer professionalism, food, freebies, location etc.?

Any info is appreciated.

TIA

That is correct.

Correct. Dover Downs is not operating table games yet. They will start with their "test opening" on Monday 6/21 and will officially open 6/25. Most recent news that has been seen is that the poker room will not be open when the table games open and that it will be open in mid-July. I am going to the table games test Monday and will report back on the status of the poker room.

I will post information on Delaware Park and Harrington. Other then room location and number of tables, not much is known about Dover Downs poker.

Rake
Delaware Park: 10% max $4, $1 BBJ drop from every pot $20+.
Harrington: 10% max $5, $1 BBJ drop from every pot except chops and walks.

Setup/Size
Delaware Park: 20 tables on second floor of casino. Lots of room.
Dover Downs: 12 tables on third floor of caisno.
Harrington: 10 tables in a room on second floor of horse racing grandstand. Cramped.

Employee Professionalism
To early to say. With so many newly trained dealers, it is going to be hit or miss for a little while, until the new trainers get better with experience and the bad ones are let go. Delaware Park has a slight advantage here for right now with having some experienced dealers that came from Atlantic City. Also, Delaware Park is a much better run room then Harrington. Delaware Park room has a manager that used to work in a room in Vegas. I do not know about the poker room manager at Harrington, but based upon what I have seen and others have reported, I would not be surprised if that person has little to no poker managerial experience before taking the job.

Freebies
Still too early to tell, but I would not expect many freebies being issued for poker players other then the standard hourly comp rate for playing. Neither Delaware Park or Harrington have a hotel. Dover Downs has a hotel, but based on my prior experiences there, you would have to be playing large and often to even be offered a comped room. It is the complete opposite of Atlantic City, where they will give you a comped room just for walking in the door.

Right now, IMO, Delaware Park is the better of the two rooms open. Dover Downs is the unknown. For me, I am waiting to see what rake Dover Downs charges before I set my play to just one room.

I live in Dover, and read an article today that said all table games are up and running except HE. As far as I know they are working on a new poker that will open mid-July. Unfortunately I don't know anything about the rake structure etc., but if I end up deciding to play some B&M I'll post back on here with what I find out.

RatedRDP,

Thanks for the detailed and well considered analysis. Please pardon my belated response.

It seems that Delaware Park is the game to beat for now. If things break right I should be able to make a hop over there for some holiday weekend play.

pmalloy,

I look forward to any updates you post.

From Facebook:

Our Poker Room will open Monday, July 12. The first two days will be "test" days with 2/4 games noon - 8 p.m. If everything goes well, it will open 24 hours on Wednesday, July 14.

No problem. Things have been really busy for me the past month so I have not been able to post here as much as I would like. I plan on playing on Monday and I will report back with additional details. I am most interested to see what they set the rake at.

Here's the official press release:

http://www.pr.com/press-release/247580

Dover Downs Hotel & Casino Set to Unveil Crown Royal Poker Room

Dover, DE, July 10, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Dover Downs Hotel & Casino is scheduled to open its newest amenity – the Crown Royal Poker Room, on Monday, July 12, from noon to 8 p.m., to undergo a two-day requisite period of testing for Delaware Lottery. Pending approval by Lottery officials, 24-hour daily operations will begin on Wednesday, July 14, beginning at noon. The Crown Royal Poker Room is located on the third floor and features 12 tables offering popular poker games, including Texas Hold ‘Em.

“The opening of the Crown Royal Poker Room is the next big step in our pursuit to offer full scale gaming choices, and we really hit the mark with it,” said Ed Sutor, president and CEO of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. “This is a true poker room and we are more than ready to begin the action of poker play, which has become widely popular as entertainment all over the world. Poker tournaments are just around the corner.”

Full cocktail and wait service is provided with options from Tony Luke’s Cheese Steaks, Dietz & Watson Italian Grinders and Grotto Pizza to Budweiser and light snacks. Individual rolling hospitality tables allow servers to deliver drinks, pizza, etc. directly to players at their seats. Eleven flat screens broadcast sports events and flank a 26’ feature wall highlighted with the famous purple Crown Royal logo.

Approximately 50 positions were created to run the operations of the Crown Royal Poker Room, including dealers, cashiers, foodservice workers and administrative staff. These new hires join more than 300 employees recently employed by the company to run its table game operations in the casino, consisting of Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Pai Gow Poker, Spanish 21, Baccarat, and 3-Card Poker. Delaware Lottery approved table games operations at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino on June 24, and the ceremonial first roll of the dice was thrown by Lottery Director Wayne Lemons on June 25.

Owned by Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: DDE), Dover Downs Hotel & Casino® is a premier gaming and entertainment resort destination in the Mid-Atlantic region. The casino is open 24 hours daily and consists of table games including blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, baccarat, and more, in addition to approximately 2,700 video lottery terminals controlled by Delaware Lottery. Trackview Slots on the 4th floor holds more slots and electronic blackjack games. In mid July, the Crown Royal® Poker Room will open on the 3rd floor with 12 poker tables to offer the most popular poker games, including Texas Hold ‘Em. The Colonnade features the Race & Sports Book with pro football parlay betting, horse racing simulcasts, a casino lounge called Fire & Ice at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, and shops and restaurants consisting of The Marketplace, Swarovski, Godiva, Fashions of The Colonnade, Doc Magrogan’s Oyster House, Frankie’s Italian Restaurant and Sweet Perks Too. The AAA-rated Four Diamond hotel is the largest in Delaware with 500 luxurious rooms/suites, indoor pool, sauna, exercise room, gift shop, Toppers Spa/Salon, 1600-seat Rollins Center® ballroom and 35,000 sq. ft. of multi-function space. Additional property amenities include seven restaurants/cafes, five bars, world-class live harness racing and simulcast horse racing. For more information, please visit doverdowns.com.

What will be the Min/Max buy ins for NL games? $1/$2NL, $2/$5NL, $5/$10 etc.

Got Great News.......

I visited the new Crown Royal Poker Room today, the day before it opens to Poker Players for test play.

And it is THE MOST AUTHENTIC LOOKING POKER ROOM of all of the DE Rooms or the Charles Town Room.

Poker Players willing to make the trek over to or down to Dover Downs will be richly rewarded !

I am going to try to stop by tomorrow afternoon to play. Hopefully 13 tables is enough. Delaware Park has 20 tables and there are wait-lists 50 people deep for each game. I plan to visit often, but not if I have to wait hours for a seat.

Anyone been by to check out the test games yet?

Considering they just opened 2 minutes before your post, probably not yet.

I just stopped by to check everything out. I will post my observations and a couple of pictures I took in a few minutes.

I decided to stop in quickly to check out the room. As we already knew, the room is located on the third floor where the simulcast area used to be. Apparently Crown Royal has something to do with this room, as their logo is plastered all over. So I am sure there will be many Crown Royal promotions in the future. Maybe a cracked aces promotion where the entire tables gets a free shot (hint hint)?

From the elevator, you walk down a short hallway, where you arrive to the entrance of the room. When you enter the room, the front podium is on the right and the tables are on the left. There are 12 tables, lined up 2 tables, 6 deep. There is a small area past the poker tables with a couch and a couple of tables. There are several flat panel televisions located on all over room. In the rear of the room is the cashier cage, two windows.

They had 2 tables going when I got there. There was a 2/4 LHE game up front, and what looked like a 1/2 NL game in the back, but I do not know that for sure. I thought I read where the test opening was only going to be low-limit LHE. They were also taking names for 3/6 LHE. Rake is 10% maximum $4 (thank you!) with a $1 BBJ drop. Sorry, did not see any rules about the BBJ. Looks like the games will be 1/2 NL, 2/5 NL, 2/4 LHE, 3/6 LHE, and higher games, and also other types of games (Omaha, Stud, HORSE) if the demand is there.

The office for the poker manager is right off the floor. Any access to the grandstands from the third floor has been removed. The only way you can see it is by going through the "Winners Circle" restaurant. I did not see a self-betting terminal for horse racing in the room. Poker room manager, if you are reading this, you might want to add one, especially before live racing starts back up. Maybe consider even one adding one for the NFL parlay betting in the fall?

Besides the Winners Circle restaurant (which I believe is only open during the live horse racing season), there are no dining options on the floor. I read in the press release they will have food available, so it appears there will be wait staff that will take your order. No idea if you are allowed to eat at the table or if you have to in the lounge area in the back of the room.

I managed to sneak a couple of quick photos:

Played $1-$2 NL for a few hours this afternoon. What a beautiful place! Clean, new, and you don't even have to leave the poker area to get to the restrooms. Its not huge (12 tables, about half of which were up and running) but there is room to add a few more.

Flat screen TVs up and down both side walls. Staff was courteous and the dealers were competent. Free soft drinks and pizza slices. The rake (10% max $4 plus $1 BB) was certainly reasonable - at least compared to Harrington. And they seeded $10K in the bad beat jackpot. They said they might start 24-7 as early as Wednesday, depending on how things go. They also plan to start spreading $2-$5 Wednesday afternoon.

This place is going to be great.

Played a couple hours of 2/4 today and was impressed with the room. It's definitely better than Harrington right now. Rake was 4 +1 as stated above and the majority of the dealers were good. Today was only 1/2 nl or 2/4 limit but they said they can spread more games tomorrow.