Harrah's Metropolis is moving off the boat and the gaming will be in the hotel in the space formerly (not) used for conventions & concerts. They will close the boat early Monday morning next week (11/17) and reopen on Wednesday evening (11/19).
I was there on Saturday. Barely got 3 tables of $1/$3 going; they have already cleared all of the slots off the 3rd level of the boat so the poker room is literally the only thing left on that level.
Supposedly new poker room is going to have new tables with built in drink holders and shuffling machines. I believe it when I see it. Also I've heard rumors about being open 7 days a week; I doubt that will last if they try it because they have a hard enough time getting games on weekends. Tuesday afternoon will be at best 8 nits, all slowly losing to the rake and bitching that the game is short-handed.
Went for the first time since they moved off of the boat.
Obviously the place doesn't look as dated and run-down (give it time). The poker room is a little 4-table alcove in the back of the casino. It's near the cage, but too close to banks of penny slots and the new room's location is considerably noisier than the old location.
It's still $1/$3 NL with the same cast of characters. No more than 3 tables ever ran last night. The tables have shuffling machines, so you get out a few more hands an hour, although since it is Metropolis they still insist on slowing down the game as much as possible. The tables & chairs are new. The regs aren't used to shufflers yet, so expect to hear lots of idiocy about them.
The room is open 7 days a week, but not opening until 6 PM on Monday-Thursday. Frankly, I don't see myself driving up to play on a weekday night.
The buffet in the old location is still running, but no more Aces snack bar or the old steakhouse. There's a new sit down restaurant where the old breakfast place in the hotel used to be. I didn't eat there and heard the service is super slow. Place shuts down at like 10 or 11 PM, so no more casino late-night food option.
I haven't played the Thursday tourney recently, but it was and i believe still is $100+25. Usually would get 25 to 35 players.
I played both Friday and Saturday this weekend. All 4 tables ran by early evening and all were $1/$3 NL. I doubt $2/$5 will run in the forseeable future. Buy in is $50 to $300 or 70% of the biggest stack and is uncapped on the rare occasions that 2/5 goes.
Room closes at 4:30 AM even if games are still going, one of many annoying features of the room. Two games still going at close on Friday and it was breaking from 4 to 3 tables when i left about midnight on Saturday.
Where's everybody playing now that this room has closed?
My guess is people close enough to Cape Girardeau or Evansville are playing there. I haven't played live in the area since Harrah's closed the Metropolis room except at a local Knights of Columbus donkament. Saw a few Metropolis regulars there, but they hadn't been playing live either.
If anyone is curious, the space formerly occupied by the poker room has been remodeled into a snack bar. It's very unlikely the room will come back as Harrah's spent some money in this remodel and it wouldn't just be a matter of moving out some slots and putting the poker tables back in.
If anyone is curious, the space formerly occupied by the poker room has been remodeled into a snack bar. It's very unlikely the room will come back as Harrah's spent some money in this remodel and it wouldn't just be a matter of moving out some slots and putting the poker tables back in.
Driving by on a trip [IL-TN] 10 days ago, I almost stopped in to see what became of it, out of curiosity. Thx for the closure, Tom.
Looks like the poker room here has re-opened - I see tournaments being advertised on the casino's Facebook page. Has anyone visited recently / know what games run and when?
