Here is an interesting thought:

At Sugarhouse, the $5 is dropped separately from the $2.

At Harrah's, it is dropped in the same box.

Is it possible that Harrah's is skimming off the promotional portion of the rake?

Very interesting thought ... don't think I've ever seen that anyway anywhere! The promo/bad beat dollar (or 2) is always taken separately and at different pot size increments than the regular rake. How can they get away with this? The players would never know if anything was being skimmed or how much they are "getting back".

Hmmmm!

If they don't drop separate colors there is literally no way to track which is which.

So the best they could do is estimate and that would be open to a lot of assumptions. Seems highly sketchy.

There is one way - review the video of every hand played, but I'll lay you 1000 to 1 odds that they don't do that.

This never occurred to me all the time I've been sitting at the tables. When they have their big bags of rake chips at the end of the day, how do they know how many go toward the promotions?

The bad beat is dropped in a different box



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If its dropped in the same box or a different box, how do you know if anything is being skimmed? I've never been to a casino that advertises a player group that verifies the promo drop and payout totals.

Promos are an unfair tax on the rec players.

This turns out to be correct, but doesn't tell the full story. I don't have the full story right now, but will get an explanation if I can next time I go.

Here's what happens at Sugarhouse for reference: They rake $5+$2 and drop the $5 in the house box and $2 in the players box, essentially.

At Harrah's, they claim to be raking $5+$2, but in reality it is being split $6 in the main box and $1 in the bad beat box.

Also, they are raking a whopping $4 when the pot reaches $20.

So for those who think about it, start downsizing your preflop raise sizing in LP if you care and think the pot will go heads up.

I don't live in PA anymore, but you guys should be reporting this "same box" issue to the gaming commission ASAP.

I'd be interested in hearing what you find out. I know several years ago I discussed this with players at Hollywood, and there was regulations against a "separate drop" and casinos were required to set aside a percentage of the total rake collected regardless of how they marketed it. I never confirmed it though.

It was approved by the gaming commission. A while back when they got rid of the BBJ I think, they asked gaming to approve combining the promo drop with the rake. They used historical collection data over the previous year or two to demonstrate that a fixed percentage could be assumed. So the collect the rake and remove that approved percentage for the promo fund.


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The only LHE game I see on their website is 2-6. Is that only LHE they spread?

And does it mean SB $1, BB $2, preflop and flop bets are in increments of $2 and turn and river bets are in increments of $6?

Everywhere else I've seen 2-6 LHE it's exactly as you said, except the turn bets are in $4 increments (sometimes the game is called "2-4-6", e.g. at the Trop in AC.)

how crowded does the room nowadays?

Google Bravo Poker Live - it won't give you past statistics which is probably what you're looking for but you can monitor it over the course of a few days and/or over the weekend.

I'm thinking about swinging through to keep my streak promo going while I'm in the area - anyone know how many tier credits you get for each game? Last I heard was a few years ago and it was 14 TC/hr for all games, is that still the case?

I'd be playing whatever the biggest NL game running is, which I assume is usually 1/3, 1/3/6/12, or 2/5?

Thanks!

i think its time and a half for 1/3 and double for 2/5 so approx 21 & 28 respectively

What makes you think that? Have you seen your tier credits go up by this amount? Or are you just making **** up?

Kinda shocked nobody has posted here in four months especially with the room relocating.

I didn't even know they moved before showing up Saturday evening. I was torn between Delaware Park for the two tournaments or Parx for the Big Stax overflow and 6/12 OE game but decided on the closer drive.

Was surprised to see the room was gone and had to ask someone where it was relocated to. I was not happy it was so far away and I had to walk through all of the smoking sections to get there.

The room was pretty full and I liked the way it looked. It was dumb there wasn't a cage there, however. Someone handled tournament entries by himself and also had a small amount of chips at a podium. It caused a large line of entries which was delayed when chip-runners interrupted to get fills.

The place has the same dealers and floor who have been there forever and are mostly good.

I busted out of the tournament shortly after it went to two tables when I short-stack shoved Ace-rag on the button into AQ. Played $1-2 and was surprised that they had free drinks at $1/2 now (last I played there it was $1/3 and above). I wound up winning my buy-in back plus a hundred mostly by getting three streets of value felting some guy when I had Aces. Wound up having enough comps on my card (some may have been accrued before today) to get a free hoagie and slice of pizza to eat on the drive home at 2:30 AM.

Not sure if they can work out an easier way to get to the room than the long walk through smoke, but a cage in the poker room might be a good idea. The free drinks, shortest drive for me of any of the Philly casinos (Sugarhouse is closer as the crow flies but traffic makes it a longer trip for me), comps that I can use/accrue in AC and staff makes it a good place for me to play but I understand the room's negatives as well.

Good report. Thanks for sharing. I never really consider Harrah's when I'm in the area, but your post makes me think I should.

I went to Harrah’s last week for the first time since they increased the max taken from each pot to $7. The new place is awful. As was reported already, you have to walk all the way through the smokey casino to the back. It’s where the buffet used to be years ago, if you remember that far back. There’s no cage, so if you’re playing a cash game stop at the cage on your way through the casino for chips. The room is smaller than the old one. I think there’s only about two thirds the tables, if that. But the ceilings are much higher. The floor isn’t carpeted. I don’t remember if it’s cement or tiles, but at least the chairs roll easily. The result is similar to the warehouse atmosphere of the Bally’s room in AC. There is a bar in there, but you can’t get hot chocolate there. I was there late at night and a long time server was there and before she went off shift she made a hot chocolate run downstairs for the table. All in all, I’m not against stopping in again in the future if I find myself in the area with a couple hours to kill, but I still prefer AC.

Does anyone here know if they still have the the Thursday free blackjack tourneys?

A few questions. I was thinking of heading down to this room on Saturday with the intention to play the 11:30am flight of the Diamond XI tournament. I've never been, so here's my questions: 1) will the tournament be in the poker room? If not, where? 2) More importantly how far is it from the the poker room/tournament location to the horse racing windows? I intend to place some wagers on the derby races during the day 3) will they likely be showing the derby races in the poker room? Are there a lot of TVs in the poker room?

1) yes
2) poker room is in the back of the main casino floor (3rd floor). Horse racing bets are taken on the second floor. You will have to leave the poker room walk across the casino floor, take escalator downstairs to make your horse racing bets.
3)probably show races, and more likely to show if you tell them you have action on races. The floor there is pretty receptive to requests. There are not a lot of TV’s and they are in awkward places due to new poker room put into what used to be a club.

Thinking of stopping by Weds AM for a tournament, but last time I did back in May for an AM tournament (which was my first time seeing the new room), it was surprisingly empty. In my irregular experience they usually draw at least 2 or 3 tables (or maybe I was just lucky). Have the morning tournaments slowed down here, or just a coincidence?

Doubt anyone checks this thread before coming, but the AC is broke in the casino today. Diamond delight is going on and it’s miserable. I’ll update if fixed or I leave.