Let's see em, ya know someone took a few home with them.. Post em up

Paulson FTW

Love the #1 seat plus you can toke the dealer right into their box.

$5 rake + $1 BBJ will be tough to beat @ 2-5 if they don't increase max buy-in.

$10/20 limit was a $5/half hour from what I saw.

I don't understand why they don't just dump the BBJ so the total rake is $5. I realize it's a great deal for Harrah's, but it'd be a lot better story to tell if they could say the total rake is comparable to AC when you discount the potential of hitting the BBJ.

That's probably accurate. I used GPS and took exit 8. 2-3 turns tops, not remotely scary.

Are they going to have daily tournies or series? Would be attractive if they had a circuit event or atleast a solid series so I wouldn't have to drive all the way to AC from NY.

rumors are yes. the wsop event is probably close a year away, though. at least 2011.

Rapini, Playing 2/5, at 60 points per hour with 11,000 needed for Diamond, your friend should have his Diamond card with only 183.33 hours of play. Bally's on Wednesday night from 8pm to Thursday night at 8pm is now giving double comps/double TIER SCORE for playing poker - 120 points per hour for 2/5, 60 for 1/3. Makes getting Diamond a snap.


A. Tournament play isn't rated. No comps, no tier score for playing tournaments. This may change at some point, but that's how it is for now - at least in AC.

B. Harrah's Chester is not offering free rooms to anybody (at least, not there - almost certainly free rooms can be had at other Harrah's properties).

Harrah's Chester doesn't have any hotel rooms. Period.

Don't know why you aren't getting any room offers, since lots of players who only play 1/2 occasionally sometimes get them.

Try this. Log onto the Harrah's website, and then click on reservations (not "My Offers", but the reservations link on top of the page). You need to specify where you are looking (AC, Vegas, etc.) and you want the Flexible Dates Tool, which gives you the best rates that you can get for a period of up to 2 months at a time over multiple properties.

For example, "Las Vegas" and "All Casinos".

Then, check the calendar. Comps show up here that won't elsewhere (their system is more than a little arcane and screwy.) Takes some getting used to, and can be a real pain at times - but this is how Harrah's has things set up.

Rapini is right - listen to him (her?) Harrah's has a very arcane and totally mystifying way in which they decide who gets what comps. Makes little to no sense to us players. We just go with the flow. Friday and Saturday nights are VERY hard to impossible to get comped unless you play a lot of poker.

Ok, 7 Stars players get them easily. Which brings us back to playing lots of poker......

Lee

how is it at this time of night? still all full or dying down? thinking about stopping in on tuesday night.

i will probably go about this time tomorrow night if i am feeling better after work. i don't anticipate a wait.

I just got back from Harrahs. less than 10 minute ride is awesome.
Free parking is great. The parking garage is more like the Borgata with the straight ramp rather than the crappy layout at Harahs AC.

The Poker room location is great. It's on a different floor than the Pit games and slots. 100 foot walk to the race track terrace which is a nice place for a smoke break or some fresh air. The floor to ceiling windows which allow actual sunlight into the room are a nice change from the average casino environment.

The Tables are nice but the Drop box mechanism is awkward for seat 10. The table padding is some pretty cool looking reptile print pleather but without cup holders. If you need a cup holder you have to use the plastic ones that usually slide under the padding (except they don't slide under the padding so yo just have to set them on the table.) The seats are comfortable and have about a whole foot of height adjustment. The tables are a little tight to one another but it's only noticeable when coming or going. You can eat in the poker room but it is a bit awkward with no carts and the tight table layout.

They have the Bravo clock in/out computer and card reader at the table and aparently the dealers were not trained on their use so for the first week or so check your comps because there will definitely be errors. The Bravo system is supposed to report open seats real time but as was mentioned, there were empty seats for extended periods while there were 10 or 20 people on the wait list. This got better as the day went on. It seemed that requests for players were acted on far faster when coming from the dealers than from random players. So I suggest of you have empty seats, you ask your dealer to voice it to the floor.

Plenty of TVs around and the floor was good about taking requests for channels to show games or the horse races etc.

The dealers ranged from very good (the AC transplants and ex-home game dealers) to very bad. All were friendly and many acknowleged their nervousness and accepted help from players. The pace was as much as half what you expect from experienced dealers. This will surely improve. But if this tilts you you might want to wait a couple of weeks because you will notice it.

The only game I saw spread that wasn't mentioned already is 5-10 Stud.

I originally planned to wait a month for the bugs to get worked out but decided this morning to give it a shot and I am glad I did. I played only 1-2 today, but it was profitable and knowing I didn't have to do the squinty eyed ride up the AC expressway was great.

As for play, I can only comment on my 12 hours at one 1-2 table. At my table there was a mix of fish and decent players. I think some of the fish may go away so catching the opening period is probably plus EV. They all want to see flops and if they get a piece they want to get to showdown so getting max value from strong hands was where it was at. At the same time I watched guys who looked and talked like good players go broke trying unsuccessfully to mover people off mid/weak hands.

I would be interested in reports of how the play was at other tables.

A couple dealers mentioned they heard they are talking about tourneys and possibly circuit event next year as mentioned above but keep in mind there is no hotel.

I thought it was interesting that PA aparently has a law that if there are less then 25 tables the dealers tips have to be pooled. Because of this they had to go to at least 25 tables. Not pooling tips should incentivize the dealers to improve their speed of course.

awesome trip report. looking forward to some more like this so i can get a feel for the room before going.

Arrival/Impressions

I arrived just before 3PM and after finding parking (8 floors of parking, I had to park on the 6th) I walked in and noticed that the Harrah's Chester looks more like a mall or an airport terminal than a casino. I wonder why at first and then notice the giant floor to ceiling windows that let in natural daylight. This is a pretty pleasant surprise and will prevent me from playing unhealthy 20hr.+ poker marathons because I can actually keep track of time. The weather was nice so me and 4 friends headed outside to watch a horse race and grab some beers before we hit the tables. Miller was $3, Yuengling was $4.

I left my Harrah's card at home so I got a new one. They gave me a free $25 slot voucher and after 10 spins I turned it into $125 while waiting for my table. They also gave me $10 off the buffet. The buffet was huge and costs $21. Food wasn't great but there is an endless sea of options. I didn't eat but my friends told me about it. They also give you a free room at the AC Harrah's. Pretty sweet deal for just getting a new card.

As someone mentioned earlier, the poker room is adjacent to the horseracing area and there was a pretty long line to get on the waitlist itself. The list for 2/5 at 3PM was 27 people long. Needless to say, with two inexperienced people managing the seating, and dealers totally inexperienced with the system, it was a huge cluster**** getting seated. I was repeatedly creeping towards the top of the list only to be shoved back down by some mysterious reshuffling of the wait list. Some of this may have been "dinner list" people but I also saw people who missed their call jump back to the top of the list. Weird. Hopefully they fix this. Overall, it took me over 2 hours to get seated. Meh.

2/5 NLHE: Bad Dealers, Worse Players

When I finally sat for 2/5 I noticed that the tables were not only very soft, but that the first handful of dealers were completely new to dealing poker. I bought in for $500 (the max) and was just under being the 2nd biggest stack at my table. After about an hour, the shuffling machine went down for an hour which made the dealers even slower if that was even fathomable. We went from maybe 15 hands/hr to probably 10 hands/hr. Every time there was a multi-way pot, it was messed up. Every time someone got chips, the floor was called, but came late. Multiple times dealers completely misread the situation and acted prematurely/incorrectly. Most players were nice to the dealers and taught them what they were doing wrong etc. Most dealers were not throwing or pitching the cards but were leaning over and putting them in front of you very carefully.

The play was quite bad. I work full time now but I used to be a small winner online on FTP 1/2 multi table and a decent winner playing at Taj 2/5 and Borgata 2/5. I've played at all the AC casinos, Vegas casinos, Commerce, and a few southern casinos and I can comfortably say that most players were below average for what I have seen at 2/5 games in the aforementioned games. I'll attribute most of it to the opening day effect for now but hopefully it stays that way.

I noticed one player at my table under the age of 25. I got position on him by changing seats immediately and he commented on it, asking me if I thought he was a threat. No one else seemed to really notice that I was doing anything. Usually people comment on position or something. He was the only player at the table capable of 3-betting with anything besides QQ+ if that is any indication of the passiveness and fishiness of the table. Hell he was probably the only person there who knows what 3-bet even means.

Everyone else was 30+, mostly 40+. I am a 22yo recent college graduate FWIW. There was a decent amount of banter, but most of it was related to how bad the dealing situation was. We had 1-2 empty seats all night with a 20+ 2/5 wait list. To be fair, it did get significantly better later and I think I just hit a really rough patch of dealers early on.

I only noticed one maniac, the rest were rather passive and tended to call a lot preflop and fold to c-bets. Although I never had a hand better than one pair in a raised pot, I managed to get an incomprehensible amount of value from draws/weaker pairs by valuebetting my top pair type hands. I was very happy to NOT EVER hear people talk about things like semi-bluffing, 3-betting, valuebetting, ranges etc.

I had a good session and ended up with a chipstack of $1750 for about 5 hours of play for a total profit of $1375 including my luckbox slots winnings. I ended my session by signing on the dinner list which allows you to come back after 1.5 hours of "dinner" and be on the top of the wait list. I ate but decided to go home. I'll be back soon to see if the games remain as profitable.

amazes me whenever i read something like this. its like only 22 year olds can play the game.

guess someone forgot to tell doyle, johnny chan, all the 'old guys.'

First, I hang out with other young poker players so I obviously have a biased perspective.

And why is it bad to stereotype? It's just numbers. The average 22 year old is better than the average 40 year old. If you are 22 and playing 2/5-5/10 you are likely an online player, otherwise you wouldn't have the income to be playing poker. If you are 40, you have disposable income and it is more likely you are a casual player. Obviously good players and bad players, old or young, differentiate themselves at the table pretty quickly.

I'll admit that I mostly get owned by older live regs when I play 5/10 or tougher 2/5 games who don't play in a way that I expect or can beat me easily because they are better than me. They're also pros and I'm not. Chan and Doyle are pros.

Would you rather be at a random, average looking table of sociable middle aged adults or at a table of quiet internet poker types with their headphones who talk about poker strategy? The latter is terribl and you see those kinds of tables. You'll see those kinds of tables at Commerce or Bellagio more often but I don't think you'll see many of those tables at Harrah's Chester.

I've played at several Harrah's properties across the nation for hundreds of hours a piece and played in most of their circuit events including the world series. I play 5-10 NLHE and 30-60 LHE, I do not play any slots or pit games. I only receive an hourly comp rate which I can use towards whatever I choose, including sometimes cash back. I have been told by player rewards managers that by logging as little as 10 hours playing in the pit for $25 bets along with all my poker hours I would qualify for all kinds of additional comps but strictly sticking to poker I DO NOT.

Honestly, I find your claim VERY doubtful. I think it is more likely you occasionally visit the pit or sit at machines AND play poker.

I agree about the Harrah's rooms, but I have played a lot at Venetian, and I have never gotten any comped room offers from them.

They gave you signup bonus stuff just because you left your old card at home? This seems very odd. I guess everyone should just leave their card at home everytime they go??

recreational players LOVE the BBJ. they could care less about the rake; they cant even really contemplate what you are talking about. but tell em the BBJ is at 300k and watch how they scamper to whatever card room its hopefully gonna hit at, and watch how they will not fold any hand that has any chance in a million of hitting the BBJ.

For anyone who may have played in it, how was the 10/20 game?

To support that, we old guys wouldn't want to see a table full of people wearing 2+2 tee shirts either.
Discussion of poker among the younger players is what allows them to take poker to the next level for all of us.
It is the younger players that have evolved poker over the past decade and actually changed the game. Prior to internet poker and college kids, there were very few players comparatively that used math to solve poker decisions (at least according to some pros) and now it is a required skill.
Older people are set in their ways and avoid change.
Not to diminish the skill of regular grinders, there is just no team think there. Even when you try to engage someone at the tables in conversation who is obviously a regular grinder, you can sense the annoyance after a few sentences.

But I at least recognize the threat of having a few more young players at the table. It does change the game for me. Less ABC poker. However, it is easier to stack off on a young guy then an old grinder.

Good Observations. I went there 4:30 yesterday just to check it out. After waiting 1.25 hours to chew down the list of thirty 1/2 players, I got to play for 3 hours. Additional comments:

- I was greatly relieved to find out no smoking at the tables. Also, didn't notice any appreciable smoke in the open simulcasting video area.
- Concur that you shouldn't sit in the #10 seat. Bad design of the rake drop mechanism will knock over your chip stack. They should rotate it 90 degrees.
- Amusing view out the windows of the Chester prison. There was table talk of Harrah's having bought the land next to the prison and planning to build a hotel there. (Those comp rooms should be highly sought after!) The late afternoon sun will blind anyone sitting in the last table row and facing the windows. We had to request that the shade be lowered. They should develop an automatic routine for this.
- WSOP insignias at both ends of the table made it difficult to see the exact amount of the bets that are placed on them.
- Room is cramped and has a little of a boiler room look and feel to it. Quite a contrast to the open space effect in the video simulcasting area adjacent to it.
- The cramped room contributes to the noise factor. It's louder than typical A/C or even DP. Sometimes tough to hear call outs for the seating list...especially when a horse race is being announced.
- While waiting to play, a Harrah's management guy came by and mentioned to a group of us that they will assess the capacity situation and could remove some of the video simulcast seating and install more tables. They certainly have plenty of space to do so.
- I thought that the floor management was very competent and accomodating...especially for first day.
- Dealer experience was the weak link. Of the eight dealers I had, 2 were A/C caliber, 4 were slow, but OK & 2 were agonizingly slow AND dangerously inaccurate (from nervousness?) at times (...not calling out the proper bet amount, and one guy 3X turning the winning hand face down and starting to push the pot to the wrong person, forgetting to take the drop, etc.) Hopefully with more experience, the "slow, but OK dealers" will improve, but there are some people who might not be cut out for this job.
- For the most part the players were very understanding and helping the dealers out...except for one clod who was mocking a nervous dealer. Unfortunately, I never got a hand against him....
- Competition level at my 1/2 table was very broad based...sharks to fish. However, slow speed of play made my 3 hours equivalent to maybe 1.5 hours, so overall uneventful session for me. it will be interesting to see where it eventually lines out when the room is less packed and the wait lists aren't so long.
- I think they said that Wednesday is the official Grand Opening with ribbon cutting,....but check with Harrah's if you're interested.

For anyone who's been to Harrah's Chester--or any Pennsylvania poker room for that matte. Are live straddles/button straddles allowed?

No straddle at Chester. We asked about it and got mixed responses. Some said there would eventually be straddling allowed. The most interesting answer I got was that there had been plans for a 1/2/4 game that didn't or hasn't yet gotten approved.