I'm selling my $700 entry to the 100k guarantee tournament for $600. Pm if you're interested

Sold

What are the details on the tournament? Don’t see anything on bravo.

Got a casino card from Hollywood Aurora, Illinois or Harrah's Joliet, Illinois casinos? Both places are subject of CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS FOR MASSIVE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY, without informing customers. If you have been in either of those casinos, they ALREADY have your face DIGITIZED.

Going back to when? Haven't been there in a while, but I'd love some compensation to make up for all the years I spent playing in that joke of a card room in the worst managed casino on the planet

Been playing at Hollywood most of my adult life and figured I would post an update about some very good promos in the room.

Room is running 7 days a week now 12pm to 2:30am.
The promotions are the best in the midwest as far as my experience goes.
$200 high hand every hour Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat Noon to 2am - Aces full of 10's or better to qualify - rolls over every hour if it isn't hit. I've seen it at 1200 and 1600 multiple times this week alone
$300 Hot seat every hour Sunday/Mon/Tues 1pm to 2am
$100 splash pot Wed-Sun on the half hour - 10x a day I believe - check Bravo for details on this and all of the above
Also for those like me who put in heavy hours, 60-99 hours in a month pays cash back $1 per hour, anything over 100 hours pays $2. EG - if you play 75 hours you get $75 cash back - if you play 125 hours in a month you get back $50 cash from the cage. This is in addition to your $1 per hour food money.
They also have $15 food comp for every 4 hours you play on Wed/Thurs/Sun

All in all some amazing promos, even more so in relation to other local area casinos.

MD

*125 hours in a month would be $250

Do they still have the highest rake in the country as well?

$6 rake + $1 bad beat + $1 promos. Same as GVC I believe and one more than Rivers. Perhaps a GVC reg can confirm.

MD

With this promotions I may have to play here

lol not even close, never was close I don't think?

Played at Hollywood yesterday and was lucky and hit a hot seat for $300. Today is high hand for $200 per hour with Aces full of 10's qualifier and rollovers until the end of the day if no one hits. Also $100 splash pots today and $15 food comp for every 4 hours played. Good luck all!

MD

I might try a session there when I have the extra time, it's about double the time to get there for me than Rivers so will be when I'm not rushed.

When I played there in 2010, it was definitely the highest rake I had ever seen, and the highest I had ever heard of. I think in the 10/20 LHE game I came to play they took $7 total. And I normally would have played NL while I was waiting, but the rake there was $2 higher. It is possible I am remembering the numbers wrong, but it was definitely $2 higher in the NL game, high enough that I didn't even want to play for an hour while I was waiting, and even in the LHE it was higher than any place I had ever heard of at the time.

Rake aside this is one of the worst rooms in the country for action. They also can't get a 2/5 going unless its Friday or Saturday night. Don't even get me started on the wait list management, parking, chips, or many other negatives of this room.

Haha fair enough! I'm still likely to try at some point for the change but I'm v happy with Rivers (and the occasional sprinkle of GVC when lists at Rivers are simply too long)

Omega,

When was the last time you were in this room?

I hear your concerns but allow me to address some.

Action: I play here all the time, and have since it opened. The action during the day can be nitty for sure as it's the crowd one would expect. The action after 8:30pm or so is usually fantastic, plus the promos put a ton of chips on the table. After the pandemic reopening, Hollywood got off 2-5 most days, I made sure of it and was pushing the game. They then started 10-20 limit back up which def hurt the 2-5 game. Now, the buy in for 1-3 is 500 max, add that with the hundreds an hour in promo money getting on the tables the 1-3 game plays as big or bigger most nights than the previous 2-5 game in this room. 2 of the 4 tables last night had unreal action; sometimes too much for my taste at times. I witnessed multiple all in pots preflop 3-4 handed for $1200 to $2600 on two tables.

Wait list: 2 hour call in ahead of time. This is more than enough almost any day/night of the week to avoid a long wait, with the possible exception of Friday.

Parking: Parking is similar to horseshoe and GVC. Rivers parking is great for sure. The Wood is the same as every other room I've played in if not better.

Chips: Yes, many don't like the chips. They are called speed chips. They actually cost more than clay chips but I get your point. They are harder to maneuver, especially for those less skilled at it. Canterbury uses them as do many, many casinos in Cali. The good news is the racks are always right and they don't have to count down every single stack when you buy or cash out.

Promos: Best in the midwest I can tell, most certainly in Chicagoland and it's not even close. Also by far the friendliest room in the Chicago area.

All the best.

MD

Gramuel,

If you like, feel free to say hello if I'm there when you come out! Just ask for me by name!

I haven’t played since January of this year. I know there are several fun players and one whale in the 2/5 pool, but it’s too inconsistent with only 1 2/5 table open and all action dependent on them playing. Maybe it has changed since I’ve last been there, but the 1/3 game was very short stacked, with players under 100bb.

This may have also changed but their bravo list displayed the sum of call ins and checked in players. It was very misleading as you would see 10 people on the list for a 2/5 game to kick off but when you actually get there only 2 people on the list are actually there. When you call make sure you check how many people are actually checked in.

I would hope they have good promos because they collected promo money from players returning post Covid and not opening up promos until recently. It doesn’t impact anyone playing now, but having to fund the promo pool without getting any benefit is a bit of a middle finger to me.

No offense Michael, I think I know who you are now and you are definitely a nice, friendly guy, but you are not someone I want on my table because I’ve seen you discourage action and action players at times. That’s your prerogative, but I think we have very different perspectives is all.

I’m not blindly hating, I will agree it was a very friendly room whenever I’ve been there and their promos now are the best in the Chicago area.

Hey Omega,

All good! I don’t think I know you by your name here but maybe if I saw you.

And yea I can have my moments but always working on it! If you come by say hello!

All the best!

MD

New to the Chicago area and checked out Hollywood Aurora for the first time due to it being the closest to me.
The first time I toured it without going in there were beggars on the sidewalk outside so I was a little sketched coming here at night.
The parking lot lights are not very bright.

Upon arriving, there was nobody at the desk to check in. They were sitting at another table BS'ing.
I saw the checkin kiosk so I tried to swipe my card a few times & it wasn't working.
I kept making eye contact with the employees sitting at the table but it wasn't until he finally came over to the checkin desk that I was able to get his attention to get on the list.
Then I was told the checkin kiosk doesn't work.
I asked the check-in guy about chips and he said I had to get them from the main cage. Meh.

At least the ladies at the main cage were very polite & signed me up for a players card.
I guess I could've been more aggressive getting his attention but I expected a bit more professionalism.
He also seemed perturbed that I asked to be pointed which table & seat I was assigned since I'd never been there before.

Overall experience checking in felt like I was inconveniencing this guy & interrupting his BS time trying to get on the list on a Saturday night.


Only 3 tables of 1/3 were going & everyone could hear the one drunk guy being obnoxious.
I could overhear him harassing one player in particular, arguing with other players about table talk during hands & repeatedly yelling for cocktails.
Nothing was ever said to him about toning it down.

Chips have a slick coating making them impossible to shuffle. Similar to what I remember at the Borgata.
Not a fan of those.
Cards also seemed super cheap & smaller than usual.

Waited about 20mins to get a seat in the nittiest OMC game I've ever sat in.
I was definitely the youngest person in the room and I'm nearly 40.
Zero 3-bets in the 3 hours I was there.
Saw an AA v KK hand that had a whopping $35 pot. How?
Overall this was the average pot size.

Dealers seemed either new, lethargic or uncaring especially a lady in her late 50s who flipped over multiple cards in her 3 downs at the table.
One of them being an Ace to me. Thanks dealer.
Her pitching technique was terrible & she seemed to have trouble pushing the action.
She had to be shown where the action was several times.
This probably why she wasn't friendly with anyone because she can't even keep up with the table.

Dealers also had to be watched like a hawk with rake because twice they were called out by players for raking too much.

One lady player that had to be pushing 65 played exactly 2 hands in that time & on the 2nd hand she played she doubled up her $200 and immediately racked up which caused a ripple effect of 3 others racking up to leave us 5 handed with only 2 seats open at the other tables so rather than pay extra blinds in an OMC fest, I racked too and drove to Rivers.

I had made a few small talks with the guy to my left who seemed friendly but eventually got impatient and shoved his $200 stack in with a flush draw against the lady above.
He seemed cool & calm until that hand when he bricked then he exploded screaming GD multiple times & almost knocking over his side table so I had to move over to avoid getting hit.

Tables & casino in general was pretty dirty. Chairs had no cushion left & for only having 3-4 tables active at any given time you'd think they could have a bit more space between them.
It felt cramped & uncomfortable. There's a TON of wasted space with empty tables so there's plenty of room to spread the active tables out a bit.
Only one cocktail lady in her 60s & only saw her twice in 3 hours.

It's possible the games are better than my table as the table next to us with the drunk sounded like they had several more 3-bets & all-ins.

Everything about this room screams OMC regs.

I went to Rivers after this and its the exact polar opposite in every category for the better.
I'll probably visit Hollywood again at some point just to see if the games are all OMC nit-fests but Rivers is certainly worth the extra 15min drive.

Rivers has absolutely killed this room. Hope to see the renovation towards i88 restore the poker room to former glory.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...casino-aurora/

New Hollywood Aurora coming in supposedly 2 years. Says there will be a poker room.

Excellent news. Who knows, maybe a WSOP stop in a few years.