Good, since it's against the rules of this forum to name employees.
Quote:
but since you opened the door,
Yeah, I edited those posts and removed the names. No employee names, folks. From the B&M Forum Guidelines:
(7) Privacy of non-famous players and card room employees. Respect other players' and card room employees' privacy; do not use their names on the forum unless they have given permission to do so either explicitly on the forums or implicitly by becoming an authorized representative.
$6 for any hand that reaches $60 in the middle, plus an additional dollar comes out for the Bad Beat Jackpot when the pot hits $20.
It's unjustifiable, they know it's unjustifiable, they don't care.
I've heard that there's wait lists for the few tables they have. So in reality they should be charging more rake until they're at a point where they have only small wait lists. Demand justifies the rake.
Don't hear much Noise/complaint at the tables about the rake during games. The people who play there consistently seem to have just accepted it.
The rake is not something that will change anytime soon. However, what can change and should is the customer service given to the players. The fact that there are zero player points (comps) awarded as well as rude service by supervisors cannot continue to be overlooked.
Games are good, expecially on the weekends. So you can still come out winning, but think about how much money goes to the casino after tips/rake over a 12 hour session.
I buyin for 200 and im sure over 12 hours i pay more in rake/tips that my initial buyin.
What they should probably be thinking about is making people want to come back and play again, especially now that they have that monopoly and can set the bar extremely high and establish customer loyalty before Oxford gets the chance. In the casino business, it seems like getting repeat customers is basically the name of the game. Fill the chairs and the house edge will take care of the rest.
Apparently each new table cost 100k to license with the state and I understand the urge to get that initial investment back quickly, but they're attempting to do it at such a fast rate that the end result is a much slower process.
From what I've learned playing in games all across the state for the last few years, Maine has an active and enthusiastic poker community, comprised primarily of retired or semi-retired people with a ton of free time and extra money.
Opening weekend at Hollywood was the talk of most of the Maine poker community for several months leading up to this March. The turnout that weekend and for the subsequent three or four weeks was ridiculous (for those reading this who weren't there, all tables running and a double-digit wait list every day by 2pm).
Why? Well, the local games have been effectively dead since opening day at Hollywood, and as Lattimer has correctly ascertained in the post above mine, the players are handcuffed.
Of all the faces I'd seen play poker in the greater Bangor area several days a week for the last few years, many (if not most) were at Hollywood almost daily in March, slowed down a bit in April, and chose not to play more than once or twice in May. Local "regulars" are deciding with alarming frequency not to play at all rather than play at Hollywood.
To make an analogy, at Hollywood they charge 3 dollars for an 8-ounce cup of cranberry juice (Note: not cranberry and vodka. Just cranberry). Yes, they will make a profit every time they sell a cup of cranberry juice, but they completely forfeit any kind of long-term customer because the price, even after a very small sample size, is clearly insane. People would rather go without cranberry juice.
The poker room is like if they insisted on charging $6 for cranberry juice despite being surrounded by people willing to pay as much $4 for cranberry juice and served every glass with some bull**** about state law.
I'd have to disagree about local games being dead. There was an obvious lull in action when the tables first went in, but overall I haven't noticed a huge change.
There is now talk of running daily sit n go's on table 5 & 6 when new dealers come in. However, I heard it would be options of $60 + $15, $100 + $20, $200 + $40. Thoughts?
3 full tables right now with 12 deep on list. Problem is next dealer doesn't come in for 2 hrs. Rainy day and a cancelled golf tournament = packed poker room
That's fairly standard juice for live SNGs everywhere I've seen.
I haven't played a live SNG in years so I just looked it up. You're right..seems pretty standard. I could see this bringing in more casual players at $60 level, but I'll stick to cash at this point.
25% vig is standard in places where a sizable chunk of the profit goes to charity, such as at Seabrook, from what I've heard.
The dealers are going to hate life if they stick with $60+15 as the most frequent buy-in, but the 100 and 200 dollar ones should be good if they fill. I'm assuming the structure will be fast (boooooooooooooooooooooo) to get them over with ASAP but they should still be thoroughly profitable for anyone who knows anything about ICM.
I'm sure this will be a big draw for a lot of people (at first) and SNGs could potentially bring me out of Hollywood retirement. If they can execute SNGs well I'll have a lot more faith in this company.
I thoroughly agree that SNGs will draw a slightly different clientele. Being a former online SNG grinder I would definitely be excited for this as an option to cash. They can serve as a solid bankroll builder, especially against many who know nothing about ICM.
it's 3 hours more to go to foxwoods, total trip. hardly the same drive.
yeah that rake is for the 1/2.. sick.
Uhm...not to get all tangential and semantical (hey it sounds funny) on you, but you're wrong. It's about 3 hours to get to Bangor and 3 1/2 to get to Foxwoods. edit: looked this up on map, it's about an extra 90 minutes to two hours....anyway....
Anyway, thanks for your contributions to the thread, I will be watching this one.
What? I am absolutely not wrong. It's 2 hours from Portland to Bangor, for a 4 hour round trip. It's 3.5 hours from Portland to Ledyard, CT for a 7 hour round trip. So, like I said.
Seems weird that someone would even argue against something so demonstrably true.
Edit: using exact times from google maps yields a greater than 2.5 hour difference in total time.
But I'd rather spend a few days at Foxwoods than in Bangor.
I was thinking about checking out Hollywood but judging by this thread there are still kinks to be worked out. It'll be interesting to see what the Oxford casino will offer, if anything.
Oxford is up an running now, but I don't think poker is yet. However once it is, I can't imagine anyone driving past there to get to Bangor for poker. That would be the metro areas of Portland and Lewiston/Auburn all with poker withing 30 minutes.
