I'm making my first trip to Charles Town on Saturday. I prefer limit Omaha/8, limit Hold'em, and any mixed game. Is there any chance of finding that here? Any good time?

PLO runs somewhat regularly, don't think i've seen omaha/8. for LHE there is often a 3-6 game going

LO/8 has gone here but it's not common. Don't think I've ever seen or heard of a mixed game. LHE seems to be almost exclusively 3/6. They used to get 10/20 off but I don't think it's gone recently.

Let's get a PLO game going tomorrow, Monday.

I can't play until Sat 1/22. If anyone's interested, we should try to start either an Omaha/8, Stud, Stud/8, or some type of mix. Maybe then, we could try to get non-Hold'em games to run more frequently.

Anyone at the casino got a report on wait time

Have they still been filling up all of the tables on Friday and Saturday nights? That seems to be part of the problem with the LHE is that the lists don't get long enough until all the tables are full though I haven't been in a while.

I spoke to an employee who said they had a meeting about it last week. He said tourneys will start March 1st.

I was up there yesterday and there is an area roped off in the back with no tables (looks like it could hold 4 or 5 tables). When I asked about this area, he said this will start as the tourney area.

-DB

They will also make you pineapple orange...Had some tonight...yumm!

Dealer also mentioned tonight, building additional poker room where OK Corral is (just below poker room)...Sounded pretty confident that this would happen

Pretty good crowd today for Sunday afternoon/evening...Think they have learned from previous holidays weekend and had all tables open today

It's been over six months since they opened; it's ridiculous that this hasn't kicked off already. Hope this is true.

I've heard this as well from dealers but I've heard reports here that floor people have denied that it's true so I wouldn't hold your breath. It'd be nice to have the poker room in a place with a little more height and some foot traffic but I'm pretty happy to have a decent room close enough to home.

Recent lurker, first-time poster.

Haven't seen this on this thread, but just wanted to let you know you can give your cellphone number to the registration desk and they will text you when your seat is available. Found this out recently. So, it gives you time to hit up the blackjack table or walk around a bit before you sit down if the wait is really long.

Hmm- the floor staff I spoke with last week said the intent was to re-arrange the tables in the back area to spread them out & allow for easier foot traffic, not jam more tables into that area for tourneys. The tourney rumors have been consistently that they will only go in the mornings and/or other low turnout times so as not to take away from cash game tables.

The lack of official word on anything related to future poker plans at CT is pretty frustrating - goes hand-in-hand with the general disregard the management of the casino has for its monopoly-based customers. Would take 5 minutes to post a sentence or two on their web site. No reason to put any effort into it when the $$$ keeps flowing, right?

The currently empty area in the back will hold 3 more tables, bringing the room to 30 total. They are going to angle the existing tables a bit and spread things out some, so that the room will be a little less cramped.

I completely disagree with this assessment of the room management. I find the room to be getting a little better every time I go - which I take to be a sign of good management. I don't think they have a firm date for when the 3 new tables will be up. Given how hard it is to get the WV lottery to do anything (like approving a new table) in a timely fashion, I don't blame them for not advertising it just yet.

Kinda bummed that the limit games over 3/6 seem to have disappeared. Was seeing 6/12 and 10/20 pretty consistently for awhile on the weekend but now that's gone. I would think it's in the room's interest to somehow promote a variety of games so people who want to play something besides NLHE don't just tune Charlestown out. Hope PLO and mid-stakes LHE and maybe a lower limit Omaha game can get some love.

When should I arrive on friday to not have a wait for 12 (under 20 min)

I agree and think that management is doing a good job. step by step improvements i notice every time i go too, and i think the floor and dealers do a great job improving processes while trying to keep players happy...

i know that you can't please everyone, but if you go back to some of the early pages of this thread and see all of the complaints back then, you will realize ALL of the great improvements so far for this fairly young poker room...

positive vibrations mon

i would say get there before 4pm to beat the rush, but i haven't been there that early on a friday in a while...

Keep in mind the room is not at fault for game selection, they will spread most anything people want. People just are not requesting these game anymore. It's like 7 card stud, staff has told me the room could spread it if there was ever any interest but no one wants it. You can believe the room from a business standpoint would likely rather have 6/12 than another 1/2 NLHE table since they make far more off a 6/12 pot rake then the 1/2 time rake.

You run into this problem in any poker room, players dont see it on the wait board they won't sign up for it. Heck I was up at Penn National last month and saw a 1/2 PLO8 game spread, blew me away. It's all what people ask for, you want a 6/12 , then sign up for it or ask to start an interest list. The whole reason you see 5/5 PLO there constantly is those players are fearless when it comes to asking to start a list for a game they want.

I will try to add some meat to why I am not enamored by the management. Do not get me wrong; overall I am happy CT exists, I go often & will continue to do so. Yes, many things have improved since July opening. Still lots of things that require attention, and I am skeptical they will get it without any competitive drivers.

Something to consider- there is a difference between casino/corporate level management and the poker room floor staff. The physical environment - i.e. the remodeling of the room, the lack of space between tables, the wildly varying AC/heat settings - and things like the understaffed cashier's cage - are driven by "senior" management, not the guys & gals on the poker room floor.

Other gripes, not sure who has ability/authority to address, or if there is will to do so:

No reduced rake on shorthanded tables- ever.

No comps at all for poker players. Rumors continue about this being implemented for the future.

Rebuy procedures that slow the game to a crawl (insufficient chips in the dealer's racks, chip-runner rule changes, etc.).

Lack of weeding out the truly terrible dealers. Several HORRIBLE dealers remain - not just slow, but repeatedly unclear on the rules, exposing cards, etc. Short of canning them, would love to see some sort of tweak to the rotation that only puts the experienced/better dealers on the higher limit games, maybe that isn't feasible.

I'm rambling.

Completely agree with this post. There are some really, really terrible dealers there still. A couple of dealers who LOVE to tap in and then talk to the table, talk during the deal, talk during the hand, talk during the wash - just talking away. I have not yet counted hands during a particular down but I am going to start doing so and at least letting the floor know after putting together a reasonable sample. I know they wont care but I think it will be interesting to look at.

There are also at least two dealers that seem completely willing to ignore rules whenever they dont want to get in a conflict with a player. Twice in the last few weeks I've seen guys sit at 1/2 with huge stacks and they were allowed to keep them - "Oh I'm just waiting for the 5/10 game can I keep this on the table?" Last week a player got up quietly to talk to the floor and they came over to take care of it. But dealers should really be on top of this. And they arent.

And I've seen zero improvement in the rebuy procedure. This serves to slow the games down to a crawl at several points throughout the night.

Overall I still like going there and will continue to go as it is only an hour away. But I agree, with a packed room, with 100+ person waiting lists and no competitive factors - I doubt they will really change much as far as the dealers go.

The comp thing, well, I never really expect decent comps as a poker player. But I keep having them scan my card on the offchance something happens. If it doesnt, oh well, doesnt hurt me to have my card scanned.

Something to consider- there is a difference between casino/corporate level management and the poker room floor staff. The physical environment - i.e. the remodeling of the room, the lack of space between tables, the wildly varying AC/heat settings - and things like the understaffed cashier's cage - are driven by "senior" management, not the guys & gals on the poker room floor.

There should always be two windows open at the cashier's cage at all times they anticipate having 10+ tables running; and when there is a full house there should be three windows.

No reduced rake on shorthanded tables- ever.

This does not matter to me one bit; short handed table means more hands are played per down, and thus, per time rake. This is is kind of a silly gripe.

No comps at all for poker players. Rumors continue about this being implemented for the future.

This is also of little consequence. Not sure what they are going to comp besides meals, which is OK I guess, just kind of low on my list of desires.

Rebuy procedures that slow the game to a crawl (insufficient chips in the dealer's racks, chip-runner rule changes, etc.).

BINGO. This is a huge deal and they should make this a priority to fix. Although I don't think this is in the hands of the casino mgmt right now. I think their permit only allows a certain $$ of exposed chips in the tray; until they prove they can track what they have now without chips going missing.

Lack of weeding out the truly terrible dealers. Several HORRIBLE dealers remain - not just slow, but repeatedly unclear on the rules, exposing cards, etc. Short of canning them, would love to see some sort of tweak to the rotation that only puts the experienced/better dealers on the higher limit games, maybe that isn't feasible.

This is second to the chip trays (see above) in biggest issues for me. I would say that 2/3 of the dealers are very good-to-excellent. The other 1/3 don't care, don't try, talk WAY too much, or screw up an inordinate number of hands.

While what you are saying is usually correct, myself and others have tried to get a 1/2 PLO game going and was told that they aren't going to run one. This is even when there is no 5/5 PLO going. There is definitely interest in the game, but for some reason (dealers, maybe?) they will only start a list for the 5/5 game.

THIS. I have asked several times and have been denied on several occassions. I definately believe this is due to no faith in the dealers being able to calculate the pot size with white chips. Could do 1/2 with a $5 bring in to help that issue.