It would seem so..

Sigh... Hopefully one can be convinced to move it. $20 in food comps for an hour of play is pretty sweet...

such a joke. this is textbook large corporate interest crushing a locally owned shop.

asked about stud games and was told the state hasn't approved stud. yeah ok. not approved until some players make their way to the tank instead of the casino.

I got a much more honest "our dealers don't know how to deal stud". But yes, typical. Given the option of no rake at Shark Tank vs this Tank still wins, but man...

They take your earned comps out of your pots after 3 hands, and thats if they don't get split... The Tank>casino AINEC

2/5 PLO going strong.

5/10 horse with a $6 rake is unbeatable long term...seems silly they are running it the same night as a cpl unraked 8/16 horse games at the tank

So maybe I'm confused what is the rule on cell phones at the poker table at Hollywood Columbus? I usually use mine to listen to music while playing poker and leave it on the rail. My normal room is Horseshoe Indiana and they have no problem with this. Are you not able to do this at Hollywood? I'm moving to Columbus in April so just wanted some clarification.

No devices on the rail.

You can use them, they just must remain on your lap or on the side.

Once you are dealt a hand, you must put your phone down until you fold.

Some dealers may ask you to put it down the moment they begin shuffling. These dealers do not enjoy tips.

They said on the Hollywood Poker Room Facebook page that they may also run 10/20 HORSE, but I agree the Shark Tank game still sounds way better and that will be my choice now that my Wednesday nights will finally be free.

I'd love some low stakes limit games like Stud or Razz here. Or more regular O8. Why not? This is probably one of the biggest poker rooms within 500 miles.

Is this the place that pools tips? Or do dealers keep their own? If it's the former, of course they're going to enforce the rules as they're written because the risk of being reprimanded or fired outweighs the reward of getting a dollar or two for their coworkers to share when they let it slide. If it's the latter, it's still probably smarter for the dealer to enforce the rule than to risk his/her job.

Question: is anyone else finding the competency of the dealers and some floor staff on the low side ? I see a lot of the dealers wanting to be sociable versus maintaining the game flow. With this in mind I refuse to tip these dealers and maybe they will adjust their ways, but I still see them continuing the same simple mistakes. Thoughts......

Its only natural that dealers and regulars will make friends and strike up conversations.

I agree they are in a tough spot - but the vast majority are cool w/ it as long as you don't slow down the game. They will give you slack because they recognize you as a regular player that is good for the room. A small % of dealers are rules nits and will basically crucify anyone holding anything electronic the moment the pot is pushed. This is a bit much imo. It's 2013 and people multi-task. It's just the way of life. Demanding someone set their phone down 60 seconds before they may have to make a decision is unnecessary.

It's like the ban on texting while driving. I agree - texting while driving is dumb and dangerous. However specifically banning it is not the answer as we can't ban every single activity that can be dangerous while driving. The point is to drive safely. As long as you're doing that I don't care what else is going on. Same w/ cards. As long as you don't slow down the game, I don't care if you're texting, talking, watching Netflix, reading on your Kindle, getting a bj under the table, etc. We can't identify and ban every activity that could be negative and trying to do so is going down a dangerous path of restriction.

I'm 95% sure the dealers here keep their own tips.


My next comment will be unpopular, but whatever:

as for the enforcing of the 'no electronics on the rail', I dont' mind them being tight about it. There are lots of people in this room that know each other and constantly talk about player tendencies and what each other had during a earlier hand, etc. Hell, I've even personally heard dealers talk about other players and how ATM'ish they are and how some dealers will give certain players a heads up on how good a specific other table is...in front of the whole table.

My point is that there is very little hush hush about friendship and what may be mistaken as team-work by the average player in the room. Seeing people use their personal devices at the table adds to the little voice in the back of their head saying "Are they texting each other?" I just don't think it's good for the game (and I really am not basing any of my commentary on how it may slow the game up. I know people still keep up with the action for the post part.)


*edit* I should add that I don't think that people should be hiding friendships. That's just lol. You all know what I mean, even if you disagree.

100% correct. Poker dealers keep their own tips in Columbus. As far as I know only in Cleveland do they pool their tips ( and there it is pooled with the rest of table games dealers ).

I am not sure I understand - you are worried about players texting each other? They could just step away from the table and talk to each other. No one is advocating the use of phones during a hand. We are simply saying that the strict policy of no phones on the rail and no devices in hand once the pot is pushed is unnecessary. I do not think the average player thinks he is being cheated.

Sidenote, this isn't a priority of mine, as I'm fine w/ just putting my phone on a small table next to me and most dealers know me enough that they don't say much. Interestingly, no one has ever said a thing about my iPad use.

The priorities are the previously mentioned changes to the MTTs. They are still fighting w/ me on the break starting before all hands are finished. Sigh.

Was there Saturday night for my bi-monthly escape from fatherhood. Room is obviously more crowded, but being able to cash out while waiting for 15 seconds at 12:30am was phenomenal.

Criticism is lack of enforcement of the 'first buyin purchased at the cage' rule. Couple guys sat down and were bought in from an inexperienced dealer, who when she was pushed told the next guy how much she THOUGHT was in cash in the tray. Slowed the game down 6 times: buyin for guy 1; buyin for guy 2; her attempting to count the cash quickly before her push and not doing a great job of it; the next guy counting and recounting the whole effing tray before he dealt hand 1 because he didn't want to get dinged for the short that seemed inevitable (but was not); him calling for chips/buying chips; him restacking his tray.

It's still nicer than everything I've heard about the debacle that's going on in Cleveland.

Small sample, obvs, just wondering your thoughts on tournaments:

I've played 5 tournaments there since opening, two mornings, 1 evening, 1 saturday morning, and a sunday morning PLO. So, various buy ins.

In NLHE, it seems that people literally slow play top pair good kicker because they think someone is going to bluff their chips off to them (and they're right).

At first I just thought it was weak play, but then after a few tournaments I noticed that although it was weak, they were getting paid. For example, they flop top pair after raise pre-flop, bet small, check the turn, and call an all in for way more than the pot on the river. Person bluffing typically has a busted draw or complete air.

There hasn't been much three betting or four betting pf.

Any things you've noticed? (Also, this is completely different than the cash games with sometimes the same people even.)

This is probably obvious, but just saying, ANYTHING they do, they have to get a state commission to approve, and those people meet like once a month (maybe), so anything that you suggest will take a LONG while to get implemented.

When you say weekend, I'm kind of assuming you mean after the work day Friday, and on Saturday and Sunday.

Although there is a 10:15am Friday one, there's not one in the evening.

The Saturday one is $250 (with dealer appreciation), and the average rec player isn't paying that much.

The only other one on the weekend is PLO, and although I love PLO, your average rec player isn't getting involved with it yet. So, I don't think weekends can be looked at here to think that they're not faring well.

Their attendance is actually pretty good when you look at their 10:15am tournaments (which comprise 7 of their 11 total tournaments). It's not uncommon to get about 75-80 people (weather permitting) in one of these. Also, I think as it gets warmer, more people will take days off, and these will fill even more. Edit: (Actually 5 of 11 not counting weekend)

I see there is a 1/2 lhe game running right now on bravo. How the hell did that get started?

People are so paranoid.

No electronic devices on the table is absurd.

This is not the norm. Most of the time the dealers are fine. Just like most everything in life, there will be a few in this profession that aren't as solid as their peers.

I've noticed lots! Are you talking about when I tank called w/ AQ on the river to TP when that guy bluff jammed the river into me?

They shouldn't need State approval for a rewards program for MTT players.

-Here's another one that nits the hell out of me - the break clock starts immediately when the level ends. Regardless if there are hands still in play, the clock begins to tick down. This is quite unfair to the players who don't leave early for break - if they are involved in a hand they do not get the full 10 minutes. One shift manager agrees with me and checked the box "pause clock before break" but the other one totally disagrees and refuses to give us the full time (and run it like every other mtt in the world). He states that it's not needed in a daily/nightly. I totally disagree, as we, the players, pay very good money to the casino, and we are all entitled to the full break. Not to mention that the L8 break should be longer anyway.

-Stopping the clock to talk chop - the TD stated he would be "paying his dealers for nothing". The levels are very short as-in - letting the clock run while we discuss a chop is not necessary.

-Training dealers - each dealer needs to know that HPH (hands per hour) is all that matter. Some of them (a small % but enough to re-train everyone) really don't seem to get this concept. This is quite annoying in a MTT where we only get 1-2 orbits per level.