Big C??

Week off work this week going to get some daytime sessions in, not been to the Shoe in over 2 years but apparently it's the only place that opens the poker room on Mondays/Tuesdays, so guess I'm there today.

500 cap on 2-5 seems odd, is the reason to make it less intimidating for people?

The Shoe has always had a 500 cap at the 2-5 table. It's one of the reasons the 2-5 player pool had lasted as long as it did.

Gramuel, please post concerning you experience at Shoe. Like you I haven't played at Shoe in two years. Actually, two years in March. Online poker is frustrating and pretty much a joke, but that's all I've got right now. Just stay small and one is okay. But I am getting an itch to play live. Problem is with Covid I just can't get the energy to go. I'm vaxxed and boosted, but I wonder if it's just not safer to wait until Rivers opens its poker room in spring. Things may improve by then. However, I would appreciate an update on what safety measures Shoe is taking. . .if any.

I'd not played 2 5 here obv, only at RCG and GVC where its 1k cap (at RCG they don't really enforce the cap either).

List is stupid, forgot they only start at 10am Monday so makes sense it's not moving right now.

There are hand sanitizer stations everywhere, and prob 50% of people are wearing masks (including all staff). Not got in the poker room yet so can't comment on that.

GVC has a mask mandate strictly enforced and 8 handed tables fwiw.

Maybe 50% of poker players wearing masks, and perhaps 85% of that 50% wearing them correctly.

Players are still terribad which is nice

So still a decently run room, the cage in the poker room isn't open but you can buy chips at the podium (and they will colour you up before you go to main cage to cash out). Dealers still competent though a couple of them slower than others, a couple of minor button moving mistakes but nothing significant.

Lists were stupidly long though, I was waiting 2 hours for a 1-2 seat and another 2.5 hours for a 2-5 seat, not allowing call-ins doesn't help but I can see why they do it.

Both tables were amazing, I lost small at 1-2 before winning nearly $1k in 4 hours of 2-5, was getting abused by morons outflopping me for ages losing tons of small pots, then set over setted a very good LAG for it all. Poker is dumb.

A bunch of dealers just quit yesterday. More to come because of what the Table Games Shift Manager did with scheduling.

Starting February 7, it’ll be mostly dealers who are brand new to poker. And even though over 100 players sign up before noon every day, their plan is to keep only 4 tables open until 3pm.

This (literal) ship is going down. Once Rivers opens their poker room, Horseshoe will become what Majestic Star was after Horseshoe first opened.

Rest in peace, Horseshoe Hammond. T’was a good 14 years.

WTF. What a **** show. Unbelievable that Chicago can't have ONE decent functioning poker room.

If this is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, there is no reason to play at Horseshoe ever again. I have been away from live poker since Covid began. Online isn't the best but at this point I can wait a few months more for Rivers to open its room. It's closer to my house anyway. And can someone explain to me to logic of keeping only 4 tables open when the lists are a hundred long? Oh well, nothing lasts forever.

OG poker dealers had to learn a table game to keep their job. And because the Table Games Shift Manager now runs the poker room instead of Soto, I think she just tried to steal a bunch of poker dealers to cover table games demand in the evening.

Soto and others tried to explain to her how she’s totally screwing the poker room over with her decisions to—

1. Pool tips back at reopen, and now
2. Limit day shifts and
3. Give scheduling priority to table games dealers with longer tenure with Horseshoe.

But she wouldn’t listen. This is what happens when you give power-trippy middle management more power.

Sad but it seems my home casino for hold em The Horseshoe has changed so much I am not sure I will ever return. The Shoe was such an awesome poker room for so long. For many years I have told people that the Shoe compared favorably to a Vegas poker room and that the Shoe was the only serious option for poker playing in the Chicagoland area. Is this true that now the Shoe is essentially dead, done, over?

Will Rivers be able to replicate the old Shoe?

[QUOTE=

Soto and others tried to explain to her how she’s totally screwing the poker room over with her decisions to—

1. Pool tips back at reopen, and now
2. Limit day shifts and
3. Give scheduling priority to table games dealers with longer tenure with Horseshoe.

But she wouldn’t listen. This is what happens when you give power-trippy middle management more power.[/QUOTE]

Reads as if table games manager is making decisions based upon what is best for financial well being of that Caesar's corporate owned casino facility, and of course, stock shareholders.

In other news, man invents wheel.

Has there been any further news on Rivers opening date? I saw first part was supposed to open Q1 but not seen anything more recent.

Also what about Bally's Chicago?

So if table games shift manager is running the poker room then why is Soto still there?

Our home casino had a Poker Room Manager that was 'under' the Table Games Manager also. I'm not sure the rift between TGMs and poker, but I suspect it has to do with bonuses or some other stat that should easily be separated out for 'super' management to see and evaluate.

If this truly is a staffing issue then I don't blame them for looking out for the bottom dollar and favoring high volume high revenue days of the week.

Soaring Eagle was supposed to open poker back up last September .. now they aren't even allowed to discuss poker in management meetings since they can't properly staff the facility.

As with the 'Shoe, the demand is there but the task of training (and maintaining) a full staff is a real task these days.

In other 'Horseshoe' news .. Horseshoe Indy just opened their room to a rousing success. I've seen no less than 6 tables running in Bravo when I look, including PLO. There's even a 5/10 NL list showing on Bravo today before they even opened up. Indy is poker starved and this room should be rockin' with fish for the next 4-6 months for sure. Long drive .. but .. GL

The answer is simple. If supply can't keep up with demand, raise prices. If there are too many players and not enough dealers, raise the poker rake to $10 and the minimum blackjack bet to $25.

Then all you lazy people who were given PUA will run out of money to spend. You'll go back to work. And we can get our economy back on track.

Thanksjoebiden

Wait WAT

This place is 45 minutes away from me. I had no idea! It's only maybe like 1.5 hours away from Cincinatti and Louisville, seems like a good location. It'll also be nice to not have to drive up through/stay in Hammond. Thanks for the info!

only downside is I'm already tired of seeing JB Smooves' face

What is interesting is that you see what appears to be the absolute opposite in 'thinking' between Hammond and Indy and yet they are (and will both remain) Horseshoe properties. Without being privy to the mindsets at each location, you'd have to think that there's some sort of regional manager for Cesar's that would have to be aware of the vast differences in how poker is being handled .. less than 3 hours apart from each other. GL

Maybe they see the writing on the wall that once Rivers opens their room they can just close it up for good. It seems they are just going through the motions right now.

That may be the case .. but I'm not sure why they would just be giving up on the WSOPc series events. Yes, the HPT is either gone or on life support but now that this will remain a Horseshoe property going forward it's definitely very surprising that they would not be interested in 'all' that business.

I don't know if the Indy venue can handle a Circuit Event or not but I'm definitely positive that the Players would rather hang out in Indy than Hammond if it came to choosing. GL

The Indy poker room manager said last week that there will absolutely be a WSOPc event this year at Horseshoe Indy. Now that might mean in the fall where Hammond used to be, we'll just have to wait and see.