So how do they do it in the Vegas higher stakes games?
Highest game I've played there was 10-20, and it was the same as here (but faster).
Except that cash plays.
But when they bring chips, it's the same - they announce, take money, return with chips.

Foxwoods allows it. They also don't have chip runners, you can buy chips right out of the dealer's tray.

I like the fact that md live has taken this responsibility away from the dealers which allows them to deal more hands more efficiently.

I don't like cash playing because it is still difficult to determine how much there is sitting there. Plus it potentially opens an situation for someone to stuff a few smaller bills between 100's and make it look like there is more behind. With the cash unless it is a flag you have no idea how much they have sitting there and you have to ask to count a lot. So leaving the cash off the table is better, really comes down to paying attention and if you are thinking about putting someone all in just ask "you have 120 right." Dealer will say something then like they have x behind, and in reality the rebuts are not taking that much time anymore.

I never cared for chip runners. I don't like the idea of "playing behind", as it can occasionally cause complications. But you're right that you get more hands out that way. There's pros and cons to both methods, it just comes down to personal preference I guess.

I think there is an issue with "playing X behind", though I don't think its a major one. I also play at MDL at least 4x a week and have been in pots where we are many hands through before chips return to the table and the dealer is keeping track that player Y owes Player A $140, player B $10 for the blind, player c $50. It can get confusing. When I am owed money from a player that is "playing X behind" I start a separate chip stack with the amount owed so I can keep track.

I think the dealers are reluctant to sell chips out of the tray, but I have seen it happen a bit more lately. That certainly helps and so does the chip leader selling a few stacks to someone waiting for chips. I agree that selling chips from one player to another doesn't relieve the "how much do they actually have behind" issue, but I believe that specifically is isolated.

Bottom Line, just like the casino continues to place the responsibility on the players for protecting the cards, ensuring correct button position and other things, a player who is considering calling or going all in against someone should ultimately ask the dealer if the player has any larger chips or money behind. This way you are protected. In the cash game players DO NOT have to tell you how much they have, but the dealer is required to ensure any larger chips or "money behind" is known. If you were to ask the dealer this and it was not revealed to you, I guarantee you wouldn't be required to fork over "ALL" of your money to cover it when you asked the dealer those questions.

Playing behind isn't an issue if the chips come back within a hand. But if it takes the chip runner more than a minute or two to come back (long line at cage, picking up too many customers, etc), then this leads to a mess.

If the chip runners can come back in time, then it's better to have none and have dealers sell chips. At least then, the chip runners can take their time when they refill the rack.

Is there a chip cart downstairs, or do the chip runners have to go to the cage? I know there is a chip cart upstairs, but can't recall if I've seen one downstairs. I think so. Anyway, these carts really seems to help get the chips to the player much faster. I'm sure every once in a while they will get slammed with several requests for chips or fills all at once and take a bit longer to get chips to a reloading player, but in those cases, the dealers have to speak up (which they generally do) and the players have to pay attention.

One suggestion I would have is for management to tell the dealers exactly what their rack should look like for various games. For example, "if you get down to less than 40 whites, always refill to at least 150 whites" or whatever works best. I've seen one dealer sit down and trade their reds for blues, and then the next one replaces the blues with whites, and the next one notice they are out of reds and request some of them. I think a balance of each are needed to drop rake, but some of the newer dealers don't know what works best in a rack (which may be different for different games).

http://www.marylandlivecasino.com/pr...inners-choice/

Just asked by phone if playing in the poker room earns entries into this and was told no. I was also told playing poker doesn't count as 'carded table play'... which is the basis for most of the promotions.

I don't understand why the poker room is so isolated from promotions/rewards.

Because they don't make nearly as much from poker play as they do table game play, so it rewards less. They're not the only casino that excludes poker from most of its promotions.

Does anyone know if there's a call in list for the 4/8 limit games? Thanks!

I think this can be resolved by just leaving the cash on the table until the chip runner comes by. You can easily ask how much someone is behind if they have cash so them sneaking in smaller bills isn't an issue. There are carts upstairs & downstairs.

No. I think 8/16 or 15/30 is the smallest limit game they will let you call in for.

Simply put, its because poker doesn't make nearly as much money for the casino as slots and table games.

I can understand that I guess, but even so they do still make quite a bit of money from the poker room. Besides the $1/hour comp, we the players fund the poker room promotions ourselves. Is $1/hour really all they can give back?

If a video slot machine pays back 91.6% (which I read on a screen there 2 weeks ago), a player needs to spend over $1000 for the casino to make $100. A poker player at 1/2 NL gets raked every hand they win that sees a flop, up to $5. So say a slot player comes in for 3 hours and loads a total of $500 in a slot machine, while a poker player plays for 5 hours of 1/2 NL. The way I look at it the casino would make a similar profit off both players for the night, but only the slot player gets all the additional benefits?

Maybe I'm just looking at things wrong I don't know. Not sure what average hourly rake paid would be for an average $1/2 player either, just took an educated guess.

Your numbers seem fairly close, but keep in mind the casino is also paying that dealer so that costs them money, plus they can fit 10+ machines in the space of one poker table.

Right. They might bring in similar gross revenue numbers, but the net numbers will come out very differently.

Have an odd feeling that I know the answer to this, but figured I'd check here since I can't escape early. How bad is it (waiting wise) at 6pm-ish normally? I'll play pretty much anything within reason, but 2/5 or 5/10 NL would be my goal.

That is true, no doubt the cost of staffing the poker room is much greater than buying slot machines and powering/maintaining them.

Last Friday, list for 1/2 was ~75 @5:30, got seated in just over an hour. Don't know what the turnover rate is for 2/5 or 5/10, but at 1/2 it seems to be 1/minute + a little more.

Please don't let dealers sell chips; at CT, on every dealer change, the cash in the tray has to be displayed and counted and then verified by the new dealer. Big waste of time every half hour. At Borg, dealers are constantly calling for tray refills, which are also time-consuming. At Live, what's the big deal? You are never more than 30 feet away from a chip cart!

Really? How many hands per hour do you think are being lost because of this practice?

91.6% is with perfect play. The average person playing VP is going to be playing (much) less than optimally.

Also keep in mind that $1000 wagered on a VP machine doesn't mean the player inserted $1000 into the bill reader and list every hand. It's entirely possible that you could make $1000 in wagers with less than $100 actually risked. In all likelihood, the player is going to risk $100 and lose it all, therefore benefiting the casino, in much less time that a single poker player will pay that much of his share of the $5/pot rake. At ~20 hands an hour, the casino is taking $100 in rake per 10 handed table which equals about $10/player. VP and slots are king in the casino.

91.6% is the actual slots payout, as noted on the monitor near the entrance across from the food court. This was either for September or the quarter, I forget which.

100-200 NL running ?