They have turned off the music. This room is getting better all the time. :-)

Last Hand at 4pm. Wait til Wednesday
Should be OK. DOn't use them while your in a hand. This is new here, so be patient.

Change for rake purposes so we don't drop all $1 chips. 2 games of $2-$2 and 3 games of $4-$8


Thanks



Mike

Any good food in there or just sandwiches?

Limited dining menu today - no ability to order from Phillips/noodle today. $7 for a hot dog or sandwich (!). $9 for a personal pizza. $4 for peanuts

You sure you can order noodles from the poker room? The noodle restaurant is next to the buffet which is 3 blocks opposite end of the poker room. Also, 7 bucks for a hot dog is pricey.

herro, i wirr be starting a 15/30 h.o.e. as werr as 15/30 o.e. as werr as a 15/30 hordem list this opening wednesday to see whos whos and how the lists compile. look for A.S. and if you wanna play, then ADD YOUR NAME TO THE LIST OBV! gg

Yes. Mike mentioned well be able to, I was told by the floor person we'd be able to, and the poker room menus have Phillips/noodles adverts on them.

Mike: Aside from

are there any other options for players, e.g. bringing food in from food court "restaurants?" If the only options available are noodles/Phillips/other places inside the casino, I envision nightmarish table issues at mealtimes much like what has been discussed in the Borgata thread.

To extend this line of questioning, do you intend to (see a need to)
a) rigorously enforce absent buttons and chip pickups?
b) rigorously enforce third man walking?
c) maintain a dinner break list approach? (which I think Borg does, or at least tries to do.)

Thanks!

Hi everyone. I'm new to posting on here but have been following the threads leading up to the poker room opening. I had no idea how much information can be gathered on these forums. I just got back from the soft opening and for me, everything went great! My question for the rest of the members here is where/how should i post to make an attempt to get a 10/20 Omaha/8 game started in the future. Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm home after the soft opening. Overall, it seems like a very solid poker room. A few random observations:
- Plugs under the table for charging devices is a really nice feature.
- Wireless was great. One player was streaming video. However, guy next to me couldn't connect - maybe all the IP addresses were handed out or something.
- Our last dealer of the day was brand new - this was his first day ever dealing for real money ... and I couldn't tell. He acted like a pro who had been dealing for many years. I was very impressed.
- They were a bit slow calling names off the list when seats opened. When my seat opened, I went up to a floor person and told them I was first on the list and a seat was open and they verified and let me sit down, which was fine.
- We had one player check by rapping the table with chips in his hand and they called forward motion on him and forced him to put in a bet. This is an example of how there will be some adjustment by the players to the new rules also.
- My seat did not have a very good view of any of the TVs. There are enough around that you can easily check on scores, but some seats at some tables may not be able to watch a full game.
- The chips were nice. The only problem I had was getting them into and out of the rack since they are so new. When I racked up to leave, I could only get 19 chips from 2 of the stacks into the plastic rack. The cashier had to almost hammer in the missing chip in each case.
- I can't wait for Wednesday, and then for this weekend. It is so great to have a poker room so close, and also pretty awesome that it seems like it will be a top notch room.

Soft open was great. Imam totally pleased. I got there early and told Mike in person we all appreciated his feedback on the forum.

Did not see anyone order food but i did have a few 5 dollar drafts.

They had plenty of fast chip runners.

The leather seats are so new your butt will slip out of them, lol.

Temp was about right to me, internet was fast. Dealers that i had all had prior exp. one lady from Borgata and few from CT and Del.

I will be there on Wed.

The ICC 201 Bus picks up at the Dorsey Marc train station and runs directly to Arundel Mills mall from there. Just download the schedule at the Maryland Transit Website.

Extremely pleased with the soft opening.

Didn't have an invite and still got a seat within 10-15 minutes. Dealers were very professional, floor people friendly. A couple of greenish dealers, but that's expected.

Room is very nice, going to be VERY packed when opens. There were 19 tables running on Bravo at about 2:00pm.

Safety Deposit boxes: VERY VERY limited number. I was told that number is at around 40, no plans for how they will be distributed. (Don't want to be the guy who gives out the bad news, but this is important and should be addressed).

Mike did a great job, he's very friendly, so is the rest of the staff.

Super excited!

I think all things considered the soft open went very very well. Most of the issues were very minor it seems.

For those that waited to cash out in the poker room cage after 4:00 pm, how was that?

Very happy with how the soft opening went. I was part of the 1pm group, and played 2/2 plo the whole time.

Room:
-Lighting was great. It was decently dark but not too dark (like Aria)
-Table layout was organized and spacious. The tables arent clustered together having people bump chairs when sitting down and there's enough room for players and chip runners etc to walk (unlike Bellagio)
-Temperature got decently cool, but i expect that at any casino and thus never go without my sweatshirt
-Tables numbers could be displayed in a bit more obvious way. When i first got there and they called my table number, i had no clue wtf to go. But once a dealer explained the layout to me, it made much more sense. Still a bit difficult tho, especially cause some of the dealers rested their arms on the table number plaques.
-The only bathroom afaik is located outside of the poker room to the right. Not a very big concern, but something to keep in mind, especially if playing upstairs.

Staff:
-It seems as though most of the dealers couldnt keep track of the pot. Completely understandable, as the last dealer even said to the table that he's never dealt plo before. Players at the table for the most part kept track of the pot size
-Took the woman at the cage about 5min to count out my chips when cashing out. Also understandable as there was a huge line at 4pm when everyone was leaving and im sure they were just trying to be thorough.
-One of the floormen (i assume) went through the cashout line and asked people if they had any comments or suggestions, which i thought was a good idea, getting as much feedback from the players as possible to make the room run as smooth as possible.
-As far as i could tell i was the only one wearing a hoodie with the hood up, but as Mike said, its allowed and no one bothered me about it
-Careful about using your phone to take pictures/videos. Floor saw someone taking a video and they forced him to erase it.

Plo game itself brought a mix of people who knew what they were doing, and a couple trying it out. Expecting it to be much juicier on the weekends after the hard opening In for 200 out for 1k today.


Overall very well done. Great job Mike.

Overall, loved the room and had a great time.

My only issue is with the possible difficulty in eating during long sessions. As mentioned, prices are HIGH. ($7 hotdog?! $4 peanuts, $8 pizza, etc).

Add to this, a dealer told me there was a 30 minute walking rule. After that, they bag up your chips. Is this true? Most places give an hour.

You have to buy your drinks in poker room?

Just figured out where you sat from the way the MD Live! logo is in the picture. I agree, game was decent, a couple of action players, but was pretty tame. Mainly 1 guys was doing the preflop raising, building up the pots for the table. Great game overall.

Cashout was pretty quick, I stood in line for about 5 minutes.

Maryland does not allow comping alcohol. You have to pay for beer anywhere on the casino floor

On Wednesday the 28th. What time should someone arrive to secure a 1-2 nlh seat? Are lines expected?

Just want to reiterate what everyone else has been saying about the soft open. The room was very nice. I thought everything was great with the exception of some seats not having terrific TV views, and the god awful marching band/60's doo wap music they were playing.

There were a couple of inexperienced dealers as well as a good amount that were from other casinos. Even though some of the dealers were new and a little uncomfortable/unsure they were all very professional and obviously well trained.

Big thanks to Mike for putting together such a great venue. It's amazing to have such a top notch room in my backyard. Can't wait to get back in there on Wednesday!

Only complaint would be that there were too many $2 blue chips in dealers box. It took way too long for dealer to do their 4 hour box count. At one point players had to buy some whites from dealer to create space in dealer box.

Glad they turned music down in afternoon, it was a bit loud in the morning.

Overall, the place was great. The dealers were very well trained, and the event was awesome.

I was impressed with the room as well. The waitresses come around quite often and it was a very organized event. I didn't order food, but someone had ordered some Chinese that looked really good. I'm looking forward to playing Wednesday.

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Hey "SuqAta8";

I am really interested in the 2/2 and how was the straddle? Do people straddle every round? I tend to straddle every round at 2/5 NL so may need to make some adjustments in this new game. Glad u had a profitable day.

Thanks.

hi zo, i will gladly play 15/30 omaha hi/lo. 10/20 is just a bit small and also 15/30 structure is much more player friendly as it will be timed ($7 per half vs rake), which is much more beneficial to the overall health of the game. just make sure to always start a list when you go. and dont be shy to advertise. lets establish this game and have it going regularly. i have a dream.