Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyGroomsTD
I really wish I could get someone ITT that has played at least 50 hours at Beau Rivage in Biloxi. They could offer some insight into how games work where I have managed. It's a little different than most places...
I think I'm your man. I've played probably over 2000 hours at the Beau. Granted, this was back in 2009/2010 and I played almost exclusively 2/5 NLHE, so I can only speak of that timeframe and that game. What's funny is that the Beau was basically my first and only casino experience for a long time, so I didn't really understand how good I had it there until I ventured to some other poker rooms later on down the road.
Not sure exactly what you want me to speak on, but here are some quick recollections:
FLOOR/STAFF: Top notch, competent, professional, efficient. I have nothing negative to say.
COMPS: Very fair and generous comps. Much better than what I'm currently getting at MDL. I always felt like the Beau Rivage truly appreciated their poker clientele.
RAKE: I loved the $6/half-hour time rake (+$1 for jackpot IIRC). My philosophy was always that paying time is better (as compared to raking the pots) for good players, as the rake is distributed evenly among everyone this way, whereas if pots are raked, the good players end up paying a higher percentage of the total rake than the fish, since they're winning more of those (raked) pots.
BUY-IN LIMITS: I hate short-stackers with a passion, and this is probably fueled by my time at the Beau, where it wasn't really an issue since the minimum buy in was $300 at 2/5 IIRC. And the uncapped structure was phenomenal. There were several players who would regularly throw down a rubberbanded brick of hundreds on the table (bills played back in those days), equivalent to $5,000 or more as their initial buy-in. On a ten-handed table, it was pretty common for 7 or 8 of the players to be 300 BB's deep. I personally rarely bought in for more than $600 or so, as I was more comfortable starting with a reasonable stack and grinding it up. But the uncapped nature of the game never bothered me. Quite the contrary, in fact. I always saw it as that much more earning potential. I guess I understand why some people think it would scare the fish, but the kind of fish that are going to be scared of uncapped buy-ins are the nitty fish, and aren't the ones I want to attract to the game anyway. I want deep-pocketed gambling whales who see an uncapped buy-in and think "now there's a game where I can get some good action!" This was probably my favorite thing about the 2/5 games at the Beau.
ACTION/PLAYERS: Over the course of the time I played there, the action got a little bit worse, though this was no fault of the casino. It seemed like a few too many pros started popping up and became a larger percentage of the player pool. I think this was right around the time Florida poker began, too, which wiped out a large portion of the rec players who would otherwise travel to Biloxi to play. When I first started there, though, the action was insane. Which is why I moved there in the first place. Also, there were some times during the week where there might only be one 2/5 game running so table selection wasn't even an option.
Overall, my memories of action at the Beau are quite fond, and I would implore Johnny to do whatever he can to replicate that dynamic at MGMNH. In my years of poker POST-Beau, I've come to realize how many amazing things there were actually outliers to the industry norm, and it was a sad realization. The buy-in structure being the biggie.
If you want me to elaborate further on anything, Johnny, or if there's a subject I didn't touch upon, let me know and I'll be happy to do so. If anyone has any questions for me about the Beau, shoot. Just know, everything you've heard was real. The legend is true.