A good portion of the staff moved down from NJ and Philly. There are also plenty of regular players who are Eagles fans. It's easily the third most popular team amongst people who work or play in the room imo.

He mentioned the Eagles because they're the closest team to DC with a chance of doing anything this season. We can start a thread in Sporting Events to discuss this topic further if necessary.

Lol, well played, Rapini. Come in with the parting shot of trash talk and then declare all further discussion of the topic off limits. (This is not a criticism. I genuinely got a kick out of it. Just thought I should explain that since tone isn't always obvious.)

Anyone else think it was hot as hell in the room today? Had one dealer that was drenched with sweat and I felt so bad for him wearing long sleeves.

It was very hot in there today. We obviously had a problem with our system and were working on it most of the day. Apologies to the players and staff for the uncomfortable situation today.

Hi JG,

On days like that it would be nice to open the backdoor for some air circulation in the evening time.

I heard because of the alarm they can't be open, it wouldn't be that hard to change that for extreme conditions.

I have a date on Thursday...we're going to the Nats game and I said I was going to park at MGM then uber over now the person wants to meet me at MGM. What's a good place to take a date for dinner at MGM or is the GTO play to get food at the stadium?

Is "Fish" any good? I actually think the food at MGM is really bad...only eaten at the food court and the burger place though.

"I think the food is bad, but I've only eaten at the lower tier fast food options."

MGM has some excellent food options. If you're adventurous eaters and have the time, the Maryland Fry Bar experience at Fish is great. You need a reservation for that. TAP is a good sports bar if you are looking for a more casual option. Voltaggio, Ginger, and Marcus are all good. Everything will be a little pricier but there are plenty of places to get a good meal.

Waiting for the last 35 minutes for a tournament seat, as they cap the number of tables to 5 or 50 players.

If I arrived 5 minutes late I wouldn't have to wait this long to play poker in a cash game I guess.

We probably need to add an extra line in the rules, for the daily tournaments management caps the entries to 50, alternates will be seated depending on the availability.

If only there were a solution for this. Like showing up early or something...

MGM does not run tournaments well IMO. I don't know how they'll manage the November series. They could learn much from the place up the road.

How long will you support the management, with the slogan, "This is how it is live with it."

Where is the scope for improvement if you are satisfied with just doing the right thing from your end as a player.

I have seen other places pull players from other tables to form a new table. To be fair, we had 4 people waiting when the registratrion was complete.

If they cap the game at 5 tables they cap the game at 5 tables.

They may cap it at 5 tables because that's as many tables as they're willing to spare for the extremely low profit venture of running a tournament compared to pulling $5 per hand from cash games.

They may cap it at 5 because that's all the dealers they have available.

I seriously doubt they cap it at 5 because they wanted to ensure they had full tables.

So I have a question for you: How long will YOU only consider things from your myopic perspective before you step outside the little bubble of "ME ME ME" and consider that there are other factors at play than just what you want?

Also, when will you stop ascribing motivations to others you have no business ascribing in order to justify said above narrow little selfish perspective?
And still - show up earlier next time.

In your detailed response, there wasn't a single reference to process improvement. I guess we will all stick with our own myopic views till things change or if they remain the same.

Yea I've been to TAP (I forgot the name). It was OK. Marcus and Voltaggio both have 3 stars on Yelp. Also, a steakhouse is not a good date meal unless it's VDay, bday, anniversary, or some other holiday. Ginger has 2.5 which is terrible. I haven't been to the other restaurants because I'm not willing to spend $40-50 on a mediocre dining experience, especially when, in my mind I'll be comparing it to restaurants in other MGM properties or even DC (which is a pretty bad city for food).

Fish has 3* on Yelp also but at least there is a nice view and fry bar experience or oysters sounds GTO.

For comparison, literally every restaurant at the harbor near the Ferris Wheel except the steakhouse (which looks terrible) and Granite Brewery has above 3 stars on Yelp. The food options at MGM, which I consider to be the nicest casino on the east coast, are simply not good for a resort.

To be clear I'm not a snob I think the food at the stadium is really good (especially the Crabcake Grilled Cheese sandwiches) and I don't mind eating at other casinos's food courts (though I usually walk to Nando's from MDL). Just going by metrics of price/wait times/food quality MGM food court is terrible.

You're right, there wasn't.

Because there were several reasons given for why they may be satisfied with the process as it stands.

Look, it would be great if every poker room could do everything exactly the way every poker player wanted. They can't.

Further, they don't really need to. The 2nd smallest (in table count) room in the region has a huge audience for cash games and that audience is made up of some of the richest counties in the country.

The reason rooms run tournaments, primarily, is to bring players in. People come, they play, they bust, they go play cash.

When your cash tables are full already, there's only one reason to run tournaments at that point. To shut up the people who want to just play low cost tournaments.

Fair points. I think I probably compare MGM to the other properties I've played a lot at. Food options here are world's better than at MDL, Parx, Sugar House, and most AC casinos. You're right though that it doesn'tquite live up to other MGM or Vegas properties. I do wonder if the lower Yelp ratings are a result of people in the area not being used to inflated casino prices.

The Fry Bar is a ton of fun and could make for a unique date. They only have three seatings a night on Fri/Sat/Sun and it takes about an hour and a half so it may not work with your schedule. And if either of you don't like non-standard foods then it might not go over too well.

Yeah I am strictly comparing it to other resort-casinos such as ones in Vegas/AC/FL. Honestly the prices are comparable to DC especially with there being 10% sales tax at restaurants in the district.

The food at Parx+Sugarhouse is terrible no argument there heh. But they also aren't resort-casinos so I don't compare it to MGM in my mind...MGM gets same category as Aria/Wynn/Bellagio....hell even the food at Commerce is way better imo though I would never in a million years bring a date there.

I think the food courts is better at Horseshoe Baltimore...MDL doesn't even try lol but there's a bunch of places to eat nearby. I also think the food is slightly better than MGM though and the noodle bar+sushi bar are good. The dumbest thing MGM does is rotate staff between food stations throughout the week so you have pizza people making tacos and then vice-versa on different days so the service ends up being slower and they have to re-train people all the time. The wait time for a Reuben is absurd and the quality of it culturally offensive to me...

I really don't think the price drags the rating down. The steakhouses in Borgata, Tampa Hard Rock, and Foxwoods are all super overpriced and have above 3 stars on yelp (also the food is really good and service excellent). The decor/outfits at Voltaggio kinda triggered me and seemed very ersatz...place just looks overpriced.

Eaten at Ginger several times as well as Fish and Tap. Wouldnt hesitate to take a date there. I read some of those terrible - and terribly written - reviews sometimes and wonder if it is the first time some of these people have been out to eat in a restaurant. Oh no, the *host* who sat you didnt have menus and you had to wait for the server? No kidding? Or the specialty cocktails you ordered, those werent pre-made and you had to wait?

My favorite is people who compare the pricing at Ginger to the prices of takeout or food in Chinatown. JFC people, you're in a high end casino. Here's one example "Although the dishes did not lack in flavor, and I might sound like a cheapie, but $22 and $26 for something I can get around the corner at the neighborhood carry out is crazy; but who am I to complain I choose this life.. " Get over it or you know what, order takeout from home.

Brief rant over.

In all seriousness, Fish is a good spot and can have a nice view out the windows, I actually like eating at the high tops in the bar area. Personally I think MGM has a really good collection of restaurants.

Somehow we'll pull through. Keep in mind, no one on this staff has any experience with a major tournament series...

Just for sake of argument, can you offer specific areas we can improve in running our tournaments? Would love to get the info to make necessary changes.

Johnny,

Thanks for the opportunity. I've.probably made it sound worse than it actually is. When I can sit at a computer, I will type up a short list of "grievances ". Individually they will sound like nitpicks, but collectively, they make the tournament experience less than optimal.

As someone who has played numerous daily tournaments, satellites, and 50k guarantees, I can offer the following complaints and suggestions for improvement:

-- Twice during hand for hand (in two tournaments), the floor has disappeared, leaving the dealers and players to coordinate the H4H by looking at each other's tables. Obviously, this should never happen. This is part of why we pay juice.

-- I have mentioned this one before: Floor hovering around the final table, making conversation with players and the dealer. Players don't want to hear this during a FT, no matter how small the tournament is. For a lot of recreational players, making the FT is a thrill and they aren't going to want any distractions. It's true that there may be some players who enjoy hearing the stories that the floor has to tell (one was talking about his upcoming vacation plans, while another was talking about his family) but those people must represent the minority.

-- Waiting around to get paid. The floor should be right there to pay someone when they go bust. The dealer should not have to yell for the floor to come do a payout.

-- Floor presence. The other local casino is very good at running tournaments and one of the reasons for that is they always have very professional, knowledgeable floor people standing around and supervising and ready to make a ruling when needed. Meanwhile, at MGM, the floor is generally not around when they are needed during a tournament. This may be a staffing issue and maybe the floor people are overwhelmed. But some should be there and only concentrating on the tournament.

-- Also, during a recent satellite, the floor forgot to color up the 500s at the break. Again, this should not happen.

-- Satellites. Twice I have won a seat to a main event at Borgata and both times, getting registered at Borgata has been a real hassle. Satellite winners should not be stressed just before the WPT ME that they are about to play because Borgata is saying that the funds have not been transferred. I had to make three separate trips to the main cage at Borgata to get registered for the 3500.

None of these things are a huge deal when looked at individually, but when someone who has a lot of experience playing live tournaments sees all of them happen, they are going to want to play up the street where the venue has a lot of experience running tournaments and treats its players with more professionalism and courtesy*.

* Once I asked a floor guy if we would be getting a player. He looked at me like I was stupid and said "Why would you be getting a player?" and it was quite rude.

This is off the top of my head. More later when I think of them.

I like the poker room and the people who work there. Just trying to help.

I'll preface this by saying that the room is fantastic and I will frequent it as is.

That being said...

1) Make sure that all the floors and dealers make the same rulings consistently from tourney to tourney.

A not so hypothetical case---the sb limps without knowing that the hijack raised. The dealer has determined that the hijack clearly raised. Can the sb pull back the limp? Is the limp in the pot regardless? I know the answer is (or at least should be) that the chips are in the pot and the sb can call or raise. I can't tell you how many times tourney tables have slowed to a halt until the dealer has to call the floor to make a ruling. The rulings have not been consistent.

2) Is there a penalty for showing your hand heads up on the river to get a read off of an opponent prior to action? This one has come up a lot too and it seems the penalty is to tell the offender to not do it again or else.

3) Eliminate the green chips from the first few levels of weekday tourneys. The current structure slows down the first levels considerably until the first color up.

4) Fix the chargers on seats 1-5 of table 31. If you're in the $350 at one of those seats and you run deep you're probably going to run out of juice on your phone.

5) Dinner break for the $350. This is a must. 10 minute breaks every two hours for a tourney that goes from 11 AM-~midnight requires longer breaks and/or a dinner break.

Again, the room is great and you and your staff are doing a great job. I have an optimistic suspicion that pretty much everything will run like clockwork by the tournament series in November-December.

Actually at a high-end restaurant this should never happen and is a sign of poor management/training/hiring practices. It would strongly stick out in my mind if a host didn't do this. It also increases the work of the servers/lowers number of people that can be served per hour. I realize it may it sound kind of silly but it goes to my point that the restaurants/cafeteria at MGM are badly managed+run and you are paying to eat at a steakhouse at a casino rather than eat at a steakhouse.

I agree that the complaints about the price are stupid.

As for the content of the Yelp reviews I don't actually read them but it's a good aggregation of information.