I made my first trip to the room yesterday and loved it... A few thoughts, first constructive criticism on two minor things:

1. The list moved pretty quickly, but the guy at the podium was swamped and instead of calling down names (he had maybe 10 seat cards), he was adding new names to the list. It seems like this is backwards since adding names slows down people who would be getting called already, but calling people does not slow down people getting added to the lists. I didn't say anything because I could tell he was stressing and just figured I'd relay it here. Within 10 minutes they added a second person at the podium to call names.

2. In most poker rooms, there are always racks floating around. I didn't see any when I needed one. I asked a floor and he got me one quickly, but you might want to consider putting a little cart in the corners of the room for racks so people can get them there. I'm guessing you have people scooping them up quickly to avoid clutter, which is great, but if there are designated spots to find them that would be helpful. Maybe there are and I was just looking in the wrong place.

3. Some dealers weren't calling for fills when they likely should have. This lead to a dealer getting stuck with between 900 and 1500 in cash, but the big problem was only $600 was in 100s and about 300 in 20s, there was a ginormous wad of 5s and 10s and they weren't sorted. This slowed the game down a lot. If they aren't going to be efficient calling for fills, maybe don't allow anything smaller than a 20 to be used at the table?

4. I was on table 1 for a while and was a little concerned that anyone sitting on that couch in the corner might be able to see hold cards for the 8-10 seats. Some people waiting for games were standing in front of the couch, and if they wanted to I'd be surprised if they couldn't see hole cards.

5. I know this is a known thing, but speeding up food service would be clutch. The frequency of the drink service and the extra ones with water was great.

On the good side:

1. Most of the dealers were very good. The bad ones were better than the bad ones in other rooms I've played in, so that's promising.

2. The morale is very good, which was to be expected. Only one employee was heard complaining in 8 hours, which is about 10 less than other rooms around here.

3. From what I saw your floors/supervisors are awesome. I was shocked in a good way to see a dealer from Borgata who was one of the friendliest/happiest there, and always did a great job. Glad to see he got a flooring gig!

4. I like the vibe of the room, and overall the casino is orders of magnitude cleaner and classier than the competition. Hopefully that doesn't change as it gets older!

5. The chairs are super comfortable, which is one of those critical underrated aspects of a room. I love the lack of cupholders in the rail, as well.

Keep up the good work!

Your post reminded me of a minor gripe with food...

After procuring a menu, which took awhile in itself. I decided to be proactive and get my comp voucher printed out so that if/when I was able to get a good runner I would be good to go.

Unfortunately the prices are wrong on the menus, as according to the food runner the Pappas prices have gone up. So then I had to give a card "in case" the prices changed, which I then got charged $2 on. Just a little annoying because if the price was correct I would have just used $2 more in comps. (dish was the shrimp basket, which is listed at $16 but is now $18).


Every time I've been back there are already great improvements though and I know it will continue...so keep up the good work

5 card h/l everyday? I'm definitely coming up

Regarding (2), while I too play PLO, I think your recommendation is unfair to the good dealers due to tip differential. I also think it's too much to ask that the weaker dealers learn anywhere but on the job when the room already is short-staffed.

Huh - I hadn't thought that tips would be any different. Would this just be a factor of PLO playing fewer hands per hour? Because the pots tend to be bigger than 1/3 or 2/5, so I'd have thought tips would be bigger. The last thing I want is for the better dealers to get less in tips.

I fail to see how any staffing issues are relevant - I'm just suggesting the rotation of tables be changed. Obviously, dealers have to learn on the job. Maybe have them deal a limit Omaha game to learn, instead of PLO. I don't think that changing the rotation to keep the new dealers at games they can handle. Walk before you run.

I've asked dealers multiple times in this forum and in real life whether the tips in omaha are comparable to holdem and it's a unanimous no. Some dealers enjoy dealing PLO for the mental stimulation compared to holdem, but not because of the tips.

I think you're missing half of a sentence somewhere in there, but we PLO players aren't more deserving of quality dealers than other games. That'd be akin to sending only the best dealers to the mixed games, which I also think is unfair to the rest of the player pool. We all need to be helpful and patient with new dealers. If they don't improve in a couple months, I'm sure Johnny will replace them.

Completely agree. No matter where I play, I always run into one or two dealers dealing PLO who are like this but look, they aren't going to get better at dealing PLO by dealing NLHE. We may not like it and it may not be the perfect solution. But I'm sure they went through a rigorous interview process up front and if they passed that then throw them in the deep end. Most PLO games seem to do a good job of self policing on the off chance its needed.

As far as the racks go, what about a few central bins/locations around the room for racks and cupholders? Some kind of a container with signs so everyone knows where they are? I'm sure there's a fancy way MGM would do something like that but IMO it would centralize the small things like this into a few different locations where you would have easy access to them.

I've been a few times now and the room is getting better as the kinks are worked out. Great job so far, Johnny!

Since there seem to be problems with a lot of the shufflers, I would just like to hear for the record that there isn't going to be any issue with paying the bad beat if it hits on a hand shuffled deck.

If you use the food runners, there is no need to print out voucher, just give them your comp card or a credit card. Vouchers are only needed if you go to the restaurant yourself to get the food.

Yeah I figured it would save a step

I agree there are good and bad dealers when it comes specifically to tracking pot size in PLO. Usually there is at least a player or two at the table that does it and will announce the amount needed when someone bets pot.

+1 on the bins for cup holders and racks. Would've been nice if the racks fit in the back of the chairs like at MDL. Since they don't, a central location would help everyone. Same with cup holders. They don't seem to have a home, so many times end up on the floor somewhere.

Johnny
With regards to regular Saturday tournaments once they start could you tell me what buyins will range from-to thank you

I know the texting does work, the issue is getting the person signing you up to ensure that your number is in the system. I have received texts both times I played when my name was called down for a ready seat.

I will say the first time the floor guy signing me up said no problem and added my number and provider, and the text worked. Second time the signup lady said they were not and could not text so basically shut me down. So I spoke to a floor guy in the back and he added my number to my name and I did get the text when I was called. With these two times working I know it works only thing I am not sure of is why the number wasnt saved to my card as I used it both times when signing up. The second time floor said it should be saved from now on and I dont need to do anything else, will check next time in if I dont get shot down by the floor.

Johnny if you can confirm what the texting policy for available seats policy would be helpful.

pots are bigger in plo but you do get less hands.
while maybe tips are worse in plo for everyone anyway it doesn't help dealer's tips that most of them (in general ,haven't played here yet) suck at dealing plo.

i'd be curious what the maryland live dealers would say since they almost all deal plo well.

there was also one dealer at the RIO who was phenomenal who ONLY dealt plo bc he requested it and got taken care of really well in the games. he got a ton of hands out (which obviously he would also do at hold em) and the players really appeciated it after getting garbage dealers all day.

It works, but in an extremely high volume room, the delay from the time we text someone until the time we fill a seat can be as long as 10 minutes. This is ultra frustrating for the players in the game...

I understand not using it as a reliable means for notifying players. But if you are away for the room in the restroom slot machine etc and you don't hear it would be good. I also think that it would limit some of the walk backs asking where they are on the list. But to me it is an added tool and takes no time extra to help with notifying players. Just my opinion and maybe it goes deeper than we can simply type out here in the forum.

Played PLO last night for a few hours, most of the dealers were fine. Only one I'd consider exceptional, dealt the cards with incredible speed, I'm sure we got a couple extra hands in on his down.

No real complaints except we had a long wait list and seats at our table would go unfilled for 15+ minutes sometimes - don't know how that happens. Probably 3 times in a 5 hour session with 15+ people on the wait list, we ended up playing with reduced rake for a bit -- probably shouldn't happen.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is reduced rake and who decides that? Unless you just mean that less players at the table = reduced rake.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

When you have 6 or fewer people at the table, you can ask the dealer to reduce the rake - pretty sure they have to confirm with the floor but I've never seen this request denied in any casino I've been in. I believe this cuts it from $5 to $3 in short-handed games.

Every Monday and Wednesday beginning January 16:




$120 NO-LIMIT HOLD’EM

11:00 AM
Every Monday and Wednesday
Level Ante Blinds Level Ante Blinds
1 - 50-100 13 500 1,500-3,000
2 - 75-150 14 500 2,000-4,000
3 - 100-200 15 1,000 3,000-6,000
4 25 150-300 16 1,000 4,000-8,000
5 50 200-400 17 1,000 5,000-10,000
6 75 300-600 18 2,000 6,000-12,000
7 100 400-800 19 2,000 8,000-16,000
8 100 500-1,000 20 3,000 10,000-20,000
9 200 600-1,200 21 4,000 12,000-24,000
10 200 800-1,600 22 5,000 15,000-30,000
11 300 1,000-2,000 23 5,000 20,000-40,000
12 400 1,200-2,400 24 10,000 30,000-60,000

General Rules

1. Players start with 20,000 in tournament chips.
2. Levels change every 15 minutes. 20 Minutes after level 8.
3. Players may purchase an additional $5,000 in chips for a $10 fee, which will be a staff add on.
4. Ten (10) minute breaks at the completion of levels 6, 12, and 16.
5. Breaks may be added or adjusted based on Tournament Director’s discretion.
6. Additional blind levels may be added if necessary.
7. Late and re-entries are allowed for the first 4 levels.
8. Each player is permitted one re-entry.
9. $100 from each entrant goes to prize pool, $15 withheld for house revenue, and $5 is withheld for staff.
10. Must be an Mlife member to participate
11. Must be 21 years or older to participate
12. MGM National Harbor Poker Room reserves the right to alter, change, or cancel any tournament.
13. Players will start with a full stack. Purchased stacks will be put into play at the end of registration if the player is still absent.
14. Seating may be limited
15. Tournament Director’s decision is final.
16. Additional blind levels may be added if necessary.
17. Management reserves the right to cancel or alter any tournament.
18. Winners will be paid in casino chips.
19. Winners must show a valid ID to collect winnings. Residents of foreign countries without a U.S. tax treaty are subject to withholding. Winners are responsible for any United States federal, state or local taxes and/or government fees that may be imposed in connection with the acceptance of the prize.

Meh, not really true, 5 card high every day and 8/ better in the 10-25 mix almost every day, but it has never IME gone at the 5-5 level.

I would be down for a regular 5-5 big bet mix (50-100 for the draw games) game, if we could find the ppl.

Johnny, any plans for monthly 500+ dollar buy-in tourneys? I believe that the player pool could support a 500 dollar tourney once a month (no bounties, pls),if not more.

Also would love to see a mixed games tourney, but price point would be interesting as your pool is prob the guys who play 6-12 HORSE where 500 is a stretch and 10-25 mix players who won't get out of bed for <1k BI

Possible on the 500+ tourney, but I have no room on weekends for tourneys. At least not ones with a decent structure....

It would be awesome to have a $500 deep stack event to replace the one in WV that apparently has died and the other one in MD that pays out 40% of the prize pool in bounties. I would be there every month.

I understand the space limitations. Maybe you could start it a little earlier (11am - maybe even 10:15am) and cap registration so that many of those tables would be freed up by Saturday night?

Is this all that is in the Works for Now? Mo and Wed AM??
Tournament Fan here and very curious!

starting tournaments on a federal holiday seems like a cluster.