I think I see what you are trying to say. That a player who plays more pots, pays more rake, and therefore benefits less overall?

This is true, but their overall play style and rake contribution would be reflected in their winrate. The chart above is independent of winrate and bonus should be added to overall winrate. It represents the hourly expected value of the promotion compared to when the promotion is not running.

By the same logic, you could say a poor player would benefit less from this promotion, because they will lose a lot of money for the chance to win the promotion. That may be true in actual dollar terms but not in expected value. If they are typically a -$15 an hour player, during the promotion they could be a -$2 an hour player. Still losing money, but less.

There’s nothing wrong with these assumptions at all. It would be ridiculous to figure every situation possible. Averages are enough to gauge.
Also, those factors don’t have a bearing using the way he is figuring this anyway. He’s counting the totals beyond these factors.

That being said, I disagree with this idea of bonus ev in this situation

You say that bonus EV is not a free handout.
I agree. Then why is the cost not factored into the EV?
I think its a mistake to lump in the promo drop as part of the “cost of playing the game”. The rake is the cost of playing the game, the promo drop is the cost of participating in the promos.

BTW- not trying to be difficult, hope you don’t mind a friendly debate to hash things out

Its no problem, I'm really a scientist and a teacher so its kind of what I do. Sorry if I was short at any point.

The reason I don't factor in the promo drop is because the promo drop always occurs (during promotion or non promotion times). So basically, you are paying promo drop whether you have an ability to win it or not. So when comparing promotion to non promotion games, the $2 on each side of the equation cancels each other out.

Because of that, this formula only compares promotion vs non promotion games in the same card room. So this formula/chart is useful if you want to make a decision about playing Sat vs Sun at MGM, or trying to determine how much more valuable your time is on Sat vs Sun. If you're trying to decide which room to play and wanted to compare a promotional game at MGM to a non promotional game at MS (where you are paying less rake and less promo drop) this chart becomes less useful. You would have to calculate or estimate your average hourly rake in each room, then see if the bonus EV awarded by the promotion makes it worth it.

the security at mgm in sprinfield, ma. is in a league of it's own. if you want to get rolled, knifed,beaten,raped,or any other such sundry things just go on down. the security will help you out when it is all over.

Seriously it can’t be THAT bad can it!?!
Got me second guessing now

You guys are aware that "security" legally cannot help you past making a radio call for the police right? I could stab you in the face and the most that security can do is make a good description of me to the cops or show them the security footage. Either way....your face is stabbed. Just be aware of your surroundings and you'll be fine. Not everywhere is the middle of the CT woods.

This is ironic because the MGM billboard points out that they are in the city and not in the middle of nowhere

Lol....it's easier to vanish into the city then into the woods. But let them advertise whatever makes people comfortable.

The poker room has a Twitter account now: https://twitter.com/MGMSPoker

Be careful and aware here guys. While you need to be aware of your surroundings no matter where you are you need to pay extra attention here or you could regret it. I haven't seen a place as close to being in the wild west since I played at MGM Kabul !!!!

Hmmmm. I know a couple of employees, and regularly have coffee with a bunch of cops who work the casino who all have a much more docile description of the place. I'm not sure if the prior posts are just rumors out of control, or just misunderstandings, but I've heard it's been surprisingly quiet.
The police logs dont show much going on, so unless they are actively removing lots of stuff from public records, the place is much safer than people think.

In addition to my post #320 I found out Sunday when I was at Foxwoods that a floor from that casino was at MGM the weekend before and got coldcocked by some random dude outside of the poker room leaving his mouth bloodied and him out cold on the ground. I mean....I dunno what has to qualify to go on a police log but from my experience and this reported incident I'd hardly say that this place is docile.

I played in the poker room about 9 hours Friday night into Saturday morning this past weekend, these were my observations:

1) Dealers still need a lot of coaching on fundamentals. More than a few would get deeply involved in conversations between players which ground the action to a halt. I like friendly dealers, but to engage with players they need to be able to multitask and keep the game moving. More than once I had to correct a dealer on the minimum raise required when a player raised too little. One dealer burned and turned the river before the button had acted. Another dealer mucked the stub after I moved all in and another player had called. There was also a lot of players chattering about their hole cards or the board.

2) Beverage service was nearly nonexistent. I ordered a bottle of water and it arrived after dealers changed twice (roughly 50 minutes). In the 9 hours I was there, I only heard/saw a beverage waitress 3 times.

3) Spacing needs to be improved. Several times either myself or my chair was struck by a fast moving floor person or janitor pushing a trash barrel. Despite the table being squared up when the table was full, the player on my right was practically on top of me and constantly hitting me with his knee and arm (I was pressed completely against the rake box with no room on my left).

4) Player conduct needs to be policed better. There was one clearly over-served player walking around the room singing at the top of his lungs with no consequences (2 players at my table complained to dealer, then went to find a floor themselves). A lady at my table was also clearly over-served, berating players, loudly bragging about her Nordstrom card, and spilling liquor on the table. Dealers and floors should be watching this more closely, especially given the 4am exemption granted to the casino lest the gaming commission hear too many of these types of stories and decide the exemption was a bad idea.

5) Red felt and no courtesy line for dealer. I know many have complained about the felt color, add me to the list. Though I'm not a fan of hard betting lines (forward motion should always be the rule), a courtesy line showing how far a dealer should be able to reach can be very helpful in keeping the game moving.

6) The racks should have black chips added and more white. The number of fills was ridiculous and also contributed to slowing the game down. Dealers were fanning out the cash and verifying the rack at every swap. Chip runners would be ideal instead of selling out of the rack, and first buy in should be mandatory from the cage instead of allowed from the rack.

7) Comps. Was very disappointed to learn that poker doesn't earn tier points and that it is so complicated to use the points outside of the poker room. None of the casinos I've frequented over the years (even the small charity rooms in New Hampshire) offer such difficulty for poker players to earn and redeem.

My family and I get Six Flags season passes every year, with the casino opening I was hoping to start spending a day at the park then getting us a hotel so I could play some poker at night and then either back to the park the next day or driving home refreshed. If these issues remain the status quo in the Spring I probably won't bother with that plan and won't be choosing MGM over Foxwoods or Mohegan any time soon as the distance is about the same.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Springfield is gonna Springfield.

If you're not safe at the casino, you're not safe anywhere in the city.

Do not flash mass cash in the external community.

Living in western Mass for the majority of my overly-extended life, the casino feels o.k. to me.

I make sure to park near the elevators and directly hit 91 upon exit, unless I'm hitting another downtown spot.

Worthy Cajun eats: Big Mamou's (well outside the MGM footprint) on Liberty Street - byob.

I think you'd have to call the police and file a report to have it show up. The FW floor got punched? He's not the guy from the police report is he? That guy was randomly punched by some dude who was going around springfield all day randomly punching people.

Maybe I'm going to the wrong MGM!? Because I've never seen/ heard anything dangerous in my 55 hours of poker and 5-6 hours of hanging out since they opened. I've also never seen more visible security in any casino I've been in. I've seen quite a few drunks and degens and people on an assortment of drugs but all of them pleasant and friendly enough, all of them willing to make bad bets and lay me great odds. Iunno.

Not really comfortable leaving the casino with my roll on me, so deposit boxes would be nice as there are some restaurants nearby I want to check out. Other than that, I really don't have any issues. I'll post here and let you guys know when I get stabbed though.

I played here last Saturday and I really think some of you guys are being way too harsh on the place. The poker room is amazing, I thought the service was good, dealers were fine, and I had some noodles in the food court area that was actually pretty quality. Also I like the hot seat promo, it adds some fun and seems to attract casual players.

Also I felt completely safe, I mean I went garage -> casino -> garage, but I don't se why you would do otherwise lol.

Ill be going back to this room for sure.

No, different incident. The guy on the day long bender was over a month ago, this latest was last weekend. I'm sure the casino doesn't want these things hitting the news reports and anything police is going to be public record so it would seem they would simply throw the guy out rather than call police in for an arrest.

Hey, I'm all about that as well. My comments in this thread regarding safety concerns people have were isolated to those concerns. I've played in rooms just as shady in FL and in the Midwest.

Hearing a Western Mass guy recommend parking near an elevator and be sure to hop directly on the highway aren't the most comforting words to those who do have concerns. Again, I'm not the guy worried so much about it but only advising those from the middle of CT that it IS going to be a little different than what they are accustomed to at their home casino.

What time/days do you usually go? Maybe its a weekend/ drunk people thing.
I doubt most of these incidents are random. And I’m guessing robberies inside the casino or even in the garage are not common at all. I would guess the robberies are happening outside of the casino. As far as the violent incidences inside the casino or poker room, if you’ve ever had to deal with “problemed” places before, you can learn how to stay out of trouble.
I get it, sometimes trouble finds you, I’m saying thats the exception not the rule.

You know, I see a lot of people at the Connecticut casinos who say, act, or do things with a certain sense of naïve security that wouldn’t fly in some places. Whether wrong or not, maybe Springfield is one of those places.

Not just being confrontational but also for example-

I once saw a kid win a bad beat jackpot, take his share in cash, put it in a duffel bag, run around the room tipping waitresses and dealers hundred dollar chips and went home.
Everyone should see the problem with this but I think that some people just don’t think this way.

I know who you are referring to and I’m just curious if you heard this from him or from one of the many players who all spreading a different story?
After reading recent comments, it appears you’re saying two diff foxwoods floors were punched in the face? The one I know of happened 2-3 weeks ago

ICYMI - More rake is better confirmed at MGM.

There is a thread on their twitter where management has clarified that the higher rake structure is ACTUALLY BETTER! This was after someone complained about the rake being unbeatable. Damn, it turns out DNegs was right all along!

Can you get into and out of the garage straight from the highway?

No!!!!!! Not the rake discussion again!!!

lol oh no. Can you link it? I don't see that convo on the page.

More rake IS OBVIOUSLY BETTER (for MGM)