Congrats to Ari for being the first east coast room manager who "gets it" when it comes to limit poker! I guess we'll still have to wait and see how it pans out, but the good stuff I see so far are:

1. No BBJ! BBJs suck money out of the player pool to fund a lottery. It never made any sense to me since there are slot machines just outside any poker room for those who wish to play a jackpot game.

2. $15-30 and $30-60 instead of $10-20 and $20-40. The 2/3s small blind structure rather than 1/2 small blind makes this a much better game IMHO. Not to mention $10-20 pots always *look* small because of the 2 chip/4 chip bets. The 3 chip/6 chip bets in $15-30 have an allusion of making the pot appear more than 50% larger when you are staring at a pot :-)

I look forward to the new room! I'll be there for the mid limit games when it opens.

Thanks for the information and communication, Ari. It is really appreciated.

I'll definitely be checking out the room soon after it opens.

I wanna see what Chester does for business after PARX opens, Should be laughable .. A casino with poker 15 minutes from my house ..... PARX FTW !!

Give the people what they want...and most want NLH. Not saying that there is not a demand for limit poker, however, my assumption is that the VAST MAJORITY of games will be NLH.

Is there a major cardroom anywhere that has more limit than no limit? More non holdem than holdem? My guess is no there is not.

I agree about Chester - I currently go there periodically, but assuming PARX has more space between tables, offer $15-30 LHE, no BBJ, and people in the cage know how to cut a stack of chips, then I see no reason to ever go to Chester again.

As for the NLH comment from PokerSki13 - I agree that most likely the majority of games will be NLH. However, poker rooms should cater to limit players too, not just NLH. Limit players play much faster than NLH players, which generates more rake for the casino, which equals a bigger profit for the casino, as well as more tips for the dealers. If it's a timed game, then the casino has a guaranteed income, which is typically still much greater then a $1-2 NLH game would generate in that time.

Btw, I think the Bellagio may be close to a 50/50 split between limit and no limit games. Bellagio always has a bunch of tables running LHE, as well as some Omaha8 and at least 1 stud table and sometimes 2. I think it's somewhere close to a 50/50 split there.

I certainly wouldn't mind Parx have a similar game lineup as Bellagio....

I think that the people who live 15 minutes or less from Chester will keep going there, but otherwise if it's an equidistant drive and Parx has their act together from the start, you'll see people defecting to Parx. You already have some people like myself driving longer distances to go to Del Park or Borgata (in my case, Borgata) because there's too much discomfort in playing at Harrah's. Namely an indifferent and incompetent floor, slow dealers, no comped alcohol, and a physically tight playing area.

I'll say it again though, if Parx sucks like Harrah's, and I really hope it doesn't, then I'll still go to Borgata. Let's hope the wait is worth it because I'm definitely excited about having a great poker room close to home.

Not sure what your point is, people will come to the room and play what they want. Poker rooms don't magically create games. And "VAST MAJORITY" is a gross overstatement. Unless you consider around 2/3 worth an all caps vast majority.

Correct me if I'm wrong but is Chester mostly NLHE?They seem to have trouble getting a 10/20 limit game running on a regular basis.Yes I believe the room will run whatever game it can support.This is not Vegas or AC and I have a hard time believeing you can find a steady base to run 15/30 or 30/60.Maybe on a weekend a game of 15/30 but their bread and butter will be 1/2 and 2/5 NL

Yah 10/20 used to at least run nightly but hasn't the last couple Saturdays which blows. I'm hoping a lot of people just aren't going because it's Chester and a regular 15 game can run here.

Agree. I'm positive that the #1 requested game will be 1/2 NL, and the #2 requested game will be 2/5 NL. However, if Parx is going to really succeed, it needs to spread limit games, and non-hold 'em games.

I'd also love to see a lineup like Venetian/Bellagio...

Pretty much nailed it here. Harrah's Chester sux and the player pool in Philly is large enough for the 15 game to run everyday at Parx. A lot of 10 players I know at Harrah's live closer to Parx anyway, which should help the game. I also know a guy that runs a 15 game in Philly and says as soon as Parx opens, he's closing his game. There are players in that home game (winning/losing) that will flock to Parx to play 15/30 and there may even be 2+ games daily.

As for 30/60 I really don't believe that the economy is strong enough for this game to run everyday. My guess is it will be similar to the 40 game at Borg. and run on Fri-Sun mostly.

I am one of the previous regular players in that game, at one point every day of the week. A few factors have kept me away recently, primarily though I am waiting for Parx to open. I thought it was going to be Oct 1st, so the gap in not playing would have been shorter, but as we see now Nov 1st. The drive to Harrah's started to get to me also, considering I had to drive by Parx and then another 40 minutes to Harrah's got tilting. Assuming everything goes well with the opening and the game is there I will be there almost daily for mid limit holdem.

im hoping they can spread some plo too....so hard to find a live game.

I mainly play NL so in a 15/30 game would a 20 big bet buy-in 600 be a comfortable amount?

Does anyone know how many tables Parx is going to start off with and is the alcohol going to be comped?

Yes for full ring 20-25 BB would be a standard buyin. Shorthanded I would prefer buying in for 30 BB as higher variance factors in.

That is a perfectly fine buy-in. I like to use 40 times the small blind. It's just how I've been brought up.

The 15-30 limit will be huge. All the limit games will run daily. NLHE is king now but limit will make a comeback. I play NL tourneys and limit ring. There are tons of players that do the same thing. I just prefer a steady limit game. Kudos to PARX.

that is all

I agree, there seems to be a demand for 15/30. I think they'll probably get a 30/60 game on weekends.

I'm not so sure about 4/8 & 8/16 though. People are such creatures of habit, and are used to playing 3/6 & 10/20 in AC. They might not be willing to give these limits a shot, even if they are better chip structures.

Hopefully Parx will spread 4/8 as the lowest limit game, and they'll have $2 chips for 8/16.

On another note...does anyone think Parx will be able to get non hold 'em games going (at least on weekends) ? I'd like to see at least one table of O8, Stud (NOT 1-5), and PLO go regularly.

I'm glad to see limit could be king here. Just a suggestion, if 15/30 is an option, please avoid 7.50-15 game. Both are 2/3 blind structure and I would think the lower game would take the action from the 15/30 game. Also if possible avoid 3-6 since it is a 1/3 blind structure. This might kill lower limit action. I would think 2-4, 4-8, 8-16, 15-30, 30-60 would be the most profitable from a players perspective while creating action for the poker room. Of course higher games can be spread at the players request whatever the limits are. HORSE or some other mix limit game would also be a nice change of pace from NLHE and LHE. PLO is a nice game too.

Note to the players: We might have to play short-handed some night for a few hours to get a game regular so please understand the games popularity will be because of us players willing to play in games that don't have full tables. 9 handed and 6 handed tables create more action too and would be a change from what a player normally gets when playing live.

Why couldn't you spread 3-6 with a 2/3 blind structure? I mean, I know it's 1/3 in most card rooms, but I don't see why this is a rule, or why it is any different from higher limit games.

But you have got to be overthinking this. No one thinks about blind structure when deciding what game to play in....at least no one who you actually want in the game.

If the games are running I'll be there fairly often and happy to play 8/16, 15/30, 30/60 with any number of players from 2-10. You can count on me to help you start games and keep em runnin!

Here's an article I found. Encouraging to hear that Parx wants experienced dealers and will recruit out of state for them:

http://www.theday.com/article/201010...310029910/1018


Casino holds promise of jobs for laid-off dealers
By Brian Hallenbeck

Publication: The Day

Published 10/02/2010 12:00 AMUpdated 10/02/2010 03:36 AMSean D. Elliot/The Day

Steve Leso, left, a poker shift manager from Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa., greets an applicant during a job fair Friday at the Mystic Marriott in Groton. The casino is adding table games to its offerings and is hoping to recruit experienced dealers from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.Buy Photo

Parx of Pennsylvania looking for experienced workers at local job fair
Groton - Eager for a fresh start or merely hedging their bets, they were either out of work or feared they might soon be. Casino jobs in a growing market held promise.
Less than three weeks after Mohegan Sun laid off hundreds of employees, including some table-games supervisors, and six weeks after Foxwoods Resort Casino cut 40 jobs in a reorganization of its table-games department, a Bensalem, Pa., casino launched a two-day job fair Friday at the Mystic Marriott, searching for experienced dealers to staff its new gaming tables.
For the locals, Parx Casino's presence was fortuitous.
"It's ironic that they should show up two weeks after the layoffs," said Robert Williams of Bozrah, who lost his job in the Mohegan Sun downsizing. He'd worked at the Uncasville casino for 13½ years and spent a couple of years at Foxwoods before that.
"I've made it my career. It's my passion," he said, filling out an application.
Williams said he'd prefer to find work in southeastern Connecticut, where the casinos have been battling recessionary trends for the better part of three years, but thinks he might be better off in Pennsylvania.
"Anytime you have a newer casino, you're going to have a lot of new play," he said. "For the first three or four years, it's going to be very busy."
Gaming revenues at Pennsylvania's nine casinos (a tenth, Philadelphia's SugarHouse, opened last week), have grown every year since slot machines debuted in 2006. Table games were added for the first time this summer, boosting revenues further.
Parx, located just north of Philadelphia, hired nearly 400 people to staff 57 table games, including baccarat, blackjack, craps and roulette. The games generated more than $11 million in the first eight weeks.
Parx now needs to hire 300 to 400 more dealers, including 80 with supervisory experience, as it prepares to open a 24-table poker room in November and add 50 more table games by the end of the year, according to Ari Mizrachi, the casino's director of table games. Parx hopes to fill 10 to 15 percent of those positions during the job fair.
By 11 a.m. Friday, 90 minutes into the fair, about 60 candidates had visited the Parx desk outside a Mystic Marriott ballroom. Mizrachi described the field as a roughly even mix of those working and those out of work. Virtually all of the candidates had worked or were working for one of the local casinos.
In searching for experienced dealers, "Atlantic City and Connecticut are the only two markets you can tap into," said Mizrachi, whose own casino career began at Foxwoods, where he was a poker dealer in 2002 and 2003. If Parx's hiring here coincides with layoffs at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, it's strictly a coincidence, he said.
Several job-fair attendees said they were dealers at Mohegan Sun and felt none too secure about their futures there. None would give their name.
Among Mohegan Sun dealers, there's a feeling that "we could be next," one woman said. "Everyone's walking on eggshells." A Mohegan Sun supervisor who noted that he's worked there since it opened said he and a companion who also works there were "hedging our bets" in investigating opportunities at Parx. He said they were concerned about the prospect of further layoffs at Mohegan Sun.
Candy McDermott of Mystic, an executive host at MGM Grand at Foxwoods, said her husband was a floor supervisor at Foxwoods, where he's worked since "day one."
"We've checked it out," McDermott said of Parx. "We have family down there and we'd like to start a new future in Pennsylvania."

You can count me in.
15/30 Limit would be great for PARX. I play 20-40 when I'm running bad in 5-10 NL at the Borgata. The 20/40 Limit at Borgata has become tougher.
I'm sure PARX will have at least a 10-20 Limit game.
Looking forward to playing there!!!