Who cares about free drinks if the games are good?

Judas! Stone him!

I agree it's a real bad selling point for the room, especially after its grand opening. If the games are good though, I will play there almost daily. I don't mean soft 3-6 through 9-18, I mean 15-30 and up!!!!! Can't believe all the low limit games!!!!! Get with it people!!!

Limit is a dying game game at mid stakes.People don't want to drop 800 playing when they can play 4-8 and have fun for 300.I will be shocked if you will be able to sustain a 15-30 regular game.I can see maybe a 8/16 plo8 game being a staple.To keep a 15/30 game going you have to be able to run it short for periods of time which will require a larger roll.Well anyway good luck with it because it will be spread if you can supply the players
I think the 2/5 200 BB's has the most potential to be the cash cow.

What would buy-ins for 8/16 PLO8 look like? When 10/25 PLO runs @ the Borg, I've seen approx 100k in play in a 5-handed game.

Alirght, just checked out Parx. 65 people waiting for 1-2. Room was eerily quiet with few places for those 65 to wait. Perhaps a lounge or something for thee folks to hang out in would be welcome (forget the Circle Bar, people are smoking there). The smoke level in the room is very manageable so far. I came home not smelling like a cigarette). Lack of 2-4 or 3-6 games is a deal-breaker for me. Back to Harrah's on Fridays until this changes.

I couldn't make it today - too long of a day at work for me to have the energy to shuffle chips and lift those heavy cards.

Any word on the 4/8 games? Were they full of 2+2ers or just your average poker degens? Or should I ask it this way - was the average age over 60 or not?

There were 3 of them at a point, all crazy LP and awesome.

Stay at Harrahs

The amount of tables is doubling in size during December.

This whole smoke thing is way blown (pun intended) out of proportion. The room does not smell. The bar in the back of the room does. But For players, no need to be concerned unless your allergic to watching someone smoke from a distance.

Also, room is awesome. Tables look a foot too short... so maybe a bit tight. But really nice room.

Here now. 1-2nl is +60 deep as well as 2-5. 15-30 lhe also has a deep list and is currently running. 1-2 plo 500 max going. 5-10nl going as well.

Also a list for 8-16 o h-l dunno if its running. 8-16 lhe also a go.

The 15-30lhe game will not die I can guarantee u this. Like I told macguyver the location of the casino will attract the plentiful lhe players within a 40 mile radius. I know of many limit holdem clubs which are soon to be non exsistent now.

Grr, wtf. This will hopefully change tomorrow.

Yah particularly when they have terrible beer anyway.

Replace "4-8" with "1-2" and that sentence is no less true for NL. If limit is dying that is not the reason.

Do the tables have the ShuffleMaster shufflers in them?

Also, this may have been asked, but are they accepting call ins to get your name on the list?

Are the 8-16 LHE, and the 15-30 LHE time games or rake? What is the time charge?

So I just got home a little while ago and here are my impressions:

Pros:

The room seemed very smoothly run
Dealers were competent to excellent (new ones were doing well, even if they were a little nervous)
Waitresses were around often enough, never felt like I had to wait too long for one
Did not smell any smoke except when the guy next to me got back from having a cigarette
Plenty of TVs everywhere
As silly as this may sound I really liked the color of the room, soothing and not loud


Cons:

The use of $2 chips at the 1-2 NLH table was a bit annoying (they are light blue and the $5’s have some light blue on the side so I got dirty stacks a few times by mistake)
Bravo system was not filling seats as fast ah I would home (long wait list and we had empty seats a few times that took a while to fill)
Could not re-buy from the table (I realize with lots of new dealers they want to make it easy for them but it is a pain for the players and the game)
No free water unless it was tap water

Overall I am very happy with the room and feel it will only get better as they work out kinks and learn what will work and what won’t. I was lucky enough to get there just before the rush so I got a seat immediately. I did notice the list got to ~30 within 15 minutes of me getting a seat. The game selection seemed good, I think I saw LH, NLH, PLO, OEB, and stud running. I did hear the 15-30 game called at least once but I don’t know if it went.

Keep up the good work.

Oh, I was misinformed then. This was a reliable source...maybe it's a philadelphia county thing then? Parx is located in philly county right? Or maybe not and the the guy is an idiot and I can't wait to see him again..

At least the 15/30 is time at 6 per half.

I'll check this out Thursday. Is rake by timed or per pot?

the lack of free alcohol and smoke are pretty disappointing. Nonetheless, I will still check it out maybe this weekend.

Just got back from my visit to the poker room. Very well-run overall, floor and management seemed highly competent. I am happy with the room now and expect it to be excellent after the number of tables is expanded.

The good:

• Very spacious room, pleasant and comfortable to be in overall.
• We all got free Parx poker hats! Sweet.
• I heard $1/hr comps, for 2/5 and/or 5/10, I forget. Not a great rate, but I believe the room is trying to compete with the other PA cardrooms on rake/comps, rather than AC cardrooms, which seems fine.
• There are some decently healthy food options at the bar in the room, and the food is prepared in advance (from the limited menu), so you get your order pretty fast, took about 5 minutes for mine. There seems to be a larger menu at the cafe downstairs.

The unfortunate:

• Tables are indeed a little small. This was rarely a big problem, but was definitely noticable. I wonder, is the plan to make the games 9-handed after the expansion? The tables seem like they would be very comfortable for 9 instead of 10 players.
• The additional tables that will be in the room post-expansion (to occur in late December) are already in the room and are just closed off by temporary dividers. It is kind of sad and awkward that the tables are already there and ready to go, and that the room would benefit so greatly from having them now, but that some silly gaming control board rule prevents them from using them until the casino games expand.
• Deposit boxes are also ready to go, but cannot be given out for another 2 weeks or so due to yet another bizarre gaming board approval process. Eligibility will be based on accumulating some play first.

The bad (stuff that I hope can be changed soon):

• The room is using light blue $2 chips, even in the 2/5 and 5/10 NL games. Dealers appear to have been instructed to chop $5 chips by giving two $2 and one $1. This is highly silly for 2/5 and 5/10 NL games in my opinion, no need to have an additional color of chip to keep track of. Even worse, the color of these chips make it hard to distinguish them from the greenish-blue $25 chips, and they even blend in with the little blue spots in the $5 chips somehow. I see absolutely no reason to circulate these chips in 2/5 and 5/10 NL games, just use all $1s.
• Lighting in the room is definitely a little on the dim side. I would think that a very bright room (a la Borgata) is best both for the players comfort (and for their longevity of play). Perpetual daylight is better than perpetual twilight.
• Can't rebuy from the chip tray at the table. I didn't ask why this was the case -- is this another zany gaming control board rule? Is this only temporary? Cash doesn't play, and lack of quick and easy rebuys definitely slows the game down. I know you can rebuy from the dealer at Chester. There were two chip runners though, and they were actually around some of the time.
• As for smoke, I never felt like actual smoke was blowing over from the bar area, but the smell of smoke was definitely worse near the bar area. I think it might just be a case of smoker's clothes smelling strongly of smoke after their extremely short walk back to the table. Unpleasant for a nonsmoker like me, but not necessarily a deal-breaker. I heard one dealer mention that there was going to be a change in the designated smoking area after one of the expansions.
• $1 for water, which I was informed is indeed going to change. Semi-related, has anybody located a water fountain near the poker room?

It was nice to meet you in person today, Ari, congrats on what seemed to be a very smooth opening day. I'll be back again to brave the opening weekend crowd, which will hopefully be a little less dense in 2+2ers than today's crowd was.

im pretty sure he meant 8/16 Limit O8. 8/16 would be a very odd stake for a big bet game with 5/10 or 10/20 making much more sense.

Also, can't rebuy in game? :0. More incentive not to get stacked haha. Can you top off at the game? Like add on to the max?

You can rebuy and add on as normal, I just meant that you can't buy additional chips from the dealer's tray. Sorry for the confusion.