TRIP REPORT, Thurs 3/8
- I live just north of the Bronx & it took me only 1hr20mins without traffic to arrive at RWC. All highway driving, no backroads through the Catskills. Nice smooth drive.
- Elevator from the parking garage drops you right off at the poker room on the 2nd floor. Convenient.
- Poker room is very separate from the rest of the casino, not unlike Revel's poker room (for the brief time it was open). So you're not a part of that general casino energy, but the room had plenty of players & a good vibe. Also the escalator right outside the exit takes you down to the casino floor & the "food hall" so the room is not totally remote.
- The poker tables are huge and the games are 9-handed. With a table that large I would have like 10-handed but that just my preference. As it was there's plenty of room for each player. Huge table legs/posts at the ends of each table but not as obtrusive as those at the Beth Sands. They didn't bother me.
- Weird quirk: While the tables are big, the chips trays are small. The dealers had to often request fills but it didn't slow down the game. Was just bizarre with the table so big they easily could have had bigger trays.
- Free no-hassle wifi. USB charging ports at each seat and while my port charged (extremely) slow it still got the job done.
- Crisp brand new chips with hard edges, great for shuffling. Their weight was a little on the light side but still fine.
- Bathrooms conveniently located in the poker room. A+.
- A handful of rookie dealer mistakes but nothing worth mentioning. I assume it will improve over time. But they did hire a few Sands dealers and the improvement/experience was noticable whenever they cycled through the room.
- Weird complaint: for some reason the floor kept sending 1/2 players to our 2/5 table (Table 5 btw). It happended literally 5+ times. A player would sit down with maybe $200, get situated and comfortable, not realize it was 2/5 until the blinds came around, then pack up & leave. We talked to the floor about it but it kept happening. Not sure if the issue stemmed from the desk, the floor person, or the people actually sitting the players.
Overall this is a solid room & I'll definitely be back. For me, can't beat the short commute. RWC is only 10-15 miles closer than the Sands or Parx but you don't have to deal with the GWB or I-95 which are always headaches. Long term I just hope they maintain a good player base. Will be curious to see how busy the room is after the newness wears off (and all the casual locals go broke & give up
) but that's a discusion for a different day. Thanks to RWC for a great start.