I assume no, since their number isn't listed on bravo. I bet they will once the craziness of the opening dies down. Will be going at some point this weekend, probably Sunday. I'll post a review.

16 of 22 tables in use and 100's of people on the waiting list

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Going to swing by tonight just to check it out and probably sign up for a player's card. I know there's no way in hell I'm getting a seat. Will try to get there early on Sunday and put in a proper session. Will report back.

Nice. I'm prob gonna try to play 2-5 next Weds

I'm looking at it now, and it seems crazy
How are there 73 waiting for 1-3 NL and 39 waiting for 1-3 $100-$500 NL?
When GVC is 20 minutes away and has a $360 BBJ right now and waiting list of 25 for 1-3

52 people waiting for 5-10 when GVC 20 minutes away
couldnt get one 5-10 table running for the past year with 200 people in the room and on lists on Fri and Sat nights?

9 people for 50-100 NL?

Wish I was there to see what's going on.
Was there a huge pent-up demand that refused to drive 20 more minutes up 90?
I drove to South Bend (2 hrs away) twice during the winter of 2020 to play since it had been 7 months since I last did after the lockdowns started
but literally 100 people wouldn't do the extra 20 minutes?

I'll be there Monday to check it out.

Wonder how GVC responds to Rivers being 24 hours already.
Why couldnt they get that with a year head start?
I'm fascinated by how these two rooms respond to each other being so close.

Hopefully someone will post here tonight about how it went.

Got here at 3pm, signed up for 1/3, 2/5, and 1/2 PLO. Got the PLO seat after an hour. Huge whale was in the game that was buying in for 1k+ and stacking off with top pair, but i wasn’t able to get involved.

PLO 1/2 was 500 max first hour then match the stack after. Straddles up to 15 from button or UTG allowed.

Got my 2/5 NL seat after 3 hours, so far been a decent table. Straddles up to 5x UTG or button were allowed. Definitely some regs from the other rooms mixed in but otherwise a lot of new faces and action (one guy kept straddling to $25 at my table whenever he could).

Phones are “allowed”, they can’t be used while you’re in a hand, but they’re lenient otherwise.

Tables have a USB port for charging at each seat.

If you take dinner (90 mins max) you need to rack up but then they’ll put you at the top of the list when you come back. Eating is not allowed at the tables.

You’ll get a text when your seat is available, so you can wander off while you wait.

The center of the room is pretty drafty so bring a jacket.

A good chunk of the dealers are new to poker and converted from table games, but their training was good, they were running the games well, although slightly slow. Should improve over time.

Comps are also $1/hour. Room is open 24/7/365

Nice.

Rake?

6+1. Bad beat jackpot at 10k, quad 55’s or better.

JFC. Did we really just get the best poker room in the Midwest? Everything about it sounds amazing so far. (Except for the wait times obviously.)

Really seems that way. We’ll just have to see what the wait times will continue to be. Less than half the people at my tables were swiped in on player cards, so a lot of non-regular players. Although grand vic has 15 tables tonight so once their bad beat hits there’s probably going to be more traffic at rivers.

I played 2/5 tonight and was very impressed. It's a beautiful room. I'd be surprised if the Horseshoe Hammond's room (which is not open on weekends) is long for this world. A few thoughts:

At 7pm tonight, these games were running:
- 1/3 NL: 7 tables (101 on list)
- 2/5 NL: 7 tables (86 on list)
- 10/20 NL: 1 table (14 on list)
- 25/50 NL: 1 table (no list)
- 50/50/100 NL: 1 table (no list)
- 1/2 PLO: 2 tables (22 on list)

Sizable waitlists for 5/10 NL, 2/5 PLO, and 10/20 LHE as well. 19 of 22 tables were in use; I heard one dealer mention that they're still looking to hire 15 more dealers.

They're not taking call-ins. You can get on the list at a kiosk using your player's card or by talking to the brush. I got a text message when my seat was ready. I heard someone mention that they'll take electronic signups on the Bravo app eventually.

Everyone working in the room was incredibly friendly. They seemed a bit understaffed. I saw two guys working the front podium, one guy at a side podium who was shuttling players to their tables, one floorperson, and one chip runner. Despite 2/5 having a long waitlist, it tended to take a while for our empty seats to get filled.

Rake of $6+$1 is a bit high, but maybe that's the price we need to pay to get enough dealers. All the dealers I had were competent and kept the game running well. BBJ qualifier is quad 5s beaten. Nobody seems entirely sure what the food comp situation is. I heard a rumor that it's $1/hour, but another player at my table said that when he signed up for a card, he was told that the poker room wasn't giving comps yet.

The entire casino is non-smoking, a huge contrast to the Shoe (where I'd come home reeking of smoke just from passing quickly through the casino floor even though the poker room is non-smoking).

I love that the games are deep-stacked compared to the Shoe. 2/5 is a 1000-max game, and almost all players sat down with at least $800. The players seemed a bit wealthier than the folks at the Shoe (maybe because Rivers is significantly closer to the well-heeled North Shore suburbs).

^^nice.

Fwiw I don't consider 6+1 as high. Lower than GVC, same as Shoe, RCG is lower but, well, you know.

Many parts of the country are astronomically worse too, either in amount or structure (California obviously, and in Arizona they take a dollar from the SB before a single card is dealt).

Are they raking with no flop dealt?

Also I wonder why they opted not to run 5-10 but had a single table of each of 3 higher stakes games running.

Probably just a function of the first day having super big games running and wanting to accommodate the lower stakes players. They’re spreading a 5/10 now.

Also just spoke to the manager and starting next week you’ll be able to sign yourself up on the lists through the bravo app. You’ll get 90 mins.

Very unfortunate that the games are deep stacked and allow button straddles. Players will bust faster and eventually quit.

I think specifically for 1-3, having a 500 max buy in is awesome. 500 is not a huge amount for many players. Love the button straddle. How do you think that contributes more to players busting quicker?


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Button straddle gives too much of an advantage to the button.

Rivers must be one heck of an experience given these numbers at the moment

GVC 11 tables waiting list of 14 and a $365K BBJ
Rivers 7 tables waiting list of 100 and a $10K BBJ

I'm expecting hot dealers wearing lingerie to explain this when I go on Monday

Rivers being popular isn't hard to explain: it's new and there are a lot more people within 30 minutes than GVC. Probably 5 times more.

Based on the first two days the "airport theory" sure seems to be correct!

I assure you, I've been wrong before . . . and on things much more important!
It'll happen again.

How are those lists so deep when 20 minutes away you couldnt get a 5-10 going for 9 months in a row?
Where were all those people?
(at the airport I guess!)

Sure, but GVC is literally 20 minutes further
Based on what you're saying, there are literally hundreds of people who wanted to play
but wouldn't drive 20 more minutes to get into a game?

especially the higher stakes and PLO players?

"I wanna play 5-10 and live in Chicago, I could drive 40 minutes to GVC,
but that's too far, so I'll just never play,
but if something opens up 20 minutes away, I'm in"

Evidence says you are correct,
but it still seems odd to me that right now,
you are 100% guaranteed to get a seat within an hour of waiting at GVC
but the 40th thru 90th guy on the 1-3 Rivers list is like,
"nah, I aint driving 20 more minutes to play,
I'll stay here tonight and never get a seat"

Stop by today at around 7pm , check at the desk , the waiting times for 1-3, 2-5, 1-2 PLO around 3 hours . Very nice room and very close to city I will be back tomorrow before noon hope to get a seat.

Is this a troll post? Pretty sure the grand vic hasn’t spread a 5/10 or PLO since precovid lmao. You’re also waiting 1hr+ minimum at grand vic.

But if you want to play with the same nit regs at grand vic knock yourself out. The only plus the grand vic has over rivers is the BBJ, but if that’s what you want then get off this forum lol. If you see my previous post the entire experience at rivers is so much better than the vic.

Thank you to all who went and provided a trip report/info.


Yup. This is pretty straightforward. There's definitely going to be a higher % of rec players at Rivers than GVC imo.

The list system is pretty bad right now. Because it's so huge and them needing to text people, I've had multiple tables tonight with 2-3 open seats for well over an hour.

Not sure the solution but that's definitely part of why it's taking forever to go through the list.

They are finally starting to call 10-15 ppl at a time.