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Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly Sugarhouse Casino) (Philadelphia, PA) Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly Sugarhouse Casino) (Philadelphia, PA)

03-11-2015 , 07:55 AM
Keep in mind the casino opened quickly several years ago as not much more than a big box full of slots. My understanding is the current expansion will include many new things besides a poker room, including restaurants. Also, many of the technical or logistical problems mentioned in previous posts will hopefully be ironed out when the permanent room opens.
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03-11-2015 , 02:24 PM
Years ago I thought I heard Sugarhouse comps could somehow be used at certain local restaurants. Did that not happen?
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03-11-2015 , 11:23 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTalkingMule
Years ago I thought I heard Sugarhouse comps could somehow be used at certain local restaurants. Did that not happen?
There are rumors that they will soon have deals with hotels/and or restaurants but until they happen and whether you will get to use comps makes everything sketchy.

The same advantage of Sugar House being downtown is the same disadvantage. Hotels are an arm and a leg. Food around the area is also very expensive. It's probably a logistical nightmare for management getting it all figured out.
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03-12-2015 , 07:34 AM
There really are plenty of hotels in suburbs that are just a short drive down or up I-95. I don't know about you guys but if I am not planning on spending much time in my room and basically just need it for a bed I really do not care about quality. There are some crappy hotels in Northeast Philly that I have stayed in the past before I was a Philadelphia resident
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03-12-2015 , 03:59 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmac&cheese
Food around the area is also very expensive.
Center City can be very expensive but there's a million excellent and reasonable food options just up the street in Fishtown.
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03-13-2015 , 10:44 AM
i think the room is well run
the "text your order" idea is nice too but there should be an easy way to make sure your comps from your current session can immediately update if you want to order food
and some of the menus have the wrong number on it to text

floor has been accomodating and courteous in my limited experience in this room.

I agree with others who would prefer the bbj go towards multiple promotions rather than an impossible quad 10s or better bad beat
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03-13-2015 , 11:09 AM
For some reason the Friday tournent hasn't caught on yet. Only 9 entries so far for the 11am. There is the potential for a nice overlay again.
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03-15-2015 , 12:59 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmac&cheese
Have been in Philadelphia on Biz over the past month and have played at Parx and Sugar House. Thought some of you may want a more in depth review of some of the pros and cons of sugar house:

The Overall Room Layout: Cash Tables are 9 handed (10 for Tournies); there are 6 TVs. The spacing of the tables is nice.... and the tables are never cramped. They have charging stations at the tables. Some players complain that many don't work, but i've never seen a player who couldn't find one nearby to work. The food service is excellent, in fact many say it may be the best thing about the room. While the service can be slow the food is worth the wait. It's rare people complain about the food, and these are POKER players we're talking about here. GRADE: B+

Action: By far the best part of the room; with new rooms come new players. Get here while the getting is good as it won't last forever. The regs are already telling stories of several fish who have already gone by the wayside. The anywhere but the blinds straddle causes a ton of action. Play after 11 PM and it's not rare to see 75% of the hands or more straddled. GRADE: A+

Floor Personal: This is where we begin going downhill.... They are very understaffed. This caused delays to games and there are several floor people who just don't want to work... The ones who do work their butt off. My suggestion is play during the night. If you get frustrated easily stay away from day shift. Once the night shift comes in they work very hard. And once 3 AM hits that shift is allergic to work. GRADE: C+

Dealers: This is sugar house's biggest problem and one many new rooms face. Competent dealers.... the fact is there just aren't enough good dealers to go around and this room has very few. The culture for them is to be negative and that breeds negative culture with the players which in the long term will be bad for the room. Dealers complain they aren't making money , taxes are taken out, strings are too short strings are too long, too many dead games, they don't like brushing.... the list goes on. I frankly don't care about the plight of a dealer who in a WORST case scenario where everything goes wrong is going to make $100 for a day. Players in general don't like bad dealers who complain. This could be the biggest downfall of the room. GRADE: F

Comps/giveaways/Promotions: This room is trying, albeit in the wrong ways, but they get an A for effort. Comps are awesome. Over double what you get at Parx... 2+/hr for 1/3 & 2/5... plus they give away $2100/day in high hand money. They are running overlays in many guarantee tournaments so there is a bunch of free money to be had. They don't really think outside the box on promotions, but that's the state of the industry. Grade: A+

Misc: I think there may be some confusion as to where this is located. It's NOT in the ghetto.... I never worry about walking to my car. There are police and security everywhere. It's as safe to walk to your car as parx. But if you're the worrying kind you can Valet.. it's free and right next to the poker room. Playing in a dome is interesting and the weather inside is on a 2 day delay to the weather outside. It was 60 outside yesterday and felt colder in the dome. But there is FREE alcohol Grade: B

Overall: If you get frustrated by dealers who don't speak english, floor people who rule differently depending on shift and things of that nature STAY AWAY. If you enjoy good action and can deal with the cons by all means this is an excellent room, for now. With the bad beat on the horizon it becomes just like every room..... What will they do to stand out, to separate themselves from the pack? Time will tell. If they don't adapt they will get swallowed into the abyss. Grade: B-
This is the best on line analysis I've ever seen of a {almost brand} new room. Tells me everything I was wondering about it, and relevant subjects I didn't even consider that are usually below the radar (like beverage service). J'salute & tnx; hope to run into you in $$ or a final table when worthwhile tourneys start being run!!
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03-15-2015 , 04:46 PM
A deep stack turbo bounty survivor. Interesting
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03-15-2015 , 05:10 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kylephilly
A deep stack turbo bounty survivor. Interesting
I don't understand a $10 bounty in a $75 buy in though. I like it when the bounty is between 25 and 35% of the buy in. That way if you get 3 knockouts you are close to even.

Edit: for example, make it $90 buy in with a $25 bounty.
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03-17-2015 , 06:06 PM
I've only had one bad experience with a dealer there and it was in November when they first opened. A lot of former parx dealers work there.

What's the buyin for 5/10? I see it consistently running now.
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03-17-2015 , 06:50 PM
500-2500
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03-17-2015 , 06:51 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattybangz
I've only had one bad experience with a dealer there and it was in November when they first opened. A lot of former parx dealers work there.

What's the buyin for 5/10? I see it consistently running now.
I've been told 2500, but can't verify... it's a bit over my bankroll.
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03-17-2015 , 09:49 PM
I see it running maybe once a week up until last wk. Is it really consistent now?
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03-17-2015 , 11:30 PM
Ive seen about two 5/10 tables running daily the past week or so. And according to the bravo they lasted until like 5 or 6am.
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03-18-2015 , 08:31 PM
There are several super big whales and the sharks are not shaving them but skinning them..... it's even more reason to make 2-5 a lower buy in.... 2-5 has been dying out early. Which leaves 1-3 which is a very popular game, but plays about the same as a 2-5 with all the straddling that takes place.

The 5-10 should be super strong there for a while.
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03-19-2015 , 02:01 PM
Yea I agree that 1/3 destroys the 2/5 player pool. Look at Harrahs. Parx has 1/2 then a huge jump to 1000max 2/5 and that game gets as many tables as all of SH. And Parx 2/5 is defiantly the toughest 2/5 that ive played.
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03-19-2015 , 03:11 PM
Place was absolutely packed last night. Maybe a handful of tables not in use around 8pm. Can't even imagine what this place will be like once there's a real room and restaurants/hotels.

I did notice the Wednesday tourney only had a round 65 runners, is that the norm these days?
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03-19-2015 , 04:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattybangz
Yea I agree that 1/3 destroys the 2/5 player pool. Look at Harrahs. Parx has 1/2 then a huge jump to 1000max 2/5 and that game gets as many tables as all of SH. And Parx 2/5 is defiantly the toughest 2/5 that ive played.
I'm not sure if you advocate the 1/3 system or not. You say it eats into the 2/5 population but then you say Parx doesn't have it, gets the most tables, but they are the toughest games. Seems contradictory.
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03-19-2015 , 07:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheTalkingMule
Place was absolutely packed last night. Maybe a handful of tables not in use around 8pm. Can't even imagine what this place will be like once there's a real room and restaurants/hotels.

I did notice the Wednesday tourney only had a round 65 runners, is that the norm these days?
The wednesday tournament usually has over 100 runners.... wasn't there but i'm shocked if it only had 65
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03-19-2015 , 07:37 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kylephilly
I'm not sure if you advocate the 1/3 system or not. You say it eats into the 2/5 population but then you say Parx doesn't have it, gets the most tables, but they are the toughest games. Seems contradictory.
IMO the IDEAL system is this: 1/2 60-300; 2/5 200-600 (5-5 500-1000... i can go either way on this) 5-10.... 1000-2500 or without 5-5 the 5-10 can be 600-2500


This protects the bigger games.... The reason the parx 2-5 is the hardest in the universe is that the medium fish, the guys who want to buy in for 500 are intimidated in large part to the rocks who sit there with 1k double up never play a hand etc.... It's also why most people will agree the 1-3 is a better game at sugar house then the 2-5..... but until proven otherwise the 5-10 is off the chain.
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03-19-2015 , 11:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmac&cheese
IMO the IDEAL system is this: 1/2 60-300; 2/5 200-600 (5-5 500-1000... i can go either way on this) 5-10.... 1000-2500 or without 5-5 the 5-10 can be 600-2500


This protects the bigger games.... The reason the parx 2-5 is the hardest in the universe is that the medium fish, the guys who want to buy in for 500 are intimidated in large part to the rocks who sit there with 1k double up never play a hand etc.... It's also why most people will agree the 1-3 is a better game at sugar house then the 2-5..... but until proven otherwise the 5-10 is off the chain.
Making 2-5, 600 max is a really bad idea. The whales you referred to in the prev post like to buy-in for 1,000. Otherwise, the game is not as interesting to them.
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03-19-2015 , 11:51 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by kylephilly
I'm not sure if you advocate the 1/3 system or not. You say it eats into the 2/5 population but then you say Parx doesn't have it, gets the most tables, but they are the toughest games. Seems contradictory.
What im trying to say is you can't have 1/2 1/3 and 2/5 spread together.

Ideally it should be 1/2 (60-300) 2/5 (200-1000) then 5/10 (500-2500)

OR

1/3 (100-500) 2/5 (200-1000) 5/10 (500-2500)

The thing with Parx was just an observation. Its a popular 2/5 because there is no 1/3 but it is also very tough. At Parx it is a big jump up to 2/5 but at SH its impossible. Rec players just take shots at 1/3 instead of dropping 500+ at 2/5.
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03-20-2015 , 04:29 AM
I actually really like the way Horseshoe Baltimore does it. Their 1/3 is 100-300, and 2/5 is 200-800. The beginner at $1/3 is protected by a 100bb cap, $2/5 has a healthy amount of play but not the $1K max that can intimidate some recreational players, and then $5/10 is $500-$2500.

I think when the $1/2 or $1/3 game has a $500 max buyin, it really hurts the $2/5, because there are a lot of recreational gamblers who budget $500 to gamble with... It's better for the poker ecosystem if they end up at $2/5 IMO, because the $1 blind games already get the total newcomers and are going to be soft enough, and money that flows in at $2/5 is more likely to move up in stakes than money that comes in at $1/2 or $1/3.

Regardless, I think almost everyone can agree it's not good to have $1/2 and $1/3 spread in the same room. I'd love to see SugarHouse change this in the future.
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03-20-2015 , 04:55 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by cuserounder
I actually really like the way Horseshoe Baltimore does it. Their 1/3 is 100-300, and 2/5 is 200-800. The beginner at $1/3 is protected by a 100bb cap, $2/5 has a healthy amount of play but not the $1K max that can intimidate some recreational players, and then $5/10 is $500-$2500.

This is a pretty good setup. Its weird to see a 2/5 cap at 800 but its actually pretty good at 160bbs.

Just look at Harrahs 1/3, it killed the 2/5
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