What's the biggest games that have been running and what's max buyin? 5/10 or 10/25?

Just had to delete a lot of no-content posts in this thread; please make sure posts include relevant info re poker @ Rivers Casino. If you have any questions, please read B&M Forum FAQ guidelines 4 & 11, then send me a private message. Thank you.

Also, I'm originally from the eastern side of the state but have family on the western side, so I'm looking forward to heading out that way to try some of the new poker rooms including Rivers. Thanks to 99killed and others for the informative updates.

What was the biggest limit game they had running?

what's the crowd like? fishy or mostly solid players jumping in this early?

Terrible play, some solids too, but mostly flat terrible.

Expect large wait times this weekend. Please be patient as we are understaffed. All of our supervisors have not been approved for a gaming licence.

4/8 limit will be the lowest limit offered at this time (80 buyin). Expect to see 3/6 limit during the week.

We are going to attempt to open a 10/20 game tomorrow. (buyin 1000-3000). We cannot reserve a table for a higher stakes game but what we can do is move a table of 1/3 players to other games and open up a game. Holding a table with a 300 player waiting list isn't +EV for the casino. This will be a timed rake game at 8$ per half hour. Please call ahead of time to get on the list. be sure to tell us what time you will be arriving. Again thank you for the patience and we truly want your action at the Rivers Casino

We plan on running must moves for all higher limit games as soon as our software starts working.

We have a lot of great ideas for tournaments. Please allow us at least a month to get a solid schedule set up.

If anyone has any questions or comments about the room please ask them and I will do my best to answer them daily.


Garrett Powell
Swing Shift Poker Supervisor

Thanks Garret. It will be be cool if you can frequent this thread on a regular basis to hear what opinions us players have on how you guys are running the room and what/if any changes are needed.
Will you be getting a website up more specific to poker?





Surprising to hear you guys are understaffed? rly? I would think you knew the anticipation of the start of this thing and if anything you would have been overstaffed. Am I looking at this the wrong way?

I played last night at the rivers... all in all it was what i expected it to be. I have been playing cards in and around Pittsburgh since I was 16 and I knew there would be a lot of people in line. I 40 min wait, no biggie i had a friend put my name in while i drove down parked got food. I sat at a 1-3 table close to the registration booth... No bet lines on the table FYI, going to lead to some issues I would think. The players where all sitting short, looked to me like no one bought in for more then 200. I sat with my 300, was overzealous and lost 150 on the first hand with my 10s ran into Ks... I played my set line well and the guy tanked for a few min on the flop almost folded.

The dealers where switching out ever 30 min, and my table was shuffling by hand, so there was a lot of down time between hands.

The waitress told me I could not pay for drinks with chips, something about PA law. The floor quickly told her that this was incorrect give them props.

As for the running of the room, there where open seats a lot of times while there was a huge wait list. But i give them props, they busted there ass for the first day and the amount of people in and out of that room was insane.

The set up is nice, you can see a TV from pretty much anywhere and there is a nice rail where you can just observe the 2 front tables. There was a 10/20 game going on that looked like it was being played pretty decently.

Question I still have:
Bad Beat Jackpot, and where are you doing to post it in the pretty room?
WSOP qualifiers for next year?
When daily tournys get set up PLEASE MAKE the blinds more then 20/15 min...


All in all, I am impressed and cannot wait to continue to play at Casino, no more driving an hour and a half to wheeling!!!!

EDIT: As for the play, It was terrible. If i would have sat with a clear head and not have been so excited, it could have been an extremely profitable night. 1/2 the players it looked like it was there first time playing, another 1/4 of them looked like they saw how to play cards on TV, went out and bought a set of Aviators and noise cancelling head phones, and decided they where going to become pros. If you decided to play, for the first few weeks anyway be careful they lines these guys play are straight AM. I finally busted on 78s vs 73o CO vs SB, the SB called a 17 dollar raise from the CO with 73o flop came 773.

Played last night at the Rivers from 6pm-10:30ish. Got on the 1/3 and 2/5 waitlist around 5:15 - 1/3 list had 35 people on it and 2/5 had about 20. That being said, I was seated at the 1/3 list by 6, but my name wasn't called for 2/5 until 9. I decided to stay at the 1/3 table since I was doing well, and was getting tired (yeah yeah, I know, not a long session, but it was a rough day at work).

Most dealers were very good for day 1. Others were green as they come - i.e. hands shaking in nervousness while counting pots and knocking over stacks of chips being put into the pot. Every other dealer called the floor for assistance counting their well when they sat down (yeah, I know it's a CYA move, and I don't blame them, but it was short only once for $4).

Notes/observations about the room:

1. The room is pretty spacious, they could have fit more tables in there easily, but I think player comfort was placed ahead of more tables, which in the long run is +EV since the room will never be as busy as it is this weekend. You can see TVs everywhere, and from what I heard, more TVs are on the way (there's still a lot of open space on the walls).

2. As said before, there are no bet lines on the table, HUGE OVERSIGHT. All dealers handled this differently, as far as some folks received a warning when they brought out a stack and began counting off chips in front of their cards. Some said, your bet is $5, since that was the first chip to hit the felt, others issued a warning and let them count it out. Just be sure to verbalize all best prior to counting so that nobody calls BS on you.

3. Again, as stated, you can't pay for drinks with chips. When I left at 10:30, the waitresses still insisted on cash, they accepted tips in chips, but were told they can't take chips from the table for drinks because 'they aren't a cashier or bank.' WTF?

4. As far as play, it was bad, bad and bad. I netted $395 profit over 4.5 hours without ever hitting a hand. I played a little too passively in some spots and could have made more, but was still brushing up the live skills/feel to the game and trying to remember that live 1/3 is not online 100NL.

I'll have to remember to call ahead next time I get down to play (hopefully Sunday - I live 5 minutes from the casino, but having a wife that doesn't like casino's is -EV, even when I bring home cash, ha).

Garrett - I have to give you credit for doing a solid job last night on day 1, it was crazy. I spoke with you briefly and you were attentive, helpful and seemed to be a good addition to the room.


Can anyone comment on the 2/5NL play? I wanted to move up and play, not much 2/5 live experience outside of two sessions in Vegas, and play there was not much better than the 1/3 (actually it was looser and wilder). I observed the 5/10 table from afar and it seemed very animated (although the guy I spoke with at the table said they were all locals that played in the same homegame together, so I'm sure that had something to do with it).

All-in-all I really liked the room, want to check out the Meadows for comparison to make my decision on which room I'll frequent the most.

thanks PittsburghKid. for tournaments do you think that you will be hosting any non nl holdem tournies any time? like horse, oe, omaha8...

I got there at about 6:15 PM and was seated immediately at 4/8 FL, as was my buddy that got there around 8:15. Seemed as if the 4/8 was about 40% populated by people just killing time before their 1/3 NL seats were open, so the turnover was pretty quick.

I was worried that since the 4/8 FL would inevitably be populated by the same people that were typically playing the 2/4 FL at Mountaineer that the doubled stakes would tighten them up. well...nope.

The first two dealers that I had struggled mightily - the first one kept trying to let a guy come in on the small blind which would have resulted in the same guy being big blind twice in a row (hilarious), and the second one twice forgot to make change for the players that called with $5 chips, and that consequently resulted in him forgetting if he had burned a card, and so on. He also twice made change from the main pot instead of the side pot when a player was all in on the flop and there was further betting. The player didn't notice either time, but still. After that though, the dealers seemed to get better as the night went on. Recognized quite a few from WV.

All in all I think that it will end up being a good place to play - the kinks were minor. I can only hope that the 4/8 remains a transitional place for the NL players that don't realize that it's played completely differently.

re #1. I have to disagree with player comfort being at the top of their list, or else they would have gotten bigger tables, one of our dealers told us that they were stud tables. For anyone that was not there yet and plans to go, be prepared to be arm to arm with your neighbor, and pray they took a shower recently.

What's even scarier to me is that we were all feeling cramped, and we didn't have one above-average specimen at our table to put it delicately. I mean I would guess that 8 of us were below pounds and the other 2 weren't above 250 themselves and it was still tight. And let's face it, we all know some poker players that are above this range and getting seated at a table with 2-3 of them could make for a bad situation.

re #3. This baffled us too, inside the casino those chips should be as good as gold, or at least as good as paper money. Nothing else to say there, but this is stupid and hopefully gets fixed by whoever needs to fix it asap.

But I liked the room overall as well, although I share your feelings about the Meadows and I'd like to at least see what it's like. I have a strong feeling that I'll end up at Rivers most of the time.

Also wanted to share a funny aside from play at the 1/3 tables. A woman (I'll say she was a fish - standard to call 62o for $15 preflop because 'it cracks the big hands') at my table dragged in a $150 pot in which the only two green $25 chips in play on our table were in there. She didn't really know what to do with them and stacked them in her white chips, then pulled them back out and fired them BOTH at the dealer as a tip for the same hand. The dealer looked at her like she was nuts and dropped them in his tip jar. Nobody said anything about it the rest of the night, but I felt like it wasn't my place to pipe up immediately and be like - YOU'RE TIPPING $50?

Be VERY careful re: this. The $2 blues and $25 greens are almost identical; looks like a shout out to the old Hartford Whalers or something, but for real, this, along with the lack of betting line, and lack of dealer experience (one dealer wouldn't let a guy cut out his bet, he was going to put in $80 in 4 stacks of $20 and she made him take the last $60 back) is another reason to verbalize all bets, calls, and raises.

Play last night was UBER weak. I couldn't believe some of the hands that were dragging moster pots (tpwk for $200+). I think I was trying too hard to get involved with all the megafishes and played too many speculative hands. Seriously TAG it up and walk home with $1k easy.

Very excited... I plan on checking it out for a bit tonight after I get off of work around 11. Rivers is literally like, across the river from me.

So no major complaints on the wait? I heard it was about 90 mins or so at various times yesterday. May just wait until Sunday if that's the case. Gotta get up early and do Kennywood with the lady in the AM... I hate amusement parks....

Note to self: "When wanting the dealer to break my 2 $25 chips into 10 $5 chips, verbaly say 'break this for me please' when tossing them at him!'

Here is my mini TR from last night...

I get there after work, maybe at like 6:15 or so, got a quick parking spot (+ev). I get there and see a line probably about 25 people deep, just to sign up. Not good. I stand there, sign up, go to the ATM, get some dinner, and when I go check the waiting list and my name is visible on the list. I wait another 10 minutes maybe and they call my name. Not bad at all considering how many people were there.

I sit down with 300, I have most of the table covered except for two guys who have ~600. I win two hands, and I'm sitting with a little over 400 now. There was a guy at my table winning every single hand he got involved with, was pretty sick. Some one had TPTK he had a set, someone had a set he had a straight. Horrible player, but the deck was hitting him in the face. I got KK twice within like 10 minutes of each other (seriously) and between those two hands I lost 200 to him (I will be posting those two hands in the Live Low Stakes NL forum and will update this post with the links once I post them for those that are curious of how the hands played out). Needless to say that tilted me pretty hard, because 10 minutes after that he got up and left. I asked the guy next to me how long he was there and he said an hour and a half. Hit and runners tilt the **** out of me. I got up and walked around to clear my head. Came back and said I would play two more orbits then leave. As much as I enjoyed playing, I was still bothered by that guy and didnt want to spew chips off.

The staff were great for this being opening day. You could tell some of them were nervous, but thats to be expected imo. I have a few beefs tho. You guys NEED to put a line on the felt. No one at my table tried to get firsky, but I have a pretty good feeling this will become a problem in the future. It doesn't bother me one way or another, because I know the rules, so anyone trying to angle shoot will get a KITN from me. But to minimize future problems I highly suggest putting a line on the table. Also, a huge pain was any time someone bought $100 in chips from the dealer, he had to call the floor over. This slowed the game down heavily. Its hard enough to get a floor over when business is normal, not to mention when the entire poker room is filled to capacity. Other than this, I loved it there. The room itself is VERY nice and I personally think its one of the best in this area. Great job by all.

The staff overall is good, or at least competent, so I don't want to sound like they're a bunch of monkeys dealing, however the bad ones are really really bad. We had one hand where the one player was all in for about $40 and got one caller preflop, so the dealer spreads the flop and then goes to mix all the rest of the cards together like the hand was over. Thank goodness 9 people shouting "STOP" in unison was enough to freeze him and allow us to explain that even though two players were all in they were still entitled to all 5 community cards.

Still, despite my earlier complaint about the small tables and the occasional terrible dealer, I will be returning to play at the Rivers. It's the first day, so I'm sure everything will become better as time goes by.

The ridiculously green dealers thing I couldn't really understand. The last weekend I went to Wheeling was after everyone had already quit, so they had dealers down there that they grabbed from the pit and had literally NEVER dealt a hand of hold 'em in their lives. I can understand if those people were only spreading 3 out of 5 community cards or forgetting to burn or whatever the case may have been.

But they said that they have been "in school" for weeks preparing for this night. My question is: what do they do in school? I would think the best way to teach people how to deal is to put 5 or 6 of them at a table and have 1 deal while the rest play, then keep pushing in a circle on the table all day every day for a month. If they don't get it by then, they never will. Seriously though, I've never dealt professionally a hand in my life, but I knew more about presentation and procedure than most of them. Many didn't pitch the cards, they just placed them, many took 5 or 6 times to count the rack down, many couldn't do a side pot. I know it's easy to criticize and I'm sure it's a lot harder to sit in that box than it looks (don't want all the dealers jumping on my back). I did my best to encourage them, help them out when they were making mistakes, keep them loose, all that stuff, but these people were not adequately trained imo, and this is not their fault.

The best way to learn a job like poker dealing is to do it over and over and over again until they can do it in their sleep. I know they'll get there eventually, but I expected them to be a bit further down that road than they are.

Yeah that is pretty bad. I had to correct the dealers a couple of times. For example, two new guys came to the table, the dealer made one guy post his BB and didn't say anything to the other guy. I asked right before he dealt the cards, "He has to post his BB as well right?" He quickly realized his mistake. This being so new, the newbie dealers need to get more experience, the confidence, knowledge, and skill will follow. Us as the players need to help out as well, pay attention, and correct them when necessary. We probably have way more poker experience and knowledge than some new dealers, so lets do our part and help them out when we can .

BadBeat will be posted on one of the TV's. Also will be scrolling at the bottom of the Bravo waiting list.

We cannot do any WSOP tournies. Affiliate issue.

Tourny time will be based on buyin. I would love to run a 160 with 30 min levels similar to Ceasars in Vegas

Give us at least 30 days for tournies. We cannot run HORSE. State did not approve lowball games. We can run HOSE though.

We would like to have a variety of games in the room. If you want to spread an irregular game my best advice would be to bring a few friends down early and start a list.

Garrett, I wanted to say great job last night and good luck with the busy weekend. Also, I was going to ask this last night but it was so crazy I didnt want to bother anyone with such a small question. What kind of reward points will poker players receive with their players card? When I played last night the dealer tried to scan me in but it was not working properly. Wasn't sure if they were set up yet or not.

You will not see a line on the tables. Our boss doesn't want it.
Our rule for betting is a one motion to the pot rule. If you bring out 100 and make a first cut of 25 without saying anything then that is your bet. It can be confusing at times because our dealers are break in and very nervous.
Feel free to see any member of the staff for better clarification in house.

This is exactly what was done in the school.