I was at CP from about 10 to a bit after midnight. An average to maybe above average sized crowd for a Monday evening. It was the first night for RA but also the last must-be-present-to-win Big Money Monday at CP (some guy named Francis, not the dealer Francis, won $4000 in the midnight drawing), so maybe the two things canceled each other out. Typical fishiness at my 3/6 table, did just fine. Gotta start taking more shots at 6/12

The chips were Chipcos.

Whatever the pluses or minuses with the room, that it's 30 minutes closer to my house will trump a whole bunch of negatives.

Thanks for the reports, can't wait to check it out. I come in from North, so even if it sucks it's probably my new poker home because it saves a lot of time and cuts out all the metro traffic.

What former CP staff (either direct or by way of Wynn) is there? Would be nice if they could poach some of the better dealers.

I know at least 10-15 CBY dealers were going to work there, just because it was closer to home.

Training for dealing and actually doing the job are different. I was there last night and I thought is was okay, wasn't expecting perfection for the first night (I doubt the CP has perfect opening night either)
Some of the dealers looked nervous, probably didn't want to make any mistakes....
I'm guessing that within the next few weeks all the dealers will be performing much better, plus it is only about 15 minutes from my home so I'll deal with it

chipco......lame......

otherwise I'm really excited....sounds like this room is quality. I'm sure the dealers will get the hang of it. I could just imagine how nervous they would be to make a mistake tonight....

I didn't know the name but I was gonna say they were like the chips at black bear, but i doubted many people have played there.

According to the dealers they had been training for 4 months prior to opening. A majority of the dealers however had never dealt a single hand of real live poker until last night. Give them a couple weeks and I'm sure the speed will pick up.

One other thing I didn't see anyone mention is the one table that is lower than the rest, sunk into the floor. From what I was told it will be used for the bigger games (30-60 ran there last night) and tournament final tables. The table has a huge rail to allow people to watch the action from above.

Canterbury is the best run card room I have ever play in.

+1

I believe the rake is exactly the same at RA.

I was there last night from ~9:30pm-8:00 am. Wasn't able to get a seat until 11:30 because it was so packed. I was very pleased. Nice, comfortable, relaxing atmosphere. Saw many minor dealer mistakes (dealt the button only one card, misread of a hand at showdown, etc.) all of the errors were small and forgivable, and I expect will become fewer and farther between as the dealers get experienced/comfortable.

For those of you who were excited about the PLHE $60 cap game, several dealers told me they WILL have it. The dealers have not yet been trained and they hope to add theses games within a few weeks.

This is easily the nicest room I have played in outside of Vegas or AC (Borgota), hope to find the time to make it back up this weekend.

A guy at the table with me last night said that the CP high rollers were playing at the showcase table... HUGE chip stacks

I like their tourney line-up from a customer and tactical perspective:

Every other Sunday beginning the 13th of July 300+40 buy-in NO LIMIT starts at 12:00PM. 10,000 in chips 30-minute rounds starting at blinds 25-50

Competes with CP


Sundays SNG’s tournaments from 2pm - 10pm $60 and $110 buy-ins. 10 handed $60 start with 1000 T chips, $110 start with 1500 T chips. 15 minute blinds starting at 25-50

Wednesday: SNG's from 2pm - 10pm see above for structure.

One day ahead of CP


Monday: Aces cracked from 10am-6pm. $75 and $50 7-card stud.

Same as CP


Monday: Midnight Madness tourney $100+20 buy-in starting July 14th. 20 minute rounds 5,000 starting chips blinds start at 25-50. Starts July 14th.

Cool idea

Tuesday: $200+30 buy-in No Limit tourney starts at 6:30pm. Tourney will run every Tuesday. Somehow missed grabbing the info sheet on this.

One day ahead of CP and an hour earlier


Wednesday: $80+20 weekly No limit tourney starts at Noon. 3,000 starting chips and 20 minute blinds beginning at 25-50. Starts July 9th.

Thursday: $50+10 weekly No limit tourney starts at 10:30AM. 3,000 starting chips and 20 minute blinds beginning at 25-50.

Competes with GCH and St. Croix low level tourneys

Friday: $68+12 No limit tourney. Heartland Poker Tour Super Satellite starts at 10:30AM. 5,000 starting chips 20-minute blinds top 20% get seat to main qualifiers on Nov. 7-15. These Super satellites begin July 11th

Cool

Saturday: $150+25 weekly No limit tourney starts at 10:30AM. 8,000 starting chips and 20-minute blinds. Starting July 12th.

Competes head on with CP. This will hurt CP, but help GCH as those who bust out early will be closer to drive to the 2PM GCH tourney on Saturday.

The funny thing is that this new room can probably do nothing but hurt the poker economy in MN. To say that Cbury needs competition in a market as small as the Cities is laughable. I think it is amazing that Cbury draws the crowds that it does. From what I hear the 30 game is not nearly as healthy as it once was and I imagine that this new room will have a negative impact on that game. If anything more live pros will probably end up moving west if they cant play regularly and are offered no upward mobility instakes. These pros have their role in helping to support the game as much as the fish do, because they are there everyday and have no real chance of busting. If the pros leave the 30 will dry up.

I hope Minnesota is able to support both rooms, but I would be surprised if that were the case.

Cbury is easily the best run room I have ever played in and I have played in most.

I was in this game...it was weird playing in the pit...but as for the chip stacks...it was about the same as normal...most people bought in for 2-3 racks and there were several rebuys.

As for how it was run, I was dissappointed. The trays were not stacked with nearly enough chips and we had to wait for change at least once per dealer which slowed the game down considerably. It got frustrating to have to remind the dealers of the rules a lot as well. The new ones had a lot of trouble keeping up with the pace of a 30/60 game. Overall I guess it can be expected for opening night, but they had plenty of time to prepare for this and I don't think they did a good job.

My favorite line of the night:

Player to floor guy "what are the benefits you earn for playing ($1/hr like CP)?"

Floor guy to player "our boss told us we weren't supposed to say yet"

i think MN can support both. a lot of players, myself included, will play more now just because there's a club within reasonable driving distance of the north half of the metro.

a lot of new players are going to be created -especially recreational players. yes RA might reduce CP's player pool somewhat, but the overall player pool is going to get bigger - and that's good for the players.

i see your point about the CP 30 game possibly dying - but the 30 hasn't been real great at CP lately anyway (except when the football players show up). i mean, even if they have to move down from 30 to 15 at times, i think the new club is going to be a good thing for a lot of serious players.

thanks, and thanks OvrTheTop111.

Very nice room. Super-spacious... Very unprepared staff (board,floors, dealers, chip runners, service... a lot of confusion for very simple things). Warning to 6/12 and 8/16 players: 10% rake up to $5 instaed of the 5% rake up to $5 that they have in Shakopee

What the **** is a "CP high roller"?

Which dealers have moved over?

I think that's you, Bob.

I was at Canterbury on day 2, and at the time I thought that the dealers were well-trained but obviously inexperienced. That was my first time in a public card-room, so take that for what it's worth. Overall, Canterbury's dealers are very good--the best in any room I've played in. I think that whether RA's dealers get to the same level depends heavily on the support network there. Canterbury does very well in making sure that their dealers are properly trained and doesn't tolerate dealer abuse, which helps keep good people around. Foxwoods has been open for over fifteen years and their dealers are generally substandard.

Canterbury's wait-service is pretty bad, but I don't go there for food and drinks.

I may hit RA some time this weekend. Haven't played $3/6 stud in a while.

1. All board staff is BRAND NEW - the seats should fill up much quicker in the next few days - that has been the most common complaint so far.

2. PL is on hold for now, only spread limit is being offered because the 2-60 game is basically the same thing as a 1-2 PL (a little different, but much faster) - at least that's what I was told.

3. All games are jackpot eligible, players away from their seats will still receive a table share AS LONG AS they don't have a missed blind button (even if they weren't dealt in). Jackpot requirements are identical to CP - Aces full of tens or better, beaten by quads or better, ace in your hand.

4. Total number of CP dealers that moved up to RA is about 15 - I can only think of a few...Bridget, Jason S, Barbeque, James, T (Thearvy), Dee (Daronit?), Troy, and Daryl.

5. It is true that all yellow ($2) chip games and ALL spread limit games are raked at 10% up to $5, same goes for all Omaha and Stud (except maybe the 10-20, that might be 10% up to $4) I will find out.

6. Everyone is trying their absolute best to make it the best experience possible for the customers, please try and bear with us as we work out the kinks. My guess is that in a week, most of the opening night wrinkles will be smoothed out considerably.

an anonymous RA employee....

Looks like you got a few decent dealers from CP. Good luck with the new room.

I am sorry to see Bridget go, not only was she nice to look at, she went 9 bets w/ me preflop when I had AA and I got her all in on the turn.