According to Bravo , 1/2 NL $100-$300 buy in limits

Yea I just checked, they're offering both 1/2 & 1/3 which in my opinion doesn't make any sense. Just offer a 100-400 1/3...it reminds me when the Borgata back in the day used to offer a regular 2/5 (500 max) and a super 2/5 (1K max) which never panned out.

Agreed. 1/3 NL $100-$400 is perfect. People wanting to play the lowest stakes will be forced to play that game and people who prefer to play higher can play 2/5 NL.

First impressions so far. Room is located near the stadium gaming section. 14 max tables running. Games are 9 handed which I do like. . I didn’t seem to smell or see that much cigarette smoke when I was playing. Majority of the games are 1/2 NL, a few 2/5 NL, a 1/3 NL, and a 1/3 PLO game. Not as crowded as I thought it would be for the reopening of a room on a Friday. Same soft action that I remembered prior to the pandemic ( I played 1/2 NL). It is a bit noisy as you are playing on the casino floor but I don’t mind the noise. I would return to play there again.

From the action today, it’s pretty clear the player pool in this area prefers 1-2 over 1-3.

It’ll be interesting to see how the conversion of the 3-6 limit game to 4-8 limit goes during the week. Sands always had several 3-6 games going on weekdays previously, but Bravo says they’ll only spread 4-8 and higher now. I’m not a limit player, except I’ll occasionally play when waiting for a seat in no limit, but I’m still a little curious to see if the players accept the change to 4-8.

Noticed on Bravo that 5/10 had a waitlist of 9 last night yet it never ran. There were two still two unused tables. Anyone know why? Lack of dealers?

I checked out the room on Saturday. I don't mind being on the casino floor, and noticed minimal smoke while playing (especially when someone lighted up right outside the rope) but I didn't find it annoying. Here are some pros and cons (IMO):

Pros:
Room is out in the open
Dealers are exceptionally good for the most part
Chips, cards and felt are high quality, very comfortable to play
Drink service was satisfactory

Cons:
Extremely loud since it's right on top of all the slots. Hard to hear verbalized action sometimes
Only one list screen down below the front podium, hard to see where you are
Mic is not that loud, hard to hear your name being called
No dedicated TV's, which is prob why it was slow on Sunday

As I've mentioned, it's probably gonna take weeks to get the room up to being as busy as it used to be. It opened up about 10 months after all the other rooms in the area but hopefully it will come back.

Also, there's an error on Bravo - it says tournaments are coming back in 2021 but it should say 2022.

They raised the min. 1/2 buy in to 100, why not just spread a 1/3 100-400? The problem is when there are lists, everyone signs up on both 1/2 and 1/3 and takes whichever one they get called for first. I went yesterday and while waiting for a 2/5 seat I left my 1/2 game to go to 1/3 when it was called and it never went - 11 names and 2 lock ups.

It went during the day and ran short a while before breaking.

Played a few sessions since the open, including this weekend.

I agree with "playbig" on pros and cons. I don't believe we will see any changes until the new room opens late Winter/early Spring.

Dealers are solid, though there was one we had to correct on the "no flop, no drop" rule.

Table 3 has the mic speaker behind seats 1-3, so announcements can startle.

$5/$10NL was full last night, Started 3-handed late afternoon.

HH begin Tuesday, $500.

Absolutely fantastic seeing the dealers and fellow players again.

Played yesterday and one day the prior week. WindCreek gave me $30 in free play which I was able to convert to $30 cash playing 25c video poker.

Atmosphere was similar to back when the poker room was near SteelWorks restaurant. Much louder with all the ancillary casino noises going around. Some of the older dealers were back. Tho I didn't recognize them since I hadn't been in Bethlehem in 2 years.

Played mainly 1/2 NL. Ran pretty bad. Aces and other top pair cracked. Hitting ace high flush draws only to lose to runner runner boat. I live near NYC so been making my rounds to see all the poker rooms that I hadn't been to in a long time. Was at Foxwoods for a few days. Most restaurants are closed during weekday and gyms were closed. I only played poker. Went to Parx. Not much has changed. Action was decent. Will be going to Borgata this week for a few days.

If I had to rank the poker rooms, 1. Borgata 2. Foxwoods 2. Parx 3. WindCreek.

I was also there on Sat, I was in the 2nd 2/5 game. I really wonder why it's gonna take them up to 6 months to move the room into a dormant restaurant - they haven't even started tearing it out yet, what's the hold up?

I just think the longer they take to go in the new room they will have a lower likelihood the room returns as busy as it was pre pandemic. I heard a lot of players talking about not having any TV's, which is huge in a poker room, especially now that they have a sports book. People like to play poker and watch sports on TV. Does the WC upper management know this? I'm also surprised they didn't do much to promote room. Did they send out a simple email to all the players who've swiped in over the past 5 yrs saying the room is now open again, if so I didn't get one. That simple task could have made a big difference. I hope by next spring they don't start pushing the goal posts back again as they've done for the past year saying "yeah, by the fall the new room should be open". Las Vegas Sands corp would of had the room opened up as soon as it was allowed, without question.

/r

yeah, it's definitely a lot louder than it was when it was on the floor originally. Probably almost twice as loud but it's manageable.

I may be off in my count by 1 or 2 but it looks like this tribe has 11 locations and only 2-3 have a poker room. My humble opinion is they are in over their heads trying to run poker in Bethlehem. Seems to be the biggest of their entire portfolio and I’m guessing Sands was so desperate to sell, the tribe got an overall deal they couldn’t refuse. They built their business on slots (and electronic bingo in the south). Not holding out a lot of hope for a magical turnaround of the poker room since this was never a sweet spot for them - what a shame and hope I’m wrong.

With the exception of the highest level executives, it’s mostly the same management. I don’t think it’s so much of being in over their heads, but whether those highest level execs want to really invest into building a good pokerroom. After all, us poker fans tend to forget, it is not a huge money maker for the casino.

Thanks for the posts/trip reports. Anyone who is looking to get like a weekly weekday game going, im hoping to see some more 2/5+ action or (gasp) 5/5 PLO.

Unfortunately, I’m busy every weekend for the next few months.

As someone who struggled to hear in the old old room by Cobalt/steelworks, this is concerning. Hoping it’s manageable.

See you there playbig

It's still better than the original dividers in Maryland Live those were like being in a phone booth you couldn't hear anything but we got through that so you should be ok.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Are people really flocking to the wind Creek in Bethlehem from all over that they have to charge $1,300 on a Saturday night in late October...they should be embarrassed to even ask that price

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I don't think there's a room anywhere in PA worth $1300/night lol

Hi all. I’m excited to be heading out this weekend, used to love to play in the old room in the middle of the floor all those years ago.

What is the PLO action like on Friday and Saturday? Any insights appreciated.

It's almost like the original room, but smaller and alil louder so you should like it. The PLO went last weekend when I was there, dunno how the action was but it's PLO so it should be ok.

I should be there at least Saturday this weekend, the games are starting to pick up and get busier, and there's more recreational fish in there than ever (without mentioning any names).

Thanks for the info! Looking forward to playing there tomorrow. Aiming to play PLO but will play NL until the game gets going. Say hi if you’re there!

Can you leave a review please? Thanks!

No prob please post a trip report/review!

Having played a few sessions now in the new room I have to admit management is doing a good job getting the room back up and running. I really like the room being back out on the casino floor, just invites more action and better energy overall IMO. Drink service is good and what really makes this room shine are the excellent dealers.

I finally got an email from Wind Creek advising that their temporary poker room is open for business. Did they ever send this email about the poker room prior to the reopening date ?(I wouldn’t know as they had messed up my email address in their system prior to me getting it corrected recently). I feel this room is not being properly promoted at all. Despite that, I do enjoy playing at this room and I hope the new room opens up as planned.

No they just sent it out. They now need to move into the new room asap and start construction on the room already since people don't like sitting there with no games/world series/fball to watch which is kinda whack for a poker room....hopefully they don't drag their feet on it - originally they said Jan, then the spring, and now it just says "in 2022".