Even the waffles are over-greasy? Was hoping not.

when you're there you'll see can's of Pam (spray grease) being used on everything! but it's tasty. they definitely spray the **** out of the waffle griddle.

If your looking for food in from 6am -12noon skip waffle house and hit up Puffins Cafe its about 1 mile past sands heading towards 78, got a picture of a Puffin, cant miss it.

How is that place? I pass it every time I go to the Sands. Unfortunately I work until 5:30PM so I usually don't head over til around 7PM. However next week I am on vacation so I will be able to do some mid morning playing so I will be passing it while it's open.

Finally my visit and TR to the Sands.

I rolled my car into the Sands and couldn’t help but be impressed with the look of the place. Using a “steel city era” theme and quite likely renovating part of the actual old steel mill, the management has transformed the property into a first class hotel/casino. I remember the days after Bethlehem steel closed operations when it seemed like the only thing missing in Bethlehem were tumbleweeds. It was a ghost town without any spirits. An area only comparable to Detroit has been transformed into a first class casino while still maintaining the theme of the old boom town days.

Everything is new; the garage had a safe feel to in. Glass elevators dropped my off at the front entrance were they were paging the owner of the “Red Lamborghini” at the valet lot. Not mine unfortunately. The Sands is a really nice setting, tastefully hyped and suitably happy.

The poker room was easy to find, but it’s not as much a poker room as a poker area. The space is surrounded by other table games, slot machines and electronic black jack. Like some Vegas rooms, it’s not a quiet area. Dealers have 2K in their tray, but I was sent on a mission to get chips at the cage around the corner before they would seat me. Once chipped in, you can rebuy at the table. Pretty good dealers and floor staff, though the floor spent most of their time at the desk talking to one another….. Fine by me as we didn’t call for them. On a Tuesday afternoon/night, the Sands had (7) 1-2 NL,
(2) 2-5 and (1) 5-5 NLHE and 1 or (2) 3-6 LHE. The players were nitty or “not good” at my table except one LAG player to my right, where I wanted him. I asked a dealer what the comp rate was and he told me he “thought it was .70 an hour, but it fluctuates”. How could it fluctuate? You’d think he’d know exactly what it is. I got a card anyway, swiped into the bravo system and played almost 3 hours. I used my card for part of the buffet price and received a whopping $1.10 off the bill. I have no idea what the comp rate really is, but my math worked it out to .40 hr. The rake is 5 plus 1 and their BBJ is any quads beaten and well over $250,000 now. If you’re at the Sands, you might skip the limited buffet in favor of one of the many other restaurants and food court in the place. I wish I had.

I was impressed with the room, but did notice a smoker or two just outside the rail, but I never smelled anything. I had fun, won a modest amount and will surely go back. The only down side was all that noise and no place to escape to when my boss called me on the phone. I didn’t want to explain my poker needs at 5 PM so I ignored that call. I hate it when I can’t get away when a customer/boss or associate rings me. I need a door outside without music to talk sometimes.

I counted 22 tables in the room, though I may be off. No tournaments yet, but I was told they’d start in February.

Nice place. I like it.

Puffin's offers great value and friendly service, you will enjoy.

What is the official comp rate? I play 2/5 and know I'm getting $1/hr even though every person keeps saying it's $.70/hr. Is 5/10 NL any higher? At Parx you get $2/hr comp rate at 5/10NL and higher.

FrOm what I gather here it's $0.70 all stakes but $1 all stakes if you have the blue comp card.

Just checked out Sands live game report. Looks like the 10-25 NL is a Wednesday regular game now, I wonder if that will attract more big game players?

Nice TR layemdown. If the smoke bothers you like it does me, request a table in the expansion area over by the video poker machines. It is a lot less smokey there compared to the "old" section. I agree with you as well about the phone, I get a lot of customer calls and there is no place to go to talk with no noise in area. You can go over to food court but then they will think you are in little China town. Funny about the comp rate too, I have heard .70 an hour more than any other figure but some of the regs swear they get 1.00 an hour with normal comp card. I would not hold your breath about the tournaments, they have been saying a month away ever since February of this year no exagerration. Last time I bothered to ask was about a month and half ago and the cardroom manager told me by Halloween they were hoping on having weekday at around 11AM tournys. Never happened, can't blame them though with surge of cash games majority of time.

Anyone grinding?

errday

You here? What are you playing?

I decided to play the Airy 2/5 today to avoid travel time. I'll be at Sands tomorrow afternoon.

Is there a special # to get on a wait list for the poker room ? I am planning on playing Sat for my first time and don't want to wait for a table when I arrive.

Thanks in advance

Great report/summary, layemdown.

As for the staff sitting and standing around the podium...many of them came together from the AC Showboat to Sands and brought some of their bad habits with them. It was a problem at the Showboat then and generated a lot of discussion on 2+2 (it has since been largely corrected under new management) and is one now at Sands.

From what I see on friday/Saturday there are two people that sit players. The male is very slow to move players to the table, female is exact opposite.

What was with it last night? They could of had 1 more table at 5/10 and 2 more at 2/5. All night 2/5 & 5/10 players were sitting at 1/2 or 2/5 waiting for seats to open at the bigger games. They need more tables. I know they are adding tables in Jan. they could really add them now.

when i left last night at 11pm the waiting list for 1/2 was about 50 people long and about 30 people long for 2/5

lol

It's a beautiful thing, they will expand soon I'm sure after the shopping area is complete. The more players in the area the better.

Heard tournaments are starting Feb21st I think, Monday and Tuesday 11am. I wish they have one at night and a weekend tournament. Then again I will believe it when it happens.

Is there a # to call to get on the list for the poker room ?? all I see on the site is the main number.

^
Link to the Sands website, which has the wait list ...

https://www.pasands.com/pennsylvania...ng/poker-room/

That gets me the game report, but no # to call to get on the list, Do I just call the main casino and ask for the poker room ? The only number I could find is the main casino.

you can't call ahead and get on a list at the sands. however, you can call the main number and get transferred to the poker room and they'll tell you what's how many tables and how long a wait. you can call ahead at mt airy, however, they usually have 1 table running during the week and only a few on the weekends.

Why would they add one on the weekend? tables are full most of the day now as it is.