TLDR: Physically an okay room with everything else left to be desired.
To preface at the start, I played a 6-hour session at 1/3 on opening day. I will start with the pros and then list the cons and an overview.
Pros:
- The poker room itself is brand new, so the felts are clean, and the chips feel good.
- The 1/3 action is fishy and fun; I rarely saw a bet sizing larger than $30. The player dynamics will probably change with time.
- The bathrooms are right next to the room.
-Sportsbook and bar are right outside the room with ATMs as well.
For the cons, some are probably because of it being opening day so take them with a grain of salt.
Cons:
- Atrocious dealers. Almost all of them were new, and it was their first day; even had one tell someone at the table they were not calling the floor and that if they had a problem, they could leave, at which point the dealer got up and walked away... why you may ask, because the guy asked if any of the 15 people on the waiting list could take the three open seats we had.
- The tables have a progressive wager on them. First, keep that on the blackjack tables; second, the progressive betting spots snag and mess up the sliding of cards/chips constantly.
- There is no cashier's cage in the poker room; you can color up and be given chips in the room but have to go to the main floor cage to cash out.
- Their promotions are the worst I have seen, a $5000 dollar bad beat, and that is it.
- Management seems clueless and is incredibly unhelpful; again, it's new, so maybe it's that. Players basically ran the room. Everyone was sitting at their own will, and the waiting list was basically useless. This meant some games were full, some were 5-handed.
- The drink service was also virtually non-existent; it took 53 minutes to get a Red Bull after waiting an hour for someone to come and take the order; luckily, the sportsbook and bar are right next to the room, so you can just run over there quickly and grab it yourself.
- Food options are meh, and they do not provide table-side delivery.
- The room was full of trash. Every empty water bottle and beer from the entire day was still sitting there by the time I left.
Overall, physically the room and its location in the casino are quite nice. The action and people were fun with opening day excitment. However, if nothing changes, this room will remain to be awful. With a 10% rake, awful staff, gimmicky progressive, and horrible promotions, I recommend going elsewhere if possible. If it is your only option or a stop on a trip, then the action is good enough to make it acceptable enough to play. All the other closest rooms, Rivers Portsmouth, Cherokee, and National Harbor are all better. With all that being said, I still had a great time and booked a nice little win, so it will be what you make of it for the time being.
