The room itself is really a roped off area of the main playing floor. The tables were quality, not brand new, but more than sufficient. I spent 19 hours in the room over two and half days, and was never uncomfortable. Try to grab a chair with wheels; some have them and some don't. My biggest complaint was the distance between the poker room and the men's room. I earned the nickname "the camel", I'll let you decide why.
The competition was generally very soft. I played mainly low limit hold 'em (2-4) and found players playing all sorts of starting hands. There was very little raising (particularly pre-flop), and plenty of calling post-flop. There were a few regulars, but mostly out-of-towners, and in particular, hotel guests. I played some No Limit Hold 'Em, as well. The competition there seemed to be a bit stronger. In addition to 2/5 blinds and a $100 min/$300 max buy in, there's a $1/2 blind table with $40 min/$200 max buy in. That's where I played. I suffered a bad beat to the big stack, who apparently tried to switch up his playing style by seeing the flop with 2-4 off-suit (after I raised 5 times the bb pre-flop). He flopped two pair, and beat out my pocket queens for all my cash. Since I only lasted about 50 minutes at the NL table, my evaluation of the competition is limited there.
The dealers were, by and large, excellent. Tang, Chung, Michael, Katie, and Shawn were all friendly and capable. They kept the game moving, without making anyone uncomfortable to act. One gentlmen at my table started to get cranky and obnoxious, one dealer had to call time on him three times over the course of two hands. Once they settled there differences, the dealer didn't put any additional pressure on him. One dealer, who will remain nameless, complained of working the night shift, when he traditional worked days. He said he was quite tired, and it showed. The table was poorly managed during his turn, it moved slowly, and players had to be sure that their best hands were represented - they couldn't rely on the dealer to pick out the winner. This was my only disappointing dealer experience.
The cocktail waitress were not attractive, per se, but at least were tidy in appearance. During most times of day they came by at comfortably regular intervals. They accomodated my requests for such varied items as Amstel Light, Stoli and Tonic, Jack and Coke, single malt Scotch, coffee with cream, orange juice, and water. My seat neighbor ordered several tomato juices. Everything tasted like it should, exceot a Stoli and tonic that was too sweet and a little funky. I sent it back with no difficulty, and replaced it with a beer.
On five visits, I never had to wait for a seat, but almost always found myself at a busy table. Management did a nice job of making sure the tables were balanced. At 5:30 am Sunday morning, an argument broke out between a player, and an apparent aquaintance of his who entered the playing area. Management did little to break it up at first, but when it escalated, they did get involved. I found their approach to be a bit too passive, and it did distract the table action for about 10 minutes.
There is no comps system in place at present. Floop management confirmed that the casino has approved a system, but could not tell me when it might be implemented. There was no free food, nor bad beat jackpots. There is a system whereby the top ten hands per day are paid out on a decling scale. The best hand gets $500, second $400, and so on. I believe 5-10 get $200.
