Hollywood Casino Kansas Speedway

Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway, in my opinion, is the clear winner for best poker room in the area. Since it opened back in 2012, it has been the go to spot to find hold 'em and Omaha. The feeling of the room reminds me more of Vegas than the others in Kansas City. Dealers are friendly, engage in conversation, usually have some good stories to tell and a joke or two to liven up the table. On any given day, you can find a 2-4 Limit game, they have 2-3 table on the 1-3 NL going, 1-2 tables of 2-5 going and a couple of times a week, you can find Omaha games. Summers have tended to slow down but about the end of August you see it pick back up and bigger games get going as well. A couple times a week you can find 20-40 limit going and 5-10 NL. The games aren't too deep but they can get pretty lively. I can't say how often, (maybe 5-10 times a year?) you can see a 25-50 NL game going and it usually has a good group of players that go for a good 10+ hours. In all, 12 tables in the poker room.
They do a pretty good job of keeping the games going if tables start to break up and the breaks for card changes never take long. It's pretty nice when you don't have to sit around for 5 or 10 minutes while someone changes out cards and waits for the floor to come take care of a problem or situation. Dealers are usually quick and don't make too many mistakes. Most of the dealers are solid and have made their way from Harrah's as its room has started to decline.
For non smokers, the room is usually well ventilated; on the cold side, but ventilated. Drink service can be hit or miss. On the weekends, you can expect servers to come around every 30 minutes or so to check. I don't like their meal ticket system. You get 2 dealer turns so you want to take your meal right after a dealer change to get a full hour break. If you were to leave 5 minutes before a dealer change, you would only be excused for a total of 35 minutes. That part has definitely confused people. The food choices are pretty standard for your casinos. You have a cafe that gives you a variety (with a pretty good breakfast option for about $8). The have a steak house which I feel is overpriced and haven't tried. I'm there to play poker, not enjoy a big meal to break up my session. The have a nice little coffee/pastry cafe with some great homemade ice cream. Their Turn 2 overlooks the Kansas Speedway and offers pretty good deals and portions. Everything in the casino is pretty close.
I know there are plans for a hotel, but no ground broken for that yet. I would guess when that comes to be, we would get more out of town players to come stay through a weekend and get some deeper games. Right now, there are about 4 hotels within a mile of the casino and about 15-20 restaurants close if you want to skip out for something different.
Currently, they only offer one tournament a week, a Monday 12pm tourney for $65. I don't know how much about it, just that by some weird Kansas Law, they can only offer 1 tournament per week right now. Hopefully that will change. Tournaments are always a good change of scenery.
Hollywood offers 75 cents/hour in comps which is the standard in the area. Nothing special there, but it's nice to get a free meal now and then.
One other thing. They usually have a charger available if you find your phone battery low. Not a big thing but, again, it's nice when you need it.
That's about it. If I forgot anything, I'll try to throw it in the comments. And if you sit at the table with me, say hi before one of us gets felted. -Angell