MGM's poker room is top notch. The location is great. It's right next to the sportbook and a deli and if you enter the MGM from the skybridge that leads from the NY NY, you drop right down onto it. Better than most places where you have to navigate through the entire casino just to find it. The only downfall of its location is that it butts up against the Centrifuge bar which plays music very loud most of the time. If you don't mind the noise, the atmosphere is very exciting. The poker managing was the best I've ever seen. The room is broken up into two sides, one for limit play, and the other for No-limit play and tournaments. Both sides seem to have a poker room manager who was on a mike so they could communicate easily with the other side of the room and let the list managers know when seats were open and new games were starting. Just ran really smooth and a seat for a game that had a list was never open for more than a couple minutes. The tables, which all looked brand new, have automatic shuffling machines, so the game moves along very nicely. Chairs were comfortable, as I played 14 hours straight one night and my back didn't seem to mind. The bathroom is right next to the poker room as well, which is always nice. They had a daily 11:00am tournament, $60+5 buyin, but I never quite made it up in time to register. They cap the tournament at 60 players and first paid about $1800.
I played some $2-4 and $3-6 limit the first night I gave the room a try and the play was as loose as I've ever seen. 6-7 players seeing a flop was about normal and everyone was really drunk. After that first night, I stuck to the $1/2 no-limit game, which was just a fantastic game, and will probably keep me from playing much limit in the future. It was much easier to narrow the field pre-flop in this game and get down to playing real poker instead of no-foldem-holdem. I was able to dominate my $1/2 NL tables, but came out even in the end when I had AA get sucked out twice on huge flush draws on the river. I got great cards and tons of action, but lost two $300+ pots on the river when my opponents caught their flush draws. Had them all-in on the flop both times when they didn't even have a pair yet, so I can't complain about not getting the action I wanted. I win one of those pots and I'm in good shape.
The only complaint about the dealers is that one lady tried to much my nut straight and give the chips to someone who only had two pair. Other than that, most were very nice and there was this one Korean dealer who was absolutely hilarious. Wouldn't stop making jokes the entire time he was dealing, he had the table rolling. Everyone in the room was very nice overall.
HOT! That about sums up the cocktail waitresses. Quick with the drink as well, which are the only two things you need, right?
Like I stated earlier, the management of the poker room was excellent. Great communication on both sides of the room. The miked up system and computerized lists are excellent. Never heard one complaint.
I didn't take advantage of this, but I believe you get comped $1/hr of play, which sounds like a decent deal. I hadn't planned on spending too much time in one poker room, so didn't worry about getting player's cards. Once I played the first night in MGM, I didn't play anywhere else after that. It was that much fun.
