Overall, the room was beautiful and amazingly clean. No matter where you sat, you had a good view of a TV screen. The chairs are moderately comfortable. Tables are amazing: when you sit down they swipe your player's card to track your play. Also have auto-shufflers, which is becoming par for the course in Vegas. The marble rim around the table might take some getting used to, but it's still an easy place to build up stacks and towers of checks.
I played 3-6 and 4-8 limit hold em there and finished the trip ahead. The first night I sat at 3-6 (Saturday) and my table was nuts. We capped it pre-flop three times within my first ten hands (they allow a bet and 4 raises, so the pots were healthy). Of these three caps, I played two and won both with A-K (top two pair) and Q-Q (set). These two hands accounted for a good deal of my profit for the trip. The next night, I played a soft 3-6 game which broke at about 2 AM and then moved to a 4-8 game where I made a killing taking checks from a drunk kid. On average, I would say a ten person table (in low limit) looked something like this:
Two fairly competent, tight/aggressive players.
Two loose/aggressive players.
Three loose/passive players.
One maniac.
One drunk.
Me - usually tight, but at times drunk; never a maniac :).
In a word: fantastic. They were very good at keeping the game going and knew the rules cold. Also very personable and friendly. They are allowed to keep their tokes, so I think they are even more motivated. They best ones there:
1. Gina - Extremely fast, keeps game moving at a breakneck pace, and very kind and intelligent.
2. Bobby - Personable, good at keeping pace moving, and a great sense of humor (I sat in the one seat with him dealing and got to hear most of his jokes).
3. Mark - Don't think he ever dealt at my table, but I played with him for about 6 hours one night when they were overstaffed and he's a pretty cool guy.
For the most part, the waitresses were efficient, friendly, and somewhat attractive. None were drop-dead gorgeous, but some had some Grade-A boob jobs. Drinks were a little small, but for the most part were usually high quality.
Although things started out very well, toward the end of the trip I began to get very irritated with the management. First, let me say this: the room itself is managed very well...disputes are settled efficiently and fairly, lists are very organized, the managers are open to beginning lists of interest and following trrough on opening new games and new limits (3-6 was running most of the time I was there but it wasn't one of their usual games). However, I feel that I was shorted on my hours (by my count, I played about 40 hours but was only comped for about 28 or so). Additionally, I wanted to go to the pool one afternoon to enjoy a lunch outside, so I called down to ask if my comps were good there. When I went down to get a slip printed I asked again. Both times I was told they would be. When I went outside to eat, I was informed that they did not accept them. After lunch I came back to talk to management and they apologized, but the best offer the guy made was to put my hours back into the computer for me (which was a crappy make-up offer). Additionally, when I went to get my room discounted to the poker rate before checkout, I was put on hold for nearly 30 minutes and had to wait 15 minutes in the checkout line as they waited for the arrangement to be made to my room bill. If you do the poker rate, make sure you get things straightened out the night before you checkout, or else you won't make it out on time.
$1/hr and the poker rate is fairly reasonable (4-6 hours a day will get you $40 off the rack rate). However, be careful about where you try to spend your comps (they don't take them everywhere at MGM). If you want a quick lunch, the Stage Deli has good hot dogs (right next to the poker room). I believe you can also eat at the table, but I don't remember seeing anyone do that while I was there. There are no bad beat or high hand jackpots, but I don't care about that because it's just an excuse to rake the pots even more.
