For reference, I've stayed at the Rio, TI, Imperial Palace, Luxor, 4 Queens in the past and the MGM is the best.
The central location-near the sports book-brings in a lot of traffic. I never had to wait longer than 10 min to get a seat and normally could take the 9th or 10th seat at a game. The seats are very comfortable. The tables have automatic shufflers-a must these days. The room is near a club and you can definitely hear the music. But this wasn't a negative, it livened up the room and I think the action. I'm 40+ and the music just became "white noise." Overall, I lovede the MGM and will definitely be back.
I played 1/2 NL exclusively and logged about 6/hrs a day during our visit. I'd rate the game consistently as 1/3 Fish, 1/3 Shark, and 1/3 average. I like this mix. Too many fish are bad for a good player. The sharks knew who each other were and were content to eat the fish as they swam through. ;)
The dealer's were professional and very competent . Only one misdeal and one pot pushed to the wrong person, and both of these were by a supervisor filling in. The dealer's weren't chatty at all-I prefer a bit more personality. They came in dealt the game, kept the action flowing, were polite and professional.
SPORADIC. The drink service was all over the board, even after a $5 tip. It ranged from good/regular to "I'm chewing cotton, who's leg do I have to hump to get a dry martini in this place." Definite room for improvement. The waitresses are attractive but definitely not a distraction. The uniforms could use some help.
Dale Baca and his staff are great. This is the first time I felt like casino mgt. gave a @#$% about a poker player. I booked our upgraded suites through the poker room. They kept track of the rates and rebooked me when the rates reduced-this happened several times.
1/hr. $10 max I believe. Good as poker rooms go but let's face it Poker comps suck.