Exciting to have a new option for poker in Chicago. I think they have a bright future but there are some issues they need to improve on.
The Good:
- Room looks great and I like the decor/color scheme/lighting. The entire upstairs is brand new so it feels like you're playing in a new casino.
- Good location near restroom and parking garage entrance
- Majority of dealers are solid and have experience
- Match the stack 5/10 is good but I wish 2/5 was a 1.5k cap
- You can use your phone/headphones at the table unlike GVC
Areas of opportunity:
- Room is short-staffed and usually at 50% capacity. Friday seems to be the only day it's fully open.
- Lists have been extremely long and the wait can easily surpass 2 hours. No option to call ahead.
- Players are given too long to appear after being called (supposed to get 5 minutes but they frequently wait 10-15 minutes to call the next player). I've sat in games with open seats for an hour+ when there's a long list.
- Black Cards can force any game to go 10 handed. Pros all have it and can use it to bum hunt the good games. Not a good look for the room if you're a rec just trying to have fun. Priority on the list is benefit enough.
- No meal button and you can't leave for more than 15 min. If you get carry out, you can't eat it at the table.
- If you're away too long they pick up your chips and send them to the main cage downstairs (annoying). If you want to play again, you get put at the bottom of the list. The purpose of picking someone up is to open the seat for a waiting player, it shouldn't also be used as an unnecessary punishment for the player who got picked up. Every other room I've been to would put you first up.
- Button straddle structure is bad for the game. No issue with a button straddle in theory, but it becomes a problem when you can do it for 5x and the blinds have to go first. If someone on your right is button straddling every round you're forced to surrender your blind constantly and are at a disadvantage unless you also button straddle. It ends up giving even more of an edge to the BTN position and the table has to play tighter in response. On top of that, the BTN straddle inexplicably gets priority over UTG straddle.
- Simple solution used at other major casinos like Wynn/Resorts World: Action starts UTG then it skips the BTN (BTN acts last) unless there's a raise ahead, in which case BTN acts in turn. UTG straddle also has priority since the player is in a worse position.
- Not enough attention for games larger than 2/5. Other than Friday you'll be lucky to find more than one even though there's interest. Management appears to heavily prioritize 1/3.
- Cage is slow and when there's only one window open or it's busy be prepared to wait 15 minutes.
- Cash doesn't play at the table so if you bust, you need to wait for the cage before you can play another hand (they have chip runners but they also have to wait in the long line).
- Fill process is broken. Instead of taking it from the dealer's rack, they use $100 from a player's stack for change from the cage. Dealer then buys the white chips from the player. The kicker is the $100 they took from your stack no longer plays when you're waiting for the chip runner. If you're all in and win the hand and they cover, you just lost $100 profit.
- Can't run it twice in any game (even 5/10+).
- Comfort is not the best despite everything being new. Chairs are too high and the table feels tiny when 10 handed.
I realize some of these are growing pains for a new room, or due to external factors such as the labor market, but others are just due to unnecessary rules or bad processes. Hopefully they will improve and live up to the slogan "Chicagoland's premier poker room."