I do NOT like the new location of the poker room. I understand the desire to put it in an area with higher traffic and easier access, but this room is an afterthought at best. The room is located just inside the main doors, turning right as you go down the inside steps. It used to be the little open bar area. The bar is still there in the back, as well as the stage where the bands used to play, and all the tables are crowded together, and I mean crowded. The other bad thing, it was very drafty from the front doors. The glass breezeway has about a 1 foot opening at the tops of the glass, allowing a great deal of air into the poker room. This may not be so bad this summer, but recently when the temp dipped down into the 30s at times, it was a very big deal. When I asked if they were planning on doing anything to warm up the area, the guy remarked something to the effect of, "yeah, wait for summer". Also of concern to some, is the loss of the free snacks and coffee station. From what I have read on other reviews, there may be plans to bring that back and remove the stage, but we shall see. Also, there was a big screen on the wall that was used for sports or whatever before, now they use that as a tournament monitor, but as it stands, this room is very cramped and somewhat noisey under its new configuration.
This room has a few locals that seem to play here trying to pick up money from the tourists, but it seems to be mostly tourists that play here.
IP seems to have some growing pains, and some of the dealers they called in to help were obviously NOT poker dealers. In fact, some of them were still wearing there Champagne Pit dealer outfits. While I was there, troubles from getting the chips ready to start to pots being pushed to the wrong player, and the dealer not being sure who was to act next etc. These were rectified pretty quickly by the removal of the "dealers" in question. This may simply be the result of a lot of call outs that day, I am not sure, but they need to get that addressed if they are to have a lot of repeat players.
The servers in this room actually looked good, and since the bar is still IN the poker room, drinks arrive in a hurry.
While the above troubles mentioned with the dealers were taken care of in short order, I think it speaks volumes about the fact that it even had to be that way. This may all just be a result of the change, but they sure seems a lot more organized and friendly when I was here in Oct of last year.
There comp rating seems to be pretty decent. It is either $2 or $3 dollars per hour of play.