The room, like everything esle in The Quad casino area, is brand new. The room is an airy, high-ceilinged alcove behind the sports book video wall (another nice job, BTW). The tables are all nice and new, decently sized with drink holders in the wide rails. The chairs are a step up from \\"kitchen table,\\" with much more padding and on casters, but no height adjustment. Restrooms are on the other side of the sports book and nearby. The room does get a bit warm when it gets busy (and it does get busy), and there\\'s no real ventilation. The \\"designer\\" also tried to go the \\"trendy\\" route, so lighting is unfortunately uneven. It boggles the mind why there are exit-only doors in the back of the room, rather than just taking the space out to the sidewalk and offering windows, so passersby could see the poker action. But the 6-table room is right up in the front of the casino, and well signed. When you come in from Harrah\\'s you can\\'t miss the bright red sign, and when you come in from the front entrance off the Linq, it\\'s just a few step before you see the signage. There\\'s not much in the way of food really close by, but the litle food court with Chipotle and McDonald\\'s and Panda Express is just a short walk away through Harrah\\'s, and the food court inside Flamingo isn\\'t that far away either.
The draw to the room is less cash games than the $30 tournaments that run 5x/day. And it seems that the player quality here is slightly below average. There seem to be some regulars, but I don\\'t see the aggression level as that high. This tournament draws lots of tourists too. It\\'s a fun, comfortable, low-pressure game that draws more casual players. The room tends to get a single $1/2 N: game going and/or a single $2/$4 LHE game going, but the big draw, 2, 3, even 5 tables, are the frequent tournaments.
The dealers are generally competent, with good mechanics and good customer service skills. Mechanics-wise, I see about average to above-average. A couple are a bit slow, but all keep the game moving and are friendly. Tournament dealers really stay well aware of how the tournaments progress and communicate well with the TD. The big challenge i n the room is the 10-game mix that runs, and no dealer is anything but gung-ho to give it their best, even if they don\\'t have a lot of experience in some of the games that are tougher to deal.
This is a tough one, as I don\\'t drink. But I observed cocktail service coming more often in this room than I\\'ve seen in any other. The trick is: they have set up a dual-person system. One person takes drink orders, and someone else brings the drinks. Players are told that they are not supposed to tip the order takers. I\\'ve heard scuttlebutt that only the drink bringers are unionized, that the system was set up to hire non-union workers. Take that with as many grains of salt as you want. I have seen customer ask for what I presume is higher-end alcohol and be told there is a charge. This bumps down the rating a little bit, as does the split-service model, balancing out the very good frequency of service.
Most of the floor folks I dealt with were happy and cheerful and friendly. I (finally) got to meet and take to the room manager, Jake, who has the good fortune of having to bounce between here and Flamingo. Being an aficionado of the mixed game, I appreciate the way floor folks (and even dealers) talked up and promoted the game with potential customers. Management knows it has found a hit with its tournaments and the room is already busting at the seams. It\\'ll be interesting to see if they are able to expand somehow, but without leaving this excellent location.
This is the area I know least about. I think it\\'s probably $1/hour, which is less than many poker rooms. I assume you get Tier Credits, but as I understand it, Harrah\\'s gives less for playing lower limit games, which is what you get here.
