I went to check out Maryland Live! today. I got there at around 11:15, and the line was hundreds of people long. Luckily, I found Jeff Kreshtool at the front of the line, and he and the people around him let me join them. I got in and seated at a 2-5 table before the opening bell, around 11:45. It was a great moment when they said "shuffle up and deal", and the crowd erupted in a big cheer - electric atmosphere. Those of us who were lucky enough to get in for the first hand got commemorative hats that were sitting in each seat waiting for the first players.

The room is absolutely gorgeous. Not as much bling as Aria, and not as big as Borgata, but otherwise, about the nicest room that I've seen. There are 25 tables on the main level, and they had all kinds of games going - about the same spread you see at the big casinos in Vegas and AC. There are also 25 tables upstairs, and they filled most of them up by the time I left.

The dealers were pretty bad. I played for about 4.5 hours, and only one of the dealers was really good. I saw a lot of mistakes, and a lot of insecure dealers who called the floor way too often. One of them even called a supervisor after the players showed their cards and were going to chop the pot. Kind of ridiculous.

The food was really good. They have several Asian dishes, pizza, hot dogs, burgers, etc. I ordered an Asian noodle dish, and it was as good as you would find in a nice restaurant and only $12. The waitress brought it right to the table on a nice little rolling tray (took almost an hour), and I paid with chips.

The players at my table were very bad. There were two deep stacked calling stations who did not know how to fold or raise, but somehow always seemed to hit their cards and win. There were a couple of solid players, but mostly I would say the players were quite bad.

I left at 4:30 pm, and the lines were still several hundred long just to get into the poker room to get on a waitlist for a table. Do not let the waiting list you can see online or on the app fool you. That is the waiting list AFTER you wait several hours to get into the poker room.

My prediction is that this room is going to be the most successful room anywhere around here. It seems well run, great equipment, amazing chairs (same as Borgata chairs, but brand new), excellent food, tons of weak players, and best of all only 17 miles from home.

Hope to see many of you there in the coming months!

Avi