MGM Springfield

MGM Springfield is opening August 24th at 11am. Who else is going to be there?:driver:

Im going to wait a little bit to go and let the initial burst die down. Excited to see what they have to offer though!

It's Open!

I played at MGM Springfield yesterday, and it was definitely an experience.
The 1-2NL has 100-500 buyin and the 2-5 is 300-1,000. With the buyins being bigger than the CT games, they definitely played bigger. Rake for the 1-2 is 10% capped at 5, I forgot to check the 2-5. Free drinks until 4am will probably get some splashy play late night. I recognized most of the dealers from the other New England casinos, so they were all pretty good.

Speaker was too loud, and the bright red felt didn't seem ideal, but overall I liked it.

BigRivers said:

I played at MGM Springfield yesterday, and it was definitely an experience.
The 1-2NL has 100-500 buyin and the 2-5 is 300-1,000. With the buyins being bigger than the CT games, they definitely played bigger. Rake for the 1-2 is 10% capped at 5, I forgot to check the 2-5. Free drinks until 4am will probably get some splashy play late night. I recognized most of the dealers from the other New England casinos, so they were all pretty good.

Speaker was too loud, and the bright red felt didn't seem ideal, but overall I liked it.

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I played there last night and I totally agree about the speakers.

I made a list of things I liked about the new poker room and things I didn't

The Bad Things

1. Those annoying promotions announcements are so long loud it interrupts the flow of the game. All conversation stops and the dealer had to ask a player twice what his bet size was. In the end he just waited until the announcement was over to confirm the bet size. Very annoying but easy enough to fix.
2. No cup holders in the rails. This is a pet peeve of mine. They provide the under rail slide in cup holders upon request but don't insist on them so everyone has their drinks in their laps, on the floor or most often on the brand new felt which is going to look like ass in about a month. But what bothers me most about it is that all the drinks on the table make it difficult to see stack sizes. There's no bigger tell than asking someone to move their coffee cup so you can see how much they have beforebetting.
3. The felt. It's fire engine RED! There needs to be a federal law against this and it needs to be funded NOW, before the wall, before the space force, and before campaign finance reform. Green is the only acceptable color. Not blue, not orange and certainly not RED! Those colors are fine for swimming pools, Halloween and massage parlors, not poker felt. Speaking of orange, that's the color of the dealers shirts. Shift changes look like lights-out at the state pen. Don't drop the soap.
4. No Bet lines. Other thanthe iconic MGM lion, there's absolutely nothing between the players and the dealer to break up the monotony of that endless sea of red. No bet line makes it difficult to distinguish between stack chips and pot chips. It also makes it hard for the dealers to move the button or collect the blinds which are often to close to the stacks. You drop a billion dollars on the first full service casino in Massachussetts you'd think they'd put more effort into the tables. Seriously, I've seen better home made man cave tables. They need a lot of work!
5. No trash cans! Well, there's one, at the soda and coffee stand which took me 3 minutes to find. It's one of those little in-counter golf holes you find at fast food restaurants and just like at a fast food joint it was over flowing and trash was spilling onto the counter and the floor. Watching people wander about trying to figure out what to do with a ****tail napkin is like watching a man trying to find his wife at Neiman Marcus. Usually you just stuff it in the cup holder but... see 2. To make matters worse I never once saw anyone cleaning, not in the bathrooms, not on the floor. At Foxwoods you have lift your legs every hour or so when the little guy comes by to fetch the water bottles under the tables. The silver lining I guess is that you save money on tips?
6. Ten seat tables. Okay, I know, almost every poker room has ten seat tables and I know that the name of the game is to get as many buts in as many seats as possible but I was hoping that for one they'd put comfort over profit and go with 9 seats. "Hey Buddy, buy some breath mints and a can of Right Guard!"
7. No cash at the table. Unlike most other venues, $100's don't play, which means that every time someone wants to add chips they have to buy it from the dealer who rarely has enough in the rack because they allow you to buy-in at the table. So then they have to call for a chip runner. And the dealer has no place to put the cash so they just stuff it in the rack with the chips. Eventually the rack gets so stuffed with small bills it starts to look like Stormy Daniels G-String at which point they call the floor for a chip exchange and the action shuts down for 5 minutes while they audit the entire rack.
8. The Incredible Vanishing Drink Servers. They have complimentary drinks which is good but trying to get a plastic cup of scotch from the bottom of the well is like trying to get knee surgery in Canada. "Sure you have to wait 4 months for it, but its free!". I'll pay for the damned drink, JUST BRING IT TOO ME!

After all the above complaints you might be more inclined to believe I'd more likely shave my head with a cheese grater than visit the MGM Poker again but there was a lot I liked about this place beyond the fact that it shaves 30 minutes off my drive.

The Good Things

1. The Buy-Ins. Unlike Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun who cap $1-$2 buy-ins to $300 (min $60) and $2-$5 to $500 (min $200), MGM allows up to $500 at $1-$2 (min $100) and $1000 at $2-5 (min $300), this makes for a much deeper game which means more poker and less bingo. This alone in my book puts MGM ahead of Foxwoods or Mohegan. I put my name on both lists and got called for $1-$2 first and surprisingly fast despite being 20th in line. I kept track of the chip stacks for most of the night and was surprised that it never got much below $3000 total on the table and was as much as $4000, so average stacks were ~ 150bb's. Not bad for this limit. Deeper stacks has the added benefit of bigger pots which means more short stacks busting and thus re-buying and putting even more money on the table, which is why they restrict it to begin with. But that's for the gaming commission to worry about.
2. Phone chargers at every seat. It'salmost2020 for christ's sake, why isn't this everywhere?
3. Bravo! They are on the Bravo system so you can check out the action before you drive 60 miles to just to find out that $2-$5 ain't runnin' today.
4. Dealers. The dealers weren't horrible and as Big Rivers pointed out, many of the dealers are familiar to me from other poker rooms in the area. There were a few mistakes from the less experienced dealers but nothing earth shaking. That's to be expected and I'm sure they'll improve as time goes by. I'm just glad I wasn't playing O8. The rest of the staff was at least friendly if not a bit slow and unorganized.
5. Mississippi Straddle. While most rooms these days allow straddles from Under The Gun, few (at least in the North East) allow for a Mississippi Straddle. For those of you unfamillar with this concept, a Mississippi Straddle allows anyone at the table (other than the blinds I think) to buy last action before the flop by doubling the Big Blind. At $1-$2 the straddle is usually to $5. This creates bigger pots and more action. I've heard the argument that button straddles force the blinds to play correctly by allowing them to fold pre-flop. I disagree. In my opinion you should do this from the Button every time. The button is the strongest position at the table so building the pot with a random hand has got to be +EV and being last to act only enhances this advantage.
6. Plenty of Tables. I think there's 24 table which is IMO the perfect size. I know everyone want's to brag about being the biggest here or the biggest there but when it comes right down to it all I need is a room with good spread of games, good action and a short waiting list. Sure it's kinda cool to see a 100 table room filled to the gills but that usually just means longer lines at the cage and a trail of tears like march to the rest rooms. Be the best, not the biggest.
7. Food Court. The lobster roll I had last night? OMG!
8. Parking. I heard other players complaining about having to pay $20 to park off property. I don't know what their problem was. The casino has an 8 story free parking garage with nearly empty top floors with ceilings high enough and spaced wide and deep enough to handle my truck. I think they just need to find their way around.
9. TV's. Plenty of those too. I watched the Sox get their ass kicked by Tamp Bay.
10. The Chairs. Very comfortable and you can adjust the height. A $200 chair at Office Max.

All told I had a positive experience. It's a relatively short drive (54 miles), and the room was comfortable, well lit, lively and filled to capacity with friendly people and staff. I'll definitely be back soon.

Did I mention the Lobster Roll?

Play at MGM a few times a week. Certainly going to be the go to stop over Foxwoods during the quiet times.

I might be traveling, and was wondering if it is worth a stop. Does anyone know if the rewards are specific just to this location, or does it apply nationwide? I know that some casinos will only give you points in that region, but won't apply to the casinos in Vegas.

How tough are the games in respect to say TR or the NH poker rooms? I plan on making a stop this month.

iceiceice said:

How tough are the games in respect to say TR or the NH poker rooms? I plan on making a stop this month.

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I find NH casinos have extremely soft players. I would say MGM players are more like Foxwoods and Moheagan, but the games run a lot bigger. I definitely would give it a try if you have the bankroll.