TI, MGM, and Caesar's Tournaments 2/20-2/24
Was in Vegas for a "boys" getaway with my dad, uncle, and their friend from Feb 20-24. The only gambling I did was the $60-70 no-limit tournaments. I don't consider myself to be a very experienced player but I did fairly well, finishing in the money in 2 of 6 tournaments and just missing the money in a third.
Recap and notes:
Caesars: played in their 9am tournament twice. Both times I had a couple of *really* obnoxious players at the table who seemed to know the staff. The dealers seemed more interested in talking to these players than doing their job. Also, for what it's worth they didn't use the automatic card shufflers, which struck me as odd. The players were in general fairly good. I'd say these tournaments had the least "fun" crowd. I would not play in these tournaments again.
MGM: played their Friday 11am tournament. Definitely the best run tournament I was in. Extremely professional and businesslike floor staff, and very good dealers. A *lot* of inexperienced players, and a fairly good atmosphere. Finished in 12th out of about 100 people (it paid the top 9 spots... rats!). Would recommend it.
TI: played in an 11pm, 11am, and 2pm tournament. Overall a very good experience, with one very bad isolated one (see below). For the most part the dealers and floor staff were very good, and the dealers were probably the friendliest of the 3 rooms I played in. The players were a mixed bag ranging from very good locals to very inexperienced tourists. I actually made it to the top 3 in 2 of the tournaments and made about $800. Would probably play here again.
I did have one negative experience at TI though. It happened during the "coloring up" in the first break of the 2pm tournament. They were running late and decided not to color up my blacks. In the process of grabbing my greens the dealer knocked over three of my blacks and scooped them up in her palm and threw them into the pile in the center of the table. To be honest, it happened so quickly and smoothly that I wasn't sure what I had seen.
I told the dealer and the floor person as politely as I could that I thought they had just taken 3 of my blacks without giving me anything in return. They looked at me incredulously. I was told rather rudely by both of them that there was no way that was possible, and their tone seemed to imply that *I* was trying to cheat *them*. To make a long story short, I persisted and asked if they could check somehow. They just reiterated that they had not taken any of my chips without giving me something in return, and refused to do anything else. Now by this point most of the table was back from the break and witnessing the end of this discussion... and as I said earlier their tones were so accusatory and condescending that it made me feel as if I wasn't being accused of cheating in front of the whole table.
Well, when they went to fill the racks they found they had 3 extra blacks... and then they counted my chips (which were still stacked up and untouched for the "coloring up") and they found the stack which I told them had three chips knocked off of it was in fact short 3 blacks.
They threw the 3 blacks at me, and said absolutely nothing. No apology, no nothing. They didn't even look at me.
Now admittedly it's not like they had just tried to steal 300 real dollars from me. And yes, 300 chips is small change in the tournament. But I really didn't appreciate they way it was handled and how I was treated. I tried very hard to be polite about the whole thing. But they were so rude that I thought the very least I deserved was the courtesy of an apology.
Suffice it to say, the way this was handled really pissed me off and put me in a bad state of mind for the rest of the tournament. Shortly thereafter I busted out. *sigh*
Now, I hope (and think) these actions are not representative of the entire staff, which I found for the most part to be very professional, friendly, and courteous, and very good at their jobs. But as I said, I really didn't appreciate the way I was treated by those two particular individuals.
Vince, hopefully you can tell from most of the reviews here that is not the way we operate and for the way you were handled I apologize and know that I will be talking to the staff involved if you will just send me a private message with as much informtion as you can so I can identify who it was exactly. (If you have their names, great, if not then just a general description.)
Also know that I will be printing your posting for everyone in the TI to read and will use it to remind them all that incidents like this can do extreme damage to our reputation and business and in a heartbeat the room could be gone if this is how we are going to treat guests.
I stress over and over again that a very specific procedure be followed to allow us to quickly check ourselves at the table where the color-up is being done to avoid mistakes like this and obviously I will have to reinforce the procedure.
We are all going to make mistakes and how we handle them is huge. Obviously they were not apologetic in anyway and treated you incorrectly, inappropriately, and whatever other word you can think of that indicates that their attitude towards you were wrong. Then to top it off the way they acted when they discovered they did make a mistake was beyond reproach.
Again, I apologize and please know, everyone, that is not the way we have gotten all the praises we have here on AVP and if we are like that very often then I don't expect any of you to every take the time to drop by again.
I take full responsibilty for the problem and please know that I will do whatever is necessary to make sure this is an extremely rare instance.
@TI Poker
Now that is accountability. I know I am butting in here, but as a frequent visitor to TI I really appreciate seeing this. It is very refreshing but unfortunately very rare nowadays to see someone accept responsibility. Kudos to you, what a great example of the definition of customer service and I think you've earned some future business based on your attitude.
@TI Poker
It is THIS type of customer relations management philosophy that will bring me to your room from this point forward. You seem to honestly care about the player's experience. This is tough to find in most rooms these days as most seem to take a "there is another poker room next door if you don't like it here" attitude.
Now... about those hotel room prices...
and that is why I love playing at the TI poker room!!
that and the donuts Danette got the ladies last Saturday........ wonder if they'll be there this Saturday too.....????
great to see that any problems are delt with in such a proffesional manner, i would also like to say how very helpfull Danette has been with response to my phone calls and emails regarding information on rates/poker/tourneys at the ti hotel and i am really looking foward to meeting members and staff to play at the ti poker room in 4 weeks time. Wiz
TI Poker all i will say is that you have sold me entirely on the idea of playing in your poker room. We (Myself,My Girlfriend,My friend and his girlfriend) Are travelling to Vegas from sunny Glasgow in Scotland and are all staying at TI. Now me and my buddy are BIG poker players. By that i mean we play in loads of tourneys in Scotland and are avid players looking forward to playing "Vegas style!" This sort of customer service is paramount in our eyes to enjoying playing poker.The main reason we chose to stay at TI was in fact by researching how the poker rooms were rated and we intend to be spending most of our time "gf permitting!" on playing poker. Sorry for being long winded but i thought id add my appreciation on this matter. Roll on September Vegas here we come!
TI was on my second tier list but I think TI Poker's response just moved it up to first tier on my next trip.
while i think TI's response was very professional indeed, it shouldn't have come down to it. a simple, 'hey, sorry man, we messed up, we apologize for that' would have solved it all in the 1st place. it is good to see the response from TI and hopefully it will lead to a positive change in the room.
great TR.
@aggie182
this had to be an extremely isolated event, and I don't see how the room could get a much more positive vibe than it already has.
Looking forward to visiting TI in late March...can't wait to try the head-hunter tourney!