ES
Very nice room. I love the way the room is situated, as there seems to be a lot of railbirding & casual traffic. Very close to restrooms, and the sportsbook. Overall, a good, casual vibe, especially with the hip-hop music coming from the adjacent bar. A nice atmosphere which seems to exude loose, drunken play. The tables all have auto-shufflers, marble racetracks, and have a nice tan felt, which is very easy on the eyes for long sessions. Electronic sign-up list. Only slight drawback of the room is that there didn't seem to be any games going other than $1/2 NL and $2/4 LHE, even though the room was fairly busy. I guess that's not really a bad thing, just a little surprising.
As I noted in the title of this review, I'm really surprised our resident grinders aren't playing this room more. I am far from professional-caliber, but even I can just sit tight here and wait for big hands, which will inevitably get paid off. So many bad, over-aggressive players here. No need to play anything other than ABC poker here, which necessitated some adjusting at first, but was very profitable. I played 4 sessions here and won each time. With the low rake, and constant action, this just seems like a premium place for a pro to do some damage. MGM makes me realize how tough the local games at Wheeling Island (WV) have become.
I thought the dealers were excellent at keeping the games moving, especially considering every table I played at had at least one drunk at it, if not more. No mistakes or flipped cards that I noticed at any of the tables I played.
In general, the waitresses were quick, courteous, and attractive. They had everything I wanted in stock, so no complaints here. There was one waitress that seemed to have an attitude (not with me), but otherwise, I'd have given a 5 here.
The floor staff here is excellent. Very polite, helpful, and seem genuinely interested in running a good room. Very good at keeping a busy (at times) wait list moving. Not to mention, I checked on my comps one morning, and Terrence (Terry, maybe?), without my prompting, asked me if I was going to the buffet (which I was), he then added a couple extra buck or so, so that I had enough for a breakfast buffet. Seems trivial, but that just stuck out as a classy move to me, and he just earned the majority of my business next time I am in Vegas, not to mention, I'll definitely consider staying at MGM.
Standard $1 an hour, but it's automatically tracked by the system as you swipe in at each table, and management was very friendly about checking your balance for you. No HHJ or BBJ, which I absolutely prefer. 10 %, $4 max rake.
