Newport World Resorts formerly Resorts World Manila

I played mostly 50-100 in this room over the course of a month. Generally, there would be 3-4 tables running by late afternoon, with a 100-200 opening most early evenings (300bb max buy-in for 50-100 and 750bb for 100-200). The room is located in the front corner of the Holiday Inn, as part of the Resorts World complex, and in a highly secure part of Manila (literally armed security personal on every corner). Aesthetically it is very pleasant and self-contained: the tables and chairs are comfortable, bathrooms are accessible and table service prompt, with some complimentary drinks (coffee, juice, etc.,). That there were no large screens showing sport was a bonus as far as I was concerned, although the fact that players here tend not to use headphones and watch social media streams on their phones for everyone to hear was a notable distraction (even players and/or their friends waiting for a seat regularly had these listening habits as well). One would think that management could easily fix this problem, but would only take action if another player made a complaint. Indeed, floor staff and dealers were reluctant to enforce basic rules like identifying an exposed card, players talking in Tagalog during hands, and locals agreeing to check hands to the river, which for the many non-locals in the room was disconcerting (as with players talking/whispering to dealers in Tagalog in the midst of hands, too, which just doesn't look good no matter how innocent). My key concern with this room blessed with so much potential, given the highly competitive rake (5% capped at 4bb plus BBJ), location, aesthetics and staff resources, is that regs effectively seem to run it, being overly-friendly with many of the dealers and floor staff, "soft-playing" against each other, buying in short, "slow-rolling" visitors and seemingly table-changing at will (on a number of occasions I ended-up playing 4-5 handed games because local regs moved to another table before a seat at our table had been filled). Another minor concern was how long games took to start, because chip-runners were used and the cage procedures were inefficient, not to mention there being only one cashier. I really enjoyed my time in Manila, appreciated the local culture and friendly vibe, but was highly frustrated by how poker at Newport World Resorts could have been so much better if floor staff had been more proactive in managing the integrity of the games and the social environment of the room itself.