Pager system for waitlist

[brick]

I've read in many threads about the trouble with wait lists at the Bellagio and Mirage.

Tulalip near Seattle has a pager system that works great. (Pager System and No-Smoking rule are the only things they have right)

You can wonder off and spend money on other games without missing your seat.

I just don't understand why they don't have this in Vegas.
Totally worth the investment for the casino.

[augie00]

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I just don't understand why they don't have this in Vegas.

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Because it's only natural for the players to be smarter than the casino.

[bodie]

Apparently they do have a pager system in the new poker room at MGM.
Also I heard they have one at Wynn Las Vegas, where they also have wait lists that you can see on the tv in your room.
I agree, it's a good idea, and you'd think more casinos would think of it so that players could mess around doing other things instead of staying close enough to the poker room that they can hear their name called.

[RacersEdge]

I do process improvement for a living. I would love to be hired by a casino to streamline their poker room...so much opportunity.

[slamdunkpro]

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I agree, it's a good idea, and you'd think more casinos would think of it so that players could mess around doing other things instead of staying close enough to the poker room that they can hear their name called.

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I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table at the Mirage or Bellagio - Just slip the Brush $50.......keep it fair keep it fair

[stabn]

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(Pager System and No-Smoking rule are the only things they have right)


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You are so right on this. I was playing there last night and these two things are really the only great things there. The chairs aren't bad either though. The board/floor is absolutely horrible though. I don't know how many times i've walked up there and had them ignore me for ten minutes before they get around to putting me on the list.

Edit:

One more nice thing there is the room between tables. It is much less crowded than lils and the muck.

As far as the rooms i've played at in vegas, they just don't seem to want to change. Having to run around and find out where the random dude with the clipboard is and get your name on it is a pain, as is not being able to see where you are on the list at all times. When i played poker in vegas for the first time i was really surprised how badly the rooms were run compared to the muck.

[bbarker703]

It's silly not to have a system. It would have to be able to pay for itself. Why wouldn't you want 80-100 people on a weekend wandering off for some slots or blackjack while waiting for a poker seat. Just give them a reasonable time to react to the page (5 minutes) or have a button on the pager to (a) accept the seat, (b) decline the seat for now, or (c) drop me from the list. It wouldn't be that difficult to implement. But casinos are slow to jump on better processes if people are tripping over each other to get in, e.g. how many round and round parking garages are there vice a quick exit like the Borgata. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[cokehead]

This is what the Bellagio has to say about paging systems:

"It's the craziest thing in the world to do," Dalton said. "How do you start a game with people in all different directions? Let's say you take all these names. They'll be there in 20 minutes. Someone gets hung up here. Someone gets hung up there. How do you start a game when no one's there?

"Then you end up with an argument if they're one minute late. Do you really want that argument? Now somebody walks in the room and they see this list. 'Why don't you start a game?' 'We can't start a game because you're the only guy here.' When they do show up, let's say it's all at the same time, and now the guy is 15th on the list. Is that an attractive thing for a guy who made the effort to walk in? They're going to experience all this stuff.

"With the beepers, if a guy is playing 21 and he's on a streak, you think he's going to show up when his beeper goes off? Then he finally does show up and his name's on a long list. Now you've got that argument.

"There are a lot of things we've already done. They're just trying to reinvent the wheel. The wheel is round. Just go with it."

[kerrizor]

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I don't know how many times i've walked up there and had them ignore me for ten minutes before they get around to putting me on the list.

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I complained back in Jan/Feb after having one of the men who run the board ignore me and instead take the names of -everyone- around me, even though I was standing clearly at the head of the queue. I said, "Hey, what's the problem?" "Oh, I thought you were just waiting for your boyfriend.."

Oh, that made me mad!

Regarding boards, one of the better systems I've seen is the computerized board at River Rock in Vancouver, BC - it shows you EXACTLY where every list you are on a 60" 16:9 plasma screen next to the podium, plus the status of the people in front of you - waiting for a TC, currently playing and at what table, were they a phone-ahead.. pretty sweet little system, that with a few minor touches (add multiple screens in the remainder of the casino, touch-screen kiosks in the buffet area? or flash your name/id/sign-in/pseudonym when you're called..) it'd be top-notch.

[kerrizor]

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This is what the Bellagio has to say about paging systems:

"It's the craziest thing in the world to do," Dalton said.

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The first time I ever got a pager when I was waiting for a table at a busy restaurant I thought very much the same argument. 10 years later, given how often I'm handed a flashing lump of plastic, I'd say I was definately wr... wr... mistaken.

[cokehead]

I agree that pager systems are good, the Bellagio seems a little too paranoid about it, though he is also talking about phone ahead systems.

By the way, that is from this article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=rosenbloom_steve&id=2046006&num=0

[Trainwreck]

Discovered the other day that SUNSET Station Casino has PAGERS!

So no excuse for the big ones not to also, if a locals joint can manage it, and their room is not that big, and not cramped!

Overall, Sunset Station Casino is very nice, highly recommended!

>TW<

[MrDannimal]

I think it's a little different than a poker room. Often with the restaurant, people aren't going all that far, and they're not doing anything but wait. It's mostly a way to save on having to shout out names.

As the Bellagio guy pointed out, if you give each person 5 minutes to respond (because they're allowed to roam the casino), if two people don't respond, you've waited 10-15 minutes to fill a single seat. That's awful. Greektown used to have pagers, and stopped using them because it sucked.

Also, those things aren't cheap. At a restaurant, you're only using 20-30. At a poker room, you'd need a lot more. You could limit it to X per game, and tell someone "Well, there are more than X people ahead of you, so come back in an hour and maybe you'll be close enough to get a pager", but that's a hassle. It's not a huge amount of $$, but casinos tend to not spend even small amounts of money to solve a problem that isn't all that great a solution.

I do think lists should be "computerized", with names appearing on a screen. If I had a nickel for every time Greektown mis-read initials, I'd buy the casino. Heck, every time I call ahead, I tell them "D as in David, R as in rocket, F as in Frank" and have them repeat it back. When I get there and check in, it's almost always wrong. Usually DRS.

[whiskeytown]

I think they have them at the new MGM Grand room

RB

[brick]

Thanks for posting the quotes from the ESPN article.


That guy should be fired.

When something works ok you don't just "go with it". If you don't continue to improve you will be passed by someone else who is willing to improve things.

[Randy_Refeld]

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I think they have them at the new MGM Grand room



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The old MGM room has them, so I would imagine the new one has them.

[joeboe2001]

I am a babe in arms (about 1.5 years experience) when it comes to poker rooms, but the lack of general organization skills and business sense at poker rooms never ceases to amaze me.

Worried about people not showing up at a table? When you give them the pager, ask them how much they will be buying in for, take the money, and tell them their chips will be waiting for them when they get to the table. If they don't show up right away, antes and blinds will be posted for them until their buy in is gone, and then they will lose their seat.

I spent an hour or more at Foxwoods not so long ago waiting for a table for a tournament sattelite. No list was kept, no pagers were offered--they just expected people to stand around with their hands in their pockets until enough people showed up. Of course, once they seated the table, their were two or three arguments from people who thought they should have been seated. Who wants to wait 90 minutes to play ring-around-the-rosie?

The least they could do in that situation is seat people at the table as they show up.

Meanwhile there are many other common sense improvements that would add to any poker room's ambiance.

But what's this crap about no smoking? A good cigar is part of the game!!!

[CrashPat]

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Worried about people not showing up at a table? When you give them the pager, ask them how much they will be buying in for, take the money, and tell them their chips will be waiting for them when they get to the table. If they don't show up right away, antes and blinds will be posted for them until their buy in is gone, and then they will lose their seat.

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Horrible idea. If I walk into a place and see that there is going to be a long wait I'll have them put me on the list and then I leave and check out the other venues down the street. Then if I cannot get a seat anywhere I come back and wait. And I can leave my chips on the table and leave for a while without posting blinds, this idea is horrible.

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But what's this crap about no smoking? A good cigar is part of the game!!!

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Cigars are horrible to us non smokers. The smoke is acrid and just not pleasant to be around. I can smoke a cigar and be fine but I cannot stand to be around others that are smoking them when I'm not. The no cigar rule is good, a no smoking at the table rule is better. One place I play at has a no smoking in the poker room rule, you have to go out to the floor 10 feet away to do it. Then you just have to deal with a somebody that smells like a but when he or she sits back down.