My Borgata Experience

[Luke]

I went to the Borgata for the first time this past weekend and thought I'd share my experience. The casino looks great, especially the card room. I like the monitors displaying the waiting list. The tables were nice and the employees were friendly. The waitresses, while they looked nice, were sparce. All in all it was a good experience but there was one perplexing and disturbing situation that came up:

I was playing in a terribly soft $2-4 hold 'em at a table with mostly young kids like myself. I get KQo in UTG + 2 and when it's folded to me, I decide to open raise. The elderly woman to my left throws in $2 and says "he can't raise". Not sure what she means I say "sure I can - I only made it $4". Within moments the entire table (except for one young guy) begins chiming in siding with her (to my suprise). "...it's a structured game... you can't raise until someone else bets $2... it's this way EVERYWHERE, the Taj, Binions, the Mirage... you must be thinking of a straddle which isn't allowed here" - I heard all sorts of nonsense. The dealer, obviously confused and unsure of the rule, sided with the majority of the table. Eventually, even the young kid who was on my side was swayed by the mob psychology. Then the floorman came over to evaluate the situation. He too seemed unsure of the ruling and decided against me (I think as to not upset the majority or go against the dealer).

I just decided to let it go for the moment because there was no changing their minds and I couldn't care less about missing out on 6 more dollars in the pot. But I did decide to write the Borgata a message in their online "comment box" pointing the holes in their service as well as the positives of their place. I just hope the employees become more educated of the games and organized as the facility is great.

On an interesting note, I bet out on the flop and the 3 other players in the hand immediately folded as if I had aces or something. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] They must have figured I would only push the issue of the raise if I had a premium hand. I couldn't help but laugh.

Luke

[JoeU]

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to AC in September and with this story in mind, I can't wait to argue an open raise with 72o and have everyone fold to me on the flop! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Interesting that the floor people are so inexperienced that they would side with the mob.


Joe

[Homer]

The way to explain it (not that you should have to explain something as ridiculous as this) is to say that "the $2 that the big blind is required to put out is a forced bet. When the action gets to me I have three options -- call the $2 bet, raise the bet from $2 to $4, or fold...." I wouldn't allow action to continue until I got the correct ruling.

-- Homer

[innebandy]

In my experience, this is not typical at the Borgata. I've been there for 6-7 visits (about 40 hours of play) over the last couple of months and never had anything like that happen. I play either 2-4 or 3-6 hold'em, and you get a lot of inexperienced players, but all the dealers I've had have known better.

A couple of times, the dealer hasn't been sure how to handle people moving from one spot to another within the table (missing blinds...), but the floor person has always been able to straighten things out quickly.

[Luke]

[ QUOTE ]
The way to explain it (not that you should have to explain something as ridiculous as this) is to say that "the $2 that the big blind is required to put out is a forced bet. When the action gets to me I have three options -- call the $2 bet, raise the bet from $2 to $4, or fold...." I wouldn't allow action to continue until I got the correct ruling.

-- Homer

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the clarity of thought. After the fact, I actually came to the conclusion that this was exactly what I should have said but during the heat of the moment I wasn't really able to completely organize my thoughts and words. Frankly, I had a difficult time comprehending that NO ONE else there saw the situation my way. I actually started 2nd guessing myself for a split second but quickly snapped back into reality. It was late, I had a few drinks in me, and I didn't want to ruin the mood at what was a pretty fun and profitable game. So I just decided it would be much positive EV to let it go. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

But I am interested and curious, what other options beyond bringing over a floorman do I have at my disposal? If I was in another mood or playing a higher limit I would have certainly wanted this corrected on the spot. Could I have asked to have another floorman or higher level employee come over to regulate? I'm not to experienced in B&M's in case you can't tell.

[the mayor]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting that the floor people are so inexperienced that they would side with the mob.


[/ QUOTE ]

in jersey its usually a good idea to side with the Mob.

[JoeU]

Being a "paisan" myself, I would whole heartedly agree with you.


Joe

[slamdunkpro]

I've seen it bad at the Borgata but not this bad. I thought they were getting much better after my last visit.

Homer J is correct with the response (kudos!)

If the floor person does not get it right and you want to push the issue get the floor to call the poker manager from the desk.

[Copernicus]

Did they mob you the first time you wanted to check/raise also? "No raise until the blind is called" sounds like a home game rule to keep things friendly.

[tpir90036]

the biggest problem i noticed was dealers not paying attention and not keeping the game moving. one dealer i had was dozing off and "allowed" a raise from 4 to 6 on the turn and it had to stand becasue people started calling it?!

we also had 3 empty seats at our table for around 30 minutes even though there were at least 5 names on the waiting list for our limit.

last story [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] another dealer also gave an extra dollar to the high ranking hand by suit (a stud rule) as opposed to closest to the button (a button game rule). i tried to point this out and he was not very receptive. oh well...