First Visit to GBH
Took in my first visit to GBH casino yesteray morning/afternoon. Thankfully I had a meeting cancelled and was in Uxbridge so it wasn't very far to get to.
First thing I did was check into the poker room. Not to difficult and Lee I like the big screen TV to show interest/waiting lists. Check out the casino with a small walk through then settled in to play some BJ while waiting. Richard was good enough to phone to the poker pit to let them know I was there so I wouldn't miss my name being called. As it turned out the cards were so dead I was gone before my name was up.
One thing I did notice casino wide is the lack of rules. Most casino's I"ve been to had some introductory rules at the tables and in the poker room. Example while most casino's allow only 1 card when you split A's it should be posted. The casino offered a prop bet on 7's at BJ and I had to ask about it. If it was posted I could just have read. Small thing but well worth the investment I think.
Same thing I think the poker pit should have some rules about betting out of turn, what constitutes a raise etc. I watched a few examples of missed calls by the dealers. One woman announced raise and not realizing it had been raised prior only put in two bets. When the next player mentioned she announced raise and didn't put in 3 bets her now "call" was allowed to stand.
Also I think new players should get their chips from the cage. We had a table that players didn't last long before changing tables or changing limits and every time a new player came the dealer spent time making change etc for them. Slows the game down largely. Players in the game getting chips for change is ok since that is infrequently and "usually" takes less time.
I did read your 4 page or so letter to the poker community Lee and it's right on track. Comps for poker players should be a priority in my opinion.
While I've always thought auto shufflers would speed the game up, after being at turning stone and seeing how quick the dealers there are I"m not so sure. I'm honestly not comfortable with not seeing the cards being shuffled in front of me. Yes I know I don't see them shuffled on line but that's a different issue.
Staff did an excellent job of keeping seats filled. A hell of a lot better than other casinos in the province do.
Also is there any chance of getting the dinner allowance upped to 60 minutes. I didn't do the buffet at your restaurant and 45 minutes was barely enough time to get in eat and get back. It wasn't busy at the time so if it was I wouldn't have made it.
All in all it was a good experience which was profitable until my set of K's ran into a set of A's but that's poker. I had other things to do so that was my 2nd last hand before I had to leave. My profit turned into a $50 loss. I'll definately come back. Lee is obviously listening to players as his letter to the players was excellent communication.
First thing I did was check into the poker room. Not to difficult and Lee I like the big screen TV to show interest/waiting lists. Check out the casino with a small walk through then settled in to play some BJ while waiting. Richard was good enough to phone to the poker pit to let them know I was there so I wouldn't miss my name being called. As it turned out the cards were so dead I was gone before my name was up.
One thing I did notice casino wide is the lack of rules. Most casino's I"ve been to had some introductory rules at the tables and in the poker room. Example while most casino's allow only 1 card when you split A's it should be posted. The casino offered a prop bet on 7's at BJ and I had to ask about it. If it was posted I could just have read. Small thing but well worth the investment I think.
Same thing I think the poker pit should have some rules about betting out of turn, what constitutes a raise etc. I watched a few examples of missed calls by the dealers. One woman announced raise and not realizing it had been raised prior only put in two bets. When the next player mentioned she announced raise and didn't put in 3 bets her now "call" was allowed to stand.
Also I think new players should get their chips from the cage. We had a table that players didn't last long before changing tables or changing limits and every time a new player came the dealer spent time making change etc for them. Slows the game down largely. Players in the game getting chips for change is ok since that is infrequently and "usually" takes less time.
I did read your 4 page or so letter to the poker community Lee and it's right on track. Comps for poker players should be a priority in my opinion.
While I've always thought auto shufflers would speed the game up, after being at turning stone and seeing how quick the dealers there are I"m not so sure. I'm honestly not comfortable with not seeing the cards being shuffled in front of me. Yes I know I don't see them shuffled on line but that's a different issue.
Staff did an excellent job of keeping seats filled. A hell of a lot better than other casinos in the province do.
Also is there any chance of getting the dinner allowance upped to 60 minutes. I didn't do the buffet at your restaurant and 45 minutes was barely enough time to get in eat and get back. It wasn't busy at the time so if it was I wouldn't have made it.
All in all it was a good experience which was profitable until my set of K's ran into a set of A's but that's poker. I had other things to do so that was my 2nd last hand before I had to leave. My profit turned into a $50 loss. I'll definately come back. Lee is obviously listening to players as his letter to the players was excellent communication.
Comments
Really? Why? Seems like an awful waste of time. Any casino I've ever seen with auto-shufflers would typically just cut the deck and deal.
Sorry for the delay in replying, today was my first opportunity to visit the Forum in a while.
Thanks for the positive comments, they are much appreciated. All of us here at the Heron do try to listen to our players and implement as many of the suggestions as provincial regulations and the maintenance of the integrity of the game permit.
Especially now with the no-smoking policy extending the dinner button to 1 hour is being looked at very closely, stay tuned for more inromation.
We would love to have the players buy their issue at the cash cage, it speeds up the game and that translates into more revenue for us, our problem lies in the fact that the Poker Pit is not separate from the Casino and as such regulations only allow players to purchase chips from a cage that is exclusively for the use of that Pit. You may have noticed our cage will not sell chips to anybody, we are only permitted to provide cash or a cheque for chips that are presented.
The auto-shufflers have added several hands an hour to the game, I'll put up the machine against any human and over time the machine will deal more hands. I'm one of the folks who teach our staff how to spot cheat at play from both the player's side and the dealer's side; a player should feel more comfortable with a machine doing a fully random shuffle and more importantly counting down the deck on every shuffle so if a card does disappear or get introduced into the game it will be picked up on the very next hand.
We actually do have cards printed for every game explaining rules etc.; if a player asks for the rules they are given a card. I going to purchase some holders and have the cards on gaming tables and at the Poker Podium for our Poker players.
Thanks again Joe, please be sure to say hi the next time you come to visit us.
cheers,
Lee