Harrah's Kansas City 2/5 NL Structure

[TheStation]

I really do hate Harrah's Kansas City but its really my only option to play no limit as its the only one (out of 4 poker rooms we have in KC) that runs 3+ no limit games often - Plus the Harrah's game are just looser

They had been offering:
$2-5 blind no limit
specific tables running one of the folling two:
- tables with $100-300 buyin
- tables with $100 min, 75% of big stack max

I hadnt been there in two weeks and went in last night and they had axed the "tables with $100 min, 75% of big stack max" in the "best interest of players" so now all $2-5 no limit games are $2-5 blinds with $100-300 buyin - I hate this as it was awesome to come in and buyin for $1000 into a $2-5 blind game, loved it

For some reason they are still spreading the $5-10 NL with 75% of big stack rule (granted when game starts new you can only buyin $200-500) - so they just got rid of big buyin $2-5 games - I just dont get it, how is the $5-10 game in any better interest of players

Harrah's does a terrible job here and has rules changing daily - such as the rule if someone goes all in and your heads up, can you flip your cards up to get a reaction from them? this actually varies dealer to dealer on a daily basis so I just ask now when they got into the box, in a survey I did a couple weeks ago I had 6 unique dealers in a session, 4 said it was okay, 2 said they would muck my hand - i just laughed, I told the floor but the floor managers just dont care there, honestly one of the most incompetently run rooms ever, I wish all of the NL players in KC would just leave Harrah's and go play at Argosy or Ameristar (I wont recommend moving it to Isle of Capri)

Also I ended my leak of playing table games a year ago and absolutely hate when a "Harrah's Diamond Player" who just blew a few grand on table games can walk into the poker room and put there name on the board and instatly be on the top of the list... (I didnt live in KC when I used to blow poker money away at table games but I wish I would have so I wouldnt have had to wait for a poker seat ever)

I wish there was some way to correct the crappy way they run their poker room but I just dont see it happening

[soah]

I pretty much agree with everything that you wrote. But I did have a dealer last night who was extremely competent. It was quite a shock.

When I was at Argosy they mentioned that they were going to use the 75% rule but I have not been back there since then to check on it.

[Quadstriker]

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in a survey I did a couple weeks ago I had 6 unique dealers in a session, 4 said it was okay, 2 said they would muck my hand

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Wow... just... wow.

[Mr. Mojo31]

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I wish all of the NL players in KC would just leave Harrah's and go play at Argosy or Ameristar (I wont recommend moving it to Isle of Capri).

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Had you advocated the Isle, your post would have lost all credibility. I sometimes stop there to take a dump, but that is how toilets are to be used.

The 75% rule was fantastic. I haven’t been to the Argosy yet (been out of the country) but one of the dealers at Harrah’s last night told me the Argosy is only spreading one or two tables of NL. So, it seems we either wait two hours for a seat, or live with the 1-300 buy in.

I wish the Kansas legislature would get its holy-roller ass moving and make the Woodlands a dog-track slash poker room along the lines of Canterbury in Minneapolis.

[cardcounter0]

Maybe it was because of MO stupid $500 buy-in limit per 2 hours that was a handicap for some players in the 75% games?

[soah]

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Maybe it was because of MO stupid $500 buy-in limit per 2 hours that was a handicap for some players in the 75% games?

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No. I was sitting at a 75% table a couple weeks ago with like 4 open seats. There were 5 players on the list to play NL but they all refused to play at a 75% table. Another player left the table and in order to keep the game alive we had to trim our stacks back to $300 and become a plain $100-$300 table. Then all the players from the list joined.

[cardcounter0]

So is Harrah's to blame for not spreading a game that it seems most players don't want to play?

Not to argue the point that Harrahs sucks. In Kansas City, out of the 4 casinos there, they were the only ones to restrict me with a flat bet of $50 at the blackjack tables.

Ameristar (at the time Stations) simply eliminated penetration by instructing the dealer to place the cut card up, so no problem.

But Harrahs made a big deal and had a pit boss follow me around to tell dealers I could not vary my bet or bet more than $50. Scum bags.

The poker room is poorly run because Harrah doesn't care. All they care about are the little blue haired old ladies keeping the slot machines busy.

[TheStation]

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Maybe it was because of MO stupid $500 buy-in limit per 2 hours that was a handicap for some players in the 75% games?

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Well it is a limitation for any players that dont take chips home with them. So most regulars could probably buyin for much more than the $500. I always colored up to some $100 and $500 chips so that I would be able to walk in an buyin for $1000 and have some rebuy money also the next time I came back.

If there was a donkey/fish at the table that seems to want to buy more chips I would make an off the table offer and go sell him chips, if a guy is ready and willing to dump off more than $500/2hrs I will make sure he has the chips to do so. This is fairly common practice as I rarely can put in a friday or saturday night session and see this not happen - I normally wont sell chips until they go busto and cant rebuy as I dont want to give a fish/donk a big stack, I just want them rebuyin $500 a time regardless of the 2 hours going by

On June 30 Harrah's featured game at 7pm on Fri/Saturday will be $10/20 blind no limit holdem with $300 min, no maximum, this should be interesting to see if it even runs.... I asked the floor about it last night and he said that eight regulars said they would promise to play it if spread and it would make them happy.... so they are going to try to run it once, watch it fail, then go back to $5-10, we also suggested the open 1 table each day that is $2-5 with a $300 min / nomax as that would be a good featured game as people could buyin deep stacks, I am not sure why these regulars want $10-20 blinds (I dont know who they all are but I could guess who some of them are), if I was going to buyin for $2000 lets say, against fish, I would rather have $2-5 blinds than $10-20 so I can exploit other players abilities to play deep stacked NL well

also I forgot to mention this in OP but you cant chop or straddle either at Harrah's. I dont care about chop really as I could care less, but straddling can really liven a game up. I believe you can at Ameristar (although its been awhile since I have been there) and I have been told that you can at Argosy (although I havent made it over to their new room yet but have been told good things, now only if they can get more than 1 or 2 games goin)

[soah]

Haha. I'll go up on Friday just to see if the game runs... but I'll personally stick with the 2/5 games where 80% of my opponents are drunken clowns. One guy at my table looked over at the 5/10 game the other night and started naming every player at the table... why would I want to play against 9 regulars on a typical donktastic Friday night?

Argosy definitely allows straddling; no one actually did it while I was there but it was brought up numerous times by various dealers and staff. And actually I never the blinds chopped either, though that was mostly because it was only folded around to the SB one time the entire session...

[TenFourOff]

I didn't realize how many other Harrah's KC 2/5 NL players were also two plus twoers. I also hate no longer being able to buy-in for 75%. Too often, there are several stacks over a grand at the table. When I find myself in that type of situation I will play a modified short-stack strategy which is not fun and is of high variance. At the very least, they should raise the max buy in to $500.
I have two other issues with Harrah's. The first is that they no longer offer a 1/2 blind NL game. I think that if they offered a lower blind NL game, it would attract some of the donktastic 3-6 players. Far too often I see only the same NL regulars. Also, it would be more in line with my bankroll.
My second issue has nothing to do with how the room is run. It is simply that I was there last night, played like crap, and lost $200.