MGM Springfield, Ma.

[21forme]

Seems the CT casinos are following AC's lead. When PA opened with the best rules in the country, AC made their's worse. Worked well for them, didn't it?

[cottage cheese]

If it wasn't very crowded on an the opening weekend, this is surely a bad sign for MGM Springfield. While Mohegan (and probably Foxwoods) don't have many tables open on weekdays, the money (for the casino) is made on weekends.

Mohegan "introduced" 6:5 blackjack in July 2018 at the $10 tables, and have a pit where the minimum is $25 (3:2 but with 8 decks and hit soft 17). The tables are not crowed during the week (except where only a few open tables are available in the $15 pit). So Mohegan is seeing the early effects of 6:5 blackjack, H17, and especially 8 decks -- and it's not good for the casino. Mohegan needs to wake up if it wants to succeed during the week by having decent rules.

The $50 pit at Mohegan is fairly crowded during afternoons/evenings during the week where 3:2 exists and staying on soft 17 remain. However, players have been really upset at the introduction of eight decks. There is a limited number of $50 players, however.

Twin Rivers in RI has had an adverse effect on the number of players at Mohegan (and maybe Foxwoods) and with MGM in Springfield opening and another casino in RI opening, crowds may very well get smaller at these two Connecticut casinos.

I wonder if at some point casinos in New England will need better rules to attract players to their casino. Players who gamble need to win sometimes in order to return another day. Bad rules just decrease the "chances" of winning sometimes and the result will be fewer players returning.

I was at twin rivers recently too and it was PACKED. every single bj table was full. and i only saw poor pen

[paymypush]

I had a chance to take another look at MGM this morning and get in some play with pleasing results. For a Thursday morning it wasn't too busy. I have some observations and a couple of minor corrections.

There are 49 blackjack tables not 46. There are 28 6:5 CSM tables not 29. I saw the 4 3:2 tables outside the high limit room.(Thank you VegasBigDeal). There were 3 out of the 8 3:2 tables open in pit 5 this morning. Minimums were $25 with a $3000 max. Mid shoe entry was allowed.

Pit 3 by the high limit room had all 4 tables open with $25 and $50 minimums. Max bet was $5000 and there was no mid shoe entry. Note that all rules are the same except for the max bet and NMSE. All are dealt from ASMs.

There were 8 6:5 CSM tables open, 4 of which were dead, with $10 and $15 minimums.

The high limit room had 3 tables open with a $200 minimum (reserved) and 2 $100 minimums with one of those dead. A guy had just bought in for $10,000 and insisted on all black chips.

A few more observations:

Alcoholic drinks are free. Just tip the nice server.

Soft drinks, coffee and water are self serve from a dispenser.

This casino does not offer Spanish 21.

[MikePotato]

I had a chance to take another look at MGM this morning and get in some play with pleasing results. For a Thursday morning it wasn't too busy. I have some observations and a couple of minor corrections.

There are 49 blackjack tables not 46. There are 28 6:5 CSM tables not 29. I saw the 4 3:2 tables outside the high limit room.(Thank you VegasBigDeal). There were 3 out of the 8 3:2 tables open in pit 5 this morning. Minimums were $25 with a $3000 max. Mid shoe entry was allowed.

Pit 3 by the high limit room had all 4 tables open with $25 and $50 minimums. Max bet was $5000 and there was no mid shoe entry. Note that all rules are the same except for the max bet and NMSE. All are dealt from ASMs.

There were 8 6:5 CSM tables open, 4 of which were dead, with $10 and $15 minimums.

The high limit room had 3 tables open with a $200 minimum (reserved) and 2 $100 minimums with one of those dead. A guy had just bought in for $10,000 and insisted on all black chips.

A few more observations:

Alcoholic drinks are free. Just tip the nice server.

Soft drinks, coffee and water are self serve from a dispenser.

This casino does not offer Spanish 21.

All are dealt from ASMs.

Just to clarify, when you say "dealt from ASMs I assume you mean that the decks are shuffled using ASMs, however, the cards are dealt from a shoe? Also, please verify, six decks are used?

Thanks

[paymypush]

Correct on both counts, Mike. Sorry I wasn't clearer on that. The only hand shuffled tables in the house are the 9 in the high limit pit.

By the way, Massachusetts State Law prohibits smoking anywhere in casinos. Nice fresh air.

[BoSox]

Anyone who visits this casino and enjoys Italian food there is a very good restaurant unrelated to the casino that is very closeby only about 100 yards from the casino courtyard. When you enter the courtyard from the casino head to the far left-hand side across the street you will see the rear parking for the Red Rose restaurant that has been serving good food for over three decades.

[paymypush]

I've got one for Cajun lovers. Chef Wayne's Big Mamou on Liberty St. From MGM head a few blocks west and make a right onto Liberty at the Post Office. It's a hole in the wall with spartan furnishings but you'll swear you just ate in the French Quarter. Very popular with the locals and the locals are never wrong.

[Halbruno]

There are a few secret bathrooms at Mohegan...I'll never tell either! 8^)

Try the Student Prince German restaurant. It has been there since 1935. If German cuisine is not your thing, they also offer more traditional American style dishes.

[kreil]

I went there opening weekend, and to say I was disappointed with the conditions I found would be an understatement. I was eagerly awaiting this joint to open for quite some time.

The property itself is beautiful and has great attention to detail. The poker room is one of the best I've ever seen.

However, the blackjack games are (mostly) terrible. And I don't have confidence in northeast gamblers to be discerning enough to avoid the 6:5 CSM tables and tank their revenue so that they make the rules better. I'm a bit worried that this introduction of 6:5 will spread, not die out, in the northeast (excluding PA of course).

Anyway, during my trip I settled in on one of the only playable tables they had, one of the 3:2 $50 min 6 deck games with no mid-shoe entry (outside the HL room). I played for about 7 hrs with a lunch break. I spread 1x$50 to 2x$300 and wonged out of bad shoes. Despite my small spread, my session ended with a polite backoff. I was up the staggering sum of about $100.

So if anyone here had any doubts left, they do indeed monitor those 3:2 tables closely, and they are not very tolerant of even small spreads.

[tomf23]

7 hours is a pretty long session

[angle_sh00ter]

So you camped at one table for 7 hours and they figured out what you were up to. What a shock!

[cottage cheese]

that's an outrageous session. i can't believe you lasted that long

[Jabberwocky]

90 minutes. Tops! Poker-unlimited.