MGM National Harbor Resort & Casino (Oxon Hill, MD); FAQ in OP

Nobody should be pressured to straddle id agree. But if you go to a game where everyone is straddling and you don't want to you should find a other table.

And while I wouldn't say straddling always makes a game better it usually does.

8/9 handed 2 blind NL is absolute torture.

I know it's hard, but I'm pretty sure all of you degens can handle one hand every orbit that isn't straddled.

You sound like fun to play with.
Enjoy your edge from scumming the game.

I like this borg23 guy.

I played there 2 weeks ago, 1AM table having a great time, showing bluffs , chatting, half table drinking $10 straddle on.

Then some guy comes from a broken table. Washed up reg who looks 50 and has gel spike hair. He sits down , dealer says " the the table is straddling." He just scoffs at us and throws his hands up. Gets up with a laugh like he is so above us and walks off.

These guys just kill the vibe, have no EQ.

The guy in this example just gave up plenty of EV in a very soft game because he was scarred boy. He went to play 1/3.

The washed up reg did the right thing here - instead of being an ******* and declining to straddle, he decided not to ruin everyone else's fun and instead just left.

There are two things you don't need to do to have a good time:

1) straddle
2) take your clothes off

Zero eq.

I played in a game last night where the table agreed to take a shot on every dealer change and every time someone got stacked.

It was awesome. I also lost.

And id happily play that game every day until I die.

No PLO Hi events in the Potomac Poker Open? They used to have two; the $400 and a $1500.

Never understood why the nit regs don’t like straddling, it seems even worse in DC than Vegas but drive to Delaware park and everyone is straddling without any drama. Must have something to do with it being a government town and there’s not much of a cash culture.

The nits are so myopic not to straddle because they benefit the most off of the increased action and with $8 rake, the straddle lowers effective rake. Reminds me of the nits who railed against time rake at Charlestown when it first opened and rake is probably 3x more now lol.

Should be embarrassed to not straddle in a game where an action players wants it on. If you’re sitting in a game you theoretically have edge already and your win rate just 2x because you’re 2x the size of the game. Disgrace

I can comment on this subject. I have taken two 10 day trips here from South Carolina to play 2/5. Once last month and once Xmas time 2023. Other than sometimes I agree to one round for the whole table (sometimes I don't) I never straddle. Last year one guy yelling and screaming at me about my refusal to participate (more than once) when I sat down at the table. To be honest I didn't really disagree with his point, and had he asked me nicely, I would have asked for a table change, but I was not going to do any favors for this guy. Of course after a little bit I realized there were 6 other guys at the table I was affecting besides him, so when he got up for a minute, I explained to everyone else at the table why I did not ask for a table change, but I said I would now if they wanted me to. Unanimously they said that was not necessary and none of them had a problem with me not straddling, and that I should not let the guys pressure me into leaving. So I stayed until the table broke and a couple of the guys made a point to tell me they enjoyed playing with me, and they were impressed with how I dealt with the jerk.

I did however, decide that going forward if I sat at a table where everyone made an agreement to staddle, that I would ask everyone if they wanted me to change tables (as long as that guy was not at the table). This situation happened 2 or 3 more times on the trip, and every time I told the table I would not straddle more than one time, but I would ask for a table change if they wanted me to. Each time the players told me to stay and it was not an issue if i did not straddle.

On my most recent trip. I sat at 3 tables where this was happening. Twice they told me to stay, and one time they did take me up on my offer to change tables. It took a few orbits for a seat to open up at another table, and for that time they gave me absolutely zero grief for not straddling.

The Bellagio cafe in the main lobby went from serving excellent breakfast to serving trash I wouldn’t even expect from a gas station.

True. The last time I ate there was the last time I ate there.

I dont really care one way or the other about mandatory straddling for my own personal winrate, but I do occasionally find myself saying no to straddling. I look around the table and see all the recs sorta not interested but not wanting to speak up, and the people pushing for it being all pros, and I decide to take the bullet and say no. I think usually its 1 or 2 outspoken people relying on the Abilene Paradox to get what they want. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abilene_pa...

The people in here are even further spreading the thoughts behind the Abilene paradox to try and discourage people from standing up to their bullying. Most of the time it isnt “ruining everyone else’s fun” to not straddle, thats a horse **** argument. The people demanding straddles at 2/5 arent the fun fish, its the most miserable unfun obnoxious prick regs in the whole casino who you hate having at your table.

Anyone who is on the fence on this issue, id suggest next time youre at the table and it gets brought up, ask for a show of hands on “who actually WANTS to straddle?” And see if ANY unknown faces put their hand up,

Also I came in here to ask if anyone saw any funny CPAC shenanigans? Its been funny to go this weekend in the past, but i wasnt able to make it out.

Sorry to derail, but I worked at CTown during time rake and the switch to pot rake. With the amount of action, basically every single hand was max rake, we easily made 3X more with pot rake. The drop boxes were overflowing, and often had to have security come do mid-day box swaps. We also had these little plastic chip holders on the table to color up the rake. AND we raked without a flop (I think, its been like 13 years since I worked there). So yeah, time rake was so much better for the players at lower stakes.

so they made way less money and didn't switch back?

2/2 PLO (+10/15 straddle) is still time rake at $6/hr, plus $1/hr food comp (just started this a few months ago). It's probably one of the best values for PLO on the east coast. I believe 5/10 NLHE is time rake as well (probably $7/hr).

The BEST PLO value on the east coast is the 5/5 PLO game at Delaware Park. It was always a great game and kinda died out for a while, but it has experienced a resurgence in the past few months and now runs most days. It plays very big at times. $10 button straddle, with the small blind sometimes raising to $30 which generates some decent pots. And, it's a great value as the time rake is only $6/half hour and the players get FREE food just by playing in the game!

And now, with bomb pots being so popular, it's pretty common to see $50 double-board bomb pots on the dealer change (time rake comes out of it) and even a few random bomb pots during each half hour.

I used to play there all the time around 2016. Sounds like things have changed - we used to use a rock instead of a button straddle and had time flops instead of bomb pots. The free food was only from the pizza place, which was TERRIBLE. I literally took pictures one time because it was literally the worst pizza I had ever seen.

I loved that game, definitely miss it. I meant Charles Town was best value in terms of the rake/promo, not action/players (which are hit and miss).

The casino on the East Coast I work at also has a $2-2 PLO game with semi-mandatory button straddles to $5 or $10 with a $6 per half time rake. Since I work there I cannot promote the room but I will say it's a small commuter casino on I-95 between Baltimore and Wilmington. It only runs a couple days a week, however.

Very splashy game too.

Time flops have mostly gone away now that so many places do DDBP.

Nice to see some places got rid of the rock. I wish they would do that in Vegas and just make it a triple blind game.

The nits complained about the time rake “eating up” their tiny stacks, begged for standard rake and basically gifted the casino heaps. CT probably would have changed at some point anyway but in general people are nitty, shortsighted, and end up achieving the opposite of what they want.

Just like this thread with multiple posts slamming straddles but no one discussing $8 rake in dusty 2 blind games. Also, 2/5nl “pro” in 2025 is just another name for a professional windowlicker. The toothless guy that scum camps BA 24/7 in the smoking section and is related to some mgmnh employees that camp off the clock — all live better lives than any 2/5nl grinder, sad state of the game. No one should be intimidated if one of these brain surgeon 2/5 “pros” ask for straddles.

Borg23,

I hate the Rock mainly because if you are in position vs a couple of active players who are making hands you end up in early position pre-flop a large percentage of the time.
Like you stated, just make it a three-blind game and be done with the rock.
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