MGM Springfield (Springfield, MA)

Out of curiosity what problem is moving to a single blind attempting to solve?

I’m assuming it’s to justify taking a promo drop (which is new and wasn’t taken at 2/2).

I think it’s a fine structure but not with a constant straddle. It’s gonna play so shallow and just break the game quickly too often. Occasional straddles are fine sure.

Just saying…alot of mgm action players like to straddle and often make it “mandatory”. That was fine at 2/2/5 but probably isn’t going to be sustainable at 0/5/10.

And they struggled to get a consistent 2/2 game anyway.

It makes it easier to deal and count the pot

The dealer with the braided beard was a nit about rounding down the blinds (his argument is the MGC specifically forbids rounding up). Obviously 5/0 solves that problem.

haven't made it out to MGM in a while, can any regs say whether the PLO goes with any regularity, and if so, what days / times?

It’s pretty much dead. Goes a few times a month on Friday or Saturday night. Not consistent from week to week tho. Shame cuz it’s the best game in the room anytime it’s running.

Any word on what the football promos and payouts are during the playoff games?

How are the 1/2 games here? Fishy?

Thinking about stopping by at some point. Had a buddy that started going tell me the games had a lot of regs and weren't as splashy/fishy as he was expecting.

i've played all over the country

no different than 1/2 anywhere else imo

Like most rooms, after a year or two the ratio of fish/regs move more and more towards regs. I'd say this room is livelier than the middle of nowhere tribal casinos which are all boring regs, but nothing special.
You can get some decent tables at night, especially weekends, but it's no guarantee.

I would agree with this exactly. Marginally better than Mohs and Foxwoods, with your best chance on Friday/Sat night.

You will pay a higher promo drop and have lower comps at MGM as well.
MGM 6+3
Moh 6+1

I switch between the two, with a slight preference for Mohs since MGM started charging for EV charging.

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Last time I was there they had changed the games to 8-handed. I think that’s good for the good players in the short term at least. Long term idk. Any thoughts on 8 handed vs 9 at a live poker room?

That drop is too ridiculous tho I can’t do it. 1-2 NL guys sitting with $150-200 and $9 going down the hole most hands. No thanks.

Massachusetts has high taxes on gambling, a sin in Puritan times. Connecticut Valley is post industrial, Springfield tops the list on poverty.At 1/2 you’ll find lots of short stacks. The money is in Boston and New York.

It’s worth a trip because the level of play is lower than in all other casinos I have played. Too bad the rake is so high.

Sooo. The room spreads 1/3nl regularly now as well as 1/2?

Does this not hurt the 2/5 game?

Don't get me wrong playing 1/3 with everyone playing 700+ stacks is cool I guess but like, why not just play 2/5 at that point a tiny bit deeper? What problem did spreading this solve exactly?

I like 2/5, its my perfered stake. Game gets enough fish to make fun and profitable, but if you have 1/3 in between, the game loses out big time... doesn't it? Im not a reg here anymore so it doesn't affect me too much just curious how any other 2/5 regs feel about it.

When 5/10 is running 2/5 is hurt enough, now I find it hard to belive the game will even run half as often..

Is the rake or promo drop any better at 1/3?

Looks like 2/5 is now Match the Stack, so wouldn't think 1/3 would take away too much from those games

Also there are often regs who force the straddle on everyone at 2/5 making it more like a shallow 5/T. This was before the match the stack (and about a year ago). I don’t play there regularly anymore tho.

Idk what the 1/3 straddle is but it’s Probly more like a 2/5 game now with the 2/5 taking over as the biggest game.

This room is managed quite poorly imo. They are killing the 5/T with this move. The PLO is basically dead now that’s it’s 5-0 (with constant straddles to 10). Comps are dog sh**. No tournaments worth showing up for. Rake is high AF. I’m pretty much done with this place until something changes.

Yeah it’s a total bummer that they stopped running the Saturday tournaments, even if the structure wasn’t great.

Everything here is match stack, always has been. We never had 1/2 but when 1/3 came along (years ago), it eventually killed the 2/5. Was great for me as it came along just as I was transitioning from LHE to NLHE because limit above 4/8 was rapidly dying.

Now we have deep stack 1/3 with some btn straddles. The stacks on any evening will be $1000+ and on big nights, most weekends, at least 1 stack of $2500+ on most tables.

Then SOMETIMES 5/10 will go. But those games are no normal and really suck bunch of bum hunters looking to stack 1 or 2 whales. It would be nice to have 2/5. I struggle out of town when I "have" to more up to 2/5 where there are no match stack games. Takes at least a session or two to get comfortable.

Do the recs who have built a stack get intimidated and leave when a pro sits down and matches their stack? I know the recs in my home casino would and it’s terrible for the game. I’m going to be in town for work in September and it would be interesting to see how the games will be with this new match the stack in effect. Games were pretty good when I visited last year.

It’s been that way the last 3-4 years since I’ve gone there - seems to be to control for under 21 people on the gaming floor.

I remember pre-poker-boom going to Mohegan Sun to play 21, and dragging along a girlfriend who was not 21, and if she so much as put a toe over a line that, but for some shades of blue on the carpet, was completely imaginary, security was on us like white on rice. Metal railings are probably a more sensible approach.

Yah it’s by law as the gaming floor is 21+ and the areas around are all ages. It does look odd but there is more multiuse for all ages events there so the community is in and out. The layout is odd but at least you can drop your kids off at the food court while you grind 1/2

The state was highly focused on under age gamblers getting access. Every time they got caught the state demanded corrective action and this was one of the settlements.