Playing Conditions at Hollywood Casino in Pa.

My wife and I are considering a trip to the Hollywood Casino near Harrisburg. We are attending a wedding close by and would be there all day on a Sunday. We play a good bit at the Meadows. She is a good basic strategy player and I use Hi-Opt I.

How are playing conditions at the Hollywood? Lots of continuous shuffling like at the Rivers near Pittsburgh? Many $10 games? Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

As of mid-May:

Tables at the valet entrance are 6-deck, ASM. Standard PA rules. Mins are 10-15 in the mornings (more $10 tables than $15), and seem to go up in the mid-afternoons (mostly $15 with a few $25).

There are several $15 min Shufflemaster Royal Match machines.

In the back, the tables are CSM (and lower limits).

There's a section off to the right (as you come in the valet entrance) that's never been open when I've been there (weekday mornings and afternoons).

Felts on the tables were wrinkled and worn; maybe they've been replaced in the last two months.

Search the Eastern PA forum for more info.

Let us know if you go and what you find.

p

I think all the tables are 8-decks.

On Sundays there are some $10 min tables in the afternoon, they usually are raised to 15 late in the afternoon.

8 decks only

MJBreeze said:

I think all the tables are 8-decks.

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The same that I wanted to say. When I asked about 6d game, the answer was the CSM uses 6 decks only. what a joke.

The 6D ASM games are great. Good Pennsylvania rules as usual and low limits, and usually not crowded. If you play at the same table as your wife, she can raise her bet when you do.

Incorrect info posted here. All shoe games are 8-deck, CSM's are 6-deck. Pen is dealer dependent, but hoovers around 2 1/2 to 3 decks cut off. I would drive past this place on my way to Pocono Downs, which has an excellent 6-deck game with the right dealer giving you a decent cut.

Albee said:

Incorrect info posted here. All shoe games are 8-deck, CSM's are 6-deck. Pen is dealer dependent, but hoovers around 2 1/2 to 3 decks cut off. I would drive past this place on my way to Pocono Downs, which has an excellent 6-deck game with the right dealer giving you a decent cut.

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Avoid Pocono Downs at all cost, you have to be pay for an alcoholic beverage unless your betting $25! :cry:

Albee said:

Incorrect info posted here. All shoe games are 8-deck, CSM's are 6-deck. Pen is dealer dependent, but hoovers around 2 1/2 to 3 decks cut off. I would drive past this place on my way to Pocono Downs, which has an excellent 6-deck game with the right dealer giving you a decent cut.

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2.5 to 3 deck cut off? Why even play?

Gamblor said:

Avoid Pocono Downs at all cost, you have to be pay for an alcoholic beverage unless your betting $25! :cry:

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FWIW, I believe Holllywood at Penn National has a similar situation...only higher-tiered cards get you a free drink.

All shoe games are 8 decks and they have more shoe games than they do CSM's. Most of the shoe games have ASM - Automated Shuffle Machines but many get broken or jammed often so they end up hand shuffling more than they want to.

They have 3 pits but only one of them is open at all times - the front main pit by the valet entrance - There are no CSM's there but all 8 deck shoe games.

The "back pit" is open at 6am on Sundays and opens around noon on most other days. There may be a few days of the week when it doesn't open until 2pm. This pit has equal number of shoe games and CSM games. All shoe games use ASM.

"Pit 3" - Only opens on Fri, Sat evenings around 7pm. It was also open on at least one Sunday evening that I was there. These are all shoe games and all are hand-shuffled.

In the morning 6am-noon - Most games are $10 and some are $15 with maybe one or two at $25. Around noon most go to either $15 or $25 but you may still find one or two at $10. Around 7pm many tables go up to $25 but they still have a fair number of $15 tables on weekdays.

Weekends are a different story. By 7pm on a Fri and Sat, 85% of tables are $25 or $50 and by 9pm you will not find a table below $25. It gets very crowded on Fri/Sat night. They always have a live band playing and all the drunks come out. Other than that it's generally not crowded and they have enough tables open that you can move around fairly well.

Penetration is up to the dealer and doesn't seem to be well regulated or coached well by the pit. I walk until I find a good dealer who I see giving good penetration. After 141 playing hours logged here I feel that I can say with confidence that the average penetration is 2 decks cut out. However, some dealers consistently will cut out only 1 to 1.5 decks. There are also a few that I stay the hell away from who cut out 3 decks like it's their money.

90% of the dealers are inexperienced rookies who are very slow and make a lot of mistakes on both counting the value of each hand and payouts. I've seen them pay out on ties and player losses and seen them take money on pushes and player wins. I've seen them pay out on a 22 by the player and try to stand on a 16 with everyone at the table telling them that they have to hit.

Most of the PB's are very freindly with a few exceptions. Not many players really know how to play. I guess most are BS players but they still make a lot of bad plays. And some people are just pissing their money away ----I see people hitting a 12 vs 6, surrender 12 vs 8, split 7's vs 9, double on 6 vs 2. One night some guy split tens vs 9 and I could not believe what I was seeing.

I have not really seen anyone that I would call an AP but they may have been a lot better than me at disguising it.

The clientelle is nearly all locals - Once in a while I run into people from out of state but most live within 1.5 hours away and the casino caters to the locals. They have no hotel because they know that is not their nitch.

Good luck!

Jay

Thanks, Jay.

Thanks, Jay. Great summary. I may give this casino a try.

I do have one piece of good news about this place that most here, especially ppl within reach will appreciate.

I have it on good authority that this place is very unorganized as far as management, PB, SM and all that. I have four "Close" PB's that have griped about the conditions and two of which actually confirmed that surveillance is a marginal at best. I have yet to hear the phone ring, and even after numerous misplays, and even trickery bu other players nothing happens..

The PB's told me that most of the dealers are incompetent, and make so many mistakes that the PB's have their hands full all the time. On a side note, I also found out that in the whole store there's probably 2-3 people total who can count at all, and that they aren't really concerned about AP's because most of their costumer base is local. Once you establish a set persona, they don't question you anymore. I've definitely have been getting away with some crazy plays.

All the above is true. 8D and all that. You have to find the dealers that cut the deck at 1 deck. One time after charming one of the lady dealers she even cut the shoe at approx .7 deck. There was only 2 players total of 3 hand's so I wasn't concerned about running out of cards.

All in all a good place to visit, and definitely one of my top 5. I go by there quite often and always stop. Service is decent, but slow at times. buffet is a 6/10. people are very friendly.

good cards!

Without going in to details, I've been on the good side of several mis-pays and mis-deals in the last week or so, and you would think by now that would be reduced to a minimum. The only thing that really bothers me there, and now Sands, is no even money. We all know it's the same as taking insurance, but it is amazing how much it confuses the general public, which can slow the game down to a crawl.

The Hun said:

The PB's told me that most of the dealers are incompetent, and make so many mistakes that the PB's have their hands full all the time.

...

All in all a good place to visit, and definitely one of my top 5. I go by there quite often and always stop. Service is decent, but slow at times. buffet is a 6/10. people are very friendly.

good cards!

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Your assessment is pretty interesting, The Hun. I've seen twice now, public reamings of a dealer from a suit - sloppy payouts, improper procedure, not keeping up with the game, etc. But at the same time, have received little heat for AP...even a certain level of friendliness from a couple suits that I've seen repeatedly.

Could be worse!

I haven't seen the reamings, but I have seen the corrections, just tamer. I think part of the problem might be that the dealers are so paranoid to hit their hands per hour that they don't concentrate on doing everything right, including misdeals. I've seen hitting a hard 17 to bust and been returned $32.25 on a a $45 surrender to name a couple incidents. Overall I agree the suits are friendly.

The sloppy dealers in many PA casinos are probably due to the fact most PA casinos treat their dealers shabbily (not giving them enough hours, at least that's what the dealers tell me) so there is a constant flux of new dealers.

Unfortunately they are slow, but make many mistakes. Seems like some of the PA casinos are doing more to fix this issue, like having pit crew members hawking new dealers, but I still get the new dealer, who does something like put the white plastic thing at the BOTTOM of the deck in the ASM - and busts up the ASM in the process.

I did tell him to put it on top, but he didn't listen so I didn't push it. Wanted to see what would happen, seemed like an opportunity to ST :laugh:

Gamblor said:

Seems like some of the PA casinos are doing more to fix this issue, like having pit crew members hawking new dealers, but I still get the new dealer, who does something like put the white plastic thing at the BOTTOM of the deck in the ASM - and busts up the ASM in the process.

I did tell him to put it on top, but he didn't listen so I didn't push it. Wanted to see what would happen, seemed like an opportunity to ST :laugh:

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Saw a mechanic working on an ASM out there Sunday. That wasn't your fault was it? :grin:

The Hun said:

I do have one piece of good news about this place that most here, especially ppl within reach will appreciate.

I have it on good authority that this place is very unorganized as far as management, PB, SM and all that. I have four "Close" PB's that have griped about the conditions and two of which actually confirmed that surveillance is a marginal at best. I have yet to hear the phone ring, and even after numerous misplays, and even trickery bu other players nothing happens..

The PB's told me that most of the dealers are incompetent, and make so many mistakes that the PB's have their hands full all the time. On a side note, I also found out that in the whole store there's probably 2-3 people total who can count at all, and that they aren't really concerned about AP's because most of their costumer base is local. Once you establish a set persona, they don't question you anymore. I've definitely have been getting away with some crazy plays.

All the above is true. 8D and all that. You have to find the dealers that cut the deck at 1 deck. One time after charming one of the lady dealers she even cut the shoe at approx .7 deck. There was only 2 players total of 3 hand's so I wasn't concerned about running out of cards.

All in all a good place to visit, and definitely one of my top 5. I go by there quite often and always stop. Service is decent, but slow at times. buffet is a 6/10. people are very friendly.

good cards!

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I second the majority of this but after getting BO'd I'll tell you not to get too comfortable with the unorganized and lax nature of this place. There is one PB who I suspect caused the heat on me. He started paying a lot of attention to me and I think he put the call in on me for the eye to spy my play. He's got the ambitious, want to climb the corporate ladder attitude and is looking for ways to get an "atta-boy" from the suits any chance he gets. I started to avoid his pit but by then it was too late. (description withheld).

Article on Hollywood.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/07/hollywood_casinos_tables_games.html

I have to say I agree 100% with the article. Aside from the way they arrange their smoking/non smoking tables, it's a great friendly joint in comparison to its competitors and is to be commended for their customer service. Personally I found their buffet to be pretty nice. Forget about getting comps there though.