Well, I finally made out it out to the Meadows Casino to check out their poker room the other day. Needless to say, I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Granted, I may have had a beef against the management before even going there, but I vowed to check out the room with an open mind, and that is exactly what I did. However, after spending so much time at the Rivers, the Meadows poker room feels cheap. There are pros about the room to discuss, and that is what I intend to do. I will do this in comparison form with the Rivers.
Location of the Poker Room: The poker room is downstairs away from the main casino floor. I consider this a major negative as you have no chance of bringing in the casual table games passer-by into the room. This is never good. The naysayers will say that the noise is less at the Meadows poker room, and this is undoubtedly true. However, I would play at a poker table on an airport runway if it was a juicy game.
Action: I only sat for an hour, but my table’s play was poorer than even the average 1/2 table, so the money is definitely able to be made at the Meadows. However, the buy ins at 1/2 are 50 min and 200 max. Most of the players at my table short bought, so the Rivers definitely reigns supreme as far as action is concerned.
Aesthetics: The rivers poker room is definitely king here. The meadows walls look cheap and the carpeting is some orange pukey color (see photos). The brightness is harsh on the eyes and I absolutely hated it.
Bathrooms: The meadows bathrooms are right outside the poker room and a lot of players disapprove of the Rivers bathroom location. In my opinion the location of the Rivers bathroom isn’t that nice and if it is really that big of a problem, maybe you should spend a little bit more time exercising or grow a bigger bladder.
Bar and Drink Service: The meadows poker room has a bar immediately outside of it and this is definitely a positive over the rivers. The Rivers drink service still sucks and with the bar right outside of the poker room at the Meadows expedites this service greatly.
Poker Tables: The meadows poker tables are larger than the Rivers and more comfortable to sit at definitely. However, the chairs are not more comfortable. Moreover, the meadows has a betting line in place on their tables. The downside to the betting line is that it is sitting on a felt that I am not sure you can even call felt. It feels disgusting. The chips also are reminiscent of the Wheeling Island Poker Room and are soon to be filthy just like the Wheeling Chips. I don’t like these memories.
Dealers: A lot of the dealers at the Meadows are a carry over from Wheeling and this was definitely a positive about Wheeling previously, so that is definitely an A+ for the Meadows.
Tournaments: Right now the Meadows is currently running tournaments and in this aspect they are way ahead of the Rivers. I have pictures of the schedule attached below. I am primarily a cash game player, so this doesn’t affect me as much, but for others this is the reason at the moment for some to prefer the Meadows. However, once Rivers gets more tables, they will also be running daily tournaments, so this will equal out in the end.
I did my best to point out the positives of the room, but based on an overall feel and the undeniably better action at the Rivers (there were only two 1/2 tables running on a weekday noon at the meadows as opposed to 5-6 at the rivers), the Rivers is still the king in my book. I know opinions will differ and some people simply don’t like driving into the city, but I am chasing money and money flows at the Rivers right now.
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