I checked it out this week. Some notes and a photo below:
* I have to say, while ultra-minty Paulsons are pretty to look at, they aren’t much fun to handle. I felt like I was getting little microscopic cuts on my fingers from the sharp edges. Don’t know what the ideal is—maybe a month of casino use, to just take a tiny bit of that edge off?
* These didn’t have the lightweight problem I noticed in the otherwise similar new Monticello (Resort’s World) chips. They felt maybe a hair lighter than my Starburst solids, but pretty close.
* There are still some commemorative $5 opening day chips floating around, mixed in with the rest of the reds. Don’t know if those really have much value going forward, but I didn’t save the ones which wound up in my stacks.
* The deep $500 limit makes 1/2 more enticing. Otherwise I would have played 2/5 ($1K limit). At my table there were maybe two thinking players, and the rest (10-handed) were pretty ABC and nitty. One drunk lady who appeared to have a couple racks of red in her purse, but was donking them off one barrel at a time, playing seriously something like 60% of hands to the river.
* They offer free self-serve soda and coffee, and free well drinks/cheap beer via table service (most people tipping just $1 per drink).
* I was told by a couple of locals that if you want to eat, the best bet is the Red Rose—a very old and old school redsauce Italian place next to the casino, which held out and refused to be bought by MGM. I didn’t have time to check it out inside, but it had that Housatonic River Valley authentic look. Will try their pizza next time.
* The casino seemed pretty vast, but I didn’t really explore it.
* If you want to get a player’s card, and don’t want to wait on the long lines downstairs, you can get one made in the poker room (which they don’t tell you downstairs, but I assumed would be the case). They have some reciprocity deals with other casinos if you have a high-level card.