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Rivers Casino & Resort (Schenectady, NY) (2 Viewers)

ArmyVet1996 said:
I haven't hit the casino yet but it's just a matter of time before I travel the whole 5 minutes down the road to it but can someone explain the concept of harvesting chips to me? I've never heard the term before.
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It's essentially just bringing chips out of the casino. Generally when people harvest it's for chips in good/better condition, but not exclusively.
 
btbmason said:
It's essentially just bringing chips out of the casino. Generally when people harvest it's for chips in good/better condition, but not exclusively.
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I figured but I wasn't sure if their is some kind of art to it?
They don't try to keep the chips on site?
Although, in rivers I have heard the security is a joke.
 
ArmyVet1996 said:
I figured but I wasn't sure if their is some kind of art to it?
They don't try to keep the chips on site?
Although, in rivers I have heard the security is a joke.
Click to expand...

With a brand new casino, most of the chips should still be in pretty good condition. Chips are easy to take out of most casinos, you can either get them from the cashier or tables and just pop them in your pocket.

If you're looking to get higher quantities just bring a backpack in with you. Put some "poker accessories" in it, I usually have an iPad and some headphones in mine. You can get racks of $1s at the poker cage in most casinos, they just assume they're being used for $3/$6 limit or another similar game that primarily uses $1 chips. Same with $2 chips when applicable.

You can also ask the cage for uncirculated (brand new/never in play) chips, and generally people have better results when they include a tip on top of the value of the chip.

Aside from quarters/fractionals I haven't had any resistance taking chips out of a casino. It's harder to get uncirculated chips, but that depends on the casino and cashier.

Happy harvesting!
 
btbmason said:
With a brand new casino, most of the chips should still be in pretty good condition. Chips are easy to take out of most casinos, you can either get them from the cashier or tables and just pop them in your pocket.

If you're looking to get higher quantities just bring a backpack in with you. Put some "poker accessories" in it, I usually have an iPad and some headphones in mine. You can get racks of $1s at the poker cage in most casinos, they just assume they're being used for $3/$6 limit or another similar game that primarily uses $1 chips. Same with $2 chips when applicable.

You can also ask the cage for uncirculated (brand new/never in play) chips, and generally people have better results when they include a tip on top of the value of the chip.

Aside from quarters/fractionals I haven't had any resistance taking chips out of a casino. It's harder to get uncirculated chips, but that depends on the casino and cashier.

Happy harvesting!
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Thanks so much for the lesson on harvesting. When I do go, I'll see if I can send you a little something I harvest.
 
ArmyVet1996 said:
Thanks so much for the lesson on harvesting. When I do go, I'll see if I can send you a little something I harvest.
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I appreciate the offer! You don't need to do that though :)

There's a few other threads with this information you can browse below as well.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/harvesting-chips-for-forum-members-discussion.8861/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/harvest-pron.12322/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/best-way-to-harvest-chips.12213/
 
Any chance someone can harvest a mintish barrel of $1s and $5s?
 
kk405 said:
Any chance someone can harvest a mintish barrel of $1s and $5s?
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I'll see what I can do next time I'm there. I don't think I have many left of the ones I harvested week one left (maybe 10x$5 and 20x$2).
 
Last edited:
Oh! I just started about 2 weeks ago, hitting tourneys on the weekday mornings. I did about 5 tourneys and best finishes so far was 6th and 12th out of 50 or so people.

Was thinking of jumping in the $1/2 tables, how have those tables been?
 
ArmyVet1996 said:
Was thinking of jumping in the $1/2 tables, how have those tables been?
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I've only played the 1/2 table one night, I usually stick to 2/5. Played short handed 5/10 there once, but it was mostly to avoid the rake given how many hands/hour we were playing (5/10 is $6/half hour instead of $5/hand, huge difference short handed). Overall the play is decent, but there's enough action and mediocre play to make it overall fairly profitable.
 
bentax1978 said:
I've only played the 1/2 table one night, I usually stick to 2/5. Played short handed 5/10 there once, but it was mostly to avoid the rake given how many hands/hour we were playing (5/10 is $6/half hour instead of $5/hand, huge difference short handed). Overall the play is decent, but there's enough action and mediocre play to make it overall fairly profitable.
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What's the min/max buy-ins?
 
I think I saw a sign for 200 or $300 max for the 1/2 no limit tables but I'm not really sure. I haven't played it yet.
Bentax1978 would probably be able to tell you better than I can.
 
SixSpeedFury said:
What's the min/max buy-ins?
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If I recall correctly, the max on 1/2 is $300. Max on 2/5 is definitely $1000, and I'm pretty sure the max on 5/10 is $2500.

Not as sure about that minimums. I think they're 100/200/500, but I'm not 100% on that.
 
kk405 said:
Any chance someone can harvest a mintish barrel of $1s and $5s?
Click to expand...

I harvested quite a few. Probably got a barrel of 5's and 1's but they are far from minty. I think their chips seen quite a bit of action. If you clean them they'll probably look a lot better.
I'll try and get the last few tomorrow and send you some pics if you're still interested?
 
ArmyVet1996 said:
I harvested quite a few. Probably got a barrel of 5's and 1's but they are far from minty. I think their chips seen quite a bit of action. If you clean them they'll probably look a lot better.
I'll try and get the last few tomorrow and send you some pics if you're still interested?
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Thanks a million, but I was really looking for a mint or near mint barrel. Many thanks though. Very much appreciated
 
I have 6 x $5 harvested on opening day and 29 x $2 chips that were harvested a few days later. If anyone wants some/all of them, let me know and they're yours for face value plus shipping.


IMG_5331.JPG
 
SixSpeedFury said:
$50k looks purty in stacks. Taken from Doug Polk's IG. Facing the Poker Brat heads up tonight on Poker Central.
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I was going to go watch that live last night, but got busy with other stuff and never made it over. Based on the pictures I saw on their blog, I think they played in the bar and the stage area, which would have been fun.

I do love those $500s. Only had a few in my stacks so far, but they're really nice in person.
 
bentax1978 said:
I was going to go watch that live last night, but got busy with other stuff and never made it over. Based on the pictures I saw on their blog, I think they played in the bar and the stage area, which would have been fun.

I do love those $500s. Only had a few in my stacks so far, but they're really nice in person.
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Ahh, I didn't even see the timestamp. It indeed was last night. Here's what the $1Ks look like:

Capture+_2017-08-23-17-21-25-1.png
 
bentax1978 said:
Triple digit wait list to play poker tonight, so I opted to harvest some samples for you guys to check out instead.
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I’ve never seen those $2.50 chips in play at Rivers in Schenectady. Wonder if they discontinued them? Otherwise, I’m going to ask for some on my next visit...
 
They also have a set of tournament chips, obv. Will get a pick next time I play one. (Their tourney chips are pretty ugly, IMHO, and include as I recall a purple which is way too close to the blacks.)
 
According to the Albany Times-Union, the Rivers Schenectady poker room has been turned into a lounge for older visitors to play table games—55 and up only. Not sure if it will ever reopen for poker.

Another news report said that they felt that COVID restrictions would make poker a money-loser, so maybe that implies there’s hope post-COVID.

OTOH, I was told by a former floor manager he thought they might be done with poker entirely. Messaged them on Twitter but the poker room account appears to be disabled.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/art...reopened-at-Schenectady-s-Rivers-15560735.php

Anyone heard more?
 
I hadn't heard anything - been about a year since my last time playing poker there. Pretty small poker room with inexperienced dealers from the few times I went but I still enjoyed it!

Their tables are pretty nice from what I remember. Wouldn't mind trying to pick one up if they were put up for sale.
 
They lost many of their better dealers to the Wynn when it opened. After that there were a few decent ones, but even more who were truly atrocious. The dealer problems I saw were a combination of bad attitudes; showing more interest in socializing than dealing; or just dealers who obviously had never actually played poker. Sure, you can train a non-player, but it can lead to an ignorance of the finer points of rules/ etiquette/ technique which crop up from time to time.

I also observed some truly bizarre floor rulings, and thought they were overly indulgent of bad behavior from some regs.

I did go there 2-3 times per month because it was closer to me than any other options, including Resorts World in the Catskills which IMHO had an even worse room. MGM Springfield is not that much farther for me, but I am not such a fan of playing 10-handed, which is how they spread cash games.
 

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