Rebirth of the Sun; Not as Amazing as Poker Astronomers Predict

I arrive at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, with great anticipation. After chucking my keys at the hotel valet, I quickly check in, unload my bags into the arms of the bellhop and find my way downstairs to their new poker room. At first glance I was amazed. Though there have been complaints from some players that the lighting is too weak, the majority believes they have hit the décor spot on. Unfortunately for the Sun, a pretty room isn't everything.
Any time a new room opens there are obviously going to be a few wrinkles in the carpet that will need some ironing out. The problem comes when the wrinkles are so big that players can't help but trip over them on the way to their table. With a qualified poker room manager like Bruce Dixon, I was surprised to find that several of the dealers were weak and the floor managers were not much better. The floors working the podium were clearly not yet prepared to be operating the BRAVO system. BRAVO's latest design, engineered to make a poker room run smother, was doing quite the opposite. Floors were erasing waiting lists causing players to be forgotten. Dealers were slowing down their games while trying to figure out as one dealer put it, "some crappy piece of robot." I was flabbergasted by the number of mistakes I was able to witness in just a few hours of play. Granted, it must be acknowledged the opening date was less than a week ago on August 29th and it has been made clear by management that this is only a soft opening, a time to work out the kinks before the grand opening on October 2nd. While staff should be able to pick up the technical skills required by the beginning of October, there were some deeper problems that appear to be a bit more serious.
Poorly trained staff aside, there is never any excuse for rudeness from floor managers. When a player makes an undemanding request, or asks a simple question, a floor manager can never be forgiven for not answering with the utmost of respect and courtesy. Unfortunately, it seemed that for some of the managers at the Sun, a small amount of power is too much to handle, and they had forgotten who in the room were their customers and who were their employees. In fairness, there were many professionally deferential managers on shift, but rotten apples always stick out in a players mind and when one bites into a wriggling worm they are not going to feel like another granny smith anytime soon.
Beautiful, creative aesthetics, while pleasing to the eye, do not top the list of necessities for a successful poker room. With a major competitor like Foxwoods just a few minutes drive away, Mohegan Sun will have to become more well-rounded in order to thrive in the poker-rich area of Eastern Connecticut. It's not to be forgotten that competent Bruce Dixon is behind the wheel. Hopefully, he will recognize their weakness in customer service, and he'll be able to steer the room into a more competitive direction, one that will send ripples throughout the poker rooms of New England.

-strongmonty