National Harbor Casino Poker Room
MGM NATIONAL HARBOR APPOINTS TEAM TO LEAD CASINO OPERATIONS NATIONAL HARBOR, MD – AUGUST 8, 2016 – MGM National Harbor, the world-class casino resort set to open later this year in Prince George’s County, Maryland, announces the team to lead its casino operations including overseeing slots and table games divisions, marketing, and player development.
I have played here 4 times over the last 2 months on random Fri/Sat nights, and action is decent until about 2am when the recreational crowds begin to thin out and the broken tables begin to consolidate. It is then very rare to see people drinking after 2am when it becomes very clear that it's mostly the socially awkward local regulars. They're mostly younger (20s + early 30s) and relatively annoying to be around because when they do decide to talk all they talk about is poker, or how lucky you got winning a particular pot against them. I've seen the same 15-20 or so locals spread across three 1/3 tables at the end of the night (5am) every single time I've gone.
I had wrongly assumed that the local players would be cool and interesting, this being DC and all, but I was way wrong. This core clientele is despicable! And they're terrible tippers - the regulars tip only $1 regardless of pot size, sometimes $0 if the pot is smallish. I feel bad for the dealers who got stuck with this lousy customer base.
Don't go here hoping to have any fun socially. In terms of fun, this room is definitely not the place - nobody drinks! If you *must* play here, Just hit and run, because if you stay too long I promise you'll start to get annoyed by the local young regulars who have pretty much ruined this room already with their collusion and unfriendly gang-mentality. On my last trip, one of the young regulars threatened to physically harm me after I verbally stood up for myself after he taunted me, and the poker room manager did absolutely nothing. In Vegas that dude would have gotten a stern warning at the very least.
In addition to a crappy player atmosphere, the overall lighting is uncomfortably warehouse-like: the worst kind of efficient LED fluorescence that feels like you're in a weird Costco casino.
Needless to say, by the 4th trip to MGM I was completely over it. Not to mention basic beer prices are actually *raised* on the weekends (from $6 to $7). That's not fun, either!
Pros: nice chairs, clean felts, cupholders, free coffee
Cons: tables are cramped, the locals are unbearable
Opening in late 2016, the poker room at MGM National Harbor has added some new tables.
Per the Baltimore Sun, the casino, which sits just outside the nation’s capital, opened its $48 million expansion on July 15, which included increasing the size of the poker room. Previously with 39 tables, the poker room now has 46, according to the casino’s website.
Poker At Mgm National Harbor
Additionally, the poker room was moved from the first floor to the second floor of the property.
“We never anticipated the volume we’d have at this property,' the casino’s president Melonie Johnson told the newspaper. “That was the decision maker to move poker to the second floor.”
The expansion also included the addition of about 260 slot machines.
National Harbor Casino Poker Tournaments
Through the first half of 2018, MGM National Harbor raked $10.4 million from its non-banked poker tables, the most among the state’s four casino poker rooms.
The statewide poker market through June was $22 million, down 1.3 percent compared to the same period in 2018, according to figures from state gaming regulators.
Maryland’s largest poker room still belongs to Live! Casino, which has 50 tables. The Hanover, MD poker room raked just under $8 million through the first half of the year.