Mohegan Sun Poker Room Review

by Shari Geller

When the Mohegan Sun Casino, one of the two largest casinos in Connecticut, closed its poker room in 2003, just as poker was exploding in popularity, the poker playing community was shocked. Five years later, with the opening of their stunning new 64,000 square foot Casino of the Wind expansion, poker is back. I dropped by a month after it opened to check out the new room.

Coming up from the south, you drive through a beautiful expanse of land in Uncasville, Connecticut. You pass through lines of trees turning all the colors of a fall rainbow, with rolling fields of grass and tranquil streams, until you suddenly come upon a silver megalith shooting up some thirty-odd stories into the sky. Next to it is a huge property, looking like a lodge designed by the Disney crew. Heavy wood, waterfalls, earth tones, backing up to the Trading Cove off of the Thames River -- this is the Mohegan Sun Casino, easily accessible from New York and an hour from the Hartford airport.

The Mohegan Sun Casino is more than a casino. It is a destination. Think of the Forum Shops Caesars Palace, but with a decidedly Native American motif. There are great food options from casual to fine dining, upscale shopping, huge rock formations, waterfalls, native décor, and a whole lot of lumber. The casino's design pays tribute to the Mohegan tribal traditions, with the Casino of the Earth, Casino of the Sky, and the new Casino of the Wind all reflecting the Mohegan tribe's culture and traditions.

If you enter through the front doors, be prepared for quite a hike to get to the poker room as it is literally at the end of the casino. If you park at the Thames Garage, you'll have a much shorter walk and there is also a shuttle from the garages to this side of the casino. But the location of the poker room is still a problem since it will limit the number of casual gamblers who simply stumble into it thereby resulting in fewer fish. Those that find the poker room are no doubt looking for it.

Just before you enter the poker room, you pass by an imposing 35 foot tall 50 foot wide animated and electronic water wall that doubles as a projection screen. Then you walk up to the front desk and into a very stylish poker room. The colors are deep browns and gold, there is a lush, almost European, feel to the room. Much different from the rustic lodge feeling of the rest of the casino.

Yet as beautiful as the room is, it also is surprisingly cramped and difficult to maneuver through. The 42 tables fill a space likely more appropriate for 32. You cannot get up from your table, let alone move from one table to the next, or from the front desk to your table, without a slew of excuse me, pardon me, sorrys to your fellow players. And the room is dimly lit, not exactly midnight in the desert dark, but still too dark for a poker room.

The board at the check-in desk lists all the games currently running as well as an "interested" list - a great feature where you can request any type of table at any limit and, if enough other players share your interest, they'll open a table. While they cater primarily to Hold'em and Stud games, there were a few Omaha games going on while I was there, and the floormen said they often have H.O.S.E. and H.O.R.S.E. games that a group of people arrange in advance. One of the nice features of the new poker room is the feeling that they are there to serve you, whatever you are looking for, they seem to be willing to try and accommodate.

The games range from $1-$2 No Limit Hold'em with a buy-in of $60 to $300 on up to whatever enough players want to play. There were also $2-$5, $5-$10, $15-$30 and $30-$60 NLHE games going on during this visit. For limit they start at $3-6 for Hold'em, and there were $2-$4 Omaha and $4-$8 Omaha tables and $5-$10 Stud and $10-$20 Stud. The standard rake at the tables is 10% up to a maximum $4 and they use time collection at some of the higher limit games.

During this visit, on a mid-Friday afternoon, there were over twelve active tables in the room. But around the corner, in the Ballroom, was the Mohegan Sun's inaugural $750,000 Super Stack Tournament. This tournament was beyond a sellout, with total of 1,020 players buying in, resulting in a prize pool of over $1 million. That room was brightly lit, roomy and bustling with excitement and, from the comments of some of the participants, the tournament was a huge success.

Some of the problems still to be worked out are the tables themselves. First, there are no drink holders which, while I was there, resulted in a spilled drink necessitating a table change for the players. Also, there is an electronic board on the table right in front of the dealer that lets the dealer communicate with the front desk. Although this results in a quieter room, without the endless shouting of "seat open," it cramps the playing area as it required the dealers to always lean forward to spread out the board. Since the dealers were a bit inexperienced and a little tentative in their movements already, this further slowed down the hands. If they decide to fix the tables, they should consider changing the cards too. Hold'em players will not like the card deck which is the jumbo index type, making it hard to take a quick peek at your hole cards.

As with all good poker rooms, there is complimentary drink service. However, there is no table side food service, except for the very high limit games. You can bring your own food, but with the limited space at the ten-person tables, and between the tables, there really is not room for a side table.

The poker room has three daily Hold'em poker tournaments running Sunday through Thursday, at 9:00 am, 12:00 pm and 7:30 pm with combined entry fees/buy-ins of from $50 to $120, Monday through Thursday. On Friday there are two tournaments: a $75 one at 12:00 pm and a $450 one at 7:30 pm. On Saturday there is one regular tournament, at Noon, with an entry-buy-in of $75. The regular daily tournaments all provide a good-sized starting chip stack, ranging from 5,000 to 10,000, with long levels beginning at $25-$50.

In addition to the regular daily tournaments, the poker room also hosts ten-player sit-n-go's ranging from $75 entry/buy-in with a top prize of $420, to $5000 entry/buy-ins with first place prize of $25,000. The lower range sit-n-go's start you out with 2,000 chips, blinds of $25-$50 and 15 minute levels. At the highest level, you get 10,000 starting stack and the levels are 20 minutes long.

The Mohegan Sun poker room does not yet have its own player's club card, but players can use the casino's and earn points as they play at the cash games, earning from fifty cents an hour as the lowest limit games up to $2 or $3 an hour at the higher limit games. The player's club points can be used like cash anywhere in the casino. There are various comps for the higher limit players as well. There are no bad beat or high hand bonuses, but they do offer both kill pots and half kill.

The poker room will also be sponsoring more big tournaments like their inaugural super stack tournament and, with a few tweaks, should become a top destination for any level of poker player.

1 Mohegan Sun Blvd
Uncasville, Connecticut
06382-1355
(860) 862-8000

Questions or comments on this article? Click here to send a letter to the editors