Md Live Poker Blog
Level 18: (3,000/6,000/500)
Entrants: 212
Remaining Players: 31
Average Stack: 274,000
The remaining 31 players in the Live! Legends Celebrity Bounty are now only four eliminations away from a $1,728 pay day. The three bounties remaining in the field are all working comfortable stacks as Tom Wang (650,000), Jennifer “Jenicide” Leigh (350,000) and Chad Power (220,000) all look to chip up even further. Leading the field with a whopping 950,000 is Jonathan Gilliam who recently flopped a set and caught an opponent bluffing to nearly double his stack.
Poker Player in Las Vegas. Sitting in seat 19E on Spirit Airlines flight 711 from DTW to LAS, cruising somewhere in the vicinity of 550mph at 39,000 feet, typing this blog in the trusty Notes app on my iPhone5. Bravo Poker Live is the world's most convenient, secure and low cost poker event registration portal on the web. More than just a booking site, Bravo Poker Live communicates directly with our industry leading poker room management system installed in leading casinos across the world - giving you registration access like never before! Casino & Hotel came in second at $45 million. But that represented a 15 percent drop from November 2019. Maryland’s three resort-style casinos — Hollywood Casino Perryville, Ocean Downs. The 52-table poker room at Maryland’s largest casino is set to open to the public. Dealers will start shuffling cards at Maryland Live Casino in Hanover at noon on Wednesday. Gold Bracelet winner and I battle it out at Maryland Live and the brand new MGM National Harbor where there's tons of action and lots of big pots.Check out B.
Jonathan Gilliam was the recent recipient of a gift from an opponent after Gilliam flopped a set and gained max value from a bluff to move to 950,000. Gilliam finished 4th at the 2015 WSOPC Circuit at Baltimore Horseshoe for a $70,000 score and will look to regain his final table form as he sits nearly 300,000 above the next highest stack in the room with 31 players left in the Live! Legends Celebrity Bounty.
With almost 8,500,000 chips in play, Gilliam holds just over 11 percent of the total chips making him a very dangerous player in the smaller field. Once the money bubble bursts, a full three-table redraw will take place and the Maryland Live! Blog will post the redraw along with updated chip counts for the final 27.
Following the opening of the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor, the Maryland gaming market is entering a new era.
The massive MGM casino dwarfs all five of the state’s existing casinos, even the relatively new Maryland Live! Casino that had been the cream of the crop since it opened its doors some four years ago.
The two casinos will be natural competitors, considering they sit about an hour apart from one another. MGM National Harbor is on the outskirts of the District of Columbia, and Maryland Live! sits about 30 minutes outside of Baltimore and directly on the route to MGM National Harbor.
The ability of Maryland Live! to create a chokepoint, cutting off traffic from Baltimore and further north, shouldn’t be understated:
I'm at Maryland Live cuz I couldn't be bothered to drive down to national harbor. I'm turning into a 2/5 grinder!
— Andrew Brokos (@thinkingpoker) December 14, 2016
Considering their relative proximity to the largest population centers in the state, as well as to one another, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find MGM and Maryland Live! already fighting for poker supremacy in the Old Line State.
Tale of the tape
Here’s a quick comparison of what you can expect to find at both poker rooms:
| Maryland Live! | MGM National Harbor | |
| Opened | Aug. 28, 2013 | Dec. 8, 2016 |
| Total number of tables | 52 tables | 39 tables |
| Tables running (Dec 14) | 32 tables | 35 tables |
| Most popular game (Dec 14) | $1/$2 NLHE (18 tables) | $1/$3 NLHE (15 tables) |
| 2nd most popular game (Dec 14) | $2/$5 NLHE (7 tables) | $2/$5 NLHE (8 tables) |
| 3rd most popular game (Dec 14) | $4/$8 Limit Hold’em (5 tables) | $5/$10 & $10/$25 NL (2 tables) |
Both casinos have all of the bells and whistles of the newer US poker rooms, such as phone chargers built into the table, comfortable chairs, and in-house massage therapists. However, MGM might have the upper hand on the amenities front thanks to its table-side dining options:
Skipped Prague to check out the new MGM at National Harbor. RIP Maryland Live.
— Cate Hall (@catehall) December 13, 2016
@Andrew_Alberg@auturgist better action, closer, nicer … small things like having the restaurants deliver also make a difference
— Cate Hall (@catehall) December 13, 2016
Of course, MGM National Harbor is also going to be plagued by the early problems that are universal whenever a new, highly anticipated business opens its doors and is mobbed by the public:
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MGM national harbor poker room. Enjoy my time even though drinks were very slow and the cashier even slower. pic.twitter.com/C64QDjk49r
— Rich Tuttle (@RMTRLTMBT) December 9, 2016
What the early returns are saying
Based on the early numbers from the Bravo Live Poker app, most of the high-stakes and non-hold’em action has shifted to MGM National Harbor during its opening week.
In addition to multiple tables of $10/$25 No Limit Hold’em and PLO, the Bravo Poker App shows interest lists at MGM National Harbor for a $25/$50 No Limit Hold’em, $25/$50 PLO, $60/$120 Limit Hold’em, and some $10/$25 PLO/NLHE/Big O mix games.
An hour north, on the same day, Andrew Brokos noted that he was having difficulty getting a $5/$10 PLO or No Limit Hold’em game going at Maryland Live!:
14 names on the 5/10 list but only 2 ready to play. Briefly played 3-handed PLO with a Quebecois couple but they left for MGM. Back at 2/5.
— Andrew Brokos (@thinkingpoker) December 15, 2016
It’s unclear if this trend will persist, or if it’s just a function of MGM’s nascency, which has led to early customer curiosity.
Bottom line
Smaller in scale than Maryland Live!, MGM will benefit from its newness and the company’s decision to make sure the room has all of the amenities of a great card room. Maryland Live! will benefit from its existing player base and a very strong reputation in the region.
The biggest winner will likely be the players, who will reap the rewards of two great poker rooms battling for their business.
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