Mohegan Sun

Just came back from a trip to one of Connecticutt's Indian Casinos, Mohegan Sun. Now that we have this great forum I took care to be more observant. Mostly I played Craps. As far as the casino floor goes, here are some things I noticed:

It was a fairly common sight to see employees walking around with little notepads making notes about something. Sometimes this seemed to be someone a little higher in management and sometimes not. They often would be walking through the Craps area with their nose in the notepad. Once it was a fairly ordinary looking security guy scribbling away.

I paid more attention to the Craps pit boss. It did seem that those in that position kind of let it go to their head. Usually they were ready to come down like a ton of bricks on players and dealers alike. At other times, they might indulge in some humor with their fellow workers, but this had to be initiated by themselves. If something came up in play, nothing was better than an arbitrary solution, that made the statement that you were at his mercy. He too had a boss, not always present, but not too far away, often making notes in a little notepad.

The employees outside of this pit boss were helpful and cheerful, with only minor exception.

Learned something new: if a die hit the floor near you, they were just as happy if you would pick it as anything, and the dealers would not pick it up. One finally explained he was not allowed to, that he would get fired for taking his eyes off the table. I guess there are people who would pull some stunt if they found out they could get a dealer to chase after the dice.

I also decided that if you are going to get the attention of the people with the drinks, you need to let them know you can't be too distracted yourself. I let myself get totally distracted and once it almost cost me; the pit boss had a chance to claim I had made a bet with my winnings that was way out of line with my typical bet [due to the distraction, winnings had been left unpicked up] but I have to admit he let me off easy. The solution was arbitrary though!

More general impressions perhaps later.

I'm heading to Mohegan Sun for Christmas. (What else are good Jews gonna do on Christmas?) My brother and I and the wives make a pilgramage to the "Church of the Loaded Dice" every year!

Connecticut's only other casino, Foxwoods, is about 9 miles away. Both are Indian, but Mohegan Sun 'looks' like an Indian casino. Or at least, as I often say, it looks like "the white man's vision of what an Indian resort should look like". Foxwoods looks like it was designed by someone who normally designs shopping malls or corporate complexs.

I'm gonna take pictures this trip and post them afterwards. The short story is this: In the casino and resort, there are hardly any right angles where two walls meet.


Anyway, when I go, I'll try to take note to see if the guys with the notepads are still doing their thing.

Regarding the die on the floor: All casinos are like that. The 4 craps employees are not allowed to leave their posts. If the die is on the floor in the pit, they get the pit boss to pick it up.

But the part that gets me is, in all other cases, whenever you hand something to an employee, you actually merely slide it on the table to him. If the die hits the floor and you pick it up, they have their hand out like a doorman looking for a tip, expecting you to hand them the die. If you do anything else, even something, considing how you're normally not supposed to have contact, like putting the die on the table, they chastize you!

Usually a craps table has five dice and after any "too tall" incident, the die has to be examined. Even if a player requests "same dice" they will look at its condition and its serial number to make sure it truly is one of the five dice that its supposed to be. I usually am happy to indicate where it landed but I will not pick it up even if its very close to me. Its up to them to find someone to pick it up. I realize the dealers job is to watch his end of the table, not the floor where the die landed. The boxman watches his high value chips. Everyone of the crew watches the layout. So I just don't get involved with an errant die. If a floorman has to come out and pick it up from right beside my foot... so be it! I won't touch it.

I never say same dice and if they ask if I want the same dice I say 'your game, your call'. I've no particular superstition about it being unlucky to switch dice midstream, but usually the stickman knows that someone at the table is likely to be superstitious about it. I usually apologize for any mis-throws but it happens and a too forceful throw that goes overboard is actually preferred to a too weak throw that doesn't hit that backboard. The crew really gets more worried about a weak roll than a die flying off the table somewhere.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

.... Foxwoods, is about 9 miles away...

we were going to go there for a change of pace, but reviews online said the smoke was really bad. If it had been just one person saying that, might have ignored it, but it was really a theme for the reviews, so we went back to Mohegan Sun. If it ain't broke don't fix it. We have always had a good time.

Flea -

Oh, I understand that when a die hits the floor, the dealers can't leave their post and that they want to look at the die to make sure there wasn't a switch.

But if the die land on the rail, they'll ask that you put it on the table. When it's on the floor, once you pick it up, they insist that you physically hand it to them. That's the confusing thing.


Odi -

My wife and I prefer Mohegan Sun too. But she won a $10K seat in the WPT at Foxwoods last month, so I was there for 4 days. I didn't really notice any smoke problems. But I went to Mohegan Sun on the way home for several hours. I had a much better time there.

It wasn't the money. I was more or less even at both locations. I just prefer the Sun.

On a side note: Be sure to try the garlic bread and macaroni & cheese at Michael Jordan's Steak House at Mohegan Sun. GREAT stuff.

Quote: odiousgambit

Quote: DJTeddyBear

.... Foxwoods, is about 9 miles away...

we were going to go there for a change of pace, but reviews online said the smoke was really bad. If it had been just one person saying that, might have ignored it, but it was really a theme for the reviews, so we went back to Mohegan Sun. If it ain't broke don't fix it. We have always had a good time.

I was the MGM at Foxwoods a few weeks back on a Saturday and at one point even questioned if smoking was allowed. Very smoke free. Not the best VP. BTW MGM is pretty small in comparison to the Sun and FoxWoods.

Back when I was living in New York, we would take day trips to CT to check out the two gigantic casinos -- Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

I felt the experience at Foxwoods to be intense and not a lot of fun. All of the tables seemed to be jammed together. It seemed to be very crowded and "square" - clearly a large casino. Foxwoods seemed to be a place to do some hardcore gambling. Mohegan Sun's environment, on the other hand, was very nice to me. Dark colors, classy, nice fragrances. My gambling experiences were more laid back and much more enjoyable there.

With regards to dice, the dealers at the table are not allowed to pick up dice in general, because their job is to keep their eyes on the table. That's why you are also not supposed to throw dice high in the air, because the dealers are supposed to keep their eyes on the table and the bets and the dice at the same time.

Boymimbo, I agree with you. Foxwoods isa little harsh. Some of the casino areas just seem like large ballrooms that have been temporarily stuffed with tables and slots. Not terribly pleasant. Mohegan seems to "flow" better.

An an aside, did anyone see the article in the N.Y. Times about how Mohegan is really marketing to the Asian trade? I can see why Asians like it. The "chi" would flow much better through a round casino than a square one.

One thing I always do when I pick a die off the ground and drop it back on the table is to turn my hand over after doing it, putting my palm up. (Like a dealer does when going on break.) It makes it look like I'm not trying to hid e a die, and every time I do it, it gets a comment like "what are you a dealer?" I say "not ay all." Nearly always I'm treated friendlier after doing that. It's more of a social experiment than anything.

Quote: Wavy70

I was at the MGM at Foxwoods....

FYI: The MGM at Foxwoods is the new hotel/casino tower built next to Foxwoods. The 'at' in the name is a stretch. Although there is an indoor route, lined with retail and convention space, the walk from the MGM casino to the closest Foxwoods casino is about 1/4 mile. Add almost 3/8 mile to the far end of Foxwoods where the poker room is. If you're there for poker, don't get a room at MGM!

By contrast, the furtherest two points at Mohegan Sun is a bit less than 1/4 mile.

To be honest, I think I'm UNDER estimating the Foxwoods distances, but OVER estimating the Mohegan Sun distance.

Quote: teddys

Foxwoods is a little harsh. Some of the casino areas just seem like large ballrooms that have been temporarily stuffed with tables and slots.

It just seems that way. NONE of those rooms were ever ballrooms. Like I said, it was designed by somebody that designs shopping malls or corporate America.

On the flip side, the poker room, which was moved downstairs about two years ago, used to be a slot room - but none of the slot players ventured down there. It really is the pits. The ceilings are low in most areas - about 10 foot!

Quote: cclub79

One thing I always do when I pick a die off the ground and drop it back on the table, is to turn my hand over after doing it, putting my palm up. It makes it look like I'm not trying to hide a die.

Is THAT why they prefer you to hand it to them? Hmmm...