3 Card Poker Face Up at Mandalay Bay

I saw a post on the board at Vegas Tripping over the weekend that they are now dealing 3 Card Poker with the cards face up at Mandalay Bay.

3 card poker is now dealt face up to all players at Mandalay Bay. The players hate it. The dealers hate. I cycled through two dealers and they both asked if we’d write a letter to complain. Apparently the decision was made to increase the number of hands dealt per hour.

At first glance I wasn’t bothered by this because I don’t really care much about the surprise, but after thinking about it…I do care about the surprise. Actually, I care more about the option to be surprised by the cards than I do the surprise.

Besides the fun of the game being altered the speed of the game is being altered in the houses favor, of course. Even though the odds in Three Card Poker aren’t very good, I play it every now and again because it’s a pretty brainless game and the pace it pretty relaxed.

I’m hoping this change is only being tested at Mandalay Bay and doesn’t spread across to other casinos. Adding pace to 3 Card Poker is only bad for the player and I’ll probably stop playing.