A Conversation with Mirage Poker Room Manager Chris Coffin

LasVegasMichael · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 2:54 pm

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Chris Coffin, Mirage Poker Room Manager.

We talked about how he got involved in poker and the new direction that he decided to take The Mirage Poker Room in once he took it over.

Check out the article here: http://www.allvegaspoker.com/news_detail_525.html

CRM114FGD135 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:02 pm

Chris is one of the nicest poker room managers around. Other managers could learn a thing or two from him. He is doing a great job with the room. The Mirage is one of the places I feel the most comfortable playing when I come to Vegas.

-Ryan

vinnyboombots · **Joined:** Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:12 pm **Posts:** 1427

CRM114FGD135 wrote:

Chris is one of the nicest poker room managers around. Other managers could learn a thing or two from him. He is doing a great job with the room. The Mirage is one of the places I feel the most comfortable playing when I come to Vegas.

-Ryan

+1. Let me add that the Mirage poker room has another real nice guy working there but his name escapes me right now, a real short guy (sorry pal if you read this). Mark? They also have a great dealer, Kristi, aka Alaska Gal. She is not only a great dealer but a nice person and fun follow on Twitter. These 3 are just a few examples of the great people I have met because of AVP, people I would otherwise never have been blessed with knowing.

I can't wait to play Mirage next week when I am in town for AVP XV!

slamdunc · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 4:05 pm

What a very nice read and common sense appoach to a Poker room, the game and it's participants.

For my two penneth, It's also my favourite room, most comfortable to play and the dealers and managers are always very helpful and friendly.

I have never met or been playing when Chris was on, but Mark has been everytime I have played there and he is a real professional, calm, friendly and efficient Manager.

Clem2754 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 20, 2012 5:30 pm

vinnyboombots wrote:

CRM114FGD135 wrote:

Chris is one of the nicest poker room managers around. Other managers could learn a thing or two from him. He is doing a great job with the room. The Mirage is one of the places I feel the most comfortable playing when I come to Vegas.

-Ryan

+1. Let me add that the Mirage poker room has another real nice guy working there but his name escapes me right now, a real short guy (sorry pal if you read this). Mark? They also have a great dealer, Kristi, aka Alaska Gal. She is not only a great dealer but a nice person and fun follow on Twitter. These 3 are just a few examples of the great people I have met because of AVP, people I would otherwise never have been blessed with knowing.

I can't wait to play Mirage next week when I am in town for AVP XV!

I agree that Chris is about as good as they come in terms of running a room. The Mirage was rock bottom on my list of Poker rooms in Las Vegas prior to Chris coming over to the Mirage. The difference is like night and day. The customer service has improved 100%. Dealers attitude has improved which I use to think wasn't possible. I use to avoid the Mirage, now I will play at the Mirage when I am in town (And I have even stayed at the Mirage and not played in the room prior to Chris coming on board). And if your lucky he will sit behind you and do his best Norman Chad impression while you are playing a tournament.

Only difference I can find in my opinion and Chris' is he lowers the buy-in of tournaments, or max-buy in of cash games if the numbers are lacking. I get the philosophy with tournaments- that makes sense to me. Lower the buy-in, draw the players back and decide if you can move it back up. Makes sense. And he offers a pretty darn good tournament in terms of value based on the buy-in amount as well- another plus for Chris. With cash games I don't buy-it as much. I think there is a time and place and it makes sense some of the time. Maybe it would be an interesting dicussion topic of what amount people think is acceptable buy-ins or how the limits impact their choice in game selection. Never been an issue for me, and hey maybe it is just me.

Like I said Chris is about as good as they come in terms of running a poker room in Las Vegas. He has made the Mirage a place worth playing.

guynotes · **Posted:** Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:43 am

I enjoyed very much playing at the Mirage last time I was in Vegas. Very comfortable, friendly and well run. I didn't feel like a sardine and the table was well run, from the dealers to the manager in charge..It is on my list to return to (when I finally get to come back!).

Great article Michael. I look forward to them.

mkgcars · **Joined:** Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:00 pm **Posts:** 48

The focus on everyday recreational players didn't seem to include the Stud players. Yes, some of them were a pain, but there were a steady crowd, and there were actually some young players sitting in to round out their HORSE game. It's an odd coincidence that around the time the stud game ended the room seemed to get a smaller crowd overall, probably just the competition of the larger rooms. Once the Stud game went so did I, no longer do I play there or stay there, I can stay anywhere and play Hold'em.

mattt

Phantom309 · **Posted:** Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:42 pm

I really enjoyed the article, I may just check out the place when I come to town in a couple months. How up to date is the room profile? There's talk of $2-5 NL here but the profile doesn't show that information. Also, the profile doesn't seem to reflect the difference in comp rate either. Too bad about the Stud/HORSE play, I'd be all over that.

Robbydog · **Joined:** Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:19 pm **Posts:** 320

I am impressed with many of LasVegasMichaels' articles lately. This one is very interesting because the MIRAGE is my all time favorite Room.

Chris is right that the MIRAGE is the most comfortable Room in town. It is very relaxing, and I've done very well over there. I used to go every day. I'm like one other member I read about on here... That usually when I go there, it's Mark who is the manager. I like him very much. Also I like Gina & Julie and the dealers. I don't really know how to explain it, but I feel very badly somehow that I don't perceive the promotions there as a value to me. I miss it there very much.
I don't feel at all comfortable playing in tournaments. I have never gotten close to winning one, plus I never seem to get any royal flushes or bad beats. Therefore, I'm stuck in my own intelligence in knowing I better not drop my dollars down the slot, because I don't believe that I'm going to get them back. Maybe it's all in my head. I wish I could just let it slide & get to play in the comfortable place I enjoy again. But I need the money too badly. It's all I do now. The money is too important for me even if it's just $300 or $400 extra dollars a month.
It's not their fault, but the BTL burger place raised their prices for my favorite (2 veggy salads with chicken breast)... I like to get one for me and my girl friend once in a while. But now it's $34.00 to get them. I have to play 34 hours there to get it... makes my girl friend very happy though when I bring them home. She loves them, as do I. Also, I really like that one cocktail waitress who gets the strawberry jubilees with whipped cream for me. They're so good !!!

I am really loving hearing about full games of 2 - 5 no limit with lower rake if it's only seven or less players. I'm actually considering that in my head right at this moment. Glad I found out about that. I've been considering moving up. I've been doing so well. I've been playing down at the LUXOR. They only have the 1 - 2.

Someone was talking about the limits to buy-ins on the cash games. I really don't like too low of buy ins because it's more fun if you can play your connectors and suited cards as well as the pocket pairs. See, if the stacks are too low, you can only play like AK AA KK QQ, etc. and it's alot better if you can play more hands. Otherwise, it gets very dull. I usually start off with $260.00 MIRAGE always did seem alright with the stacks. I want to scope out the 2 -5's there some night. Thank you for the excellent article.

Robbydog · **Joined:** Wed Dec 28, 2011 1:19 pm **Posts:** 320

Oh, one more thing. I just forgot to explain myself... when the free rolls comes along and takes three days to play... See, I could easily make $200 in that time frame by playing in some cash games. So for me it's really hard to take that time away from my specialty, which is Cash Games. If I wanted to play in tournaments, I wouldn't be playing in the cash games all the time. Actually the last couple times I was there, there didn't seem to be all that many tables going. I don't know... it just seems to me that the whole place would be packed up if they had the real high hands... all the players like me would go there. I mean who wouldn't when it's the best & most comfortable place to play? And then if it was profitable as well, it seems to me the whole place would be packed. They could still have tournaments for the tournament players at the same time.

Or actually, I would even start going back probably almost full time... even if they decided to cancel ALL promotions altogether. That way nothing would be lost for anybody... No drop at all... No worries of losing the money.

But the real high hands would still be exciting without losing the value for anybody. Even the Tourists & Occassional Players would be at no disadvantage in those types of promotions, and the regulars I'm sure wouldn't mind playing with them

Once again I love the article and the others as well... that LasVegasMichael has been writing. This is the way I like to see the Site running... with intelligent people being serious and interesting about poker in Las Vegas... just like it should be !!!

A Conversation with Mirage Poker Room Manager Chris Coffin

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