New things at Mandalay Bay

1. At midnight tonight, the Mandalay Bay poker room will discontinue its practice of raking in half-dollar increments. That means no more 50-cent pieces in change accumulating next to your chips. It's not entirely clear to me whether this means a net increase or decrease in rake, or no change--it depends on how they handle the rounding. But I don't really care that much.

2. They're starting a new promotion: on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, if you flop quads or better, they give you a $500 bonus, in addition to whatever high-hand jackpot you might be entitled to. I grabbed one of the fliers at the desk and scanned it in below. I suspect that this is going to be wildly popular with the local nits, and the room will bulge for exactly those 48 hours every week.