i'll say that TMBR doesn't really trade like any other market maker but you are correct in that TMBR is constantly looking to hedge its own positions and trades and as you explain it could be a win/win situation.
The delay is still there, and no, it has not gotten any better (for me) in the past month. I've only seen them for listed stocks, and I still get the blue screen delay whether I select BEST or NYSE routing. (Only about 10% of my trades are nasdaq, almost always using BEST when adding liquidity). The delay occurs (guesstimate) about 10-25% of the time, and can vary from 1-10 seconds, but most often is 1-3 seconds. This delay is amateurish at best. Nothing like having your broker increase your slippage - kind of like in the old days where you'd call in your order and get filled at the high or low of the day. It totally sucks. Has anyone who trades listed stocks heavily switched to PD? And if so, how is that going?