You can't really compare to areas like AC and Vegas, where there are a high concentration of rooms within a couple miles and so they need to factor that competition in.

Also Encore is still new. Businesses generally need at least a year of fluctuating their baseline pricing to figure out the best point for it to settle at. You've seen it with the parking, table minimums, room prices, etc, where they started on the high end and have since come down... those may go back up a little if they determine it dropped too much. With poker, they are doing the opposite, where they started low and are now going up. Basically, they're trying to feel out what they can get away with.

Exactly! They have a monopoly and will act accordingly if the consumers don't do something about it. I stopped going there for a few weeks and have let them know every time since my displeasure with the rake increase. Maybe they'll lower it. Probably not. But I'm not going to sit around and say or do nothing about it. Also, I'm sure It's almost impossible for them to quantify this but if they're going to squeeze me for an extra dollar rake per hand I'm going to be visiting their eating establishments much less frequently if at all. They have also lost any chance of me ever playing any pit games, slots, or video poker there unless the lower the rake. I probably would have only played these games a handful of times a year but they won't be seeing any action at all now.

tell 'em!

Best of luck on that. Been trying to get people to stop playing 6-5 blackjack, and the only way that changed (though only in CT) was by introducing more competition.

To Burdz, not sure which buses you're taking but, if you live in Boston, Mohegan will practically pay you to take one of their buses to their casino.

Bottom line is they were too arrogant in their approach. Yes Boston suburbs are very very rich but people from Wellesley , Newton , Weston etc don’t gamble, they have been rich for generations and they aren’t gonna blow their money gambling. They’ve adjusted and time will tell if their horrible planning in the beginning can be reversed. A lot of my friends from Boston work here so I am rooting for it big time but the deal they got from the state is terrible and the location is bad for anyone not in the city or south of the city.

Audio books. Problem solved.

I can listen to my audio books at home or at a poker table 20 minutes from my house. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy FW, MS, and MGM when I'm in the area for a reason like seeing a show or joining friends for something special. But the days of driving all that way just to play poker are long gone.

I hear ya and would think the same way if I lived within the 495 or 95 belt.

I can only speak to myself, but I be surprised if you see central Mass folk venture to Encore on a regular basis. Previously, I was doing just that. Now there's no incentive and actually reasons to not go there. I'll go once in a while to mix it up and leave it at that.

I definitely think my geography has a lot to do with it. If I was close to equidistant to other rooms I might have a tougher time. And hell, even if I was down the street from Twin River I don't think I would spend a lot of time there just because I don't really like the room/property. But if I was in Worcester? Probably a toss up. I do like that Encore is smoke free, even if I don't venture out of the poker rooms a lot. I definitely feel like I got better value out of my Foxwoods and Mohegan points which I basically only use for nice meals and shows, something I really can't do at Encore and have never spent any of my points at Encore as a result. I'm hoping they change up which restaurants we can use them at and maybe summer will bring in some shows decent enough to lure me to spend. Hell, I'm going to Mohegan on the 28th just because I got free Leann Rimes tickets, and I probably would only recognize 3 or 4 of her biggest songs.

This doesn’t make much sense to me. What would change the tournaments from crushing now as they are to not working long term?

Correction to one of my previous posts, sublevel 1 is now the ridesharing level.

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Sorry, it's hard to see the screen through all the tears from seeing all that vast empty space being taken.

I have been having way more fun playing tournaments here and there during the past months than playing cash games at the Encore. Rake is a discussion that surface a lot on cash-game so here are some infos about tournaments and rake taken for each buy-in:
120$ = 16.6% rake
140$ = 21.4% rake (!!!)
160$ = 18.75% rake
200$ = 20% (!!!)
240$ = 16.6%
360$ = 16.6%
600$ = 12.5%

It gives you a sense of which tournaments are the worst value. Despite the poor level of players, I doubt anyone could make long term profit on the 140$ for example. It's probably obvious for most here. Playing a 200$ satellite with a 20% rake seems silly too; mind as well go play cash.

Also, after playing a bunch of them, I expected to have points on my reward cards. Looks like I accumulated none...

I still really hope that the Encore will end up organizing a proper series, with PLO, 6-max, etc. at a moderate buy-in (300-600)

You can't see poker points on the website, you have to ask the poker desk staff. No idea if tournament entries get you anything.

I gave my card to get a water bottle in the shop, they told me I don't have points. So I assume tournament do not get you anything.

Tourney entries get no points according to the cage

You can't use your poker comps like that. They are separate from the main system comps. This is regardless of whether or not you get points for tournaments. If you played cash games the shop would still see zero points.

Makes me wonder how the MTT rake should factor in willingness to chop, if the opportunity presents itself.

Poker points are earned in poker atlas. To use them elsewhere, you need to have poker desk move the points into your card. This has been discussed earlier and is probably in the FAQ on page one. I don't know if you can use points in the shops, only at certain eateries.

I don't see it factor at all. At that point the rake has already been paid so it shouldn't make a difference. (IMO)

Making the Friday night trip to play $2/$2 PLO. Looking for some fishies.

It will be interesting to see if the coronavirus will impact the promotions. A lot of effort was put into making casino attractive to Asians (particularily Chinese) to come from overseas to play there.

To spend your poker points, talk to a brush at the desk. Then make sure when you spend them that they take the comp from the poker room.

Last Saturday I got in a little late in the day and parked with the valet, played a mediocre session, played a little video poker for ~10 minutes, decided to use some of my many poker points at the buffet, played another session (on a much better table!), and then when I went to get my car and go home at 10pm, the lady at the window tells me, oh, you just missed the cut off, that'll be $49, oh sorry, sir, you don't have any comp points.

Turns out because of the video poker that I had just crossed the threshold to having 20.09 points in my "real" comps, and the buffet took 20 of them instead of the poker comp, and so I had no points left to pay for the valet! Somehow when I had less than 20 points the last six times, that was never an issue.

So it took me 40 minutes of running around, first to a Red Desk who couldn't really help me beyond giving me 1 free comp dollar so I could get my car out of hock, then to the brush desk to ensure that they didn't screw up providing the comp in the first place (nope, the brush it all did fine), and then finally back to the buffet to talk to the manager who, it turned out, was the only person in the whole casino who could get my accounts back in order (although even she had to phone a higher up).

It was a real PITA! If I hadn't used the valet -- and I usually don't -- I wouldn't have known except for some fine print on the buffet receipt, which it never would have occurred to me to check, and I still don't really know what I'm supposed to look for!

Christ that sounds complicated

Ya, I'm not clear as to this "cut off" at the Valet ? Are you only allowed so many hours for the 1$ comp fee ?

I think instead of his poker points they took his comp dollars at the buffet so he didn’t have 1 left over to pay for valet