Sounds like the new room will only need 6 tables.

Exactly!


-Encore management.

That is a great strategy if you want to kill off poker in your casino. A feeder system is necessary to keep a viable environment. Of course, that is likely to be their goal. "Sorry gaming commission, but nobody wants to play poker so we need to convert this space so you can increase your tax revenues from us."

How Machiavellian of them!

Their goal is to reduce the number of tables running at any given moment by 70-80%, so yeah that means they are effectively trying to "kill off" a significant portion of the poker environment.

Letting the bigger games run seems about the best way to limit the demand I can think of. I was worried they were going to drastically increase the rake or something silly like that.

I just assumed it's the same reason we have Encore Boston Harbor instead of Encore Everett.

Say what!?

Not that it matters overall, but in the sidebar of an interview - in this month's Boston Magazine - with the woman who's in charge of Encore, it said there are no immediate plans to bring back poker to Encore or MGM Springfield.

Encore really went from a place I enjoyed spending several days a week (for poker, especially without tournaments, fun poker games with BigO, mixed, games, etc.)
To a place I have zero interest to go to.
Pretty sad really

Poker IS coming back to MGM Springfield, they've already hired a new poker room manager and the dealers have received calls about their interest in returning. An MGM rep told the MA Gaming Commission in a public meeting last month that due to demand they're reopening the room, albeit at a reduced capacity (10-12 tables), and likely not 24 hours.

does anyone have any information on still being able to convert your poker comps?

haven’t set foot in the place since February 2020 but would make the effort if I was able to recover anything on my players card

I did so back in June. The Rewards desk took about 10 minutes to do so, but didn't give me any pushback. Used them all that night at Rare!

I stopped by yesterday (Tuesday afternoon) to try to get my poker points converted. The rewards desk said they had to put in a request to their manager to do it, and it would take about a week.

I’ll be checking my Wynn rewards online to see if they actually do it.

I posted a 1 star review on google recently and they followed up asking me to get in touch with them directly. I sent them an email today asking if parking is the issue and received this response below...


Thank you for your email. We will make a decision about the return of live poker by December 31st, 2021. Any updates regarding poker will be shared on our website and social media. Lack of parking has not been a factor for Poker, as we have approximately 3,000 spaces in our parking garage, and additional parking across the street.

​

At this time, sports betting is not offered as it has not been legalized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We look forward to sharing additional details on this exciting new experience when the information becomes available.

We are saddened that these reasons have kept you from visiting, and we look forward to your return!

​

Regards,


DEBRA FAMULARI
Specialist - Reservations

ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR
One Broadway, Everett, MA 02149
tel (857) 770-7000

Debra.Famulari@encorebostonharbor.com

Who knows what's up over there. Having a top notch poker room 4 miles down the street from me for 8 months and then having it closed all feels like some sort of cruel joke. ​If you haven't done so already I'd suggest to post a one star review on google mentioning the lack of poker and maybe this will force their hand and they'll start spreading poker once again. It can't hurt.

I've been pretty vocal on social media and reviews about it. Didn't set a foot there since they closed the room.

Won't return either if they open a meger 6 tables for 5/10. I'll wait for significant actions to come back: BigO, tournaments, mixed games, NL2/5 and such.

Don't know if it is age or having been used to poker next door for 10 months, but I am absolutely not willing to do the trip to Springfield, Nashua, Foxwoods, etc. anymore. Didn't play for almost two years now. Sick!

If the 5-10NL is higher rake it might actually be a great game…

I feel for anyone close to this casino. I went one time and it was amazing.

But yeah haven’t gone back to beantown since. It’s a crying shame they closed this room. Makes you wonder why they even opened it in the first place.

The one silver lining is that it makes the NH games and Fw games better when encore is closed.

wtf?

I could see 5-10 being juicy w higher rake. Scare off some of the pros. Like at an underground game.

Stop

If the poker room manager wants to keep his job, you'll see 2/5 dealt within a month of opening and very likely 1/3 even with 6 tables in a couple of months. If they don't, they are just setting it up for failure. How many rooms does anyone know where 5/10 is the smallest stakes.

Not many if any…

But who knows a couple tables full of people that have to buy in for at least 500-1k and who don’t care about rake could actually be a gold mind.

Sorry you 1-2 and 2-5 nits can’t comprehend this

Lol at thinking the room manager is going to follow anyone but the higher ups at the casino.

It’s funny that everyone itt acts entitled toward having a low rake game at such a nice facility. The truth is poker is probably break even of a marginal winner and it requires a lot of work. It’s not worth their time or they would have already brought it back.

I’m not even saying I want 5-10 w high rake, just being realistic that the people that run casinos in mass don’t care about your 1-3 and 2-5 5 max rake games. It’s not worth their time and effort to run.

Meet me at Foxwoods!

I didn't know there were actually people that believed more rake makes the game better, thought that was just a Doug Polk meme ��

100% correct. The nits who don’t understand this concept can never comprehend this. They won’t be in the game due to the high rake (hint: This is what makes a high rake game optimal).

Frank gets it.

I take it you’ve never played in private games w high rake structure