Only a matter of time this spreads to nearby poker rooms.

Hahaha. Very possible

I don’t know about that. 5+2 has been the standard nationwide for awhile now. If rake had been going from 3+ to 4+ to 5+ then you could see the trend but that isn’t the case.

20 years ago $3+$0 was the standard on the east coast.


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That was 20 years ago. Florida has been 5+2 for over a decade now and hasn’t changed. Others as well. Mohegan and Foxwoods were the only places in my travels who were still at $4 ten years ago.

A few years ago 2P2 was in an uproar against the Venetian for a much lesser offense. $10 rake merits a boycott and social ostracization. If the public doesn't boycott this rake, once other casinos around the country realize that players will tolerate it, it will spread like a cancer.

It will spread faster than people think it will.

EBH can't loose. You give them your business, they rake you tons. You don't give them your business, they'll use it as an excuse to shut down the poker room.

I won't seat at a table with such a high rake, that's for sure.

At this point if Encore shuts down their poker room that will be a win for poker. People will be forced to play elsewhere instead of having their entire buy-in get vacuumed down the rake box.

Please boycott and ruin this poker room.

Thanks,
From the rest of America

Boycott wont happen. Look at Del-Lago in NY. They have a $13 max rake at 1-3. Tables are active anytime I've looked. NO decrease in player pool even though they're only open Thurs-Sun. While it's true that the closest poker room to Del Lago is a 1.5 hour drive, the fact remains that players are still showing up.

Such a densley populated area as we have in Everett will provide enough players to fill the Encore poker room with no problem.

Our only hope for eastern Mass is a new poker room. You would think that the job creation, tax revenue would get
some movement in this direction. We know the demand is there.

We can only hope. Until then, I'll be playing in NH . And yes, I'm a Mass resident.

I agree. The room is already filled and big lists. Granted its new so I think over time we will see the novelty wear off but with the amount of people in the area and hte fact that certain players won't care about the rake its going to be a decent 12 table room. It would be nice over time if they expanded.

That being said, I still think our voice matters as it did in getting the room open. I have written the gaming commision and I suggest everyone else do so as well. I stressed a few points, one the absurb rake and hours. This might not matter as much to them so I think its also important to stress JOB CREATION (this was what hte casino was supposed to bring to the community). Think of the fewer chip runners, dealers, waiteresses, cage people etc. I also think its important to note that they have a monopoly on gaming in Eastern Mass so another poker only room can't open. This would take years we all know but it matters we send emails, make bad reviews via PokerAtlas, google etc. Wynn is supposed to world class in a world class city. This isn't it.

If enough people speak up something will happen. Granted it might not make a difference but behind the scenes I do think it we stress the right points it could.

i would have to guess. 95% of rec poker players don't even know the exact rake for a room nor pay attention how it effects the game and its beatability. the rake on cruise ships is even more absurd yet the games go nightly

I agree with the complain and shame strat. I could play in a private game near me, but that's already $10 rake. I could drive up to NH and pay $7 and have to use the worst bathroom in the state along with terrible food and overpriced drinks. If we stay on them I'm willing to bet they'll make some accommodation eventually.

In my market our rake has changed three times in the past 9 years. We’re all at $6+$2. I’m just saying, it’s a reasonable concern to think others may follow suit. Especially the charity rooms in nh.


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How many are they seating per table?

9 per table yesterday

Question about the rake. I’m assuming they take $1 at every $10, up to $10 for $100+ pots?

Since most rooms take $5 (at $50) plus $2 promotional (at $20) or $6+$2, would it only be pots over $70 or $80 that it would be worse than the other rooms?

Does Encore only take the rake postflop?

I think someone mentioned they’re not taking a promotional drop on top of the $10 rake as of right now. Which makes a big difference in the example above.

No amount of shaming or whatever will work. I am reminded of the battle against 6-5 blackjack. That shite is everywhere now. Even when I inform people who I see playing stakes high enough to be at a 3-2 table, they don't change tables. It's strange, but I try to understand them:

Gamblers are, by nature, optimists. We believe we are going to win money. Otherwise, we wouldn't play. 6-5 blackjack? Oh well, it's not that much of a difference (actually it's a 4x house advantage vs a 3-2 game, so it's a significant difference), and I'm still going to win. Huge negative EV on that Powerball? Oh well, it doesn't cost that much compared to the lifechanging prize, and I'm still going to win...maybe. $10 max rake vs $6+2? Oh well, what's a couple bucks, and I'm still going to win.

In blackjack, advanced players, who will tend to lean towards the math, are much more bothered by the changes than amateur rec players. I don't know if that will hold w/ poker. Implication would be, a lot more rec players will make up these tables, but then there's the meta of what happens if everyone thinks these tables are chock full of fish.

Anyway, bottom lining my 6-5 blackjack parallel, the only thing I've seen that has had any chance of stemming the tide is free competition. By that, I don't mean multiple casinos in an area owned by the same conglomerate (looking at you, Vegas). That's not free competition. I haven't been to Foxwoods since the pandemic, but they had swapped out all their 6-5 blackjack tables for 3-2 in response to Encore taking their business.

hmmm maybe negraneau was on to somthing

All great and accurate points

There is no real avenue forward for Eastern Mass poker players here. The only possible long-shot way of impacting the situation in any way is for poker players to keep messaging the gaming commission that this licensee made bad-faith representations in the application process. And also you can message your local elected officals that due to this bad faith operation, you are in favor of another license being awarded in the area that will offer poker in a responsible, pro-public way. Encore is hoping that the regulators will just forget about their representations to offer a first-class poker room; maybe the public can make sure they don't.

That means the cost of the money leaving the table per hour being divided by 9 players instead of 10 makes it even more expensive and unbeatable... Just rounding numbers and estimating being 9 handed it's gonna cost you approx. $30-$35 per hour to play NLH there... So if your going to play a 5hr session there you need to win approx in the neighborhood of $175 to break even... all these numbers are probably a bit higher at $2-$5 since the pot is likely to get to $100 more often than $1-$3

That is only temporary until they run down the money they had already scooped from the players pre Covid... once that has happened there will be a $2 jackpot drop... So at some point in the future it will cost: $10+$2+ $1 tip= $13 per hand vaporizing from the table... that's just insane!!! They went from the best room in the country to the worst in the country and maybe that's why this stings like it does.

Does anyone know if they are scooping $2 on the flop like they were pre Covid? If so that'd be just another kick in the nuts in this whole dumpster fire.

Do you have a link for this?

You can shoot the Mass Gaming Commission a message from this page:

https://massgaming.com/contact/

You can find your elected officials by putting your address here:

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/wheredoi...ctioninfo.aspx

And I'll say another thing about government, regulators, and elected officials. A lot of people are cynical about approaching them, with good reason. But pressuring them can work sometimes. Regulators like to look good, like to feel important, and they don't like it when a licensee is blowing them off. Problem is, they may not have any real understanding of poker. But if the poker community can supply them some info that illustrates bad faith by Encore, they may run with it. Can't see it hurting to reach out to them.