Parx did the same thing with a husband and wife. Banned from the same table but still allowed to play.

Fossilman can correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember playing poker in LV when free drinks were not distributed to poker players years ago. You had to pay for them. Encore may see their main competition as NH where nobody is getting free drinks at the table. My observation is that the amount of drinking isn't much different than when free. Players just pay for them out of their stack. If you're not deterred by $10 rake, you're not going to be deterred by pulling a few red birds out of your stack for a drink.

The real question is if Encore does this, how long will it take Foxwoods and Mohegan to follow suit.

Twin River has been charging for alcoholic drinks since day 1.

Not just poker, the whole casino. Due in part to TR being 18+

The word I heard last night is that this will apply to the poker room only and not just alcoholic drinks but all drinks.

Another player told me a waitress told her a Perrier water will cost $5 in the poker room starting in April.

This place is really turning into a shithole.

It's mind boggling how bad the people who run this place treat their customers. The floor seems to of had it with complaints about the high rake and everything else that is wrong over there. They are hostile to anyone and everyone these days. That place is going to be littered with nips and flasks everywhere. Can't imagine the waitresses and waiters must not be too happy either.

Ha... that is horrible. I am curious how much a bottle water is going to be? $3? A fountain soda? I assume a beer will be like $8-10 and mixed drinks even more? What is the free drink situation at places like Borgata, Foxwoods, Commerce, Bellagio, Aria, Wynn Vegas, etc...? All free? Pretty soon we'll see parking not be free for poker players again.

This is a case of them saying: "f*ck poker players lets give them the highest rake in the country, chop down the hours, promo's and number of tables so nobody will come and there will be parking spots for blue hairs to light their Social Security checks on fire"

Flash forward to present day and they see that all these things are implemented yet idiots are still showing up in record numbers despite getting treated worse than ANY OTHER POKER ROOM IN THE UNITED STATES... Now they say: "f*ck it lets yank the free drinks for the poker room because we've screwed them over multiple times and they took it straight up the tail pipe... they're obviously betting that no matter what they do the minions will still beat a path to their door... Used to be the best room in the country now it's clearly the worst... My question is: What next?

$15 rake and then 20.. why wouldn't they? The player pool that packs the room obviously doesn't have a clue what rake even is so why not

If the mass gaming commission doesn't step in and provide some consumer protection for the players it's only going to get worse.

They think they can **** on our heads and piss down our throats and we will still come back and fill the room. I know this is how they feel because this is exactly what the floor told me last week.

That's trickier for those two, since for the first one who ventures it, the alternative is right down the road

Am surprised they aren't milling around and kicking people out for bringing water bottles and other drinks that aren't from the poker room at this point

I worked in tables for first 3 years and can tell you for sure this is exactly what they told us about TG players.

They used to say we don’t have to give hardly anything away because we don’t need to. There’s 8 million people within an hours distance that we will always have the play.

Sure they aren’t making as much as they thought but they are still doing very well compared to the other regional casinos. Just look at how many 6/5 tables they have and how normally it’s 50min to sit on a 3/2 game.

Their feelings toward poker players I’m sure is much worse.

borgata and all of vegas drinks are free in the poker room. commerce you pay. not sure about foxwoods.

Mohegan poker is still a thing? I thought everyone just went to FW. Do they have any games besides 1/2 at Mohegan?

Currently, Mohegan has 9 games running, Foxwoods 10. Foxwoods still has a greater variety of games.

Foxwoods and Mohegan are both comped

Foxwoods 2/5 is way nittier than Mohegan 2/5

(X-post from NE thread too)

So tough to decide where to be a regular from just north of Boston, for a guy wanting to play 1/3-2/5…

Encore - Closest and convenient, gorgeous place and a ton of games running all the time. But OMG THE RAKE and don’t want to support treating poker players as a scourge.

Boston Billiard Club - Comfy and good action, but so limited as to actual tables running regularly that aren’t 1/2.

Chasers - More options than BBC, but last time I was there it just felt dirty and not a place I’d want to bring the missus with me.

And honestly, outside of those 3 I don’t see any other real options within 45 mins.


I’d love y’all’s latest thoughts on this. Thanks y’all.

Can’t recommend any of Those 3 above. The brook or Mohegan best spots in ne imo

I like Vegas Poker Nomad's logic - the more piss on the men's room floor, the better the poker games

Chasers wins in a landslide

well it doesn't seem like they're wrong

The decision isn't tough. What is the most important aspect to you? Chose the room that does that the best.

EZ game.

Rooms in neighborhoods with higher crime rates also tend to have better games in my experience.

I know it's been discussed and apparently it's true that Encore will start charging poker players for beer, wine and alcohol starting in April. Beers will be around $8. They will also charge for Red Bull and Perrier. Coffee, soda and water will be free.

Encore is far from the first to charge for alcohol and premium beverages. What is more unique is splitting out the poker players from pit/slot players. But I don't believe that is completely unique.

Personally this doesn’t surprise me given the relative high cost of operations they face and the limited close direct competition.