@themindreader

They for sure have a strict rule for 'turning cards over'. I went to Encore in July on a weekday. Long-story-short, on a K5582 runout I was facing an all-in on the river in a 3b pot. I had AK and was heads-up the whole time, and decided to flip my cards over to attempt to get a read (shitty move, possible angle, but in NH I see it fairly often). The dealer who was a former NH dealer who knew me, immediately grabbed my cards and attempted to muck them (they hadn't been mucked or moved forward). I made a stink and she said if it happens again my hand is dead and I may even be given a warning. So this deff something I saw there.

Right, but in your case the action wasn't complete yet, so it's a completely different scenario from what I saw, which was someone showing their hand after all the betting action was over, but before the final 2 community cards were dealt

Yeah good point, didn't think of that. I have only gone twice since they reopened the room, and like everyone says its not as good as it once was.

Can anyone do a report on the state of the games there?

Is 1/3 still filled with weak players who have no clue what they are doing, while 2/5 and 5/T is filled with decent, fairly nitty players making it hard to profit?

I'd be curious to know if it is still generally true. I remember back in the days struggling to decide if playing smaller would actually be more profitable. I could imagine it being the case in EBH. If you can beat the stupid rake that it!

2/5 is still profitable as there are plenty of players who have too much $ to play 1/3. 5/10 is def a very tough game and the 10/25 I would say is full of NLHE specialists/regs. I actually think most good players will win more at 1/3 than 2/5 as people most often overvalue their hands on later streets and even with the rake it is very beatable as people are quite loose. Every player has some exploits and it is just determining if they're loose pre or post flop or if they are pay off types or timid players, etc... to determine how well you do. There are some good players at every stake/game but just identify and play carefully vs them.

So let's talk about WHO is showing up. It certianly is NOT the Chainsaws and frugal 1-2/Limit/OMCs, right? It is the LAGs, the gamblers, and the people who KNOW they can BEAT the LAGs and gamblers........and the best players know they don't have to play against nits, so, for them, MORE RAKE may INDEED be better...?? Not trolling; just trying to guess the customer base. I haven't been inside Encore since the salmon chip limit game ran and they were giving away 1k/2k an hour on HHs back in late 2019. I may SOMEDAY pay 10$ in rake, but not in the next 5 years.

You mean a Slip'n'slide......

I guess the question is what is the average pot at each game and is it $5 more than a game that has a $5 rake? If I had to guess I would say 5-10 and 10-25 NL might be tighter but all PLO and 1/2 + 2/5 NL is ultra loose and if you make it $20 to go pre-flop at 1/2 vs $15 and you get 2-4 callers it might work out in the long run as no one who is going to play for $15 is not going to play for $20. I have noticed that at PLO if you're going to 3 bet $60 you should just 3 bet to $70 etc... since 4-5 people are calling anyways and often calling a cold 3 bet to $70. I certainly have no hard data on this but I think the games are loose enough to have a few extra dollars per hand put out by the long term losing players and again I have no idea if this offsets the crazy rake but I have played in some OMC games and the $10 rake there would certainly be unbeatable.

More piss is better !!!

Yes, $10 rake (at 2/2 PLO) is annoying. And $13 per half hour (at 5/5 PLO) is a lot. But the PLO games are really good. For me, it is also the closest poker room.

Is there RV parking or oversized vehicle surface lot?

According to their website, they still run shuttles to a lot on Rivergreen Dr. in Everett. It's pretty roomy.

Word is poker tournaments will be returning at Encore either sometime in May or early June, on the less popular days to bring people in and fill up the tables on those off hours. I think I heard Sunday and Tuesday.

Yeah, 6 table tournaments starting in June is what I've heard.

The room is dying a slow death as the players slowly go broke due to the absurdly high rake or simply realize it just isn't worth paying around $30/hour to play 1/3 or 2/5NL.

They started charging for drinks last week and making people pay through the nose for drinks is thinning out the crowds even more.

It will be interesting to see how much they gouge on the rake for the tournaments. They could probably charge up to 40 or 50% rake and still fill up the 6 table tourneys and I wouldn't put it past them to start by trying somewhere around 40% rake and see what kind of reaction they get.

So whats the deal with paying for drinks at the poker room. Havent been since winter, and might take a trip in the summer months. My understanding is that some drinks are free still, but premium drinks (alcohol, perrier, red bull) are not. Is this true? Any idea of how much the beers, redbulls, etc, are?

“Dying a slow death”?

11 AM on a Monday

was just in boston so checked the hours again in case i had time to peel off and play

i didn't end up having the time but did see they changed from bankers hours to more typical poker room hours, which is nice

I think they started charging for drinks 3-4 weeks ago. Water, soda, juice, and coffee is free and a Perrier is like $6/7 and Red Bull is similar and beers are even more and mixed drinks are even more than that. The waitresses all complain they didn't sign up to be cashiers and that is what they have to do if people are using comp points or credit/debit cards vs cash/chips. Running a transaction or 20 at the cash register/point of sale system and bringing a receipt and having the customer sign, etc... which eats up their time to take orders and deliver drinks for max tips. I was there Fri and Sat night. Fri was pretty busy, Sat wasn't and it definitely sounds like things are not going well.

A week or so ago they went 24/7/365 after slowly opening for more and more hours since they re-opened.

The majority of encore players clearly don't understand what rake or an entry fee even is so they can charge 60% and still fill all 6 tables I'm ONE HUNDRED PERCENT confident saying that.

Nice-

Bart Hanson discusses EBH

They talk about how there will be random pit/slot game players who enjoy a little poker for some free drinks and just removing that demographic from the room is already a huge dent in potential profits. It is actually pretty amazing how far they have gone to sabotage the room. People are going back to NH as well for some games? Foxwoods is still closing at 1am on weekdays so I guess just being open is already a plus.

Significantly lower traffic the past two weekends. This is really demoralizing how pathetically horrific this is being run into the ground. Every opportunity to make this successful is possible but lack of desire or care to at every level is quite sad.

Unrelated to poker I still don't get how a casino doesn't offer food later in the night at any location besides Dunkin and just a variety of small and strange/interesting things you notice as it starts to spiral down hill.

The more I read these posts about Encore poker, the more it feels to me like a competition problem. They have no competition, in Boston, keeping them in check. All the poker players are basically a captive audience. The closest other poker rooms are and hour away in NH or a couple of hours to Springfield or CT (does RI even count?). How many poker players would drop Encore if another place, say an MGM, opened up and offered up poker w/ the rakes and perks they have in Springfield? Sounds to me like the state needs to correct their mistake. What did ever happen to that third casino anyway?

Just as well, I'll be in Boston next week and will probably try to play at Encore, because, well, without a car, where else am I going to go?

A perfect example of why they have no incentive to change - you're going to play there anyway.