Their credibility is shot with me. Clearly the info I posted last night about parking was wrong, sorry about that.

I went Sunday morning. I was 45 miles away and got there in 40 minutes, left at 6am

Parked in the garage,no problem.Took elevator up and enter poker room and WOWZER,I was blown away.Ive been to a bunch of poker rooms but nothing even comes close to encore.Maybe some place in monte carlo measures up but nothing around here.


Sit down at 1-3 and get up $200 in an hour,players were fun and bad.One guy was pulling an all nighter and was being a dick but quickly eliminated.First couple of dealers were good the next two weren't.Take a walk around and loved everything about it,someone mentioned the red chandeliers and I agree,they are beautiful.


Went up to the high stakes area to watch some Asian guy bet 20k a hand on baccarat
Craps was 50 minimum so I didn't play
Also the selection of poker games is great,limit, Omaha,etc

I will be back but only times I can get in and out without too much traffic
To summarize, if this place opened 10 years ago I would be moving to everett

well, they were employed by the casino and their entire responsibility today was to stand by the exit and tell people this information, so I found it credible.. I have since left and it worked (to show the red card and leave for free).

No idea how long it will last, seemed like a temporary fix for a tech issue they were having (or maybe a weird way to increase red card signups) and not a pure customer appreciation feature. It's definitely not the permanent system.

Can we please rename this thread to " Encore Boston Harbor PARKING GARAGE"?

Now this is the info I'm looking for. Promises from upstairs don't mean much. I'll be driving in tomorrow around lunch time. Very curious to see how much it slows things down once they actually have the parking charges in place.

As for non-parking garage related questions. I was last at the casino on Wednesday and still don't see an update in my point balance from that day. When I went on opening day my balance updated almost immediately, so I'm beginning to think my Wednesday session is lost to the void...

on sunday bossman told me red card points were slow going but should get going soon

by the way are cocktails free in this casino?

So how are 2/5 games? A big difference between weekends and weekdays?

Posted my view on this on page 18 or 19 of this thread.

Basically, 2-5NL games are ok. No huge whales but plenty of fish and bad regs.
The best game I had was actually week day, on Monday evening. It was ridiculous.

I am planning to play 20-30 hours from July 14th to July 21st - will be able to post more abt it then.

Drinks are free. Is been discussed.
Also they give you bottles which I love. Most casinos you have to pay for those.
Ex. If you ask for Corona they give you full size bottle.
Drinks were strong if you ask for mix drinks or straight liquor

There changes daily. Reason the info I posted was also changed.
They still accept a poker room voucher that has a bar code.
In case you don’t have a red card and you ask for it.
There were issue with red card getting charged $29 in valet and after an ipdate last night it should be fixed.
Parking and valet for now are 1 Como dollar no matter how long you stay so it’s a great deal. Make sure you are getting rated as you need 1 hour for a comp point.
Any updates as they happen I’ll post here.
There was not a huge slowdown now that people have to pay. I saw cars going in nonstop to self park and many coming to valet also and staying after being told prices. Everything is good I mean is boston people are used to it.

Let me hazard a guess. You don’t drive to Encore.

Well, I just booked a week @$5,600.00, which includes a 10% red card discount. Only because I don't think they are going to get lower any time soon and I've been waiting 3 years for it to open.

Interesting article about who they expect their customer base to be comprised of:

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/06...boston-harbor/

Boston Herald: Encore Boston’s hotel rates start at about $645. Why is it so expensive and will people see those prices go down in the months ahead?

Encore Boston Harbor President Bob DeSalvio: The room product is obviously, I think, the best room product in the market. But pricing of hotel rooms, in general and in Boston, is at the pretty good rate. If you look across the luxury products in Boston, whether it’s the Four Seasons or Mandarin or the Boston Harbor Hotel, hotel rooms are pretty scarce on a busy week, weekends and when the conventions are in town.

Boston Herald: Could Encore survive on local customers only, or do you need to be an international brand?

Bob DeSalvio, president of Encore Boston Harbor: We started out from Day 1 believing that the business model here really involved three distinct market segments. Of course, there’s a wonderful local market where you’ve got close to 6 million people in the metropolitan statistical area.

But in order for us to make an investment of $2.6 billion, we had to think even broader than that. And so we think about the second major grouping, in a sense, the rest of the United States. There is a great tourism market here in Greater Boston. It involves history, it involves education, involves medical industries. And so to be able to tap into that, and provide a quality five-star product for an area already rich in tourism assets is a perfect fit for us.

The third component is international travel. International travel has grown significantly, it’s going to continue to grow. So it’s really a three-pronged approach — a great local market, the rest of the United States and wonderful international opportunities.

Good guess Sherlock! I tried water shuttles, T+shuttles, etc. Driving would be best (outside of rush hours) but it seems getting in and out of property is a **** show for now.

It's actually not a **** show you just drive in then drive out, no waiting.

man, can't imagine spending $700+ for a room I'd never be in except to sleep.

It does seem like there are decent places within a mile or so of Encore around 150-175.

The only decent place I saw close to Encore is Envision and they want $300 a night. With the parking nightmares posted here and time delays getting in and off the property, I guess it's a trade-off for me. Security is a major concern and the safest option is always the casino you're playing in. And you know YOLO.

What are all these "parking nightmares" that you speak of? Assuming you follow GPS and don't try and enter Boston from 7-10am it is pretty smooth getting in and out of the garage with plenty of spaces available. I posted a month ago about upper level management assuring me of parking validation for poker with one hour of play which has been reiterated to me and to others. Until their systems are up the only way we will be paying for parking is if they have a communication/execution breakdown as they have zero intention of making players pay for parking. Stop tilting over paying for parking people.

Having said that...…$5600 for a week? Impressive humble brag.

I'm not bragging, actually I feel like a sucker for paying that. Hubby insisted and since our anniversary is next month, we are going to just bite the bullet.
Will post a trip report.

I guess it depends on conventions and such - like Envision is actually 168 per night this Friday and Saturday. A weekend in mid-August was like 250 per night though.

Do either of you play anything else?
After a couple of (long-ish) days of play, I received room offers that were pretty sweet. Maybe you could wait to see a host after a few days of play? Just a thought

At that price point you shd be able to get a suite at like the InterContinental or the Four Seasons. Try expedia mystery hotels/hotwire a week or two out and get a dope room in a 5star hotel for less than 200/night. Donate your savings to Uber XL, fine dining in town, or your gambo.

How were you able to misquote me?

I never said I'm feeling rich, nor would I ever state that.

We are giving up our anniversary cruise because my adorable husband knows how much I love the game of poker and has listened to me wax eloquent about going to Encore Boston for the last three years of its construction. I am extremely blessed to be married to him.

I have a 72 hour window to cancel without a penalty and will try your suggestion for the Four Seasons. I don't care for the Intercontinental brand, personally. Otherwise, I will pay the going rate and take jpsychlady up on her suggestion of hitting up a casino host after a few days play.

Very very slow. Played two ten hour sessions and got about 3/4 of the total hands I anticipated, already considering it’s a brand new casino and with a brand new staff.

Some rake goes to a jackpot that is not currently valid (new to me), the staff is all across the board rude and clearly new to any sort of casino etiquette whatsoever (with the exception of a few really really talented dealers).

Healthy mix of mind bendingly bad players at 2/5 and the 700 max is cool but doesn’t really matter when you’re seeing 9 hands an hour.

you can edit the text inside of the quote for brevity or whatever.

didn’t mean to offend, just wanted to let you know there are more affordable/luxurious options around. Save a few grand and play with a much deeper roll, stay in the heart of Boston and enjoy a lobster roll at Neptune’s or dine out at Menton, have some poutine at saus, booze it up at Drink. You’ll be able to do all of this and still stay in a respectable hotel for significantly less than half of 5600usd if you use hotwire or whatever. This isn’t like FW or Mohegan where you have no other options, Boston is a big city with five star amenities, mind you I can’t think of any other than this casino in Everett.

Thank you for the advice. I truly appreciate your insight.