+2

My wife loved their onion rings.

I couldn't agree more
I'm sure the Wynn people did their research.

I ate with friends at a place in Charlestown not too long ago.
The bill was 70 per person with tips. And the place was buzzing with people.

And.. Welcome to Boston everyone!

Re: recent tupperware food talk, they may be easier on that than say a McDonald's bag because a guest could have a very strict diet for a variety of reasons and they know they can't really question that.

It also seems like an easy excuse if anyone ever does say anything about your quinoa with walnuts bowl: You are allergic to x/y/z, gluten, etc. Encore seems like a smart enough company that they won't really f with that and open themselves up to any liability.

Cliffs from trip: no access to earned poker comps sucks for pros, “working in a fix” in two weeks is all I heard. Lame. In just four days spent $80-$100 on food that should have been comped. McDonalds nearby for breakfast and coffee, except today since it was raining and I didn’t pack an umbrella.

Food and drink service was fine, quality from poker room menu is passable but I really miss ordering from Allegro at Wynn LV. Once brought my iced latte from McD’s in and security said it was fine.

Most dealers professional, only one was pretty clueless, and many were vets from other casinos I recognized (MD Live, Mohegan Sun Poconos, Wynn LV). Floor was fine. Line to cashier was too long Saturday night so I just brought chips home. Other nights were ok.

Poker room is aesthetically very nice and not loud, away from slots downstairs thankfully. Higher stakes games appropriately placed in separate areas of poker room. (Now if only Encore could do something about some of the 5/10 regs...). Very nice bathrooms. Terrible cell phone/internet service for me (at&t) almost anywhere within the casino. As with Wynn LV, if you are a run of the mill low/mid stakes pro you will feel poor here (because you are). And no I can’t afford to stay in the hotel, although I heard for $400-$600 a night the service is excellent.

2-2 PLO is probably the softest game. 1/3 the night I played was a nitfest, 2/5 hit or miss but still some bad players. No true maniacs/gamoolers to be found though. 5/10 is pro-heavy and as alluded to earlier not a good vibe for the most part. Didn’t try 10/20 unfortunately but heard it was excellent if you are rolled for it.

Worth a visit, but a return trip? Or a permanent move to play full time? I dunno. For Vegas pros grinding lower to mid stakes it is probably not worth it given the high cost of living; game quality is not good enough to make up for this factor alone. I’m not planning on coming back anytime soon. Still a very nice change of pace if you are tired of your home casino and need to get away for a week or so. Personally the action back home is better and my cost of living is *rent-free*, so that’s where I’ll be staying.

What is the rake?

Should have said home poker roomS. I play mainly on the west coast (and Vegas during certain parts of year), but have also played on the east coast.

It's really up to the players in my opinion (and it doesn't seem like most of them get it).

5+1 on raked games. $9/30 min on timed games.

Unless we're playing Jeopardy here...in which case I'll take Things in the Shed for $200 Alex.

This common tool is used to gather leaves and grass clippings.

Replying a couple days late to this but I would like to help bridge this gap. Adding one draw game to HOS would be a great start. I'm mostly a weekend player but would be happy to help plan and start a 20 mix. By plan I mean tell all my holdem and stud friends. and by start I mean play 4 hours 3-4 handed whether the game fills or not. In my experience, however, once you show a willingness to keep the game going, it fills and then we have a great time!

PM me and let's talk about this Saturday.

I'll be there Fri night after 6pm and Sat after 4pm and Sun after 4pm if anyone wants to meet up in the poker room, slide into the DMs.

I think they lowered it to $8 at the 20/40 Hold'em/O8/Stud games due to complaints or whatever.

It is still $9 at 5/5 PLO and 5/10 NL and higher?

I've seen 15+ Tupperware things and zero issues with dealers or security or floor. I think they get exactly what you wrote.

$10 at 10/20 in the VIP Room

Very true. But also consider that those million dollar homes are being bought by 2 working adults with kids and they're in debt up to their eyeballs.
Also, it's not so much that people have that kind of money, but there's such a shortage of inventory that that's what you have to pay.

My parents own one these houses (paid 20k back in 1968). They are retired are comfortable. I can't tell you how difficult it would be for me to take them to dinner at Encore. One look at the prices and they'd feel very uncomfortable and it would end in me trying to get them to not order the cheapest thing on the menu.

I hope they succeed too, but to be honest I didn't anticipate 50 min 6/5 BJ or $9/half hr for 5-5 PLO. Seems a little money-grabby.

It’s $9 at 5/10. Rediculous.

Report based on my past 6 trips, I have play 1/3 2/5 and 5/10 NL and also 2/2 and 5/5 PLO....

1/3 and 2/5 NL are awesome! Lots of new players / action players. On the weekend, you have a lot of people just trying to have fun! AMAZING!

2/2 PLO can be very good as well... Lots of players just learning the game which makes it very profitable at the moment.


5/10 NL and 5/5 PLO seemed to be very tight every time I played. 5/10 you will get tested a lot as well... Lots of 3 betting light so you are put to the test a lot more. 5/5 PLO you usually have less players to the flop than you do at 2/2 PLO which means upper ranges for the most part. For me, I don't think I'm ready skill-wise to beat 5/10 NL, yet I play it sometimes. Same for 5/5 PLO... Lots of spots I have no idea what to do... The players play a lot better than 2/5 and 2/2 thats for sure and its expected.

My thoughts on the games so far:

1/3 NL : Surprisingly a good number of players who are aware and experienced but once you notice that just play pots with the 2-5 players at the table who are not.

2/5 NL : Players fight back more and understand some basic subtle stuff you are doing like 3 betting the button or squeezing but still 1-3 bad players who will call a few streets with bad draws/odds or 2nd pair to pay you off.

5/10 NL : Repeated quite a few times but a bunch of GTO wannabe wiz kids who are preying on at best 1 spot in the game and all just trying to piranha this person and is a very un-interesting and boring dynamic.

2/2 PLO : I think there are a lot of guys who are still in NLHE mentality that won't give up top and bottom pair on the flop or chase Jack high flush draws. Overall most fun game/atmosphere as there are 8+ all ins per hour.

4/8 O8 : Everyone just limp calls all the way with sometimes 7 people to many flops.

20/40 O8 : Prob only played with 20 people so far and 5 regulars who are all very solid and understand sophisticated plays. Pretty straightforward tight aggressive play with a few guys who will bluff quite often to keep you on your toes.

3/6 Limit Hold'em : Just like 4/8 O8.

I think I'll be playing mostly 2-5 NL and 2-2 PLO for a while unless we can get the 20-40 HOS going. I noticed 20-40 Stud has been running consistently this week but O8 and LHE didn't.

What the **** is the scoop with the chubby guy that goes around the 5/10 tables handing out problem gambling pamphlets? I heard he had done it the second week and that he recently struck again

Welcome to Greater Boston. Nuts handing out pamphlets about morality is one of our many quaint local practices.

Outrageous that this person is allowed to hand out pamphlets to the 5/10NL players.......when it’s the PLO games he should be targeting.

Seems like the 20-40 40-80 stud and HE games don't go until late afternoon, if at all.

Wonder where all the stud and HE players are after waiting forever for Boston to open? That's all you heard at FW, wait until Boston opens, yada yada.

Flying in next week for a week and I guess I'll get to do a lot of touristy stuff, museums, harbor walk, etc. during the day unless I want to play low no limit.

Hope the higher limit games start to go off earlier.

Ha Not sure if it’s the pamphlets (not required reading) or the fact that he’s chubby that’s setting off a nerve.

Is it maybe the same guy that stands in front of Alex's strip club in Stoughton with a big cross all day?

I'm surprised at the lack of limit as well. I was talking to an old FW 20-40 reg and from what he told me it seems like there's 2 groups that want to play limit but one group will only go as high as 20-40 and the other wants to play higher and neither will give in. He came back from getting called to 20-40 and said that some guys wouldn't start it unless they played with a full kill. He was like screw those guys, they're being unreasonable, if you're having trouble getting a game going, that's not going to help.

Personally I think they should make it 15-30 and 30-60.

Absolutely! Would love to see 30-60 or 75-150 stud get going. Will Encore allow an interest list or will they hold to their 40-80 80-160 preference?

Oh well, I'll be in house so I will start the interest lists early. Thanks for the input.

Annoying that a person is allowed to bother people with flyers and just because there is some element of chance it is automatically gambling. No one is handing out flyers to alcoholics or shopaholics at the bar/mall so don't bother people on how they spend their $. I think this is analogous to someone walking in and trying to sell Girl Scout Cookies or something like that.