Yeah - I saw the advice ITT, but I figured I'd at least give the main floor a walk through to see for myself what it was like. Plus, I had a few buddies who don't play poker who wanted to know things like how many craps tables they had and the variety of limits, so I wanted to report to them on that.

After playing 1-3 and finding it pretty close to normal, I'm tempted to do 2/5, which is what I play everywhere else, although some of the comments here about 5/10 types downshifting into 2/5 weren't what I wanted to hear. Also, the guy I was seated next to for a while and lives a couple of miles away and has been there already more than a dozen times says he's found 1/3 to be more profitable than 2/5, which I found interesting.

I did that both Fri and Sat night and I had to remind myself to take a walk downstairs just to see all the people out partying. I don't do this when I am in a time game but I'll do it when I am at 2-2 PLO which is rake.

I did notice the chairs all gone from the main bar at the bottom of the VIP stairs. They were taken by others to sit behind others but I think the bartenders like that everyone can get closer to the bar to order drinks, etc... They def need another bar because they were 4-5 deep and you have to just pump these drinks out asap to maximize revenue. Anytime you have people who want to give you $ and you can't deliver is a huge fail.

I noticed a super long line for Burger place right next to the club. People were just trying to go in and get a burger/beer and lining up for a long time which is very sad too especially since it seemed like there were quite a few tables that were just not cleaned and ready for new customers.

I have played 2/5 at Encore 5 times and 1/3, 14xs. The 1/3 is substantially more profitable for me. I’ve had multiple 1/3 tables that play bigger than 2/5.
If you don’t have ego issues concerning what stake you’re playing, then I think it’s the smarter choice.

Quick TR (since I've done a couple already) and updates.

Played 5/10 Sat. Parking garage easy to get in at 1pm and out at 11pm, parked near North Elevators per normal. No lines for getting chips, 2 people in line cashing out. Dealers overall were excellent with only 1-2 average dealers. No poor dealers. Drink service was decent most of the day with only once where no one came for over an hour. All of them very friendly and quick once they took the order.

Players were typical at 5/10, solid regs, loose Asians, 1/2 tight-ish older gentlemen, a couple randoms, etc etc.

Still a great room overall I'll be visiting many more times down the road.

Looks like 2/2PLO8 is now offered, looking at Poker Atlas.

Well that explains why I haven't seen you there yet! I only play $2/$5. And I dunno, I think your sample size is too much to make such a claim. I've had plenty of $2/$5 full of large stacks and mostly recreational players, especially on Friday/Saturday nights.

I wish they would try to spread 8/16 OE or HOE it would get more action

I'd like to be optimistic, but they basically gave up on 8/16 Holdem. I was there one Saturday in July. After some people waited all day, the 8/16 got started 6 handed at about 4:30, got up to 8 handed, then broke 56 minutes after cards were in the air.

If any 8/16 mixed started running regularly, I'd make it as often as I could. I'm just not optimistic.

I would even start with 5/10 O8 that would be a good start

4/8 O8 w/half kill only goes sometimes.

Heard high hands will be starting soon, I guess it will be getting busier!!!

I agree with this and have a higher hourly than my other rooms combined at Encore. Very SSS natural. I've had to table change more than I'd like but you can easily find great games especially at night. I know one MAWG former FW-reg tournament player who sent me a snapshot of his app showing 20k profit in July which is fairly consistent with the size stacks he's been accumulating. That isn't happening at 1/3.

HH promo at Encore could destroy the surrounding rooms on those days as this promo can generate the type of volume to support an aggressive payout structure. Any word on whether they will be taking an extra dollar drop on those days making it 5+2? This is what I've always expected but hadn't heard one way or another.

There's a comment in the Poker in MA group indicating why there are such issues with getting poker atlas and red card to sync up. Looks like Wynn Vegas hired a company called IGT to develop their rewards and IGT is in business with the owner of Bravo. Gross.

Yes, I agree with you concerning small sample size. I cannot play past 9pm so that could explain the differences in the tables we’ve experienced.

Cheers, that makes sense then. I've rarely been there for much time before 9pm so that also could be why I haven't seen you yet

When I'm playing $2/$5 I like to get up every once in a while and walk around the room to stretch my legs, so I'll start paying attention to stack sizes in the $1/$3 area.

I will say that table (and game) selection is a HUGE factor in win rate, that is something that was drilled into me from a year playing only at Twin River and is immediately apparent at Encore too.

The bad thing about Twin River was if the main $2/$5 game sucked and the good table was the must-move, you couldn't switch to it unless you completely cashed out and waited half an hour and re-bought.

At Encore, there seems to always be at least 8-10 tables of $2/$5 during most nights and weekends and it's so easy to table-change to a better table if yours becomes bad (too many good regs, too many nits, too many short stacks, whatever).

I think in the long run both $1/$3 and $2/$5 are extremely profitable as long as you on top of table selection options. There's so so much random money in this room all the time, it's great.

It's one of the largest gambling machine manufacturers in the world. They created the Wheel of Fortune and Megabucks slots machines.

I notice it is Bravo in Las Vegas and Poker Atlas in Boston so there had to be some issues. At least they're still storing all the info for now so we know how many points we'll eventually get but IGT has zero reason to work with the Poker Atlas people or the Wynn/Encore tech people as well so this might be a standstill.

In terms of 1/3 and 2/5 competition it is totally hit or miss the table draw you get just like in say a $400 tourney where there are a wide range of opponents and I would say we'd have to have 25-50 sessions of 6+ hours to get good data maybe longer. I do know people who have been playing 1-3 almost every day since opening not because they're pros but because they're unemployed ha.

There are a few guys I know who play 2-5 3-5x a week for long sessions and I'll ask them what they think.

I have already talked to 2 guys in particular who do nothing but hang out there all day playing random things or not even playing at all who seem to know a lot of the regulars and I want them to direct me to all the bad players.

Hallelujah on 2-2 PLO8 interest list. This is the 2nd time they've had it up.

I don't like it when people use the "hit or miss" phrase to describe Encore's 2/5 pool and I've heard it both online and in the neighboring rooms. The reason why Encore's is NOT hit or miss is due to us having the ability to table change to one of 8-15 tables depending on the night. The day games are pretty awful but anything past 6pm I wouldn't classify as hit or miss even if you're in a bad game simply because you have the ability to move. There are plenty of good tables each night.

I actually didn't mean hit or miss like you can get a table of 8 pros or 8 beginners but more along the lines of who you can exploit. I'm a huge fan of figuring out what type of player is in each seat and how to best approach pots with them and even if you should get involved with them based on card strength and position, etc... I love the thread about OMCs which expanded to all kinds of player types and it is so true there is a game plan for each player archetype. While it is easy to move tables to find opponents you know how to beat there really is no reason if we all just learn how to identify and then apply the proper counter strategies. Encore is really quite amazing with the big # of 1-3 and 2-5 players. Hopefully my theory about a lot more people coming in the fall will be true.

I got on the 20/40 mixed game interest list around 5:30 last night (Monday). I had just left at 9:30pm (after getting felted in the fun, action heavy 2/2 plo game) when I got a text saying my seat was available. Anyone know if the game actually went? Would be great if this, or a lower stakes version, went off regularly on a weeknight.

I had planned to try starting an interest list for 10/20 mix with a kill but there were already a few on the 20/40 so I just went with that. I'm assuming/hoping the mix would be HOE.

There seems to be interest for 8/16 and 20/40 so we might have to go with a 15/30 type mix game of HOE which seems to get action and people who play across stakes will jump in. I think they should change the 4/8 O8 game to 6/12. I notice they just changed the 3/6 LHE to 4/8 which is great in addition to starting up 2/2 PLO8 interest list and it has been there for a whole 24+ hours now.

New menu for food is right around the corner.

I think they ran 20/40 HOS because there simply are not enough players for all 3 tables of 20/40 O8, LHE, Stud to run consistently and in HOS at least everyone got to play their game. Let's see what this weekend brings.

Good strategy to clear the Freeplay bonuses?

Video poker does not work....

No guarantees but video poker is your best bet. I got $125 in free play and used it on a Jacks or Better (8-5) machine. No huge hands but enough full houses, str8's and trips to cash out at $ 117.

Wifey, on the other hand, used her free play on slots. She cashed out for zero.

I did my $5 on a vp machine. Make sure you activate it on the machine, and that you put some cash into the machine as well.