Poker comp dollars aren't available for spending (yet). After 3 hours of play you can get validated at the poker desk, that's what most ITT are doing.

This. Super easy, quick, and free. Have to do it when leaving though because you have to use the validated parking ticket within 30 min of the poker desk scanning it.

It’s almost like no one reads any of the above posts

What's your source on this? Just asking because the Encore website still says every 10 minutes. Do you know if there's going to be a schedule (i.e. shuttle always leaves 9:00, 9:30, etc.)?

I'm wondering if it will be faster to take Orange Line to Sullivan and then taking a bus from there...

I’ll have to ask to be seated at the Kjun circus table the next time I go.

Would there be any merit to editing the first post ITT into an FAQ?

Of course. If someone wants to create one, just send it to me and I'll put it into the OP.

These game quality debates can go on forever. Some tables are going to be bad, some tables are going to be great, some table action will be especially profitable for your playing style, different table action can be opposite for your skill set. Long story short, if there are 5+ tables going somewhere, games are highly unlikely to be terrible and you will find something you like.

I spent the weekend playing here. I saw 5 regs from Borgata grinding the whole day just during my short time here. 5/10 action on Sat morning looked good and I felt tempted to sit - at least at Borgata, 5/10 rarely runs without a reason. 2/5 action is a mix of decent/strong grinders and casual players that are often decently aggressive.

For me, the big question is whether this is worth a 3:30 drive vs my 2:20 drive to Borgata. Well, Borgata gives poker players everything: comped rooms, free buffet, nice free lounge, free parking, comps/hour you can use at reasonably priced restaurants (Metro, B&B, steakhouse prices are basically regular steakhouse prices). Encore doesn't offer much as much as I can see. Even when those comps finally work, your one dinner is going to use up all your comps you earned playing the whole week and where else are you going to use those comps?

BTW, at Borgata I can always take a break and go to Wawa, buy food at regular restaurants in town, go for a run on the boardwalk - whatever - and I don't have to screw around with parking validation. I wonder if I can do that at Encore, or whether I need to put in 3 hours for 1 parking validation.

I figured I would make the drive and clear the $500 match for Platinum and check out the games. Will I be back? Once in a while when I feel like a change of pace, sure, maybe. But the 2/5 games are not massively better to offset the drive and lack of player incentives. (rooms, food, etc.) Rake eats up table money and also kills off blind on blind action.

The 4 times I was on the shuttle, it was announced. I don’t have a schedule

Fair enough - not calling you a liar, I just don't want to believe it's true

I was thinking, weather permitting, of getting off at Sullivan and walking to Encore.

From 5 AM Monday to 5 PM Friday, parking is free with no minimum play required.

3 caveats:
1. Maximum stay is 24 hours per visit.
2. This is offered as a “promotion” and may be withdrawn at any time.
3. On Fridays, you must depart the garage before 5 PM.

Chewing gum is prohibited at the felt.

A dealer actually stopped a game until the woman next to me got rid of her gum.

This pissed off the guy next to her so much, he called the floor who confirmed gum isn’t allowed. People stick it under the tables. Etc.

Anyone hear anything new about tournaments? Few weeks out and no schedule up yep. Curious to see what they’ll be running in terms of buy-ins / guarantees for their weekday/weekend games.

Even worse, it appears they've eliminated this promo completely now!!! I saw a complaint on Facebook from someone who was not given their freeplay, and sure enough there is no longer any mention of this promo on the Encore website. Glad I made the effort to get down there right away for my $500.

edit: If anyone is onsite today can you check to see if this is the case?

What an awful business practice if this is true. You cannot market a promotion with an end date then suddenly cancel it as people make travel plans to visit regardless of what the fine print says. This is an integrity issue and when you are a business entering a new marketplace the consumer will be judging you prior to your earning trust. Bad bad look if this is accurate.

One sorta gets the sense that EB equates ppl that grumble about promos or comps as ppl they really don't care too much to cater to. They have built a gorgeous casino in a raging metropolis populated by ppl whose income is way above average. They are hunting those people, not loose-necked t-shirted grinders working to get 60 hours per week in their poker room.

They won't loosen their purse strings until they're forced to. That's just how gambling establishments operate. IMO.

Everything you say is true. And I don't feel any ill will toward Encore for that - that's the mission statement they've chosen, so be it. I said before they opened that that's how they're going to be. Changing/eliminating* their promo mid-term is rather messed up though. I wonder how hard they were getting hit by it.

*keep in mind the promo elimination isn't confirmed, there is just some evidence supporting it.

I'm confused by the bolded. MLife Platinum's, Mohegan Soar's, and Foxwood Diamond's are precisely the clientele that they ARE targeting. Players holding those level cards are not t-shirt grinders with few exceptions.

Again, not yet confirmed but did want to point that out.

Yes, mea culpa.

Considering that they are currently, and not open 2 months, being sued for various operational misconduct, if they are not seeing the results they expect from a promotion, they will end it. It's not right but they must feel that they can weather/withstand any additional forthcoming consequences.

They seem to be operating like an Indian casino, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes.

I wonder if this promotion had some fine print that states they can end the promotion at their discretion, at any time, for any reason. Otherwise their lawyers suck. Seem to me like that would be a crucial and substantial language criteria to any promotional contract.

The growing pains are a pita to their average customer, i.e. comp tabulation issues, lack of any substantive tournament schedule info, fixed parking info, etc.

It will be a great poker destination once they iron out the kinks.

I think they're not focusing on tournaments because their main focus is on slot, pit games, hotel & dining clientele. We're always the last branch of gaming revenue to get any respect or consideration.

The only lawsuits I'm aware of are the 6-5 BJ and the no coin disbursement at ticket machines. Both are complete jokes.

Of course they do. Nearly every promotion at every casino has a byline like this. But like poker tournament guarantees, just because you can cancel it for any reason, doesn't mean you should.

"Management reserves all rights and may revise or cancel this offer at any time without notice. Additional restrictions may apply. Wynn Resorts, LLC shall not be liable to any patron for any error in the information contained herein or in the printed material related to the promotion. Trademarks that appear herein are the property of their respective owners. Must be 21 and older to redeem this offer. © 2019 Wynn Resorts Holdings, LLC. All rights reserved."

I think them rounding slot tickets down to the last whole dollar is an angle shoot on their part. Why wouldn't they round down for 50 cents and lower and round up to 51 cents and higher? Because those cents matter to them.

Also it is a responsibility for them to offer state mandated bj odds. Both of these violations are unilaterally favorable to only one party: Them.

I wonder why you consider those violations to be a joke? Maybe I'm not understanding the issues? Wouldn't be the first time I failed to grasp something.

They're allowed to offer 6:5 on multi-deck shoes as long as it's properly labeled on the table, which it is.

And of course it's an angle shoot that favors them - think about how many people don't bother to cash it in and toss it away since it's only a few cents, that adds up to a ton for them at the end of the year. It's absolutely brilliant on their part, and it's perfectly legal. I know it's not the same jurisdiction, but Foxwoods does it (I said the same thing when they started - "brilliant!"), and more casinos are adopting this method. It's slowly becoming the new way of doing it.

Everything seems like it was just setup for a place that has been in smooth operation for a year. No one that works at Parking Services has a clue and they want $42 for 6 hours and a minute. Every restaurant is extremely slow. I've eaten at different places a total of 10+ times and not one single place in any level of service is even normal speed. I'm talking refiling water to bringing the check and everything in between is just painfully slow. The quality on the exterior looks and feels great but when you actually sit down and experience it all there are many lacking elements.

A bunch of young 25'ish year old couples came into the poker room via the hallway from the club and they were just observing my 2-2 PLO table and said what a well run poker game when the dealer screwed up the pot bets and didn't correctly manage two side pots after a misdeal in that short 5 minutes and I was thinking to myself, this is exactly the clientele they want (which is ok, I have no issues with what the Encore wants vs what we as customers want).

I am not sure how most places this high end operate but I would've went with something like $10 to park all day and then gradually increase it because you're so busy you gotta weed out the poorer customers. Ditto everything else like $600 hotel rooms, etc... Start at $300 and if it is so busy make it $400 then $500/night and higher if you have the demand. I understand maintaining high quality and great service and they'll eventually get there. I have no doubts that in 6-9 months things will even out and be better but we are just impatient poker players.

The gaming commission found them to be in compliance. Odds are on the table and they don't just round down slot tickets, they dispense whole dollar amounts then you get a ticket for the amount less than $1 which can be used on another machine later or redeemed at the cage. And no, I don't think you can say it is an angle shoot to pad a bottom line as any unclaimed amounts go to the state, not the casino.

We might want to hold off on this for a while, as many things still seem to be changing on almost a daily or weekly basis. At least for now, it's probably easier to get info from the most recent posts than to expect the mod's to update the FAQ every day.