The gaming commission is wrong on their "initial investigation." I was/am primarily a blackjack player, so this is a topic of interest to me. The Massachusetts rules for table games, specifically blackjack w/ this link, are spelled out here for public viewing:

https://massgaming.com/wp-content/up...ck-2-11-19.pdf

Paragraph 2.a.1. describes 6-5 blackjack as a game dealt from either 1 or 2 decks of cards. The words "minimum number of decks" in 2.a. is misleading, because when we look at Section 6a which spells out in detail how 6-5 blackjack is to be dealt, paragraph 6a.b. clearly describes it as a game to be dealt from either 1 deck or 2 decks and hand-dealt with both decks held in the dealer's hand.

EB's 6-5 blackjack is 8 decks and dealt out of a shoe.

As they are the gaming commission, they can change these rules if and when they want, but, as of that publication which is the one linked from their website, EB is not in compliance.

They're not doing the 6-5 variation. They're doing the 3-2 variation with 6-5 payout option. They are not the same, and the latter is allowed per section 7(d):

(d) If the licensee chooses the option to pay a blackjack at odd of 6 to 5 and doesn’t use the 6 to
5 variation, then Section 7(c) is void. If the licensee uses this option on 6 or 8 deck games,
this variation’s rules must be displayed on the layout in plain sight

Poker player pool is the definition of 'this is why we can't have nice things.'

You won't see tournaments until poker room staffing is up to speed on staffing, which it is far from being right now.

As I described above, I was/am primarily a blackjack player. My usual base of operations is the Mohegan Sun. Last week, I visited both EB and Mohegan Sun in the same week. Here were the differences in my experiences.

I was a guest at EB w/ my brother for the Tony Bennett show. I had gotten offered tickets for Jon Bellion for the same night at Mohegan, but my bro wanted to see Tony. Parking before the show was ample on level 4 and, it being the second day of the new parking policy, was free. The blackjack action at EB was $50 and up for 3-2 and anywhere from $25 to $100 for 6-5. Why anyone playing $50 and up would sit at a 6-5 is beyond my comprehension, but those are the kinds of players the casinos love. Only once, in the middle of a weekday, have I seen a sub-$25 blackjack table at EB. It was a single table of $15 6-5. The converted ballroom-stage was terrible, btw. The seating not being elevated and yet the venue being deep and wide means most people don't have good views. Plus the acoustics and their audio setup was bad. Antonia Bennett, Tony's daughter who came on before Tony, was made into an incomprehensible mumbling. The clarity was much better when Tony took the mic, however. I went to the Red Card counter to collect the $50 new signup offer which initially included signups who started the last weeks of July when EB first opened. I was denied. They reserved the right to change the promo whenever they want, they said, so they revised the offer to no longer include the July signups. This is only one week into the promo. This rubs salt in old wounds, because, the only reason I signed up for a Red Card in July was to try to get a safe deposit box in the poker room - only to be told to fill out an application; and then later to hear there are no safe deposit boxes in the poker room. No safe deposit box and no signup promo.

Saturday, I took the bus to Mohegan. The bus ticket cost me 15 player points. In return, they give me $60 matchplay dollars upon arrival. I am there because they made me an offer I can't refuse. 5 (FIVE!) comps in one day: free slot play, a 16-piece glass tumbler set, tickets to the Connecticut comic con, tickets to Chris Tucker and then tickets to the 2019 Miss Chinatown Beauty Pageant - this all happened on Saturday. Normally casinos raise their minimums during weekends, especially when they have comp events. I scope out the blackjack. They are running tons of $15 3-2 blackjack. Even found two tables of $10 3-2. On a Saturday. With multiple events happening. Chris Tucker played in the Arena, which is an actual arena used for their own WNBA team and games. The Beauty Pageant was in the ballroom, where their makeshift ballroom-stage was also better than EB's.

The two experiences were like night and day.

EB, get your act together.

That promo story really pisses me off. So this is the rep they want to build not even 2 months in? Sigh. On another note, I think that's our first show review! (albeit a negative one)

The venue isn't great, but the acts were fine. Their next one is KC and the Sunshine Band.

Gum is prohibited in the casino in its entirety.

Since the poker room appears to stay pretty busy from the 1/3, 2/5, and PLO games (especially on weekend nights), among the other games, it makes sense that they wouldn't feel the need to focus on tournaments, being busy enough as it is.

Understandable, however, I meant more for an extremely basic FAQ standpoint, since every page seems to contain at least one question regarding parking or tournaments, even if the FAQ solely covered these items.

Spoke to individual @ RedCard desk in poker room who told me promo goes through August and that MLife Pearl gets $50 (Foxwoods Gold gets $0).

Where did she stick it?

Yes it was reported earlier in the thread that a few days ago they changed the 75/150 payouts to 25/50.

Between reading someone complain that they wouldn't give the $$ only some entry to a giveaway, and the fact that the New Member and Tier Match promos are no longer on the website (both on the main page and in the Terms and Conditions page), I figured they took it away.

If you look on their Facebook page, they list all the current promos as Events... they are missing from there as well (and they WERE there a few days ago).

I'm somewhat suspicious that the employee you talked to might be mistaken. The fact that they removed it from both their website and their Facebook page just doesn't make sense to me if it's still ongoing.

Being the cynic that I am, I went to my vehicle to get my MLife card to present to her. Alas, card not in vehicle. Having since arrived home and located my card, I will return with said card in my possession to Encore in the very near future and will report on my adventure at that time. However, I expect to read several posts on this issue in the meantime.��

I appreciate that you checked

Several more people have complained on Facebook. Apparently it's only the New Member $50 promo that is gone though, and the Tier Match promo remains. On the website/Facebook the tier promo was just 1-2 lines embedded in the paragraph about the New Member promo, so it just got swept up with its deletion. This aligns with what jjb encountered.

I don't know what sort of integrity you expect from a business designed to bleed people. Regardless, this happens all the time: casinos offer a generous promo, promo gets exploited, casinos notice, and casinos cut the promo. It happens with every good promo in other industries too.

This is as standard as it gets. It is also standard for a new casino in a monopoly market to bleed, bleed, bleed as much and as often as they can when they have a monopoly. Eventually they lower limits and offer better incentives as it becomes harder to draw people. Heck, when Charlestown in West Virginia opened up, they also started with minimum $50/hand BJ/etc.

BTW, I have never seen more slot advantage players cycling the casino floor anywhere. There's more advantage players checking the machines than there are actual customers playing those machines. These match promos got hit pretty hard, no doubt. Advantage players of all games have been waiting a long time to hit this casino.

it will never stop being adorable hearing ppl sincerely announcing their disappointment encore doesn’t take unsolicited business advice from unemployed degenerates playing 1/3

To Encore's detriment. There are plenty of grinders at the 1/3 that could teach card rooms plenty about running the game more profitably and more accommodating to both house and player. Which is the ultimate goal for a card room.

Serious question: How does one know a person is an advantage slots player? I have met and talked to Allen Kessler and he's my textbook go to when I think of one but not sure of others.

The gum thing makes sense as people would stick it under table games and slot machines and video poker etc... but it was just comic gold when the dealer/floor enforced it so strongly at poker.

A player asked me for gum or mint @EB last week and I told him I had both and the dealer immediately informed us that gum was prohibited. Good decision.

I ruined a gorgeous raw silk tunic at the disgustingly filthy Taj Mahal years ago. Amazing to me that ppl are so ignorant as to stick it under tables. What kind of ongoing psychosis is that person plagued with to do that?

This is far from accurate and far from standard. I have yet to experience a casino market a promotion such as this one WITH an end date only to cut it off after people have made arrangements to visit their venue.

I’m not sure which monopoly you are referring to since players are flocking back to Chasers, Twin, Foxwoods and Mohegan while sharing negative experiences with Encore’s operations. The responses on FB to the cutting of their promo prior to the marketed exp date is neither standard nor good business practice. Do you know who judges this company on their business practices? We do! The consumer. The feedback I’m hearing at other casinos is far, far, far more negative than the MGM feedback. I was there last week with my significant other, we ran my free slot play offer and ordered a wine for her. 25 min later the waitress returned with a full tray....and no wine. She named 4 excuses and then offered us someone else’s drink that was on her tray. You can’t make this stuff up. The poker room is now more than half empty except for weekends for reasons similar to this and I’m hearing it from the players in other rooms. The are still new but need to get their act together or Wynn’s next earnings report/conference call will reflect its level of operations.

FWIW, I am a gum chewer and nobody has yet to comment to me about chewing.

The poker rooms activity level has dropped off significantly since the opening two weeks. As I posted above the vibe I’m hearing is that most are returning to their former location and not planning to return to Boston.

Flocking?! The others you mentioned are suffering big time and it will only get worse. Just yesterday Twin Rivers said they saw a negative 30%+ revenue since Encore opened and will be laying off a bunch of people. I expect much of the same soon of the all the others you mentioned. Mohegan/Foxwoods not as much but they will see a decline also.

https://www.casinonewsdaily.com/2019...boston-casino/

The ones who figured out how to breath through their nose so they could chew gum.

Sure, these were July numbers when every New England casino goer wanted to see what the hype was all about. Encore's poker room numbers are down significantly these past couple of weeks and a friend who plays BJ was there last night and said that the BJ area where he played last month which was full on a weeknight wasn't even open last night.

I'm guessing, by "advantage slots player," he means people who:
- only play slots on some form of house comp or offer, such as the slot credit promo,
- and/or only play machines with progressive jackpots AND those jackpots have grown large enough to have a positive EV. These people would be wandering around looking at the current size of the progressives.