Different people value different things. To some, the best poker room is Twin while playing in a smoke filled food court with rec players playing the biggest games dumping their stacks while eating a stale sandwich from Subway. To others, it is a beautiful glitzy state of the art structure with $18 sandwiches and $7 lattes where many are there for the experience. To each their own.

The empty VIP room isn’t about “this time of year.” The players who moved to Boston that I know and have played with from CT, PA, FL, and CA have returned home with no plans to return because those games weren’t as they expected. This has nothing to do with the Foxwoods series.

Rats! I haven't seen you there, which I thought was odd. I'd love to play with you. Might have to do a Twitch Live Stream, jpsychlady and veryjosie take Encore.

Seriously, come say hello next time you see me so we can chat!

Riiiiiiight cause the people from CT/PA/FL/CA were the ones that were gonna keep those games alive right?

[mod: removed]

mod: folks, you can disagree with each other without calling each other names or other similar nonsense. Cut it out, or the moderation in this thread will get much tighter. Thanks.

Maybe my sample size is too small, but I have no complaints about Encore, on anything.

I've played 5x so far, 1x at 10/20 on opening day, 4x at 5/10 always on Sat afternoon into evening. Knock on wood, no losing sessions so far (I know, small sample size!). While there's always going to regs, grinders, pros, donkeys, etc in any 2/5 NL game and up, I don't find the 5/10 games any different here than say the higher NL games at Playground in Montreal (where I've played a lot more than here). You have to adjust your game to the players in the game, and more importantly of course, the player you're playing against in a particular hand or situation.

Parking is amazing and best anywhere I've ever played. And it's free. Food? I guess I'm different than most, I generally don't eat poker room food or ever take dinner breaks. I bring along 2-3 granola type bars and set for a 7-10 hr session. So yes the prices seem super high, but it doesn't matter to me personally. Seats are comfortable. TV's could be a bit better but in the high limit room for 5/10 they work for me. Drink service is mostly good these days and dealers last 2 sessions overall were very good. UBS chargers are a nice touch and Wifi strong enough to keep me busy throughout the day.

If I had to be nit picky, $9/half is a bit steep, but it is what it is.

Just my two cents...

sums it up well

when FLA raised the $100 max cap
for a couple yrs fish money flowed
when N.H. went to no limit
fish money flowed
now you see those fish on the table games not at the poker room
problem with ENCORE is its not really a new market for poker players just a new venue centrally located to draw from all the other venues
players aren't there because the games are better, they go because of the central location

Lots of truth here. While there definitely must be some new players, an awful lot of the players at Encore have migrated from FW, MS, TR, MGM or NH, and aren't really "new" at all.
(And especially true at 2/5 + 5/10 NL, also PLO, as opposed to 1/3 NL).

It’s interesting how people’s expectations and perspectives are so different.

When I heard encore was opening, I thought: “great now I never have to play in any of those depressing dumps ever again” ...and I just assumed everyone would pretty much think the same and that the room would pretty much be the usual crowds.

Of course with it being so close to boston, I figured it would be a lot like MGM Maryland in terms of at least a moderate infusion of local rec fish with some cash but honestly, I have seen that in the 1/3 games. Local fish with money don’t necessarily play high.

Either way, my point is, I did not expect at all some honey pot with tons of loose money and fish everywhere ....I actually don’t understand why anyone would think that - outside of a bunch of college kids with some money, and some local enthusiasts who like to donk it up at 1:3 and maybe 2/5 but I really had zero thoughts this was going to turn into some sweet spot for soft poker. Lol I really don’t know where people get this.

There may not be a lot of new players at 2/5 and up or PLO, but there is higher volume at the lower levels from players who don't feel like or can't drive to NH or CT very often. So there is new money coming into the poker economy, and that money will trickle up as the winners at 1/3 take shots at 2/5 and PLO.

Using myself as an example, I played once in NH and about 4-5 times in Vegas this year. Since Encore opened, I've played 10 days for a total of 80 hours. That's more hours and days in 2 months than I've ever played live in a year. I'm playing/learning PLO as well as playing 1/3.

I'm interested to see how good the college students are, because there's a never-ending supply of them year after year.

Age of most college students: 17-20. Minimum age to enter Encore: 21. OTOH, minimum age to play at Twin River: 18.

Boston has more than one college.

17-20? Pretty sure most colleges are majority 18-22.

18-22 and I’m sure Boston has more than its fair share of students working on their post graduate degrees. Plus how many people do you know that played at Foxwoods while underage? I know a lot

Those were the players STARTING the 10/20+ games.
The game didn't draw whales.
These players returned to the state where they came from.
Foxwoods series is over.
There are still no 10/20+ games running this week.

Back to you, how do you expect these games to run moving forward? What would need to occur?

People probably thought, "My game is not good here, having a game where a lot more people, and wealthier people live in a beautiful casino ought to make my game better. These people are not used to playing poker, I will have an edge on them. They will want to play the stakes I play because they are wealthy."

I have the same fantasy about a legal poker room opening eventually in Manhattan, but I suspect the result will be the same...

would be shocking considering they're charging 9 per half for games other casinos are charging 5-6 per half

Yes, I was shocked too when I heard this was even a possibility but this is certainly the vibe they're giving out that they're planning for a big late September with lots of changes to try and get games going there. Whether it is tournaments, lower rake, or whatever, they seem to be working on stuff because they know the room will just be a place for slot machines if they don't show some ROI to the big shots.

I walked up to the Red Desk last night and asked them how many points (which is the same as hours I've played since it is $1/hour) and they said they recently lost access to that information but it is still being accumulated somewhere in cyberspace. This would be so funny if it wasn't so sad.

Encore - this is called fraud. You have points, but you can’t use them. B.S. Its time to complain to the Gaming Commission.

Anyone want to get a $6-$12 or $8-$16 mix going this Sunday? Or Monday?

I would play Sunday evening.

Ok. We should get a list going.

1. Stelios
2. blee24

It appears to me that Encore is much more vigilant checking ID’s than Foxwoods ever was. I may have missed it, but I don’t think I’ve played with very many post-grad students. In fact, I doubt that the Twin River poker room was overrun with undergrads.

Beer in the poker room has been limited to Bud Light and Heineken

I tried this last week unsuccesfully. I’m 50/50 to go on Sunday but would play if it gets going. Hopefully both things happen.