I think I’m going in for this. Hope it’s not too crazy

I played late last night, which is kinda unusual for me. My god, the action was amazing. My first table had 3 people who had never played in a casino before. Had one guy call a raise on the river with Q high in a spot where he was clearly against a flush.

When you arrive and click the green poker chip you are now "live" on these 4-5 lists. So is everyone else who checked in online for multiple games once they arrive at the casino resulting in many phantom names since you're only sitting in one game at a time. It is common at Encore to see the same name/initials on 4-5 lists at Encore from online check-ins which doesn't occur nearly as often in rooms where you call-in and speak to a poker room front desk person. I don't know if I explained this clearly but that is what has been occurring since the room opened.

We don’t have access locally to get on lists from inside app. But having to call in has never stopped from getting on multiple list is I wanted to. I have simply went “all ists please” more than a few times.

In this day where your card gets swiped for everything, I don't see why the software can't immediately take you off all the other lists once you are called and you lock up the seat. Maybe it can allow you to be on just one list if you are playing. If you don't have a card, you can't sign up for more than one list.

I don’t understand why this is such an issue. On Poker Atlas, when you look at the wait lists, there is that funny poker atlas icon next to the initials of call ins who haven’t arrived.

Very brief trip report, since people here were kind enough to answer a couple of questions I had.

I played the $160 midday tournament on the Thursday, it got 113 entries so smashed the $5k guarantee (in actual fact is was over $4k for first). I registered about 1-15 minutes in and was seated fairly quickly. One thing which was odd was that I was seated at a brand new table so we played a few hands short-handed while it filled up. A little unusual since the rest of the tournament was full, but I get the reasons behind it and the table filled up very quickly so it's not an issue.

The structure was good, plenty of play even though I didn't find a way to win a hand for about an hour. Managed to keep things interesting by amusing people with my British accent, though things could've taken a turn when someone asked if I was "wicked into Brexit". The less said the better, and conversation quickly turned away from politics.

Kept things ticking over as I was moved from the first table with a slightly below average stack, thanks to some fortune and some well timed aggression. At the next table I knocked a player out who (in my humble opinion) fatally overplayed their hand. AA was good against KJ on a Jack high board. Fun times!

Drifted downward from there, not helped by doubling someone up with 99 vs their AT (all in pre with them shoving for 20bb). My run came to an end in dramatic fashion, losing with KK vs AA to bust in 31st place. No shame in that, of course, and generally I was happy with how I played.

In terms of what I thought of the room, it's not quite to my tastes. The casino as a whole is vulgar and ostentatious in a way that's very in keeping with the Wynn brand. I understand why they've chosen a fairly safe path in that sense, anything else would be risky with a multi-billion dollar investment, but it will put off a lot of people who might be the newer customers they need in future. My girlfriend drove me down and hung around for a bit, but hated it, for example.

Having said that, it definitely wouldn't stop me going back. The poker room is great, and the dealers are pretty good (there were a few mistakes made but all caught before they affected the game). The action in the tournament was great. I'm not by any means a fantastic player but I'd be able to say with confidence that there were 2/3 players at each table I was at who I felt were definitely worse.

I fully expect to go back again next time we're visiting my girlfriend's family. I may not be in love with the aesthetic but on the whole I think it's a great venue.

I would never want that. At my room there are up to 4 different games I might be interested in, 3 of which can have lists that stay solid for hours, and depending on lineup, number of tables, number of people ahead of me, etc., only my #1 game is likely to be the same every night, the other three could be in any order. No way I would want my name wiped from all, or all but 1, other lists when I get seated at the first one to have a seat open.

The issue is not knowing which people aren't here yet. The issue is that those people do arrive, the icon disappears, and now they look like a solid interest list player even though they might be on the list for every game in the room and really have almost no intention of playing in some/many/most of the games.

The poker staff now has to spend a lot more time either calling and pruning the interest lists more often to keep them fresh, or has to discount the number of people on a list who will actually show up if they call the game, which can be confusing for people on the list who still want to play ("there are 15 names on the list, why won't they call a new table?").

Had a weird situation the other night and can't honestly decide what the best way to handle it would have been. Thoughts?

The hand right before this one I was involved in a 3 way all in where I stacked one player (now the button in this next hand) and I chopped with the other (now the small blind in this next hand). Button does not appear to rebuy and is not dealt in.

Lowjack raises to $12, I fold, cutoff calls $12, small blind goes all in for $65 (after the hand we can't remember if he said all in or just pushed stack forward and dealer announced all in), big blind folds but before it gets to the lowjack I realize the small blind should have about $265 after chopping with me and mention it to the lowjack. He agrees and mentions it to the dealer.

Dealer asks and small blind says he gave his friend back the $200 he borrowed earlier. Dealer says he can't do that and the $200 is part of his all in. Lowjack disagrees and asks for floor. Floor agrees with dealer. Lowjack asks for shift. Shift agrees with previous rulings. Lowjack folds and eventually so does cutoff.

Lowjack says he should get his $12 back. Cutoff says if he gets his back then so should he. Shift says he can't force that but suggests to the player who went south that he might want to refund the players as an act of good faith since the player didn't realize he couldn't go south and this caused some unusual problems. Player doesn't, instead he racks up and leaves.

First, if the player never announced all in, then it shouldn't be an all in and instead just a raise to $65 with $200 left in his stack, right? And should the two players who put $12 into the pot really be forced to play against a stack of $265 when they raised/called thinking he only had $65? And the big blind folded so that could be an argument regarding accepted action, too.

Better yet, what if the button had been dealt in with the $200 stack and had called the $12 (or raised!) Does the small blind only add the remaining $188 in chips to his stack while the button is all in for $12? Or does the small blind have to replace $200 and continue the hand? I know the TDA rule is that chips found behind won't benefit the player (so they can lose the found chips but can't win on them). Such a weird situation to witness, never seen anything like it!

I believe you may get better responses to this in Casino & Cardroom Poker, but I believe the crux of the issue is the parenthetical -- if the player said all-in, then they should be all-in for $265. If not, they should most likely be $65 wagered and $200 behind. I think that would be the way the ruling would go in most places, but probably depends on the player's intent a bit, a player who deliberately goes south in the middle of a hand in order to get all-in for less is most likely going to get told those chips are in play one way or another if the opponents want them in play. They're also likely to get a temp or permanent ban if they've already been warned.

No way should they get their $12 back though. At least one player in the hand at the time of the initial raise had at least $265. You.

No way should anyone get any money back. The all in for $265 depends on if he said all in or if he shoved chips.

On a side note, I have been at 4-5 tables at Encore with players who have gone south(always giving to a friend) and not known it’s against the rules. Saturday night it was a pair of friends who admittedly only had played in their garage previously. Good times

lol at the ruling. so if he doesn't have $200 on him anymore they'll make him go to the ATM while everyone else is waiting for the hand to play out?

Weird ruling I witnessed the other week.

multi-way holdem hand and one guy kept trying to fold when checking was an option. The dealer kept pushing his cards back until he checked and said he wasn't allowed to fold when there was no bet to him. Once he checked action continued as normal. I questioned this ruling since I've never played anywhere where folding like that was not allowed, and the dealer told me it's a house rule.

Am I misunderstanding something or is this a very stupid rule? I feel like all it accomplishes is opening up a new angle for angle-shooters. They can "fold" their hand, the dealer passes it back forcing them to check, and then they can call/raise any future bets they face knowing that their opponent(s) already saw them fold.

Today someone open folded out of turn not realizing he was the big blind. The dealer gave his cards back abd told him to post his blind. The guy says sorry, posts his blind and throws his hand over his posted chips into the middle of the table. The hand is limped around and the dealer looks at the cards, pauses, looks exasperated and takes the chips into the pot and the hand is mucked.

Based on the HH, it sounded like the player took the $200 off the table immediately after winning the previous hand, and not during the middle of the second hand.

Yeah, I wouldn't think anyone would get any money back. I've been at several tables at Encore where players have taken money at the table, including a table where a father and son were playing in seats 1 and 2, and the father got stacked but remained seated at the table chatting with his son. A few hands later, the son won a hand bringing his stack up to $200, and then took half of his new $200 stack, and slid it to his dad, who then continued playing.

Yeah, this is an Encore Boston Harbor rule, and I'm not a fan of it. I'm used to the seemingly standard ruling that if a player's hand touches the muck, the hand is mucked.

This is so annoying and ridiculous. If someone wants to fold, let them fold. Last week a dealer pushed the bb’s hand back preflop four times in the same hand. It was infuriating to say the least

Sorry if this has been posted, but does the buffet promo (20$) work for poker points as well or just points accrued in the pits/slots? Does this apply for weekends as well? Thanks.

Yeah, you just have to tell them at the poker desk that you want to spend $20 or whatever on the buffet before you go. I hope it works on the weekend, cause I'm hoping to go Saturday.

I went for lunch yesterday, and as a vegetarian, it was just ok. The desserts are top notch though. I got a slice of veggie pizza and the first slice was great, crispy and delicious. So, I went back for another slice and there was a fresh pizza there and it was undercooked and soggy. Aside from that, there were some interesting little appetizers I liked. Hummus, tampenade, beet and feta salad. Entrees were meat heavy and veggie options were boring. Oh well, the dessert alone was worth $15.

Yesterday we tried getting a mix game going, and we got up to four people (plus one call-in), but never got it called down.


To this end, when I left for the day, I asked the brush to remove my name from the lists so that it would be updated, and so that incoming players would not get disappointed by a stale list. The last thing I want is for a prospective player to come in, see a long (dead) list, get their hopes up, and never get to play. They will be reluctant to sign up in the future and just stick to NLHE.

He seem confused that I would want to do this. He kept telling me that I didn't have to remove myself from the lists, and I could just go home. (He wasn't being mean, he was just perplexed.)

Is the promo drop remaining at $1 with the addition of high hands?

No, $2. See rule number 19 in the picture posted earlier.

Just to be clear, the extra dollar is just during the hours when the high hand is running, not at other times.

What’s this buffet promo?

But this happens everywhere. Maybe not to the extent it happens here but I’m always in line behind someone that asks to be put on 6 diff lists and then doesn’t show up when called
I have never experienced this being a problem. A slight irritation but nothing to get worked up over.

For the month of October, the buffet is $15 comp dollars for lunch or $20 comp dollars at dinner. It's on the Facebook page under events. Now that I look, it is not limited to weekdays.