I was comparing the non-high hand max, because you can choose whether the play during those periods. The $1 "BBJ" promo dollar is 24/7, so I kept that for the initial math.

The games were juicy and no one cared about the drop because it beat driving to Connecticut. I forgot the loophole in the law that was exploited to run these but it was a shame that the state put an end to these. The Friday edition of the Boston Herald has a page of all the charity tournaments running in the area that weekend. The VFW near me in Scituate used to run a tourney once a month. Never played it but would show up several hours after the start to play in the cash games that would start once guys get knocked out. Pretty soon the news got out these places were running “illegal” side games and the state put an end to them. That and a player leaving the Holbrook room was robbed then stabbed made some headlines.

I don't recall the state doing anything about these at all. The charity gaming laws in MA are really gray and confusing. But you needed the town's police chief to sign off. Pretty tough to claim one is running an illegal enterprise when local law enforcement has direct oversight (and even providing detail security). I recall the Holbrook robbery being a big deal that probably cost them the support of the local police. From what we were told in Raynham, the owner of the track (who leased the space to the company running the games) decided to terminate the lease after the casino bill passed and he wanted to try and get approved for a casino there, figuring charitable gaming on the premises would hurt his chances.

Raynham got popped for running a 2/5 game that had pots bigger than the charity laws allowed. Carney shut it down without a fight in hopes to get the license that went to Plainville. And yeah....holbrook went down due to the stabbing. Unfortunate because it was well run and the brother's that owned it were good people.

That is 100% false. I did a lot of research in the months and years after they closed, considering opening my own room. The only mention in MA charity gaming (aka "bazaars) laws is prizes in excess of $25. So every single NLH game would be in violation as well as most roulette payouts. Carney wasn't running the games there, just renting space to JRM Gaming.

Ok

I played 2/2 PLO8, 1-3 NL, 2-5 NL, 20-40 stud, and 8-16 mix yesterday over 12 hours and I didn't realize the rake increase at all until I went to 2-2 PLO and they said it was time and I was like what? The 20-40 stud has always been $8/half hour but now they wanted $7/hh at 2-2 PLO that was strange then I realized what a fish I am that after a whole day I finally realized they had been taking $6 instead of $5. Some people were talking about rake this rake that but I guess I wasn't paying attention. Oh well. The price of doing business everywhere these days.

When I first got there the garage was closed then I went to Mike's for some buffalo wings and came back 30 mins later and it was open (this was around 5pm Sat evening). I hope they fix the parking thing or allow people to park across the street on weekends w/o paying $20-$42, etc...

Had been hibernating since New Years, but I've been going in the new "rideshare way" out of force of habit, like, four times this week, and the only real difference is some traffic cones suggesting (but easy enough to drive around) that you go on your way down to at least level B4. Which is where I usually park anyway.

Poker room was still hopping today though despite the impending storm, and I played late enough into the afternoon to have to half sled my way back through Cambridge.

I sure as heck remember Holbrook. I think I played there a dozen times before it was shut down and booked maybe a couple of losing sessions. Lots of "municipal worker" types who provided tons of action and were among the easiest I've ever encountered to read/exploit. The only other time I had a higher win rate was as the old Seabrook $150 (I think that was the buy in) short handed sit and gos, where you'd have players with 600 chips left open limping for 200 then folding to raises. I think I won one of those where I actually had to reveal my hand at showdown only twice - just raising and reraising folks who were getting blinded off waiting for big pocket pairs or blackjack cards. Ah the good old days - when the venues were lousier but the games were like printing money.

Folks the conversation has steered far away from the rake at Encore. Please don't use casino A's thread to discuss casinos ABCDEFG, use the New England regional thread for that.

any promos running tm?

Just the Bad Beat, I believe.

Forget beating the $6+2 rake - how do you beat the $22 6 hour parking for $40 for 7+ hours? The last few times I was there the garage was full. I don’t play anything but poker and the poker comps don’t count for the valet, and they charge $20 across the street. Uber would run me $60+.

I want to play multiple times per week but not if it’s costing me $100+ per week just to essentially get there.

Ignore "garage is full". I've always found a spot and never parked more than a couple rows from the north elevator.

Ya, it'll be interesting to see if NH follows suit. I hope not. Personally, I'm a bonus whore. On the days that Encore isn't running a HH bonus, I will probably head to NH if the NH rake is lower. And calling this an "experiment" is like a temporary tax, it stays forever.

Do we voice our objection via the Encore web site ? Didn't seem to have an impact when I bitched about the limited beer selection in the poker room there.

Complaining about it to them might yield nothing. But not complaining about it to them will definitely yield nothing.

Parking has been free in the garage for a while now.

If they aren't letting people into the garage -- which I've never seen except on the weekends -- you can park at the Rivergreen lot and take a short shuttle which runs every ~20 minutes. (There's even an app for the shuttles.)

Parking is free there for the first six hours, then $5 after that. Although the one time I believed the "garage is full" signs and went over there was plenty of free on-street parking still open, so I still wonder if the sign bluffed me.

I remember it. Played there once. Found out rake was $10, never want back.

On Fri and Saturdays around 3pm - 7pm the parking lot is nightmare where they often close it for 10-20 minutes (I usually go to Mike's Roast Beef and come back) while cars leave then they re-open then close again, etc... I've found that if you come back in a little while it will be open again but it is annoying when I joined the registration list at home and my hour expires before I can get into the poker room.

If they are going to bump the rake, they really need to open up our comp dollars to every aspect of the casino. I probably have close to 400 comp dollars on my card and I have sat at the burger bar once and got a beer while on a waiting list. I understand some people enjoy eating at the tables but that is not me. So they just continue to accumulate. It's gotten to the point where I dont even care. What I would enjoy is actually using my points to enjoy a nice dinner at the 2 Italian restaurants or the steakhouse. Something that actually feels like I'm getting something from them juicing up the rake bc I am way more apt to paying for a nice dinner in one of those restaurants vs eating at the burger bar. Getting an upscale free dinner from my points would be nice. So besides my obvious gripe to the increased rake, that is my other gripe.

It’s patently ridiculous that we can’t tell how many points we have on our red cards from poker unless we use them to order something and ask. Makes me a feel like a second class citizen at Encore - I mean, I know I am, I only play poker - but at least at other properties it’s not thrown in my face like it seemingly is at Encore.


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Today (Wednesday) is the first generic weekday since the rake increase to $6, with an additional promo drop of $1 or $2 dollars ($6+$1) ($6+$2) depending on what promo is running.

As of 1 pm, less than 15 poker tables are up and running.

It's strange to see no OMC tables ($4/$8 LHE) up and running by 1 pm, but that's the situation we have right now. I thought the OMC's would be the last group to notice the rake increase, but I guess their smarter than the average poker player. I didn't even think OMC's knew what rake was.

I thought it would take a few weeks for word of the rake increase to filter out, but maybe bad news gets around faster nowadays?

Before someone chirps in, "it's too cold outside to go outside" it's 36 degrees, mostly sunny, variable wind, with a windchill factor above 32.

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...8#.XiiJkI7Yrkc

Correlation isn't causation. You don't even have a date last year to compare their current numbers to. Weekdays could be slower this week because it was a holiday on Monday, meaning people played then or used the day off to take a week's vacation. I seriously doubt anyone has changed their venue of choice or frequency of play based on a $1 rake increase.

When Chasers increased promo rake to accommodate high hands, they got busier. When they then made the promo rake $2 all day, even when no promo was running, they still kept business. The only thing that's taken away from them was Encore opening much closer to people's homes and being open 24/7. And yet there are still players who play at both Encore and Chasers. I really think you're overestimating the possible impact.

What's OMC?

Old Man Coffee. Player stereotype.