Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Whoop
This remains to be seen, but I actually think Springfield will be the least impacted. Hartford and Springfield population goes there and what a PITA it is to go into Boston for them. But then again, most poker players around Boston have been playing NH already, so maybe it doesn't hurt FW much at all as the guys who hate being at home keep going to get the free rooms.....
I tend to agree with this.
When Boston opens, I'm sure FW will suffer some further loss, but only from those players who haven't already defected to TR, Springfield, or NH.
I would guess maybe an additional 25% reduction at FW in players. When this happens, I don't think that FW will have any trouble retaining at least some 1/2 and 2/5 NL and 2/4 LHE games, but I think there is a real chance that the bigger or less popular games will go away (5/10NL has already left, and PLO has mostly moved to NH. Big mixed and stud games are already less frequent.)
I think one key for FW will be to be very generous in offering free rooms, maybe even on weekends. Commute time is much less of a factor if it's 1 roundtrip per 3-4 days, vs. a 1 day roundtrip.
The other factors will be game quality (Everett will be spectacular for at least a year, maybe indefinitely, given tourists and students) and physical quality and atmosphere (a lot a players have stayed with FW vs TR because the latter is such a poorly run dump)(with physical safety and security issues). The Winn... Oops, Encore, will certainly be physically beautiful and well-managed.
It also remains to be seen if Encore and the state can/will do anything to alleviate traffic, and also how bad the traffic actually will be outside of rush hours. This will be a huge factor in lots of players' decisions.
Overall, I do not think there's any chance that FW will shut down totally (either poker or the whole place), but I do think they will have to shrink overall, somehow. It will be interesting to see how they handle this.
FWIW, offering me 25 Choice Rewards Points per week each month, on the one day per week when I can't possibly be there, isn't going to do it....