I believe that 95 number includes both table games and poker. No way is it 95 poker tables. Foxwoods has about that many and their room is rarely above 50% capacity anymore outside of promo days. 28 poker tables I can see.

Exactly.... The number of poker tables (28) has been widely discussed and made public. Pretty sure the new room Wynn recently opened in Vegas has 28, might be 26.

Sidebar:, I loved the room that lost at Suffolk downs... That was going to large poker room...

Well I'll be damned. I look forward to playing there in 2025 when they actually finish.

FWIW - 28 tables on the Vegas Strip is far different than 28 tables as the only local option in Metro Boston. 16 tables in Lincoln RI resulted in 3+ hour waiting lists 50 miles closer to Foxwoods & Mohegan. Puckster's room shouldn't be significantly impacted

Yes, please! It's already bad enough that every cardroom in the state rakes 10% to $5 (or more), but adding a $1 jackpot drop to that is ridiculous. People will still play poker without it. If they need to spend $1 on an astronomically low chance of winning a big prize, the lotto will still be there.

Speaking of which: Puckster, rake?

Have they even broke ground yet?

As far as I know they're waiting on the decision on the Somerville appeal (which is supposed to come this month) before starting in earnest.

Think everyone but Wynn has broke ground on projects surrounding the casino site.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MontyBurns
Let's get down to brass tacks.... Rake? BBJ?
ahhhh...the brass tacks.......

if you know anything about NH poker and the "charity" poker laws along with the state rake, you would know the rake is pretty much set.

There is no better deal in the country than the rake the charities get with every poker room in NH. NONE. Not Federal Taxes, Not State Taxes. NADA.

The current structure is so lucrative for the state and charities, its a major road block in getting "real" casino's approved.

We know that going in, those are the rules and laws in place..... gotta play the hand we are dealt.

In regards to the Bad Beat Jackpots.... give me your thoughts... The majority of people seem to love it; only the "pros" seem to not like the extra buck coming out of the pot. Overall, if all the rooms have it, and since the overall majority of players are not "pros", not having it would probably put the room at a competitive disadvantage... thoughts?

regarding the Bad Beat ........... every room needs some type of jackpot promo.... I play the 20/40/80 limit game at Foxwoods and that game is NOT bad beat eligible, and the pot is not raked for it.
I know many of the 2/5 players complain about the BB rake; I don't think players and casuals at 1/2 care or even know about it.
Maybe the BB is only raked/eligible at the limit and 1/2 game? and the 2/4 NL is not raked and not eligible.......?? work in progress, all opinions are welcome

Only higher stakes players and 2+2'ers don't want promos/bbj.

The vast, VAST majority of players is neither of those.

I've been in this business for 25 years. Based on that experience, I will say with confidence that you are COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MIND if you CONSIDER catering to mostly low-limit players without a bbj.

And if the law allows it, you should use a portion of that money to fund promos such as Aces Cracked or High Hand of the Hour to bring in business on slower days like Tuesdays or Wednesdays. My current employer (far and away the best-run cardroom I've ever seen, let alone worked in) offers these promos, and they don't have any real nearby competition to speak of. It just makes sense from a business standpoint, to hang out a "FREE MONEY" sign to attract business, when the free money in question costs the house $0.

Its hilarious how excited these rubes get for Aces Cracked. They ALL think they're going to win that bonus 2-3 times before the night is over...when in reality, I'll deal it zero times all night, more often than not--and I've got NINE chances every hand, versus the player's one.

I hear ya....
There are lots of good promo's for sure... I like the one in Florida where they had individual high hand progressive hands and had them on a separate screen.... quads, str8 and royal flushes...etc.....

........ everything will be discussed and considered........

*side bar....when the BB at Foxwoods was over $500,000 and the 20/40 guys were playing 1/2 chasing it... I ragged them hard.

Those are fun, sure. But again, I would steer you towards promos you can turn on and off. No sense running a promo on Friday night when the room would be just as full without the promo.

Here's my pitch as to why a smaller, regular promo is better than a BBJ:

The BBJ is going to draw an irregular crowd. When it gets big, your room is going to get busier. Which is good, but your need for dealers is going to go up leading to overwork and burnout and less happy, less effective dealers. Then when it gets hit, all those jackpot chasing players will stop coming to your room and business will crash and now there aren't enough customers to give your dealers as many hours. I've never run a poker room with a BBJ, so I don't know how severe these boom/bust periods are or if that's even a problem for a well-run room. I made quite a few trips to Hampton Falls this summer because of their big jackpot. But now that it's hit I have no reason to keep going. Maybe players like me aren't common enough to be a big factor. I honestly don't know.

However, a smaller jackpot that hits more regularly, or a promotion that runs on certain days of the week, is a lot more predictable and you can plan farther ahead for how many dealers you think you will need per day.

This is a good point, and more than that, it makes things more predictable for the players too.

Even a BBJ can be reasonable if the qualifier is set low enough so that it pays out more regularly. Most (all?) of the rooms in NH right now have a qualifier of quads or better getting beaten in hold'em, which is nuts. It's geared to create disproportionately massive prizes that bring in lots of jackpot chasers and skew demand for $1/$2.

I know it's an even-money bet, but because it pays out so infrequently, it sure doesn't feel like it. It just feels like accelerated rake that almost no one in the room is ever going to see again. And when it gets huge like the BBJ in Hampton just did, the payout is so big that most of that money may never see the poker economy again—especially not the third-ish of it that vanishes into the federal government. The taxes from the Hampton BBJ alone are about $100K getting sucked out of low-limit NLHE.

Compare that to a promo where people win, oh, I don't know, some amount up or down of $1,000, but it pays out much more often. Marketed properly, it will still entice people to play, but when they hit, that money's going to end up back on the tables pretty quickly.

The River in Milford has a BBJ promo that I don't mind as much. They have a normal quads-qualified BBJ that grows like the friggin' lotto , but a piece of that $1 drop also goes toward a more modest mini-BBJ that only requires jacks full (I believe) to be beat.

As to rake being set by law, could you direct me to the law or gaming regulation that says rake has to be 10% to $5? I know Rock does 10% to $6, so the rake can't be absolutely fixed at $5 cap. If it's just a matter of having to rake that high to cover expenses and the 35% extortion, that makes sense, but there's a big difference between that and a rake that's actually fixed by law.

Also, I think your idea of cooperating poker rooms could set the stage for some push-back on the state's "charity" racket, as well as the $4 bet limit, the $150-per-buy-in limit, and whatever other arbitrary nonsense I might be forgetting. I doubt the state will release its grip on these things entirely, but there must be some wiggle-room. These policies cripple poker in New Hampshire for no justifiable reason.

The BB is the merry go round of opinion ... Lol.

Our plan is dealers keep their own tips, so I'm hedging we will have pretty good, and happy dealers ....

This is plain incorrect. The gaming laws on the books are out of date and in need of some updating. Minor, incremental and organized planning and approach to the lottery for small improvements would be successful and appreciated by the people that make the decisions.

Rooms individually pushing the line of the law will only cause backlash on all the rooms.

Finally..... No idea what your talking about with the $150 limit; does not sound like you have played in NH for a while?

Dealers @ Foxwoods were very happy to have a large BBJ get hit & a sense of normalcy returned to the room.

The $150 limit used to be a rule where players could only buy up to $150 per hand but they could do some unlimited times so people were literally buying $150 of chips every hand until there hearts content. That hasn't been the case I a long time and now they have the normal 80-500 at 2/4

Puckster, have you started building the casino yet? If not, will it be started soon?

permittttttsssssssssssss........ build out is ready to roll.. working thru permits and process. always the slowest part, build out is the easiest...

Might I suggest interviewing some of the dealers from the Rock. Many, especially the younger ones, are quite proficient.

Of coarse.....many have already reached out to us, we encourage any and all communication.

DM for email address...