courtesy reliable wonk:

The K family sold Merchant Mart in Chicago to Vornado about a decade ago for ~$600M. Biggest single commercial bldg in the world and crown jewel of patriarch Joe Kennedy's RE buys. Chris Kennedy (Robert's son) was made president of the prop mgmt company overseeing MM - where he's been a big green-practices/LEED proponent. He retired from that position earlier this year. Vornado REIT has been trying to sell MM for a few years but no luck so far (y? -> current commercial real estate downturn). Doesn't know of any other significant public relationship between V and K.

V allegedly has a 20% stake in Suffolk Downs.

I wrote a very quick summary of the MA Senate's first week of debate on the casino bill here.

Not much action in this thread.... Anyone ever been to the NH tracks, guy at the 2/4 table one night told me the action was good up there for 2/4 limit. Only thing that stinks is that they actually have a closing time, where i usually like to play all night at the woods.

Rockingham usually has 2-3 tables of 2/4, 1-2 tables of 4/4, one table of omaha.Two or three MTTs going, $40 STT starting about every 30 minutes. Plus simulcasting and table games while you're waiting.

Hey 2+2'ers I was thinking about going down tomorrow, and maybe staying the night depending on the price of a room. I will be playing 1-2 nl. I have a car and everything, so if you want to go we can take my car and split gas, and a hotel room if it is cheap enough.

I am in the boston area, Somerville to be precise, and would like to leave around 9 am.

I am off of work this week because I tore my hamstring doing a split at a wedding on saturday night, and can't move around to well.

I am 27 male. Let me know if there is any interest.

Josh

Does anyone know of any Brick 'n' mortar poker coaches in the NH/northern Mass areas for a break even poker player that would like to take the next step?

I saw the New Hampshire legislature on A TV story about full fledged casinos. Now that they are looking at that, does anyone know if they have talked about raising the limits in ring games, or even allowing nlhe?

I have no idea, but I sure hope they allow NLHE sometime soon.

I've been hoping for that for years.

Anyone in the Lawrence/Andover area?

I can only tell you what was told to me when I queried the room I play in the most about an increase in limits from 2/4 to 5/10. The response was, "Not this year!!".

Anyone going to play in the 2-day tournament @Seabrook this weekend? 50k chips, 50 min lvls seems too good to pass up. Obv the downside is losing an entire weekend. If it was Rockingham I'd definitely go as they'd be guaranteed to get close to 200 runners, but i'm not sure how Seabrook draws these days. Not even sure their room could hold 200 ppl.

Although MA passed the casino bill, I can still see myself going to Foxwoods, Mohegan on the other hand.....Good riddance.

1 1/2 hour ride each way to Foxwoods......$30 in Gas and Food, and the possibility of getting a ticket from a cop in a bad mood vs a 30 minute ride each way?

Yeah I like Foxwoods, but if I can save 2 hours each time I want to play poker in addition to gas money, stay in Mass, and help contribute to the economy here? No brainer for me

Potentially, yes, I'll reserve judgment on that until I see the quality of the new poker room.

Living in Boston, I'll be playing in Boston. I'll travel for change of scenery, but to play, it'll be like deciding to go hit a restaurant, or go play some cards.

Foxwoods will now have to give me Sun-Sat free rooms to get me down there!

gl with that....People need too relax they don't even know how big or what details are gonna be of the poker room if they even have one

IIRC every Caesar's property I've been to/heard of has a poker room, so the one at Suffolk Downs definitely will have it. Nevertheless, going to be minimum 2 years before we even have another option besides FW and Mohegan

Why 2 years for a room to open at Suffolk? I've never been there, so I don't know the size of the place or layout, but it should help having the building up already. It'll take me longer to get to Suffolk than Foxwoods. Poker rooms don't have to be fancy, Hollywood Park is near the horses and have flies invade it. People still play.

Besides, I heard Mohegan had already began construction in Palmer prior to bill passing. Just clearing the land out. Dunno if that's true, it was some poker player who said he worked in construction talking about that.

For me, when everything is built, I'll go where the best poker room is and not the most convenient, as none of the locations are going to be down the street from me.

Don't leave foxwoods :'(

I take it you've never been in Suffolk Downs. My father was down there last week betting on horses and commented to me what a dump it was and that there wasn't a level floor in the place. Besides that they still need to apply and secure a license(done deal pretty much), I believe the plan is to build a 600 room hotel aswell as casino. I wouldn't be surprised if they tear the place down and start all over again. The local unions have commented it should be about 2 or 3 years from start to completion with union workers working around the clock. Apparently the plans and contractors have already been chosen.

Since Suffolk and Caesars Entertainment have already made a deal its a guarantee there will be a poker there. I will go out on a limb and say that it will also be the best room in the state to play.

it will be a long while before any of these proposed MA casinos have legitimate poker rooms. if they ever do

You can pretty much count on Suffolk Downs, and regardless of the size or quality of the poker room, you should expect much better games and big tournies. With it being so close to so many more people, especially wealthy people, the games will be nice. Not to mention, it is very close to Logan, which will make life so much easier for players around the country when a major tournament series comes in.

As far as Western Mass is concerned, there are a ton of players now. The Springfield and Holyoke locations will likely have a hell of a time getting local approval, and the other lesser public proposals so far (Chicopee, Brimfield) are wild cards. Mohegan Sun has a great chance in Palmer, but the company is so in debt, and is already investing heavily into NY, can they really afford to pay for the license AND the "special fee" to the democratic criminals in Beacon Hill?
Western MA is the place to watch if you really want to see an interesting battle.

Either way, everyone in Maine, NH, VT, MA, Upstate NY, parts of CT and RI will be closer to a casino in MA than Foxwoods. Does Foxwoods have a chance to compete for them? IMO, not the way they are doing business right now.
In the short run, I expect (hope) to see all casinos going crazy to get people to come. Hopefully that competition will be great for all poker players and it will be a permanent thing!

Why? All the casinos are going to be operated by pretty big players in the poker industry. If they do it right, it can be very successful, especially the Suffolk Downs site!

The plan @ Rockingham if NH ever approves gaming (no thanks to the Gov) is to use a temporary building to house slots while the main facility is reconstructed. I would think Suffolk would do the same thing to get some revenue while the main construction is occuring. That's if the regulator allows it.

So I hope some poker is open within a year.