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Why does Encore Boston hate poker? (1 Viewer)
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Curious what factors make you dislike it. I know you are a tourney guy, so is it just that or something different? From what I hear, casino cash games are super juicy these days.
It’s 100% the stakes. I’m a cheap bastard. A $100 tournament is my comfort zone. I don’t mind going up to $150 or even $250, if the structure is good. But that’s the most I want to lose in a day. And that translates to one buy-in at a cash table. And the game I was at yesterday, it was actually a short buyin (they allow up to $500 buyins at their $1/2, which makes sense with all the straddling.).
So when I play cash at a casino, I’m working with one bullet and it’s usually scared money. Obviously I don’t do well.
I also lack patience at no limit cash tables. It’s strange. In a tournament, with levels and a clock, I can be the most patient guy in the joint. Because I know eventually it will be the right time to do something.
But at a cash table, I’m always waiting for something to happen, and I don’t have the patience to wait very long.
Makes total sense
I haven’t been following the action at encore because I’m not very interested in cash poker at casino stakes. But Bart had a call today where they ranted about how it’s gotten much worse.
Apparently they’re up to 24 tables and back to 24 hours a day. But check out this video - it seems pretty clear that they hate us.
Highlights:
Eliminated free drinks at poker tables (though apparently free drinks everywhere else?)
No cage in poker room
No chips bigger than blacks
You can’t buy more than $2,000 in chips at a time, even though they spread higher limit games - it’s bizarre.
And they’re still raking $10 per hand at low stakes and have raised their time rates at the big boy tables.
I’m gonna go check out the rants at 2+2 - haven’t been there in a while.
Edit - at 2+2 they’re saying they’ll begin running tournaments soon, so maybe I’ll go back. Though they’re also predicting a 40% rake on those, so we’ll see.
Apparently they’re up to 24 tables and back to 24 hours a day. But check out this video - it seems pretty clear that they hate us.
Highlights:
Eliminated free drinks at poker tables (though apparently free drinks everywhere else?)
No cage in poker room
No chips bigger than blacks
You can’t buy more than $2,000 in chips at a time, even though they spread higher limit games - it’s bizarre.
And they’re still raking $10 per hand at low stakes and have raised their time rates at the big boy tables.
I’m gonna go check out the rants at 2+2 - haven’t been there in a while.
Edit - at 2+2 they’re saying they’ll begin running tournaments soon, so maybe I’ll go back. Though they’re also predicting a 40% rake on those, so we’ll see.
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jpietrella
4 of a Kind
Encore Boston is a fucking embarrassment right now. It seems like they are gradually adding tables and they are 24 hours finally. I couldn't believe when they took away free drinks a few weeks ago and the rake is obviously stupid. Even the timed games - I think are like $14/hr or something, which is bad but not quite as bad as the lower NL games, 10% up to $10.
No cage in the poker room is the worst - they implemented that sometime soon after they reopened and it's so, so terrible. When I cash out it's generally somewhere between $200 - $2,500 but I can't imagine what it's like to walk downstairs and wait in line at the only cage in the casino with over $10k in your hand.
No cage in the poker room is the worst - they implemented that sometime soon after they reopened and it's so, so terrible. When I cash out it's generally somewhere between $200 - $2,500 but I can't imagine what it's like to walk downstairs and wait in line at the only cage in the casino with over $10k in your hand.
Right? Because it can be pretty sketchy there. I was there one day when they were running a free blackjack tournament. There were literally homeless people lining up for it. I don’t want to sound like a classist ass, but yeah, I wouldn’t want to be standing around there with $10k in small chips either.
Hairy_Crocodile
3 of a Kind
I'm bummed that it's the only place close to me I can play poker atm. The casino is frustrating as ever. I didnt want to believe the reviews I saw online when I moved here, and even stayed away on purpose for a few months.
I show up once a week to play, and I find more reasons to hate it every day. Standing in line late at night downstairs when all the sketchy people are out makes me so uncomfortable.
Red Bulls are $7.50 now too by the way lol
I show up once a week to play, and I find more reasons to hate it every day. Standing in line late at night downstairs when all the sketchy people are out makes me so uncomfortable.
Red Bulls are $7.50 now too by the way lol
Funny, I’m the opposite. I can’t stand tournaments because eventually I’ll *have* to do something, and I can sit at a cash table for hours just waiting for a good spot. And if a good spot doesn’t come around there’s always next time.
For Encore haters, I’ll be in Marlborough MA in a few weeks for work and I’ll have two good windows to play somewhere. I played at Chasers last visit and that was fine. Any other NH rooms with a longer drive? Or Foxwoods?
by far your best bet IMO.
jpietrella
4 of a Kind
From Marlborough, Encore is only about 30 min closer to you than Foxwoods. If your only goal is poker, 100% I'd go to Foxwoods for about a million reasons.
Obviously if you're interested in visiting Boston or doing stuff outside of the casino, that changes the equation.
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Encore when it opened was a world class poker room and there was nothing like it. Hate that place now. Dealers are shitty, rake is shitty, no drinks, poor chip situation. Everything about it sucks now and I don’t give them my business.
And that’s saying a lot considering they have great action and I’ve had like 4-5 straight winning sessions there but I rather go there and play slots or craps at this point.
bergs
Straight Flush
Do they still charge $45 for parking unless you go play at the tables and slots and lose money there?
I loathed that property when I left MA in 2021. Being 20 minutes from a casino with free parking and reasonably ranked games is amazing. Being 20 miles and 40 minutes with traffic from a casino with a $10+ rake and shitty comps and parking and $35 plates of 3 chicken tenders is hell.
I loathed that property when I left MA in 2021. Being 20 minutes from a casino with free parking and reasonably ranked games is amazing. Being 20 miles and 40 minutes with traffic from a casino with a $10+ rake and shitty comps and parking and $35 plates of 3 chicken tenders is hell.
Nah parking is free now as it always should have been. They just make up for it in other places. Lol
Yeah I only played there 6-7 times, and it was all tournaments, so it wouldnt have been in the first few months they were open. But that said, I never had to pay for parking.
And I’ll say it again - pre-Covid it was the greatest poker room I’d ever seen. Other people have said it was the best on the east coast, and they’re probably right.
And now it’s not.
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