Why Foxwoods Casino Sucks

[grandgnu]

I attended the New England Poker Classic last year, played in the $300 7-card stud event. There was no lunch break scheduled, just dinner. During a 10-minute break I decided to miss a few hands and snag some food. The very next break they announce we're getting 45 minutes for lunch.

This year, I played the $200+$40 NL Hold 'Em shootout. Again, they make a last-minute change. You're supposed to play one table of 10 players, win your table and you move on to day 2. On day 2, it's supposed to max out at 125 players, with half the field getting paid (a little over 800 bucks for the lowest prize)

Well, right before we shuffle up and deal, they announce they're going to pay 100 places tomorrow instead, with places 60-100 receiving about 325 or 375 bucks. Why??? Why do they change these things at the last friggin minute? It's not worth anyones time to play for two days, pay for the hotel, etc. to make about 100 bucks over your entry fee. I don't know how this affected the first place prize (should've been about 57 grand)

And because they have no competition, they can charge ridiculous prices:

SMALL Orange Juice: $2.50

Three short phone calls (2-3 minutes each) to the next state: $16 (would've cost me $1.50 from the pay phone)

Their weekly morning tournaments they take 25% of the buy-in for the house.

Their table games they're taking 50-100 bucks an hour in rake.

Foxwoods just doesn't cater to poker players like they should. I'm starting up cash games at my house now on top of the tournaments. I don't see a point in driving 100 miles to put up with this crap anymore. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Evan]

You left out the part about it being the grumpiest place ever.

[grandgnu]

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You left out the part about it being the grumpiest place ever.

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And all the dealer errors and lack of rules enforcement. Figured those were a given. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[Gumbo]

On Friday, I played in their 8am tourney ($45+$15) and did not like a few "last minute" changes either:

- rather than capping the entries at 250 people, they allowed another 50+ stand-by players to join when others busted out.

- we played 11 to a table for the first 3 levels. Way too crowded for my liking.

- because they allowed 300+ players, they needed to speed things up.....so they decided, last minute, to skip a level an hour into the tourney and again when the field was trimmed to roughly 100 they skipped another level.

- decided to skip the advertised 10 minute break and play another level....after which they would have the break (makes no sense).

- When going to the ante structure, one side of the room (11 tables) was playing with antes, while nobody informed the other side to use them! Players coming over to our side noted that they had NOT been playing with antes after we had been for two full levels!!

Seeing that I'm from the Boston area, and only make it out to Vegas a couple times each year, I really have no choice but to put up with this crap...

And to top it off, I finished on the bubble around 33rd place or so and missed out on $$$ (so frustrating...lol)

My 2 cents on the matter.

Gumbo

[grandgnu]

Ah yes, someone else mentioned to me how they went 11 to a table before.

I have to say, I wish they had moved the poker room to the Sunset Ball Room permanantly, it's much quieter down there and less smoke than upstairs.

If you live in Boston, there should be PLENTY of home games you can get in on (check out www.homepokergames.com ) although you have to be careful about how they run it, and how safe it is.

[toots]

When they start skipping levels like that, how does it differ from a crapshoot?

I'd be pretty upset, too.

[tek]

Well, what do you expect from a bunch of fake Indians who pulled some political shenanigans to get their casino...

BTW, I am totally serious. Check these out:

books about fake pequots

[Trainwreck]

Just an aside, considering how fubar'd over their people were, this might be considered payback/poetic justice.

Bad for business over a long stretch for sure.

For comparison:
The Sahara tourneys in Las Vegas start 12 handed! [and WILL go 12 handed as long as it can]
....and they have NOT broken tables fast enough leaving one table blinding out 2x faster than another, and not given breaks when final table comes...

It's also in general a crummy casino now, only benefit there I know of is the players are equally poor. They do spend quite a bit on local TV and it cracks me up when they mention their buffet as part of their attraction, it is one of the worst.

Amazed this place has not been blown to bits 5 years ago.

SO Foxwoods doesn't have a monopoly on BAD...

>TW<

[cardcounter0]

"Three short phone calls (2-3 minutes each) to the next state: $16 (would've cost me $1.50 from the pay phone)"

Yap. Standard Hotel Rip-off. Which is why I also carry a $5 phone card in my wallet. Dial a 1-800 number and make cheap long distance calls. Get your money back if you are using a pay phone.

I stayed at some swanky hotel a long time ago when I first encountered this. I was calling a friend in town to let them know I had arrived. They weren't home, so I called them about 10 times before I got thru. Later that day, found out they were charging me $1.00 per call, and I had $10 in phone charges (seems if the phone rang more than three times, they considered it a call, even if you didn't get an answer).

Okay, I said. Here is your $10 bucks. Oh, and the next four days I was supposed to stay here at $200 a night? Cancel that. I'm going to go stay some where else. Have your bean counters figure out how much money your phone system "made". [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Have carried a phone card ever since.

[grandgnu]

Yeah, I have a phone card. Using it at the pay phone costs me a 9-minute surcharge right off the bat. And they still charge a buck or something from the hotel room (not sure if there would be additional charges there or extra minutes that it would cost me)

I should've just brought the 50 cents and used the payphone (anywhere in the U.S. for something like 2-3 minutes)

Ah well, live and learn I guess.