Contents
- 2 First stop, Twin River
- 3 Next up, Mohegan Sun
- 4 Finish your trip off at Foxwoods
Twin River Casino offers two basic poker games: 7-Card Stud and Texas Hold’em. Texas Hold’em can be played either as a limit game, in which the size of all the bets is structured or as No Limit, in which a player can bet all their chips at any time. The vast majority of the people, roughly 70 percent according to spokesperson Patti Doyle, have asked to be put on the list voluntarily.
Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, or Atlantic CityTwin River Casino Poker Room
. But you may want to set your eyes on some poker inNew England for an epic poker road trip.The cool thing about playing poker in New England is you have three different casinos within an hour of one another. In 2018 a fourth option will open, MGM in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 2019 there will be a fifth New England poker room when the Wynn Boston Harbor opens its doors.
But for now, all the poker action is spread across the southern New England states of Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Getting there
If you’re flying in, TF Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island will get you much closer to the casinos than Logan Airport in Boston or Hartford Airport in Connecticut.
Whether you fly or drive, for the first leg of the trip I recommend staying in Providence, Rhode Island for a night. Providence is a short drive from TF Green, and there’s no shortage of high-quality restaurants to choose from, particularly in the Federal Hill area.
In the morning you can wake up, have a good breakfast, and maybe lounge around by the pool for a while before you head to the first stop on your New England poker road trip, Twin River Casino, about 15 minutes away in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
First stop, Twin River
Playing poker at Twin River
Not too long ago there wouldn’t have been a reason to stop at Twin River, but in 2016 the casino opened a 22-table poker room.
Considering Twin River’s slot parlor history, the poker room is decently busy and because it’s new, and since most of the low-limit grinders play at the much larger Foxwoods, the players tend to be a bit below average.
Like most poker rooms in 2017, Twin River boasts mainly low-stakes ($1/$2 and $2/$5) no limit hold’em tables. During peak hours you’ll find $5/$10 NLHE, and even the occasional $25/$50 NLHE game.
Low limit, limit hold’em and seven-card-stud are also available.
You’ll also want to get a seat early, as the wait-lists can grow quite long in the evening.
Eating at Twin River
Twin River has one upscale eatery, Fred & Steve’s Steakhouse.
The restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday – Sunday and is owned by former NFL players and local sports TV personalities Fred Smerlas and Steve DeOssie – who are often wandering around.
Pricing-wise, Fred & Steve’s is on the low-end of steakhouses of this caliber. The food is good, a step below David Burke Prime at Foxwoods and on par with Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse at Mohegan. The menu is almost entirely steaks and seafood dishes, but be warned, the portion sizes are gigantic, with appetizers that could be mistaken for entrees.
Value-wise, this is a really good dining option.
You won’t always need them, but I still highly recommend reserving a table.
Staying at Twin River
Twin River is in the process of adding a hotel, so a trip to Twin River in the near future will require making hotel arrangements off-site, which explains my Providence recommendation above.
Fortunately, you’re only about an hour from Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, so after a day of cards and dinner at Fred & Steve’s, and maybe some more cards, you can drive to the next stop on your poker tour, Mohegan Sun.
Even with a late arrival, you can check-in to your hotel room, and get a good night’s sleep for another day of cards.
Next up, Mohegan Sun
River Poker Room
Playing poker at Mohegan Sun
Mohegan Sun has a very nice 42-table poker room. Unfortunately, most of the local action takes place at Foxwoods, and Mohegan gets the low-limit leftovers.
The room has a lot of potential, but Mohegan has been unable to come up with a strategy to end Foxwoods stranglehold on poker in the region. It’s location towards the back-end of the casino isn’t much of a help.
What you’ll find at Mohegan is a lot of loose low-limit action, particularly in the $2/$4 limit hold’em and $1/$5 stud games.
Mohegan does one cool thing that most poker rooms do not: The card room rules are published online. So you don’t have to worry about obscure local rules.
Poker tournaments at Mohegan Sun
On the tournament front you’ll typically find three daily events during the week, and one or two on the weekends. The format and buy-in vary, but for the most part, they’re NLHE tournaments with buy-ins in the $75-$120 range.
Mohegan Sun also offers single-table Sit & Go tournaments, with buy-ins ranging from $60 to $5,000.
Staying at Mohegan
Mohegan has two hotel towers, the original Sky Tower, and the Earth Tower, which opened in November 2016. Both are perfectly fine for a couple of days of habitation.
The Sky Tower rooms are considerably larger, averaging 450 square feet compared to the Earth Tower’s 365 sq. ft. average. However, the Earth Tower rooms are newer and more tech-friendly.
Discounted poker rates
Mohegan offers discounted poker room rates to eligible players, but be warned, the number of available rooms is limited and the cost of an on-site hotel room during the weekend can be pricey.
Eating at Mohegan
Like its poker room, Mohegan Sun is a very upscale, clean casino. The property boasts a mind-boggling 47 dining options, including four high-end choices:
- Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain
- Todd English’s Tuscany – an upscale Italian-American restaurant
- Ballo – a trendier Italian restaurant
- Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse
You won’t go wrong with any of the above choices, but if you’re only going to choose one steakhouse I would wait for the Foxwoods leg of the trip, or eat at Fred & Steve’s at Twin River over MJ’s.
And unless you’re a true gambler, definitely make reservations, particularly on show nights.
Finish your trip off at Foxwoods
The Foxwoods Poker Room
With over 100 tables, Foxwoods is the largest poker room on the east coast.
The poker room is tucked away underneath the Rainmaker Casino, with the stairs located in a bit of a no-man’s-land between the Asian table games and the race book. The upstairs areas are used for tournament play.
In the poker room, you’ll find round the clock limit and no limit hold’em games, as well as round the clock stud games. During peak hours you can expect to hear anything and everything called over the PA system, including mixed games, high-stakes stud games, PLO, and high/low games.
Twin River Poker Tournaments
Play can be very tight during the day but tends to be looser and a bit wilder during peak hours and in the wee hours of the weekend.
Poker tournaments at Foxwoods
If tournaments are your thing, it’s pretty easy to plan a Foxwoods trip around a few tournaments you’d like to play.
Foxwoods routinely offer anywhere from three to five daily tournaments, as well as playing host to multiple major tournament series (WSOP Circuit and World Poker Finals) throughout the year.
The buy-in for most of the daily tournaments are in the $60-$160 range.
Single table Sit & Go tournaments at Foxwoods range from $65 to $340, and while the rake is steeper than at Mohegan, these tournaments run more frequently.
Foxwoods Hotel
Foxwoods is actually multiple hotels and casinos. The newest hotel is the Fox Tower, but there’s also the Two Trees, Great Cedar, and the Grand Pequot Tower.
- The Grand Pequot is the main hotel at the property.
- The Great Cedar Hotel is the closest to the poker room, and one of the more budget-friendly options.
- The Fox Tower is the newest and nicest, but walking from the poker room is quite a hike, even if you know a couple of the shortcuts.
- The Two Trees Inn is located across the street from the casino proper, which makes it cheaper, but also less convenient.
Discounted poker rates
If you play in a major tournament at Foxwoods, or if you qualify through cash game play, you might be able to score a discounted hotel rate at either the Two Trees or Great Cedar Hotel.
The rates are as follows, and are subject to availability.
Two Trees Inn:
- Sunday-Thursday $79
- Friday $159
- Saturday $189
Great Cedar Hotel:
- Sunday-Thursday $109
- Friday $189
- Saturday $219
Eating at Foxwoods
Like Mohegan, there are plenty of dining options at Foxwoods.
High-end restaurants include:
- Vue 24 – upscale dining on the 24th floor of the Pequot Tower
- David Burke Prime – premiere steakhouse in the region
- Cedars Steak House – a solid alternative to David Burke
- Red Lantern – a very busy Asian restaurant
David Burke is my go-to restaurant at Foxwoods, but I’d happily to go to any of the four listed.
As with Mohegan, you really need to make reservations if you plan to go eat during any normal hours. In some cases, depending on what’s going on at Foxwoods, you’ll need to make reservations weeks in advance.
Are you ready to take the ultimate road trip to play poker in New England? Let us know how it goes and follow us on Twitter.
LINCOLN, R.I. and LAS VEGAS, Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. and Affinity Gaming ('Affinity') today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Twin River will acquire Affinity's subsidiary that owns Golden Gates, Golden Gulch and Mardi Gras, Affinity's three casino properties in Black Hawk, Colorado. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Golden Gates, Golden Gulch and Mardi Gras are located in close proximity to one another along a half-mile strip of casino and casino-hotel properties in the historic mining town of Black Hawk, Colorado, with a combined 36,000 square feet of gaming space featuring nearly 20 table games, approximately 700 slots and a poker parlor. The properties also offer three restaurants and 24/7 bars, and one of the only parking garages in the market, with 700 spaces.
Twin River Video Poker
'The acquisition of the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch and Mardi Gras casino properties is a unique opportunity to further grow and diversify our nationwide portfolio of gaming properties,' said George Papanier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Twin River. 'We are pleased to expand our portfolio in Colorado beyond our Arapahoe Park race track and statewide Off-Track Betting network, establishing a significant presence in the growing Black Hawk market.'
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including review by the Colorado Division of Gaming and approval by the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission, and is expected to close in early 2020. Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor to Affinity Gaming.
Affinity acquired the three Black Hawk casinos in 2012. Affiliates of Z Capital Partners, the private equity management arm of Z Capital Group, closed their take-private acquisition of Affinity in 2017. The sale will allow Affinity to focus on its core portfolio in Nevada and the Midwest, which will include eight properties in three jurisdictions upon closing of the transaction.
Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This communication contains 'forward-looking' statements as that term is defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than historical facts, including statements regarding the expected timing and the ability of the parties to complete the proposed transaction considering the various closing conditions. Forward-looking statements are based upon current plans, estimates and expectations that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. The inclusion of such statements should not be regarded as a representation that such plans, estimates or expectations will be achieved. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such plans, estimates or expectations include, among others, (1) that one or more closing conditions to the transaction, including certain regulatory approvals, may not be satisfied or waived, on a timely basis or otherwise, including that a governmental entity may prohibit, delay or refuse to grant approval for the consummation of the proposed transaction, may require conditions, limitations or restrictions in connection with such approvals; (2) the risk that the proposed transaction may not be completed on the terms or in the time frame expected; (3) unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the proposed transaction; and (4) the occurrence of any event that could give rise to the termination of the proposed transaction. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this communication. Neither Twin River nor Affinity undertakes any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or development, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements.
Twin River Poker Rules
About Affinity Affinity Gaming is a diversified casino gaming company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company's casino operations consist of 11 casinos, five of which are located in Nevada, three in Colorado, two in Missouri and one in Iowa. For more information about Affinity Gaming, please visit its website: www.affinitygaming.com.
About Twin River Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc., through its wholly owned subsidiary Twin River Management Group, Inc. ('TRMG'), owns and manages two casinos in Rhode Island and one in Mississippi, as well as a Colorado horse race track that possesses 13 OTB licenses. Properties include Twin River Casino Hotel (Lincoln, RI), Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Biloxi, MS), Tiverton Casino Hotel (Tiverton, RI) and Arapahoe Park (Aurora, CO). TRMG's expertise spans various casino markets, including regional, destination & resort environments. Its casinos range in size from 1,100 slots and 32 table games facilities to properties with 4,200 slots and 115 table games, along with hotel and resort amenities. TRMG headquarters are located at 100 Twin River Road, Lincoln, RI 02865. For more information, visit www.twinrivermanagementgroup.com.
About Z Capital Group Z Capital is a privately held alternative asset management firm having over $2.3 billion of regulatory assets under management across complementary private equity and credit businesses. Z Capital manages both opportunistic, value-oriented private equity, and credit funds.
Z Capital's investors are some of the largest and most sophisticated global institutional investors including public and corporate pension funds, university endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, central banks, and insurance companies.
Twin River Casino Poker Buy In
The Z Capital investment strategies and private equity portfolio companies are described at www.zcapgroup.net.
Media Contacts
Twin River Patti Doyle
Patti.doyle@gmail.com
401-374-2553
Affinity Gaming Jonathan Keehner / Kate Clark / Tim Ragones
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449
View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/twin-river-worldwide-holdings-to-acquire-three-colorado-casinos-from-affinity-gaming-300786324.html
SOURCE Twin River; Affinity Gaming
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