The Wonder Of It All

On my way home from my brother's graduation party today, I had an opportunity to stop by Foxwoods casino and see their brand-new poker room, with prominent branding by the World Poker Tour. It is easily the most amazing casino poker room I have ever witnessed. There are 114 tables, all of which are include automatic card shufflers that keep the game moving. Even on a relatively busy Saturday afternoon, there was rarely a wait to get into even the most popular games. The seats all have cupholders, so you don't need to deal with those unwieldy tableside trays, nor do you have to worry about drinks spilling onto the felt.

Taking a page from the world of online poker, Foxwoods offers sit-and-go tournaments. Tournament-style no-limit Texas Hold 'Em is the cadillac of poker, because with a simple declaration of all-in, you can change the game. The problem was that unless you waited around for the casino's nightly tournaments (and we lucky enough to get in), the only way to throw your chips all-in was to join a cash-based no limit game, which is not for the poor or the faint of heart. But with the sit-and-gos now in place, you can register at a tournament window, pay a $60 buy-in, and as soon as ten people show up, they assign you to a table and a dealer. Top three get prizes. These tournaments are available around the clock.

The coolest thing, however, was when the following announcement was made over the poker room PA system: "The massage therapist is now here. If you would like a massage, please raise your hand." Alas, the massages never made it over to the stud side of the poker room, so I did not get to partake or even witness said massages. Nonetheless, it might be the greatest casino gimmick ever.

The ironic thing is that about six months before poker became hot, thanks in large part to the WPT broadcasts on the Travel Channel, Mohegan Sun (Foxwoods' competitor) decided to close down its poker room and replace it with slot machines, since it would be a better revenue generator. While it is true that poker is a relatively low-profit game for the casinos, the cross-traffic Foxwoods must generate by being The Place To Be for poker has to be substantial. With no space available for a new poker room barring a massive retrofit, Mohegan Sun really missed the boat.

By the way, I ended up $15 ahead after two hours of $1-3 seven-card stud, winning three hands and only having to show my cards once. Then, I promptly blew five bucks in a slot machine and decided to call it a day.