- Rivers Casino Poker Room
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- Poker Room Rules
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The build-up was tremendous. Way back in 1947, Lincoln Downs, a dog-racing track, opened in Lincoln, Rhode Island, then 30 years later was renamed Lincoln Greyhound Park. Eventually it became a slots-only casino, and poker players driving through Rhode Island to play our favorite game in Connecticut's Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun wanted to know when this more convenient spot might start spreading poker.
- Poker is played against other players; the casino provides the forum for you to have an exciting time whether you are an experienced player or just beginning. At Rivers you will feel welcome and comfortable in our safe and smoke free Poker room.
- Nov 07, 2019 Rivers Casino cash game information, including games, blinds, stakes, rake, jackpots, and more. Attention Poker Rooms: Get your Real-Time Live Action on PokerAtlas!
Rivers Poker Room. It’s non-stop action in the Rivers Casino Poker Room. Stop by and let us know how we’re doing or what you may be interested in having us add to our room. Why play anywhere else? The room is 8,457 square feet that holds 30 tables. Limit and No Limit Texas Hold’Em/Omaha Hi-Low and Pot Limit Omaha are among many games we offer.
In 2007, Lincoln Park became the Twin River Casino, with a Class I gaming license that allowed table games and poker. We were disappointed once again, however, as Twin River would spread blackjack and offer roulette, craps, and other table games, but opted not to have poker.
But then, at the end of 2015, they finally opened a 16-table poker room. The excitement and buzz among New England poker players was intense.
Introducing the Twin River Casino
The Twin River Casino is a more convenient place for poker players located in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and most of Rhode Island than are the two excellent, well established rooms in Connecticut. Twin River is just 10 minutes from Providence, 10 minutes from the nearest major airport, under an hour from all parts of Boston, and just a bit more than a half-hour drive from Worcester and Framingham.
But there’s a price to pay for this convenience, to be sure. I'd characterize the casino in general as a grade C establishment — surely not failing, but not competitive with the full-service casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Connecticut, California, and elsewhere with which many of us have become familiar.
Starting with entertainment, you don't tend to get the kinds of major acts that you get at major casinos like the two in Connecticut. Foxwoods, for example, regularly hosts popular acts like Jerry Seinfeld, Howie Mandel, Bob Dylan, and Lady Gaga, but you'll find no such lineup at the Twin River Event Center. There's also no hotel at Twin River, although one is apparently in the works.
Whereas the Connecticut casinos offer dozens of excellent dining options, including Italian, Chinese, BBQ, seafood, steak, and excellent buffets, Twin River has one just one fine dining establishment (a pretty good steakhouse), a couple of pubs, two fairly lame food courts, and a buffet that is regarded by many I spoke to as 'pretty awful.' The food court nearest the poker room on the second floor, has Sbarro (pizza, calzone, and other 'Italianesque' fast food), Johnny Rockets (a '50s-retro hamburger joint), and Dunkin' Donuts. That's it. The other food court has a fairly good Asian takeout place, but little else worth visiting.
Perhaps the greatest gastronomic deficiency is the lack of a breakfast place. Though there is Dunkin' Donuts with its limited breakfast options, it doesn't open until 9 a.m. So if you've been playing all night and want a full breakfast, or even some tiny breakfast nosh before then, you must go outside Twin River (where, in fact, there are a couple of really nice breakfast places about a 10-minute drive away). But in my book, that's not what I expect in a 24/7 casino operation.
And with no hotel there are no major conventions, and that means there are no major conventioneers gambling it up all night in the poker room.
Poker at the Twin River Casino
But let's not bury the lede here — the big news at Twin River is that now there is at least a poker room.
They constantly spread $1/$2 no-limit hold'em with a $300 maximum buy-in. They also have $2/$5 NL with a $500 maximum, and $5/$10 NL with a $1,000 max. These games all run nearly all the time, although you may not find the $5/$10 game going in the wee hours or early on a weekday.
I've played in each of them, about 50 percent of the time at $1/$2, 40 percent of the time at $2/$5, and even one session at $5/$10. For now, the $1/$2 games are pretty soft, as players new to a casino tend to populate these games. There seem to be a relatively lower percentage of winning regular casino poker players in this room, at least in the $1/$2 and $2/$5 games. There is a crowd of casino regulars in the $2/$5 game, but since there are often at least three tables of it during the busy periods, there is usually a soft version of this game to be found. It will be quite beatable for the serious player.
The room also regularly spreads a $3/$6 limit hold'em game, and even fairly often a $5/$10 or $10/$20 stud game made up of players who have migrated over from the Connecticut rooms. The limit hold'em is very soft, while the stud is a rock-fest most of the time. Note that the room never spreads any split-pot game. There is also no Omaha, and no stud hi-low, HOE, or OE.
Though the games have pretty good, soft action most of the time, the room has a few persistent and annoying deficiencies. First, with just 16 tables, and with its convenient location and popularity, it is often nearly impossible to get on a table right away. Do not expect to get a seat without a 2-3 hour wait if you come after 10 a.m. on a Saturday or Sunday, or if you arrive Friday night. You might even find a long wait on a weekday night, or during the wee hours when they have failed to schedule a sufficient number of dealers.
Though the management team is welcoming and making a big effort to run the room, the dealers at Twin River are often inexperienced and sometimes completely inept. I have noticed numerous dealer mistakes, with regard to making change, setting the blinds, even dealing the correct player first. As recently as a couple of weeks ago I observed a couple of dealers defer to loud players on how to divide a pot into side pots, which should not happen. If the dealer can't figure out what's going on, he or she should call over the floor, not rely on the most confident-sounding player (who may well be wrong). But from what I've witnessed this room routinely allows players to bully the dealer into compliance — not a good thing.
This situation does seem to be improving, as the worst dealers have been let go. But they still have a long way to go before their dealers are consistently doing a good job.
Additionally, the dealers and floor are often not up to the major task of controlling a crowd that frequently overwhelms the room. I've noticed players often jumping the line, sitting in open seats when dozens of players ahead of them on the electronic sign-in list are waiting to play. The floor doesn't do a good job of policing this, and protests of waiting players usually go unheeded.
The room is adequate for now, though. There are new decks, perfectly fine chips, nicely felted tables, moderately comfortable chairs, good lighting, a convenient bathroom, and adequate table-side beverage service (with awfully long waits thrown in now and then just like every other room I've ever been to).
The rake (i.e., the amount the house takes out of the pot every hand) is 10 percent up to a maximum of $5 instead of the $4 maximum charged at Foxwoods and Mohegan. It should also be noted that unlike at the Connecticut casinos, there is no bad beat jackpot and therefore no additional $1 bad beat jackpot drop at Twin River.
Conclusion
The tag line for the Twin River Casino appearing on signage and imprinted on all of their poker chips reads 'So Much. So Close!' I think that's only half-right. If it were currently accurate, it would read 'At Least It's Close!'
The room is definitely conveniently located for the myriad of players who come from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and northern New England. Unfortunately, the room is one notch or two below the options that are further away. You'll have to judge for yourself how much that shorter drive is worth to you.
The Twin River Resort is located at 100 Twin River Road, Lincoln, RI, 02865. Phone: (401) 723-3200; email: [email protected]
Photo: Twin River Casino.
Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles and two books, Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003) and Winning No-Limit Hold’em (Lighthouse 2012). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.
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Table Games
Twin River Casino has 114 live table games, which include a gaming mix of Blackjack (49 tables), Roulette (11 tables), Baccarat (9 tables), Three Card Poker (7 tables), Craps (4 tables), Spanish 21 (5 tables), Let It Ride (3 tables), Pai Gow Poker (3 tables), as well as a Poker Room (23 tables). A number of the tables are located just inside the West Entrance on our 1st floor, surrounding the Blackstone Cigar Bar. The remaining tables (including the Poker Room) are located within our smoke-free casino on the 2nd Floor, easily accessible from both the West or South entrances.
Redemption Information:
Table Game Chips:
Twin River and Tiverton table game chips are specific to each property and cannot be wagered in both properties. All Chips may be exchanged for cash at a cashier window at either property. As an example, a guest can bring Tiverton chips to Twin River and exchange them for cash and vice versa.
Stadium Table Game Vouchers:
Stadium vouchers are specific to each property. Stadium vouchers are not for use in VLT’s at either property. Slot vouchers are not for use in Stadium Game terminals. Stadium vouchers may be redeemed only in the property they were issued.
Poker
Twin River hosts a 23-Table Poker Room on our smoke-free Casino on the 2nd Floor. 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.
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Blackjack
In Blackjack, the aim of the game is for the total value of your cards to be closer to 21 than the dealer’s cards, without going over 21. Number cards are worth their face value, face cards are worth 10 and aces are worth either 1 or 11.
Roulette
American Roulette is a casino game where players spin a wheel and predict the number/color where the ball will come to rest. There are Inside Bets where one bets on the inner part of the table and Outside Bets where one bets on the outside parts of the table. Each table has a minimum and maximum wager limit and players can bet any money within these limits.
Craps
The ‘Come out Roll’ refers to the opening roll in a round of craps. The point is established only if the dice totals 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 or 10. A come out roll worth 2, 3, 7, 11 or 12 terminates the round immediately. Once the point has been determined, an ‘ON’ puck will be positioned on the point. The dice will then continue to be rolled until a player either matches the point or rolls a 7.
Baccarat
The aim of Baccarat is to assemble a hand with a point value totaling as near to 9 as possible. Aces are worth 1, 10′s and picture cards are worth 0 whilst all cards from 2-9 retain their face value. If the value of the hand amounts to a two-digit total, disregard the first digit. The last digit represents the baccarat point value.
Three Card Poker
Three Card Poker is a game where you can make multiple bets on your hand. Ante, Pair Plus and the new 6 Card Bonus. The Ante Wager plays against the Dealer’s hand. The Pair Plus is optional and wins with a Pair or Better. The 6 Card Bonus uses the Dealer’s Cards and your cards to make the best 5 card hand and wins with three of a kind or better and pays 1000 to 1 for a Royal Flush!
Spanish 21
Spanish 21 is a fast-paced variation of blackjack that has become increasingly popular. The game is played on a standard blackjack table. The main difference between Spanish 21 compared to blackjack is the removal of all 10′s in the decks. Jacks, Queens, and Kings remain, but all natural 10′s are removed from every deck used at the table.
Rivers Casino Poker Room
Let It Ride™
Let It Ride™ is a five-card poker game. Players compete against a pay table, not against the dealers or other players. The game has three parts:
Basic game: Players win with a pair of 10′s or better.
$1 Bonus game: Winning hands vary.
3 Card Bonus: Players win with a pair or better (Players three cards only).
Pai Gow Poker
Rivers Casino Poker Room Pittsburgh
Pai Gow Poker is played with a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. After making a bet, each player is dealt seven cards and must make two poker hands: A standard five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card hand is often called “behind”, or the “bottom,” “high,” or “big” hand, while the two-card hand is called “in front”, “on top”, or the “small,” “minor,” or “low” hand.
Virtual Table Games
Virtual Black Jack
Shuffle Master is the gaming industry’s premier supplier of automatic card shufflers and proprietary table games – Traditional Blackjack the Virtual Way!
Virtual Features include a digital host that converts cash and/or tickets to virtual chips and credits, virtual cards on each players station and bets ranging from $10-$250.
Poker Room Rules
Virtual Roulette
Easy, Fast, Automated and Exciting! Alfastreet™ Roulette offers the excitement of table games with the speed and ease of automated betting.
Enjoy all the fun and excitement of a casino classic with the same wheel, bets, and odds as the traditional table game, but without a dealer.
Stadium Gaming
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh Poker Tournament
All new stadium gaming, featuring 36 private seats! Play Stadium Blackjack, Roulette, Mini Baccarat & Live Mini Baccarat without changing seats! New Limits & Minimums, Live Dealers, Fast Electronic Play and Play at your Own Pace.