Bally's Twin River - Lincoln, Rhode Island

There are 6 casinos and even more poker rooms within an hour from my house. This place in Lincoln is an easy 33 miles and is by far the closest poker room. Its also the casino I've been to the least because its by far the worst of all the New England casinos and is actually top 3 sketchiest casinos I've ever seen.

Its the one place where you can still smoke so it stinks and there seems to be a constant flow of vagrants roaming around. Neither of those things would bother me so much if the poker room was a viable option. I never went to play there pre-pandemic so maybe its seen its better years but since it re-opened sometime within the past 3 it hasn't been worth the trip.

Only within the past year can you call ahead to get on the wait list. Before that it was you had to show up and wait which in this day and age is unacceptable. You cannot access them from the Bravo or Poker Atlas app. The one time I showed up there to play I was like 21st on the list and didn't bother hanging around.

There is an $8 rake with no promotions. None. No high hand, no bad beat, nothin'. There are also no tournaments and so there has less than no reason for me to go there with the lone exception of it being half the distance from home.

Today I happened to be driving by so I stopped in for a few minutes and received a big update: they are fully committed to upgrading the room and by springtime they will have more tables and dealers, promotions and tournaments. They will also be on the Bravo app.

For me this is exciting news. The long drives to play poker make it so I don't play as often as I would otherwise like to. I played this past Saturday at MGM Springfield and then on Sunday at Chasers in Salem, NH. To get to either of these places involves a lot of driving and traffic but I have a friend who goes on the weekends and shares driving with me so it works. During the week he works so I'm stuck driving alone which I almost never do. With Bally's now becoming a viable option I'll be going alone way more often.

Is anyone else from New England planning on giving this room a try once they get their act together?

I see this has been a Bally's property since 2015, so there's no reason they should have let it sit crappy for this long. Guess they just didn't care about the poker room.

Interesting how this place has been open almost 80 years. It started as Lincoln Down's in 1947.

This was the 1st casino to open in Rhode Island in 2001. It was originally names Twin River Casino. They didn't open table games until 2013.

Original $1 Twin River chip

Then in 2021 is became Bally's Twin River (a.k.a. Bally's Lincoln)

$1 Bally's Lincoln chip

Bally's also owns the only other casino in Rhode Island. The Tiverton Casino Hotel opened in 2018.

Original $1 Tiverton chip

As with Twin River, Bally rebranded the property in 2021 when it was renamed Bally's Tiverton.

$1 Bally's Tiverton chip

Twin River used to be a horse racing then dog track as you no doubt already know Country. You ever been to a working dog track? A seedy world.

Last time I was there you could still see the track through what seemed like 3 stories of glass. Overgrown grass had taken over the track. The paramutual board still evident. That dog track DNA is still evident.

If I was management or facilities I would have made the old track a feature not an eyesore. Get some artist to make statues of greyhounds in full race. Some lights for the paramutual board. Some statues of fans. Casinos are generally run by dummies.

The first time I went there it was all VLT. Video Lottery Terminals. Twin River was a pretty large complex filled with nothing but machines. Video pit games like roulette, black jack and craps and the usual slots. Scarcely an employee. I’m sure it was some kind of consolation arrangement from the state as paramutual racing died but it also was a smart way to migrate to full casino adulthood.

I remember sitting in stadium seating to play blackjack or roulette (an architectural relic from the race track). There was a live dealer Waaaaay down below. Your terminal echoed their action. It was an experience. Dumb. PFA’s Chrissy would like it.

Twin River gradually added live dealers over the years. They did a huge expansion including a hotel that welcomed the Pandemic and really never opened for years iirc.

Did Twin River acquire Bally’s? Cause that seedy dog track DNA and VLT might have been just the ticket to corporate success.

Mohegan used to have the friendly poker room vibe that is so rare. I always had a friendly casual table. Perhaps it was me. lol. A frequently won bad beat that the players very much enjoyed. Players at Foxwoods paid Bad Beat no mind and personally I resented the added rake. Foxwoods was working poker not recreational poker back in the day.

It’s been years and years since I’ve played live. I have my memories.

I’ll take a trip report from Wynn Boston if you have one. Chinamaniac gave it a shot early on iirc. I’ve never been.

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Originally Posted by Sanlmar

Twin River used to be a horse racing then dog track as you no doubt already know Country. You ever been to a working dog track? A seedy world.

Last time I was there you could still see the track through what seemed like 3 stories of glass. Overgrown grass had taken over the track. The paramutual board still evident. That dog track DNA is still evident.

If I was management or facilities I would have made the old track a feature not an eyesore. Get some artist to make statues of greyhounds in full race. Some lights for the paramutual board. Some statues of fans. Casinos are generally run by dummies.

The first time I went there it was all VLT. Video Lottery Terminals. Twin River was a pretty large complex filled with nothing but machines. Video pit games like roulette, black jack and craps and the usual slots. Scarcely an employee. I’m sure it was some kind of consolation arrangement from the state as paramutual racing died but it also was a smart way to migrate to full casino adulthood.

I remember sitting in stadium seating to play blackjack or roulette (an architectural relic from the race track). There was a live dealer Waaaaay down below. Your terminal echoed their action. It was an experience. Dumb. PFA’s Chrissy would like it.

Twin River gradually added live dealers over the years. They did a huge expansion including a hotel that welcomed the Pandemic and really never opened for years iirc.

Did Twin River acquire Bally’s? Cause that seedy dog track DNA and VLT might have been just the ticket to corporate success.

Mohegan used to have the friendly poker room vibe that is so rare. I always had a friendly casual table. Perhaps it was me. lol. A frequently won bad beat that the players very much enjoyed. Players at Foxwoods paid Bad Beat no mind and personally I resented the added rake. Foxwoods was working poker not recreational poker back in the day.

It’s been years and years since I’ve played live. I have my memories.

I’ll take a trip report from Wynn Boston if you have one. Chinamaniac gave it a shot early on iirc. I’ve never been.

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I grew up mostly in Petersham, MA. One hilarious thing we have in common is the Sunday packie runs to New Hampshire when we had the blue laws back in the day. For me, those Sunday runs often included a stop in Hinsdale, NH at the dog track. I've also played a bunch of poker in Florida at old tracks there but I just can't remember if the tracks were functional while I was there. I think they must've been it just wasn't my focus.

I can already give you a trip report on the Encore. I had to spend a summer in JP in 2019 and I had every weeknight free to do as I pleased. I played in the poker room about 35 times before the pandemic but haven't been back since. It is a very nice room and the action was constant. Bart Hanson plays there regularly and talks about it in detail on his podcast.

In my older age I just don't like to drive so much anymore, especially at night and especially in Boston traffic so even though I like the room there its never my 1st choice because of the likelihood of traffic shenanigans.

This place Bally's is and I think always has been a seedy, sketchy place. The only reason I'm excited for it to go legit is the driving. My loser friend, Eric has a full-time job so even though I'm free to play pretty much 24/7 he's not and so if I want to play during the week I have to drive 100% of the time alone. Mostly, I just never play during the week anymore.

I don't think Twin River acquired Bally's. I had a nice talk with the host at the poker room. One thing important to me in choosing a casino is Vegas comps because I do still like to go there at least once a year. This and the Red Rose are why I probably go to MGM in Springfield more often than anywhere. Every year I get 4 free nights at an MGM property in Vegas with comps when I get there. When I asked the poker host at Bally's about Vegas comps and if I can get them by playing there he told me yes, at the Trop. LOL!

Regarding the friendly poker vibe, if I'm playing in Connecticut its almost always at the Mohegan now. I think you were the one who referred to Foxwoods as the Wal-mart of casinos and its true. Nothing special about that place anymore. However, if its a friendly poker vibe you want the New Hampshire rooms are where you want to be. If/when I do play alone its almost always there because of this. I always know when I go there at least half the table will be lovely people who are fun to play with. If I'm driving alone the last thing I want to be doing is sitting at a Foxwood table with a bunch of New York loud mouths, one more obnoxious than the next. No thank you.

Thanks for all the responses. I think the poker discussions here are excellent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I see this has been a Bally's property since 2015, so there's no reason they should have let it sit crappy for this long. Guess they just didn't care about the poker room.

Interesting how this place has been open almost 80 years. It started as Lincoln Down's in 1947.

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It was the worst poker room I had ever been to due to the issues already described. On the rare occasion I stop in there I always check in with the poker room to see if they have plans to stop being so terrible because I want to play there often. Yesterday. the host was very enthusiastic about the changes to come soon and so I'll definitely plan to be back there again by Spring to see and let you all know.

I don't think it was just the poker room that was neglected. The slot machines were all old and as already mentioned they didn't even have table games for the longest time. Also, I don't know why any business would allow smoking anymore. The place has the constant stench of cigarettes. One time, a few years back, I walked in just as the cops were taking someone out in cuffs for pick-pocketing.

Since the place was acquired by Bally's they still allow smoking, there's still a bunch of bums lurking and the poker room is still awful but the slot machines and tables have been modernized and there is finally hope for poker in Little Rhody.

Ballys has become my home base for poker. They've done a really nice job renovating the room and its sponsored by Maverick Poker which is somehow affiliated with Eric Persson. Apparently he's played there a few times which isn't a big deal to me but cool enough I suppose. If Druff were there totally different story obv.

I was there Monday and lost with 2nd nut flush to nut flush and left for the money mansion rather than buying back in. Today I went and had a much better time. I was seated and literally my 1st hand is 22. I call a straddle and then the straddler made an insanely high raise relative to the pot. I'm the only caller and the flop is q28. I bet something just shy of pot and the dude puts me all in. He has AA and my set holds up through the turn and river. 1st f'in hand of the day!

About a half hour later I made a straight flush to the king. It was somewhat bitter sweet because the floor had been telling everyone that by the 1st of April there'd be high hand promotions and yet here we are on the 16th and my straight flush only made me about $100.

There seem to be fewer vagrants there which is nice and overall my experience at the poker room has been positive. They also have $15 3/2 blackjack and who doesn't like that?

I was going to start a new thread about my trip to Atlantic City last week but that city sucks and just isn't worth a thread. I stayed at the Borgatta which is a nice enough casino with great poker action but every other place I went was less than nothing special and half the restaurants only open on weekends. Not going back.

My next trip is to Biloxi, MS in early May. MGM paying for flight, ride to/from airport plus free room, free play and resort credit. Hope its better than New Jersey.

Anything for you, Sanlmar but it's not much:

I'm sure Atlantic City is a much better place to visit in the summer as opposed to early-April and definitely better on the weekends as opposed to the weekdays that I went. I had a negative experience at the food court at Resorts. Nothing really worth getting into except to say that many people from New Jersey have difficult attitudes. If you've been to New Jersey enough or know enough people from there you know what I mean.

My brother has been counting cards and playing a lot of blackjack. He's already been to Vegas 2x this year and is going again next week. So, he gets the free room at Borgata and we drive there in his 1990 Saab 900 which takes half a day. In typical Saab fashion the windows won't go down so my constant vaping and weed smoking throughout the trip probably annoyed my brother who's too sweet to complain.

We were there 2 nights. I played more blackjack than poker and came out ahead $4-500 while my brother was 10x better. I actually only had one short poker session at the Borgata and came out marginally ahead. So I came home a winner? Nope - about dead even. I lost just about all my profits in the money mansion and mystery of the lamp and maybe some of the buffalo.

The slots can be a guilty pleasure for me, I'm embarrassed to admit. I pretty much never go to a casino without slipping a $20 into something. I've hit about 5x in my life for around $2,000. A few months ago I was playing the Tuesday morning tournament at MGM Springfield and I watched a guy lose $1,000 in the buffalo machine during the break. Dude was sitting at my table and thought it was a good idea to piss away a stack in 15 mins. Fortunately I've never been like that.

The Hard Rock in AC is pretty much just like the one at Foxwood except the staff are all Jersey folk as opposed to the preferable New Englander in Connecticut. I really haven't a single complaint about the Borgata but the rest of the town was totally uninspiring and cheesey.

Look for a trip report from Biloxi mid-May. I've only driven through parts on Mississippi once and have never spent time there so I'm looking forward to it and some southern hospitality and hopefully some loose poker. I'll be staying at Beau Rivage, another MGM place.

A somewhat funny thing also happened yesterday; I sat down at the table and doubled up my 1st hand with a flopped set against AA. When I sat down I said hi to the folks sitting at my end of the table and not one person so much as said a word.

I've been taking hormones the past 2 months so I'm a bit fragile emotionally and this really annoyed me for some reason. I almost got up and left before those 1st 2 cards ever got to me. More than anything I want to enjoy my day so when I'm seated near people who can't even say hi to me when I sit down my brain goes to places it wouldn't normally. The feeling I had after that 1st hand was more sweet as a result.

The guy who lost the hand to me turned out to be a mega fish. I stacked him again shortly afterwards with my straight flush to the king and then watched him lose with set 2's which was the very hand I had beat his AA with. Its the best feeling to know you're in the hot seat and my negative feelings towards these people quickly faded. And, of course all the guys turned out to be nice enough.

The New Hampshire folk will always be the most fun, kind-hearted people to play poker with. The people at MGM Springfield with their western MA, small town values are a close 2nd. These things are oddly very important to me and more so now. It is a very rare thing for me to play poker in Connecticut because I can't stand the rude New Yorkers.