A casino in the woods.
That's how Frommer's New England travel guide describes Foxwoods Resort and Casino. That is a rather unassuming description for what is the largest resort casino in the world.
Of course, the "largest resort casino" also does not give a clear picture. It may be bigger than any resort in Las Vegas but it will never match the size and choices of the strip. It may have a 76-table poker room but Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, where I've played most often, is still the largest poker room.
What are you left with? A beautiful, well-run resort that is one of very few gaming options in the Northeast. We checked in a small suite in the Two Trees Inn, which is off property. With two teenagers, the suite is usually the most cost-effective option. You can tell the building is off property because it has no casino. Otherwise it folds seamlessly into the ambiance. The shuttle bus to the casino runs frequently. We never waited more than a few minutes. A small handicapped van makes a regular run along with large buses.
Enough of the sideshow, it's the poker that matters. There's more 7 card stud at Foxwoods than anyplace I have played west of the Rockies. There's also a lot of Texas Hold 'em, including a large range of stakes for no limit games. There was very little Omaha, which is popular in the Los Angeles area card clubs.
The poker room is large and there is room to walk between the tables. I find that important. So many poker rooms are packed so tightly that I get claustrophobic.
The players we met were friendly and the drinks were free — until 1 a.m. Waitresses on my end of the room were a little slow.
Article comments
1 - Tan The Man
Yeah, Pacific Poker is supposedly pretty cool.
2 - Hal Pawluk
I've been playing online poker on my Mac for nearly a year now.
It's at PokerRoom.com.
They've got daily free rolls and an interface I like better than many other sites.
3 - thomas
I've tried both and liked PokerRoom a little bit more. They had some better design to the site and Pacific seemed to crash a lot. I read an article and found Cpplayer.com which seems to have quite a few rooms that support Macs. Has anyone tried FTP yet?