The poker rooms remaining closed at Encore and MGM when the rest of the casino properties resumed nearly normal activities resulted in protests from the region’s poker players. Extended closures triggered local controversy The reopening also went unannounced on Encore Boston Harbor’s two related Twitter accounts, one for the casino at large and one for the poker room The account has been dormant since March of 2020.

However, an online signup is not evident on the website, though it might be contained within the casino’s downloadable smartphone app. A local update on Boston’s WBZ-CBS4 declared that players can reserve seats online. The room is open only Monday through Thursday, and only from 10 am to 8 pm. Until further notice, the hours and days poker will be offered also remain quite limited. Reservations were also being required, with the room running waiting lists for its limited seats. Monday’s reopening, as previously announced by Encore, included only 12 cash-game tables. Pre-pandemic, the busy Boston room offered 74 tables of action, including both cash games and tournaments.

Though open, Encore Boston Harbor’s poker offerings remain slim for the time being. Both rooms had remained shuttered for an extended period while the remainder of the two casino properties returned to relatively normal operations, following Massachusetts’ state officials rescinding early restrictions on occupancy and seating. The other prominent Massachusetts poker room, at MGM Springfield, reopened in early November. Monday’s reopening at Encore Boston Harbor means both major casino-based poker rooms in Massachusetts are again accepting players, if only on a limited basis.

The room reopened slightly ahead of schedule after indicating three months ago that it would open at an unspecified date sometime in February 2022. Encore Boston Harbor has quietly reopened its poker room, marking the first time one of the Northeast U.S.’s largest rooms has spread poker since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Boston encore casino reopening