Month: December 2018

Boston Billiards Poker Room Entrance

The Boston Billiard Club & Casino Poker Room Review

Paul Leave a comment

Holding down the New Hampshire poker scene at the central Massachusetts border are the Boston Billiard poker room and The River.  The Boston Billiard Club (or BBC) offers distinct advantages to the Central Massachusetts and Southwest New Hampshire poker player. Making inroads against the established Manchester Poker Room 15-20 minutes north, and the cash game venue Chasers to the east, is no easy task however. The BBC is currently seeking to broaden their appeal, revamping their website and adding a couple of new poker tournaments to their weekly schedule.

Setting and Non-Poker Amenities

The Boston Billiard poker room is just a couple of minutes off Route 3 in New Hampshire, about 10 minutes north of the Massachusetts line.  The neighborhood doesn’t hold much promise, as The Boston Billiard Club sits in a nondescript industrial park. However, the inside of the Boston Billiard Club quickly sets a very upscale tone. You walk into the attractive open space of a large billiards room. Up and to the left is an equally attractive bar area, to the right the greeter station and then an event room with a few pool tables. That event room is particularly stunning, with elegant wood framed bookcases encircling the room. There are several comfortable chairs and couches around the main and event room. The difference in tone between the outside and inside of the BBC is among the greatest we’ve seen. Only the Playground Poker Room near Montreal even comes close.

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Manchester Poker Room Table 2

The Anatomy of a Poker Room Review

Heather Leave a comment

One of our goals at Poker Pilgrims is to conduct a poker room review for each of the 200 plus US rooms (those with 10 or more tables). By doing so, we hope our experiences will help others decide where best to spend their poker dollars. Currently, our poker room review database is heavy on the Northeast and Vegas (the two places we play the most). But we’ll continue to add to it through our travels over the next couple of years, and of course on our Pilgrimage. This winter we are planning a week-long poker intensive trip to the Miami area. We plan to add five more Florida rooms to our lonely Best Bet Jacksonville review.

In any case, we thought it was time to share what we value in a poker room. Hopefully, this will help you assess our poker room reviews against your own standards for a room.

Setting and Non-Poker Amenities

We love a good poker room location. Give us a casino in Vegas or a card room near the beach. Suddenly we’ve got more than a poker room, we’ve got a vacation! One of our favorite things about Best Bet Jacksonville was that it was all of 15 minutes from Atlantic Beach Florida. In the middle of the winter we got poker and a sunny beach vacation all rolled up into one. Definite setting points.

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Best poker reads

The 5 Best Poker Reads

Heather Leave a comment

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. However, we love all of the products and services listed here. We promise! For more information, see our Disclosure page.

We love reading about poker. In fact, we love poker books so much that we have an entire bookshelf dedicated to them. We have books about poker players, books about poker strategy, and books about the history of poker. Our favorite poker books are the ones that are just a darn good read. We love those books that tell a good story, whether it’s the story of a poker life, or the story of a poker game. While there are many to choose from, we consider the below to be the five best poker reads.

 

Best poker reads

 

Positively Fifth Street 

Positively Fifth Street by James McManus is the first poker book that I ever read. And what a book it is. It tells the story of the 2000 World Series of Poker Main Event in which the author not only participated (after winning a satellite to buy in), but lasted much longer than expected. Many big names of the time (some still active today) are represented in the book. Chris Ferguson is here, along with TJ Cloutier and Annie Duke.

Alongside the thrilling poker action, McManus tells the tragic story of Ted Binion, the tournament’s host, murdered (supposedly) by a stripper. The history of the Binions, one of Vegas’ biggest families, is as troubling as the poker action is exciting.  If you only read one book about poker in your lifetime, make it this one. I blame McManus (even more than Chris Moneymaker) for the poker jones that lives in me to this day.

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Best things to do in Boston - Boston Common

The 9 Best Things to Do in Boston

Paul Leave a comment

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links. However, we love all of the products and services listed here. We promise! For more information, see our Disclosure page.

When you grow up near a city, you sometimes take it for granted. You may figure you have all the time in the world to see the sites. That has certainly been true for me, living 30 minutes outside of Boston for the past two decades.  Every time we get up the energy to make the trip into the big city, we’re reminded how much we love Boston. The scope of entertainment, cultural, and scenic pleasures in the greater Boston area seems limitless. If you find yourself heading for the “Hub” (of the Universe, of course), these are our picks for the nine best things to do in Boston.

While we could share dozens of favorite activities in and around Boston, we’ll stick to the highlights. One caveat: Boston is not the easiest city to drive in (an understatement of the greatest magnitude). Do yourself a favor and leave the car at home. Instead, take advantage of the aging but sufficient rail system (MBTA or the “T”). Or if budget allows, use Uber/Lyft or cabs. Nothing ruins the Boston experience more than driving in it.

Boston Common/Public Garden

The Boston Common is not only one of the best things to do in Boston – it’s also free! A bucolic space in the middle of a dense urban area is always refreshing. Starting your visit to Boston in the Common will help you get a sense of the scope of the city while enjoying its more pastoral side. While the Common lacks the massive scope of New York’s Central Park, it provides a similar respite from the bustling city scape. Beside the lush greenery, features include the Frog Pond, which operates in various seasons as a reflecting pool, children’s spray pool, and ice rink. The Public Garden houses not only a plethora of seasonal floral offerings, but the iconic Swan Boat rides and the bronze ducks made famous in the classic children’s book Make Way for Ducklings. At Christmas, the Common is transformed into a magical landscape of lights and winter cheer. Finally, if you ignored our advice to leave your car at home, some of the most reasonable parking in Boston can be found in the giant lot that lies beneath the Common.

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