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As a NH resident and avid poker player, I have been waiting with bated breath for years to be able to play No Limit cash in New Hampshire. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are both 3 hours from me, a 6 hour round trip, that cost quite a bit in gas and the occasional speeding ticket, making a poker session less profitable and less enjoyable. But as of June or July of this year, the poker rooms/ "charitable gaming" rooms have been running 1/2 and 2/4 No limit cash. Since July, I have been able to play a lot more frequently, and have frequented just about every room in NH. I must say that the poker room in the old Seabrook Greyhound Park is my favorite place to play. It has a variety of pit games, if that's what you are looking for (not what I usually play, but their table games always seemed packed), including Mississippi Stud, which seems incredibly popular, Blackjack, Roulette (with full casino odds, which seems hard to find in this area), and others (like I said, Im a poker player, so I don't really know all that they have to offer for pit games, but my wife loves playing them).
As I stated, what I really go for is the poker. The room is in an old dog track, so, aesthetics-wise, its not what you would get at a casino like Foxwoods, etc, but the equipment, chips and tables are legit. From an atmosphere perspective, they are on par or better than the other rooms in the state, but why I really love playing at Seabrook is because of the feel and the vibe of the staff and players. Its like the "Cheers" of poker rooms, where everybody knows who you are, and (just about) everyone is happy to see you, especially their staff. After playing for years, I must say that the floor personnel are probably the best unit I have seen, running tournaments efficiently, having a solid understanding of the rules of poker and how to handle floor calls, and opening and promoting cash games quickly. What's more is that I have never walked in to the poker room without at least 1 or 2 floor managers greeting me by name and with a smile. I know that we as poker players are always looking to make money and get into a game, but the way the dealers and floor staff have treated me has made every session enjoyable (even the non-profitable ones). I don't usually eat while I play, but the food I have tried there has been pretty good, sometimes excellent. I also do not drink alcohol while I play, but they seem to have a descent bar. They could use some more wait staff to come around to the tables, especially on weekend days, but the servers they do have are pleasant and work hard to accommodate everyone.
The room offers many tournaments, usually in the low to medium buy-in range, and they give a ton of chips with descent blind levels and excellent structures for the price, but again, I am more of a cash and higher buy-in tournament player. When they run their $250 or even their 2-day $250, I always try to play, because the structure and chips are so good, but their biggest fields are usually in their $50 and $40 rebuy daily tournaments, which seem to be incredibly popular, but I usually stick to cash.
Honestly, Seabrook Poker Room in the greyhound park is a great room to play in in New Hampshire, and I am so pumped that we can play No limit cash so much closer to home.
