Rhode Island Texas Holdem

The smallest state in the country is also small on options when it comes to Texas holdem poker.

You’ll only find one poker room in the state at Twin River casino in Lincoln. This medium sized poker room features 16 tables and is one of the most popular rooms in the country. This is of course relative to its size.

Focusing primarily on cash games and offering no regular tournaments, you’ll find $1 / $2 and $5 / $10 no limit Texas holdem being played here most of the time. If you visit during a busy time or on the weekends you’ll probably have to wait up to two hours to be seated at a table. So get in early to avoid disappointment.

Lincoln isn’t too far away from anywhere in the state so no matter where you live, you won’t have to drive for more than an hour to get here. This also means that access to neighboring states and some much larger poker options is a reality.

Poker Room Reviews

Foxwoods poker room is just over the border in Connecticut and this room offers some of the best poker action in the entire country. If you have some patience you’ll also soon have access to some brand new casinos and poker rooms in Massachusetts, which has just regulated and licensed casinos to operate and most of these will have a poker room. It’s likely that these casinos will start opening their doors in 2018 and 2025.

Other Gambling

While you can play poker in the state and the Twin River is close to pretty much everything, you still have some other gaming options in Rhode Island. You can bet on horse racing and greyhound racing at Twin River casino, which shows races from Lincoln Park.

The casino used to have a track but closed it for racing in 2009. On top of this you can also bet on Jai Alai in this casino. If you’re not familiar with this game it’s kind of like squash except you use a device called a cesta to propel the ball toward the wall. This game and gambling on it is permitted in the city of Newport in the state, which is why it’s gambled on at Twin River casino and mentioned here.

Rhode Island also offers lottery including keno and instant play machines, like you find in Las Vegas. They offer Powerball, Mega Millions, state specific games, pull tabs, and scratch cards, as well as the machine games we’ve just mentioned.

The state regulates and runs the lottery with most of the proceeds going to charitable and good causes such as education. This is a great thing as it gives the people what they want in respect to being able to play the lottery, and it satisfies others who oppose gaming by directing more money to worthy causes. You can’t really satisfy all parties much more than this.

Finally, bingo and raffles are also permitted under state laws so if you wish to get your sheets and spotter out you can do so in this state legally. Bingo is usually only permitted as a charitable game, which is why you’ll find most bingo halls attached to churches or other community type groups. The profits from the games will be going to these organizations and thus the game is determined to be for charity and is therefore legal.

Online Poker

Although the law doesn’t specifically mention online play, the broad way in which the law is applied to gambling is sufficient in the eyes of the authorities in respect to online casinos and poker rooms being banned in the Ocean State. This is never a good thing as online poker is so good for the poker economy and only makes live poker venues even better.

So you won’t be able to play any online poker in the state, unless you use an offshore card room. The same goes for online casinos and online slots, table games, and gambling in general. You are able to find sites that accept US players, but just because they do this it doesn’t mean that it’s legal under state law for you to do so. So proceed with caution in this respect.

At the Twin River casino you’ll also find all the regular tables games that you would in any other casinos. These include baccarat, blackjack, craps, roulette, and poker based casino table games. They also have a plethora of slot machines if you really want a cheap thrill in between sitting down at a cash table.

The future of poker and gambling in Rhode Island is bright, as they’ve made some sensible changes in the past few years and have allowed a casino to open and offer a range of games including poker.

It’s a win win situation for small states as it will attract tourism from those states that don’t offer gaming, and it will also net a whole bunch of tax dollars which can be used for a variety of worthy causes.

Although the state doesn’t currently offer any online play and hasn’t enacted relegations on this, their progressive attitude to land based gambling will undoubtedly extend to the online environment soon. This is a great thing for poker and for those who like to dabble into the world of online gaming.

Although we can’t really criticize Twin River casino as they’re the only current casino that offers poker, slots, and table games, they should really look to get more staff in their poker room and consider opening up more tables so that the high player demand can be met. This way we won’t see players walking away from the game for silly reasons such as waiting too long for a game. In any case, they do a great job and we can only hope they continue to work and build the game in the small, yet fantastic state of Rhode Island.

Twin River Casino

• Location: Lincoln, Rhode Island
• Hours: 24 hours, 7 days
• Tables: 16
• Games: Unfortunately no tournaments are offered in this room and you’ll only find stud, no limit Texas holdem and limit holdem at medium to low stakes depending on player’s demand. Generally, the games you find running most of the time are $1 / $2 and $5 / $10 no limit Texas holdem.
• Ambience: This no smoking poker room is located on the second floor of the casino and features green felt tables and brown comfortable chairs against a brown and beige modern decor. The carpet is comprised of colorful patterns which ensure the room stands out nicely. TVs have been placed around the room so you can see them from every seat at the table and stay entertained between hands.
• Hospitality: You’ll receive cocktail service while you play in this poker room which means you need never miss a hand. On top of this they also offer comps to players in cash games through the Rewards Club, so be sure to sign up before you play.
• Players: This poker room is hugely popular and quite often you’ll have to wait quite some time to get a seat in a cash game. As a result, you should always arrive early to secure your seat, especially on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The standard of play is quite decent although you will find some tougher players on the higher limit tables. For the best value stick to the $1 / $2 no limit holdem games. Dealers and staff here are friendly and welcoming and will always go out of their way to make you feel welcome; the only real problem is that more dealers and tables are needed because of the demand.