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 2024.

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.