Atlantic City Poker

Atlantic City Poker
Last changed 4/6/2008

By Jazbo

General Information

With the popularity of poker on TV, it is no surprise that all AC casinos offer at least some poker. And, even better, the most common game now seems to be No Limit Hold'em with blinds of $1 and $2. The buy-in is usually a minimum $60 and a maximum of $300. Beware of players moving from broken tables -- they can usually bring all there chips with them -- be sure to ask new players if they have any high denomination chips.

The standard rake is 10% up to $4. To promote games, this is sometimes lowered to 5% (still up to $4). The Taj takes time on $15&30 and above. The a table charge collected on the half-hour (soon after the dealer changes). The rates start at $6/dealer at $15&30 and climb from there.

There is often a wait to find a seat at your desired game and limit. If you like to play the ponies while you wait, Tropicana, Taj Mahal, and Bally's Park Place will accomodate you.

Direct jumps to Poker Room Info:

Bally's Park Place
Borgata	Sands
Caesar's	Showboat
Claridge	Tropicana
Harrah's	Trump Marina
Hilton	Trump Plaza
Resorts Casino Hotel	Trump Taj Mahal

Bracketed dates show when items have changed. If you have better or more recent information, please send email to Jazbo.

Card Room Info Ordered by Location

Marina District

Borgata [Dec 2006]	Hotel: (866) 692-6742
	This room opened with the casino in July of 2003. Noted for it's extremely comfortable and adjustable chairs. With a recent expansion, it is now the largest as well as the most luxurious room in the city. Hold'em $3/6 to $20/40 are spread regularly, and there are often bigger games, including pot limit, in the high limit section. Stud $1-5 and up are also available, with Stud Eight and Omaha Eight often spread up to $10/20. Comps are competitive with the Taj. As in most AC rooms, low-buy-in No Limit Hold'em is extremely popular, with numerous games with $1,2 blinds and a $300 max buy in.

Borgata [Dec 2006]

Hotel: (866) 692-6742

This room opened with the casino in July of 2003. Noted for it's extremely comfortable and adjustable chairs. With a recent expansion, it is now the largest as well as the most luxurious room in the city.

Hold'em $3/6 to $20/40 are spread regularly, and there are often bigger games, including pot limit, in the high limit section. Stud $1-5 and up are also available, with Stud Eight and Omaha Eight often spread up to $10/20. Comps are competitive with the Taj. As in most AC rooms, low-buy-in No Limit Hold'em is extremely popular, with numerous games with $1,2 blinds and a $300 max buy in.

Harrah's [Jul 2005]	Hotel: (800) 242-7724
	(I haven't checked this room out in a long time -- info based on conversations with other players in AC.) Harrah's poker room has been expanded substantially and now offers the hot game of the day, No Limit Hold'em. The room is located in the back of the casino, across from the theater entrance. The system is set up so you can hear the page for a game from the casino floor.

Trump Marina [Nov 1996]	Hotel:(800) 365-8786
	The card room is closed. You can visit their web page at http://www.trumpmarina.com.

The Boardwalk

Showboat [Mar 2008]	Hotel: (800) 621-0200
	News (3/22/2008): There are some tables that appear to be for poker in the Boardwalk-end of the House of Blues area on the main floor. If these tables open, there may be a lot more casual poker traffic. The HOB poker room is well-established with plenty of weekend games, usually including several No Limit Hold'em tables with a $300 max buy-in. The room is up on the second floor across from the House of Blues, which is a plus because it can attract traffic that was up there for the HOB, but a minus because there isn't as much casual traffic as would pass by on the lower level. The room is well designed with plenty of space for table-side food service (which they do offer). There is also the convenience of a cashier's cage in the room, which will save the trouble of carrying your large wins way down to the casino floor. The chairs are substantial and comfortable for long evenings of play, although they lack the casters that Caesars has. They do have ShuffleMasters for all 22 tables, a definite plus. They have also replaced the horrible red felts they started with by standard green covers, a big improvement.

Showboat
[Mar 2008]

Hotel: (800) 621-0200

News (3/22/2008): There are some tables that appear to be for poker in the Boardwalk-end of the House of Blues area on the main floor. If these tables open, there may be a lot more casual poker traffic.

The HOB poker room is well-established with plenty of weekend games, usually including several No Limit Hold'em tables with a $300 max buy-in. The room is up on the second floor across from the House of Blues, which is a plus because it can attract traffic that was up there for the HOB, but a minus because there isn't as much casual traffic as would pass by on the lower level.

The room is well designed with plenty of space for table-side food service (which they do offer). There is also the convenience of a cashier's cage in the room, which will save the trouble of carrying your large wins way down to the casino floor. The chairs are substantial and comfortable for long evenings of play, although they lack the casters that Caesars has. They do have ShuffleMasters for all 22 tables, a definite plus. They have also replaced the horrible red felts they started with by standard green covers, a big improvement.

Trump Taj Mahal [Dec 2006]	Poker Room: 1-800-72-POKER(=76537) Direct, but only M-F, 9-5!
	About 50 tables, no longer the biggest with the expansion at the Borgta, but they do have "extra" space outside the normal room for tournaments. Omaha is commonly spread up to $5&10 - sometimes higher. Stud limits as low as $1-3. There is a separate sign-up area for the high limit games (including pot limit omaha high and $75&150 stud and holdem). The $5&10 stud is played with $0.50 ante, $2 bring-in, and first raise to $5. Comps are now given based on table time -- you need a Taj comp card. Don't forget to check in and out. The small no-limit games ($300 and $500 buy-in) are run from the low-limit sign up area. This makes it tough to listen for either a small no-limit game or a $10&20+ game at the same time. You can visit their web page at http://www.trumptaj.com.

Trump Taj Mahal
[Dec 2006]

Poker Room: 1-800-72-POKER(=76537) Direct, but only M-F, 9-5!

About 50 tables, no longer the biggest with the expansion at the Borgta, but they do have "extra" space outside the normal room for tournaments. Omaha is commonly spread up to $5&10 - sometimes higher. Stud limits as low as $1-3. There is a separate sign-up area for the high limit games (including pot limit omaha high and $75&150 stud and holdem). The $5&10 stud is played with $0.50 ante, $2 bring-in, and first raise to $5. Comps are now given based on table time -- you need a Taj comp card. Don't forget to check in and out.
The small no-limit games ($300 and $500 buy-in) are run from the low-limit sign up area. This makes it tough to listen for either a small no-limit game or a $10&20+ game at the same time.
You can visit their web page at http://www.trumptaj.com.

Resorts Casino Hotel [Mar 2008]	1-800-336-6378
	This small poker area has been moved from the main floor to an area behind the table games in the section to the right of the main entrance from the Boardwalk side. They now have only five tables, and only two were in play on a Saturday afternoon.

Bally's Park Place [Mar 2008]	Hotel: (800) 225-5977
	The biggest change is that this room has finally gone non-smoking. Because the ordinance requires that only 25% of gambling space can be smoking, I expect the management figured it was better to annoy smoking poker players rather than the gamblers they make their real money on. In any case, it is a change I welcome. 14 tables. Up the long escalator and through the Race book -- very little casual traffic. $5&10 stud is played with no ante, $2 bring-in, first raise to $7. $10&20 uses a $1 ante, $3 bring-in, first raise to $13. On the weekend, there are often two or three no-limit games ($300 max buy-in, $1,$3 blinds) with a must-move feeding them. The secondary room in the Wild Wild West had no tables when I checked in late March. I doubt they will reopen the room because it never had much business.

Bally's Park Place
[Mar 2008]

Hotel: (800) 225-5977

The biggest change is that this room has finally gone non-smoking. Because the ordinance requires that only 25% of gambling space can be smoking, I expect the management figured it was better to annoy smoking poker players rather than the gamblers they make their real money on. In any case, it is a change I welcome.
14 tables. Up the long escalator and through the Race book -- very little casual traffic. $5&10 stud is played with no ante, $2 bring-in, first raise to $7. $10&20 uses a $1 ante, $3 bring-in, first raise to $13. On the weekend, there are often two or three no-limit games ($300 max buy-in, $1,$3 blinds) with a must-move feeding them.
The secondary room in the Wild Wild West had no tables when I checked in late March. I doubt they will reopen the room because it never had much business.

Sands [Dec 2007]
	Alas, the casino is no more. But, we hope the new one rising in its place will have a new, new poker room.

Claridge [Apr 1996]	Hotel: (800) 257-8585
	They had a small room for a short while, but now it's gone. However, the Claridge is now part of Ballys, which is connected by a bridge.

Caesar's [Jul 2006]	Hotel: (800) 443-0104
	Caesars opened their attractive new room on Friday July 1st, 2005. Nine of the 24 tables have ShuffleMasters, which is a welcome feature. The chairs are comfortable and have casters, another good choice. The room is spacious enough to allow side tables -- I didn't see evidence that they offer food service, but they might in the future. For limit games, the rake is 10% to $4, while they are asking $5 in time per half-hour for the NLH $1,2 game ($300 max buy in) (this

Caesar's [Jul 2006]

Hotel: (800) 443-0104

Caesars opened their attractive new room on Friday July 1st, 2005. Nine of the 24 tables have ShuffleMasters, which is a welcome feature. The chairs are comfortable and have casters, another good choice. The room is spacious enough to allow side tables -- I didn't see evidence that they offer food service, but they might in the future. For limit games, the rake is 10% to $4, while they are asking $5 in time per half-hour for the NLH $1,2 game ($300 max buy in) (this

Trump Plaza [Mar 2008]	Hotel: (800) 677-7378
	One of the guards told me that the Plaza will open a room with automated dealers around Memorial Day, 2008. I peaked into the area in the East Tower that has been closed off, but could see no evidence of any construction. I do hope it happens, but we will have to wait and see. http://www.trumpplaza.com.

Tropicana [Mar 2005]	Poker Room: 1-888-POKER AC(=76537 22). Direct.
	Still one of my favorite places to play poker, the Trop has recently re-expanded their room up to about 40 tables. It remains to be seen how the opening of several new rooms in the city will affect them. Comps are handled through a special comp card (get it in the poker room). Each hour, a floorperson walks the room and scans the cards (leave your card on the table). Comps run from $.50 up to $2.11/hr. You can print your own comp in the poker room. Special room rates for players can be obtained by calling the poker room.

Tropicana
[Mar 2005]

Poker Room: 1-888-POKER AC(=76537 22). Direct.

Still one of my favorite places to play poker, the Trop has recently re-expanded their room up to about 40 tables. It remains to be seen how the opening of several new rooms in the city will affect them.
Comps are handled through a special comp card (get it in the poker room). Each hour, a floorperson walks the room and scans the cards (leave your card on the table). Comps run from $.50 up to $2.11/hr. You can print your own comp in the poker room.
Special room rates for players can be obtained by calling the poker room.

Atlantic City Hilton [Dec 2007]	Hotel: (800) 843-4726
	The Hilton reopened a very nice poker room with the current boom. The room is on the second floor at the opposite end of the casino from the Boardwalk. There are even a couple of windows. There are often small stakes tournaments and there usually several small No Limit Hold'em games going on, at least on the weekend.