Report: Playing Poker in Atlantic City

One Player on Where the Best Poker Playing is in AC

Guest author David Coughlin, a regular visitor of the Atlantic City rooms, shares his thoughts on his favorite places to play in the following entertaining article.

The best & pokeriest rooms in AC are definitely the Tropicana and the Trump Taj Mahal.

The Tropicana or Trop

The pink chip game at the Trop is signature. The crowd is pretty random, though. The Trop is also very popular for its cheap buy-in tourneys. On the nonpoker side, it has the best selection of restaurants in AC.

Trump Taj Mahal or Taj

You can’t beat the Taj for game selection. They recently had a two-way (O8/S8) $3/$6 game going mid-day on a Thursday. If you want to play it, there is probably a half-dozen other people who also want to play that game, and the Taj is great about getting it organized. Nonsmoking room is generally a plus. Downside is the chips are completely covered in crap.

Caesar's, Ballys, & the Sands

I skipped through the Caesar’s/Bally’s complex one day to get the comp card so I can also get free parking. The casino is midway between the Taj and Trop on the boardwalk. Poker rooms in both venues are hard to find, with small game selection. NLH and low-limit LHE mostly. Bally’s has a second area that they are using for tourneys that is in the Wild West part of the casino. The "Poker Arena" as it is dubbed at Caesars is “Now Featuring Texas Hold ‘Em.” I reckon that for now, they are picking up the people who don’t want to wait at the Trop and the Taj.

When I started looking for rooms to play in in AC, I scouted the Sands. Again, it is tucked away in the middle of nowhere. On a rockin’ Thursday night, they had three tables going.

The Borgata

Borgata is a beautiful room and soft. It attracts a cool crowd so the social part is a nice bonus. That said, the room is jammed from basically noon forward and you can spend a hour or two waiting for a seat. Probably best if you are staying there or don’t mind getting started early. There, you are likely to find all limits of hold ‘em and medium- to high-limit stud games. The chips are very clean and slick. I always end up spilling chips all over the place when I try to riffle them.