Borgata Poker Room Overview:
The Borgata opened a beautiful, brand-new poker room in 2006, boasting 85 tables that are open 24/7. You can find tons of Texas Hold’em poker, seven-card stud, and a few Omaha poker games, with limit games starting at $2/4 and no-limit games starting at $1/2. There are plenty of higher limit games from $20/40 up to $300/600 going regularly in the high-stakes area in the back of the room. There is also a separated tournament area in the back, where they hold their regular tournaments.
Borgata Poker Room Details:
The vast majority of tables at the Borgata spread Texas Hold'em, with plenty of both no-limit and limit tables. There is some seven-card stud, Omaha, and I even saw a $300/600 HOSE game (like HORSE but without the Razz) being spread. Every table has an automatic card-shuffler, which is a great feature that allows a lot more hands dealt per hour.
Getting Started at the Borgata Poker Room:
Go to the main desk at the front of the room and tell the host what poker game you'd like to play and at what limits. They’ll add you to the electronic queue system, which is very clear and easy to read. You can add your initials or name to as many queues as you’d like, and I recommend at least two, since some lists move faster than others.
The Borgata’s Poker Tournaments:
In addition to hosting World Poker Tour events, the Borgata holds Sit & Gos at various levels and daily no-limit Hold'em poker tournaments every day, usually twice a day, with an 11 AM morning tournament with a buy-in if $50 and a 7 PM evening tournament with a buy-in of $100.
The exceptions are: On Fridays there's just one $250 evening no-limit tournament, and on Sundays, the morning tournament will cost you $100, and the evening one is $50.
The Borgata:
Web site has more info on the poker going's on.
Borgata Poker: Overall Impressions & Review:
The Borgata's new room is great and solves my main problem with their old room: not enough tables. The new poker room is easily the classiest in Atlantic City -- more like a Las Vegas Poker room than any other -- and the dealers are top-notch. The room is still experiencing what I saw as a few growing pains, as it took a really long time for Sit n Gos to get started, and I for one did not hear my name called for mine, even though I was standing right in front of the desk. While fun, the Sit n Gos 15-minute levels go too fast -- you start with $2000 in chips and the blinds are $25/50. In a half hour, you're at $100/200 with $25 antes, which makes it more a game of luck than skill.
Meanwhile, their large tournaments are very well-run, especially the larger World Poker Tour events, which they run satellites to, and if you happen to be around while one is happening, are fun to go and watch.
In general, the room's a good place to go to participate in higher-stakes action, and is definitely the best place to go to feel like a high-roller. The whole property is beautiful, and the crowd is mixed between sharks and fish. Now that the poker room is on the main floor of the casino instead of downstairs, there's a larger flow and mix of people, which is a definite good thing.
