Atlantic city advice

A buddy of mine and I are planning on riding up to Atlantic City the first weekend in April. This will be the first time either one of us have played in a casino so I was looking for some advice.

First of all, which casino in Atlantic city might be the best to stay/play at. We're only going to stay for one night so I'd rather us stay wherever we plan on playing at. We're really only interested in playing hold'em. So I'm wondering which place has the best poker room, rakes, etc.

Also general tips on how to pick good tables to play at, how much to tip the dealer, etc.

We' pretty stoked. We both have played a lot at local games and done online gaming, but this is the first time either of us has played at a casino. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Taj is the weakest room in Atlantic City, it is the most know so most of the bad players play there. The room are not to expensive either, all you do is sign up for the game you want at the registration deck.

as for tipping dealer it depends where you are playing and how much the pot was. A general rule is $1 for normal size pot, If the pot gets to like over $300 then I might tip a little bit more.

If you are playing like 1/2 NL then there will be alot of people that really are like you and its one of their 1st times playing so dont worry if you act out of turn or something. Only a complete jerk would make a big deal about it.

i used to like the tropicana but this was years go. it is a older casino but i never left there without winning something

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out the Taj for sure. Any idea what the rake structure is like? Thanks again.

What is the cheapest NL game there? Cheapest SnG? I haven't played a casino before...just some local clubs. Recomended starting cash? I'm planning a trip this summer and I know better than to take moe than I need.

If you are interested in playing tournaments see this link.

One other question about casino play. Do you need to take cash to the cashier to buy chips or can you use a credit/debit card? Also when you cash out if you can use credit/debit if they can return this back to your card. While I'll be far from a "high roller" I just don't like to carry cash unless I have to. Thanks.

The Taj is a great room to start out in. It's a good size and there's usually a good crowd there. The rake it 4% to a max of $4. Some 1/2 games can get fairly big and I've left a table there with over $1000 many times. It's really easy to pick out the fish from my experience so try to play them as much as possible. They have sit and gos going on regularly from 80-200 buy ins and there's a 6:15 tourney that's usually 60-100 buy in. They also have a "midnight maddness" tourney where they give you 12k in chips with 25/50 blinds but they go up every 12 min. Thats a lot of fun and usually brings in a lot of really drunk people that are easy to take out. I almost always play at the Taj unless i'm with a big group of friends.

I don't like the Borgota so much. It's almost to rich of a place to play and the 1/2 game plays like a 2/5 sometimes and gets really expensive really fast. And the 2/5 game is crazy. I've been at that table with a standard preflop raise of 30-50. The rake is the same as the Taj for the 1/2 tables but in higher stakes you basically rent your seat by paying one BB with each new dealer. I really don't like this form of rake so I try not to play there. The best part about the Borgota are the cocktail waitresses. They're all amazingly hot and they uniform they wear is.....well you'll see.

Harris has a small but nice poker room, but I've only player there once in a low stakes limit game that was short handed (it was 3 or 4 in the morning after some 2/5)


I've also heard a lot of good things about Sands. Good tourneys and a decent cash game but I think it's where a lot of older people go. Not the type of crowd i want to play cards with.



As for where to stay, i would find a hotel that's in the city but not in a casino. It's a lot cheaper and there's really not to much difference in the rooms.

GOOD LUCK!