Atlantic City sucks!

[Preston]

Is it me, or does Atlantic City suck?

Most of the games there are 8 deck or CSM. The place is ****ing cold, mostly ghetto and the only ways to get there are New Jersey's pain in the ass toll roads and the gas stations where you can't even pump your own gas.

The only playable game is Borgata. In fact, that's the only casino there I consider to be worth my time.

And I hate Donald Trump too, and seeing his name on a quarter of the buildings pisses me off further.

[Automatic Monkey]

It does suck, but it is playable.

The conditions around the city and in the casinos I find to be awful. People are sullen and vulgar and this includes the dealers. However there are a lot of weak dealers that can be exploited through mispays, misunderstanding of the rules of the game (especially the BJ derivatives and carnival games) and poor card-handling skills.

In an environment like AC, 6D vs. 8D means jack-diddly-squat, so don't obsess with the Borgata but instead look all over the city for good pen if you are straight counting, and by all means concentrate on getting into games when you have good counts and out of games when you have bad ones. That's the key. There is no heat, in fact banning players is prohibited by law, so you can stand around all you want waiting for your count and then jump in.

Where did you see CSM's?

[21forme]

Originally Posted by Preston

Is it me, or does Atlantic City suck?

The place is ****ing cold, mostly ghetto and the only ways to get there are New Jersey's pain in the ass toll roads and the gas stations where you can't even pump your own gas.

Yes, it's cold in the winter, and hot and humid in the summer. So you should be glad someone else is pumping your gas. Speaking of gas, you can't beat Joisey prices. I paid $1.93/gal yesterday on Atlantic Ave., just before getting back on the AC Expwy. BTW, I don't pay tolls, I use an EZPass :D

Does it suck? Nah. It keeps me entertained. That's all that matters.

[Preston]

I got EZPass too :-) probably burned most of my account balance driving through this state.

Monkey --

I hear you about the sullen ploppies and dealers. I do find the dealers to be better than those in Vegas, though. I do like to talk to the dealer and just shoot the **** with them, but in Vegas every dealer we had was a douche or barely spoke English, with the exception of one. but I did get a dealer who literally paid me 2 to 1 on an insurance bet and forgot to take my initial wager away. :-)

I was in AC a few months ago when I saw the CSM's. I don't remember specifically which casinos I saw them in, but I remember them being in a couple of them. I remember Borgata being my favorite place there and that is where I went. The World Poker Tour was in town this weekend with a $10k buy-in tourney and the famous players from Vegas were playing there. I got my picture taken with Scotty Nguyen. :-)

Wonging proved to be a pain in the ass though, so I stuck to jumping in at the top of a shuffle and wonging out when the count went negative.

[Automatic Monkey]

You may have been confusing the shufflemonkeys they have at Trump Marina and the lower stakes area of Borgata with CSM's. According to CBJN there were no CSM's int he city as of January. All the 6:5 SD games in town also use shufflemonkeys, if I remember correctly.

Wonging out is perfectly good strategy and that's what I usually use. Pain in the ass is right, this game is never easy. But I agree that Borgata has the nicest atmosphere.

[shadroch]

Yes,the Jersey Shore is cold in the winter. And dark at night.
How unexpected. I used to go there weekly from NYC,and hardly ever drove.
Rode the Greyhound,slept or read on the bus and got casino bonuses that came close to paying for the trip.It used to run me about $7 a visit roundtrip. Its gone up a bit but Tropicana has a buy ten,get one free program that saves you even more.
A bunch of good places to eat,easy comps and friendly staff.
Yes,its mostly 8 decks,but not all 8 deck games are equal.
If you are there to gamble,stay out of the ghetto. Its easy enough to avoid.In fact,you have to go out of your way to even see the rough neighborhoods these days.And they are nothing compared to North Las Vegas,or the wrong side of Biloxi.

[ChefJJ]

Hey Shadrock,

Where are your favorite haunts in AC? We're heading there for the first time since moving out this way in a couple of weeks. Obviously, the Borgata sounds like a good place, but what others do you prefer?

Thanks

[shadroch]

I used to play BJ at the Sands,but its gone now.
I'm heading down tomorrow to build up my comps at the Showboat,but BJ there is very poor.However,its 5X points day,I have $58 in cashback,$50 in free slot play and they will add $50 in comps as soon as I swipe my card in the kiosk. My GF has the same,except a bit less cash.
They usually give 1 reward point for every $5 you cycle in slots,or $10 in video poker.On a 5X day,its 1/5th the regular days.
An afternoon of slow video poker and a bit of slots will add about $75 to our comp balance,just about enough to offset our losses,but we'll be using their money to begin with.Then we'll have a nice buffet dinner( using a postcard,so it doesn't come off our comp balance)take in the 8PM Rat Pack show and head back to NYC.
Some people like to laugh at machine players,but the fact of the matter is that casinos comp a 25 cent VP player better than a green chipper,and if you know how to work the system,you get the best of both worlds.

[ScottH]

Originally Posted by shadroch

I used to play BJ at the Sands,but its gone now.
I'm heading down tomorrow to build up my comps at the Showboat,but BJ there is very poor.However,its 5X points day,I have $58 in cashback,$50 in free slot play and they will add $50 in comps as soon as I swipe my card in the kiosk. My GF has the same,except a bit less cash.
They usually give 1 reward point for every $5 you cycle in slots,or $10 in video poker.On a 5X day,its 1/5th the regular days.
An afternoon of slow video poker and a bit of slots will add about $75 to our comp balance,just about enough to offset our losses,but we'll be using their money to begin with.Then we'll have a nice buffet dinner( using a postcard,so it doesn't come off our comp balance)take in the 8PM Rat Pack show and head back to NYC.
Some people like to laugh at machine players,but the fact of the matter is that casinos comp a 25 cent VP player better than a green chipper,and if you know how to work the system,you get the best of both worlds.

5X points day sounds pretty sweet. You could play a spread low enough to play a break-even game and just make money from the comps. Or find a full-pay dueces wild machine and sit there all day.

I always timed the visits to my casino on double points days and it really helped build comps. Since I've left they now have triple point days. But 5X days would be just great!

[shadroch]

It would be great if such a thing as FPDW existed in AC,but it doesn't. Even NSUDW is extinct.
With the dinner and show,its hard to lose much on a 3X or 5X day.