Took what was mainly a scouting trip yesterday, to check conditions in AC as I hadn't played there in a while. I walked the boardwalk from Hilton to Showboat, checking every casino and walked the marina district, Trump Marina, harrah's and Borgata. I wanted to share some observations.
Caught the first train of the day into AC, arriving at the Hilton at daybreak. The sky was clear and there was a brillant sunrise over the ocean. Probably the highlight of the day. lol
Wanted to check out these double deck games at Hilton that I have read so much (too much...lol) about here. High limit room was empty, so I watched the game on main floor for 20 minutes. $10, 60% pen. Nothing special from a strictly counting perspective. There were 2 people playing. What was odd was that there were 2 pit people working. One in center of pit acting bored (it was 6:15am!) and the other standing a foot from the dealer closely monitoring this game. He appeared to be watching the dealer as much as the player. (wonder why?) lol He made eye contact with me a few times in the few minutes I was standing there, I guess wondering what I was up to. Too much scrutiny for me (how odd for the Hilton..lol) so I moved on.
Not much new at the Trop. One of only a handful of AC casinos still offering all S17 games. On to Trump Plaza. Empty, dirty, dark and dingy. Ok nothing new there. lol Walking through Caesars pains me. Once, one of my favorites, now destryed by HET. Bally's is another. Bally's has the larges casino floor space in AC with Park Place, Wild West and Claridge, but tables at Wild West and Claridge were closed. For the number of people those whole areas, slots and all might as well have been closed.
Continued walking north on the boardwalk, and I want to say what terrible condition the boardwalk is in. Rotting wood, nails and screws sticking up. Be careful walking! Several Nor'Easter storms over the winter didn't help. Many of the wooden walkways to the beach were destroyed and/or washed away. Speaking of the beack....there isn't any!! Apparently the expensive beach restoration project of a few years ago, where they dredged sand from the ocean floor to replenish the beach, failed miserably. The ocean comes right up to the boardwalk in some areas. Resorts and Trump Taj Mahal in particular are only feet away from the ocean. IMO, they should be greatly concerned. I recently saw a picture of AC from 60 years ago, where they had wide beaches similar to Wildwood. What happened?? (for those of you not familiar, Wildwood is 45 minutes south of AC and has mile wide beaches.
Continuing north on boardwalk, many shops are boarded up, and I don't mean just for the season.
Across from the Casino Control Commision Building several store are boarded up and burned out from a fire set by homeless living under the boardwalk. There have been a number of fires set by homeless in last few years.
Anyway, Resorts. I am not going to go into specific BJ conditions other than to say Resorts continues to be very underrated. One of the top BJ casino, IMO. Too bad they are one of two AC properties to be rumored to be on death's door.
Ate lunch at my favorite burger place anywhere, appropriately named "Burger" at the Taj before catching the Trump shuttle to The Marina area, where I then walked from Trump Marina to harrah's (small h because of my disdain for HET) and on to Borgata. Borgata really is a class place. By far the class of AC.
I only played about 80 hands of blackjack during this 8 hour trip, but it was more of a scouting mission for the rest of the month. Overall, AC BJ remains about the same. A few, what I consider playable games.
One bright note for those of you always inquiring about low limit games. Of course Resorts had the "retro" $2 game with a 25 cent anti, but I am not endosing that crap! They did however have 2 additional $5 table at 11 am (weekday) and both were dealer stand 17. In addition, Taj Mahal, Trump Marina and Borgata all had $5 tables. Both Trump properties were H17. Showboat used to always have a $5 table, which I did not notice. I don't play at that level, so I may have just missed it.
Caught the first train of the day into AC, arriving at the Hilton at daybreak. The sky was clear and there was a brillant sunrise over the ocean. Probably the highlight of the day. lol
Wanted to check out these double deck games at Hilton that I have read so much (too much...lol) about here. High limit room was empty, so I watched the game on main floor for 20 minutes. $10, 60% pen. Nothing special from a strictly counting perspective. There were 2 people playing. What was odd was that there were 2 pit people working. One in center of pit acting bored (it was 6:15am!) and the other standing a foot from the dealer closely monitoring this game. He appeared to be watching the dealer as much as the player. (wonder why?) lol He made eye contact with me a few times in the few minutes I was standing there, I guess wondering what I was up to. Too much scrutiny for me (how odd for the Hilton..lol) so I moved on.
Not much new at the Trop. One of only a handful of AC casinos still offering all S17 games. On to Trump Plaza. Empty, dirty, dark and dingy. Ok nothing new there. lol Walking through Caesars pains me. Once, one of my favorites, now destryed by HET. Bally's is another. Bally's has the larges casino floor space in AC with Park Place, Wild West and Claridge, but tables at Wild West and Claridge were closed. For the number of people those whole areas, slots and all might as well have been closed.
Continued walking north on the boardwalk, and I want to say what terrible condition the boardwalk is in. Rotting wood, nails and screws sticking up. Be careful walking! Several Nor'Easter storms over the winter didn't help. Many of the wooden walkways to the beach were destroyed and/or washed away. Speaking of the beack....there isn't any!! Apparently the expensive beach restoration project of a few years ago, where they dredged sand from the ocean floor to replenish the beach, failed miserably. The ocean comes right up to the boardwalk in some areas. Resorts and Trump Taj Mahal in particular are only feet away from the ocean. IMO, they should be greatly concerned. I recently saw a picture of AC from 60 years ago, where they had wide beaches similar to Wildwood. What happened?? (for those of you not familiar, Wildwood is 45 minutes south of AC and has mile wide beaches.
Continuing north on boardwalk, many shops are boarded up, and I don't mean just for the season.
Across from the Casino Control Commision Building several store are boarded up and burned out from a fire set by homeless living under the boardwalk. There have been a number of fires set by homeless in last few years.Anyway, Resorts. I am not going to go into specific BJ conditions other than to say Resorts continues to be very underrated. One of the top BJ casino, IMO. Too bad they are one of two AC properties to be rumored to be on death's door.
Ate lunch at my favorite burger place anywhere, appropriately named "Burger" at the Taj before catching the Trump shuttle to The Marina area, where I then walked from Trump Marina to harrah's (small h because of my disdain for HET) and on to Borgata. Borgata really is a class place. By far the class of AC.
I only played about 80 hands of blackjack during this 8 hour trip, but it was more of a scouting mission for the rest of the month. Overall, AC BJ remains about the same. A few, what I consider playable games.
One bright note for those of you always inquiring about low limit games. Of course Resorts had the "retro" $2 game with a 25 cent anti, but I am not endosing that crap! They did however have 2 additional $5 table at 11 am (weekday) and both were dealer stand 17. In addition, Taj Mahal, Trump Marina and Borgata all had $5 tables. Both Trump properties were H17. Showboat used to always have a $5 table, which I did not notice. I don't play at that level, so I may have just missed it.
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