Pinnacle kills Atlantic City Project (Press of AC)

While not shocked at the The Press of Atlantic City is reporting (link), definitely mad and annoyed.

All I keep thinking about is all those people that lost their jobs because Sands had to be torn down. Pinnacle riddled the city with its ugly billboards and promised a new and grand casino, only to leave an empty pit.

Well, how does Pinnacle answer?

Michael Phelps at the Borgata

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps is competing in today's heads up tournament at the Borgata. He's one of the few notable faces in the field, including poker pro Gavin Smith.

Phelps has only won something like 14 gold medals ... but can he win a poker tournament?

Second round of the heads-up double-elimination event begins at 1 p.m.

Check out the Borgata Poker blog for ongoing updates.

Ray Kot tournament prizes won by Taj employees

According to The Press of Atlantic City, the top prizes for the Ray Kot Memorial Fund were won by Taj Mahal employees (link).


Trump Taj Mahal employees swept the top prizes at Sunday night’s Ray Kot Poker Open, which raised money for the family of its namesake, a Taj supervisor shot dead at work last year.

Poker supervisor Victor Chea won first place: a trip to the Super Bowl. Second place, a 50-inch television, went to floor supervisor Frank Fernandez. Dealer Kaylin Vocci won a Super Bowl party for 10 in a Taj luxury suite for finishing third.

Entry fees raised more than $25,000 for the education fund of St. Augustine Prep junior Drew Kot, the only child of Ray and Nancy Kot.

Drunk angle

Last two nights I got a taste of drunks or so-called drunks playing poker in Atlantic City.

On Saturday, there were many more women in the poker rooms because of the women's tournament at the Borgata on Sunday. I started playing at 1 a.m. and left at 4 a.m., and more than doubled up. There were three women on the game, besides myself, at the Showboat.

All drunk.

All looking to give away money.

Sunday was more interesting because there was a guy at Caesars with a cup for over three hours. The entire time he spoke about how drunk he was, meanwhile, his cup of ice turned into sludge as he supposedly drank Hennesey and Red Bull (ugh!).

It was funny though because he kept trying pretend was drunk and looking for a crazy angle.

And, the people on the table believed him.

I love drunks. Real drunks. Not the goofy dudes who try to pretend they are.

Borgata Poker Open updates

If you're interested in checking out what happening throughout the Borgata Poker Open, check their blog (link).

They do a great job updating every event and have great posts about any side events or action. These guys do a heck of a job for the duration of the Borgata Winter Poker Open.

Release: Borgata Poker Winter Open Draw 1,563 Players

FIFTH ANNUAL BORGATA WINTER OPEN DRAWS 1,563 PLAYERS GENERATING OVER $500,000 IN PRIZE MONEY Championship Event, January 31 – February 5 Features Guaranteed $2 Million Prize Pool

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (January 21, 2010) - Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa launched its fifth annual Borgata Winter Open (BWO) yesterday, drawing 1,563 players to the opening event. The 17-day poker tournament series will culminate with the $2 Million Guaranteed Borgata Winter Open Championship Event, January 31 – February 5. The large player turnout brought a number of notable players to Borgata's tournament floor. Pro players Charlie Marchese, Joey Brooks, Kelly Armentrout, Gordan Eng, Jason Young, Al Riccobonno, Matt Stout, David Inselberg, David Zeitlin, Lisa Pickler, Craig Klein, Svetlana Gromenkova, Todd Robello, Eric Siegel, Gordon Eng, Jason Young, Josh Paul, Trevor "tremomey" Savage and Gene Castro took to the felt over the course of the first two flights with their sights set on the champion's trophy and the elusive Borgata Winter Open title.  The first event will award the final nine players at least $10,000, with first place taking home $99,919 and the crystal, engraved trophy. Jason Young, professional poker player and WSOP bracelet winner, is among the remaining players vying for prize money. 'I always come to Borgata for the action.  When it comes to value for your tournament buy-in, it's hard to find another place that compares.  The structures and the staff are the best in the business. They actually take the time to talk to players in order to better the games.  Borgata is the best!" On Thursday, in addition to Event #1 action continuing, the tournament floor will also entertain Event #2, a $500 No Limit tournament that has traditionally experienced strong attendance, and Event #3, a $350 Pot Limit Omaha tournament.  The weekend rounds out with a $1,000 No Limit tournament, a $350 H.O.S.E. mixed event, a $260 Ladies No Limit and a $300 No Limit re-entry tournament.

Ray Kot Poker Open Tournament coming to the Taj

Ray Kot was a Taj Mahal employee that was killed in the casino by a customer. The Taj is holding the Ray Kot Poker Open Tournament from Jan. 18 to Jan. 24 in the casino's poker room.

Jan. 24 was Kot's birthday.

Qualifying satellite tournaments will be held each hour from noon to midnight on Monday, Jan. 23.

Donations from the event will  benefit the Ray Kot Memorial Fund. The memorial fund benefits Kot's only son Drew and will be used for his education and support.

Anyone can play in this tournament, including key-license Atlantic City employees.

The grand prize is an all-expense-paid trip to the 2010 Super Bowl on Feb. 7 in Miami, Fla., or the cash equivalent, which includes airfare, two nights of deluxe hotel accommodations, food credit of $250 per person and two tickets to the game.

Second place receives a 50-inch LCD TV and third gets a Super Bowl party for 10 in the Luxury Suite in the new Chairman Tower at the Taj. Additional prizes will be awarded to anyone that makes the final table of the championship round.

NJ residents may not have to leave house to play poker

Poker News had a story on its website last week about a proposed bill that would allow NJ casinos to run online poker rooms (link).

New Jersey already does something similar with horse racing. NJ residents are allowed to bet on races over the phone with the state taking a little cut, of course.

The bill proposed by Sen. Raymond Lesniak would only consider brick and mortar casinos for licensing. This is likely a way to try and boost Atlantic City's revenues since most of the casinos have been losing money.

However, what does this do for this poker players who like to set on the felt and play the game?

It probably won't change much. While this would be legalized on the state level, poker players who want to play on the Internet, already are. With Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars and all the other available online poker software, NJ residents already have this opportunity waiting for them.

I don't see why Atlantic City casinos would want to keep players at home either.

There are some poker players who pocket their winnings and never spend another dime in the casino. But there are many, many more who cash in and head straight for blackjack or slots to try and get more money, only to lose it all.

There have been many nights where I've seen players win a ton on the poker game, go play blackjack to lose it all and, then, come back to the poker table to recoup their loss. There isn't a huge advantage for the casinos to build up online poker unless they are looking for more branding.

Update: Here's a link to an article in The Press of Atlantic City. Apparently, more than just poker would be offered. 

Bad beat hit at Caesars

Check it out.

The Press of Atlantic City is reporting the bad beat jackpot of over a half million dollars was hit today at Caesars (link).

Atlantic City Press catches bad beat fever

The Press of Atlantic City had a recent article about the bad beat jackpot at Caesars.

The reporter caught on to the fact that there are many people in the room, but missed some key element to describe the craziness of the room.

The reporter doesn't describe how long the wait list or the fact that there are only $1/$2 no-limit games available. In addition, it doesn't say how long players are waiting for a game.

"It's a circus," said a less-than-thrilled Greg Rudolph, also of New York City, still waiting for a table. "It really is."

In that quote, it merely says Rudolph is still waiting. But how long? 10 minutes? One hour? Three hours? A day?

Nice to see the Atlantic City paper get a poker story in, but just needed a little something extra.

Where have the limit games gone?

At Caesars, while the bad beat jackpot raged around $500,000, there were no limit games being played. Just no-limit all the time.

It's unusual practice, but was done because of a group of players who were coming in and playing on the same game, according to a few sources.

The group of eight or nine players would open a new game or somehow end up on the same game on a $2/$4 limit. They would play just bad beat hands such as a quads or suited connectors. When the flop came down, if it was a potential bad beat hand, they would ensure there was at least $20 in the pot to qualify for the jackpot.

If not, they would just check it down.

And, they always tipped the dealer. That's an important component because, in my experience, as long as most dealers are being tipped, they don't care what's going on. That's most, but not all. Not the good ones.

Someone got wind of the collusion and shut down all limit games at Caesars while the BBJ is incredibly high.

Normally, I agree with the Borgata's practices ...

... but why did you get rid of 7-card stud from the Winter Poker Open?

Sigh.

The Borgata's winter tourney begins on Jan. 20 with a deep stack no limit, which has proved to be extremely popular (tournament schedule). There are all kings of games in the tournament, including a H.O.S.E. and Omaha/7-card stud rotation tourney.

However, there is no straight stud tournament, which I find incredibly disappointing. I understand that NL is every one's game of choice now and that the action players love Omaha, but what happened to all the stud love.

I'm not some old fogey either wishing for the days when stud reigned the card rooms. I'm not even 30 and love stud appreciate the game more than most people my age.

Borgata Poker Open is going to be successful regardless, but I just wish they would have kept the event.

Poker tourneys going on at the Taj

The Taj Mahal is kicking off 2010 with the New Year's Classic, which runs through the 18th. You can book your seats at www.ptseats.com

By clicking on the above link, you will also see what tournaments the Taj is running. There is a good mix of games from the popular NL Hold 'em to my personal favorite 7-card stud.

Most of the events will run you $300+$40, but the daily tournaments are about $50 and the Taj still has the midnight tourneys going on.

Release: First day of Harrahs's WSOP Circuit a success

The first day of the World Series of Poker circuit event in Atlantic City was a success, according to a release from Harrah's Resort.

Over 1,000 players came in for the $300 $40 NL event. Dante Magtoto won the event and $61,459.

Here's some play-by-play of the final table:

The final three players were seasoned poker veteran Massoud Nikjouian, 2009 Rincon Circuit Champion Dwyte Pilgrim and Dante Magtoto, a 28-year-old IT consultant who has been moonlighting on the felt for the past few years.

Pilgrim, the short-stack of the three, fell short of earning his third WSOP Circuit ring after his Ac-5c did not improve against the pocket queens of Magtoto.

Heads-up was between Magtoto and Nikjouian. Magtoto, with about a million chip lead, proposed a deal with his opponent to split the remaining $90,000 of the prize pool 50/40 with the ring going to Magtoto. Nikjouian suggested the two step outside of the ballroom to further discuss the deal. A few minutes later, both players to the table visibly upset.

Apparently, negotiations had fallen through and the two decided to play it out. The final hand of the night saw both players all-in pre-flop; Nikjouian's A-6 off vs. the Qh-9h of Magtoto. The flop came 2s-7h-ks. A queen on the turn gave Magtoto the lead, which held after a seven hit the river, earning him $61,459 for first place and a WSOP Circuit Event ring.

There was a little more than just the Circuit events going on. Harrah's took advantage of the rivalry between New York and Philadelphia to pit poker players from those cities against each other.

Alongside event #1, a battle for east coast supremacy brewed at the feature
table where the annual Philly vs. New York World Series of Poker Showdown was
being held. The event, sponsored by ESPN Radio 950 Philadelphia and ESPN Radio
1050 New York pits poker players from the two cities against one another, adding
to a long list of cross-town rivalries. Philadelphia, whose Phillies lost the
MLB Championship to the New York Yankees in 6 games of the World Series, saw
their hopes for redemption shattered when Robert Ricci, a divorce lawyer
representing New York took down the event.

The WSOP Circuit event runs through Dec. 20.

The worst dealers in Atlantic City

It's difficult to condemn an entire group for the actions of one person. However, when it comes to the poker dealers at Caesars, it's more than that. As a whole, they are some of the most unprofessional, sloppy dealers I have ever witnessed.

And, this was two years ago when I stopped playing there because of that reason.

Recently, a close friend of mine, MT, has started playing there. He went twice last week and each time was worse than the last. If it wasn't MT telling me the story, I would have had a difficult time of believing it happened.

MT sat on a $1-$2 NL game at Caesars where the bad beat was around $270K. He's playing, wins a pot and when he was about to throw Barbara (that's her real name) a tip, she says to him "nice hand."

There are massive pet peeves I have and when it comes to poker, a dealer saying 'nice hand' is one of mine. The dealer is supposed to remain neutral. This isn't blackjack where you are playing against the house. Big pet peeve of MT's too.

Instead of throwing her the chip, he just stacks it on top of his pile and says, 'What about that was nice for him?" referring to the man who lost the hand. She looks at him with a blank stare and according to MT, started to look visibly flustered.

About three hands later, Barbara decides the game is over even though a new player is being brought to the table. She tells a floor person and says, the game is over and that they should find six seats around the room. MT says, how is the game breaking? We didn't ask for it. She said, this game is over.

Barbara splits the deck and then starts suiting while the players are left to find six seats around the room.

So MT ends up on another game. About an hour later Barbara is now the dealer on this eight-handed game. She's using her usual tactics of 'nice hand' and 'nice call' to pump players for tips and subsequently is getting stiffed, especially by MT who has won three pots with her.

Remember, this is an eight-handed game. Because MT stiffs her, she starts short-pitching the cards to him as he is sitting on the end.

MT wins another pot and now plays the game back. Rather than throw his cards toward the much, he just slides them over to seat 4, so she has to come and reach for them.

MT says: "I knew you could do it."
Barbara" I have no idea what you're talking about.
MT: Sure, you don't.

As a floor person is walking by, Barbara says to the floor, "Hey, do you have seats around the room, this game is breaking."

MT wasn't going to allow this to happen again. 1. it's an eight-handed game and 2. it's 6 a.m. and no one wants to move.

So, MT pipes up, "We're good right here. No one wants to move. Don't worry about the game breaking."

After she gets off the game, a few players voice their displeasure about her. One woman said, she was surprised the dealer tried to break up the game. Another asked about the little games going on between Barbara and MT.

Long story short: Nothing has changed at Caesars and I won't go there any time soon.

Nice call by me.

Lots of Atlantic City casino news

Over the past week, plenty of news has been dribbling in about some of the Atlantic City casinos and ventures that affect them.

- Latest update on high stakes poker player Andy Beal's attempts to gain control of the three Trump casinos (link).

- ACES, the direct train from New York City to Atlantic City will have less trains during the winter season because of low ridership (link).

- Atlantic City makes plans for Revel's tax payments (link).

Article from The Press of Atlantic City on the U.S. Poker Championships

ATLANTIC CITY - A Rumson man won the United States Poker Championship at
the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, besting 153 other contestants in the four-day
tournament to be televised on the Spike Network, a casino official said
Wednesday.

William Brindise took home $261,800 for his efforts, after beating Men
"The Master" van Nyungen in head-to-head play at the final table, poker director
Tom Gitto said. Nyungen won $138,600, and third-place finisher Eric Ladny, of
Mercerville, pocketed $77,000.

The final table of the event will air on the Spike network in January,
Gitto said. The Taj Mahal has a five-year contract with Compass Entertainment of
Las Vegas to produce and air the broadcast of the U.S. Poker Championship.

Looking for a little help

I'm working on an article for a newspaper about poker players. I am looking for someone who made the attempt to be a professional poker player for some reason or another, it didn't work out.

This isn't me trying to point and laugh. I'm working on a story on how difficult it is to become a poker player and dealing with hardships that you didn't think about before.

If you get a chance, email me at pokerinac at gmail (dot) com

Thanks.

U.S. Poker Championship main event tomorrow

There's still time to make it down to Atlantic City to the 5K main event at the U.S. Poker Championships at the Taj Mahal.

It's a great structure. Start with 30K in chips and many, many levels.

The TV final table will be on Tuesday, which will eventually air on Spike TV.

So, whose going down?

U.S. Poker Championships back on T.V.

After a one-year absence, the United States Poker Championship at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort is returning to national television.

The Taj Mahal signed a five-year deal with Las Vegas-based Compass Entertainment LLC to produce and broadcast the poker tournament on the Spike Network, the casino announced.

The tournament began Monday and runs through Nov. 24. The event culminates with a $5,000 buy-in No Limit Hold'em Championship starting Nov. 20.