Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

A group of us are driving to Atlantic City for the A10 championship at Boardwalk Hall from Mar. 7 - Mar 10. We will be there mainly for the basketball games and poker, so shopping, restaurants, other table games are a non-issue. I want the trip to be planned from the viewpoint of the poker/sports fan. And I want it to be as cheap as possible so we can lose more money playing poker. We will probably need room for Wed through Friday. I have a couple of questions.

1. Which casino hotel is closest to Boardwalk Hall, and does it matter? Are there several within the same distance? Which are they?

2. Should we stay in a casino hotel, or some other? I have heard AC is not so safe, and thought we should probably stay in a casino hotel for this reason. am I being paranoid? Can anyone recomend safe cheaper accomodations?

3. Is it easy to get around in AC? As easy as Vegas?

4. Poker rates: I called the Trop today, and they really confused me about poker rates. The lady in the pokerroom basically told me we had to play a certain amount in advance of the trip and even then there would be no guarantee that a rate would be available. It didnt make sense to me, but then again, I am a rookie at this. Who should I contact for a poker rate at which casino, and what should I epxect it to require? BTW, most of the group will be playing low-limt (3/6 to 5/10) in case it matter for where we want to get our poker rate. And we do plan on playing at several different casinos once the required hours are taken care of.

Whoever helps the most can expect a free dinner that week. Thanks!

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

1) Any casino will be fine. ANY. AC sports frequent mini busses (Jitneys) that cost a buck fifty or two. They are used to dumb tourist questions and will zip you all over cheap. Taxies are also available, but the Jitney is the way to go when possible.

2) Considering I’ve been punched out by a woman there (not as interesting a story as it appears), the people there know to avoid the tourists, it’s the cities life blood. Just stay out of their areas chucko. The boardwalk at 3AM is safe.

3) Poker room rates are special rates for special rooms they give to previous players. Same deal goes for any gambler in any casino, once you visit them and pay full freight for a room the rate gets cut way down for non-premium days (most weekdays). If they don’t have a special rate room available you don’t get the rate.

Get lots of player cards when there. Whoever pays for the room will get the special rate NEXT TIME they go.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

[ QUOTE ]
1) Any casino will be fine. ANY. AC sports frequent mini busses (Jitneys) that cost a buck fifty or two. They are used to dumb tourist questions and will zip you all over cheap. Taxies are also available, but the Jitney is the way to go when possible.

2) Considering I’ve been punched out by a woman there (not as interesting a story as it appears), the people there know to avoid the tourists, it’s the cities life blood. Just stay out of their areas chucko. The boardwalk at 3AM is safe.

3) Poker room rates are special rates for special rooms they give to previous players. Same deal goes for any gambler in any casino, once you visit them and pay full freight for a room the rate gets cut way down for non-premium days (most weekdays). If they don’t have a special rate room available you don’t get the rate.

Get lots of player cards when there. Whoever pays for the room will get the special rate NEXT TIME they go.

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Since it is safe, do you think there is any reason to spend the extra money to stay in a casino hotel, or should we just look for some cheaper alternative?

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

1. If you want walking distance access to Boardwalk Hall, you need to be in a hotel close to the boardwalk, not a hotel in the Marina District (Borgata, Harrah's Trump Marina). I don't have any specific recommendations for hotels. Trump Plaza is the closest hotel to Boardwalk Hall. Claridge, Caesar's, Bally's, and Tropicana are close.

3. The only good transportation options are jitneys and cabs. Harrah's now offers a free shuttle between their AC casinos (Showboat, Harrah's, Bally's, Clardige, Caesar's) if you have a player's card. The jitney is $2 and a taxi ride is $11 max anywhere in Atlantic City.

4. You need prior play usually to get a poker rate.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

Since you're going to AC during the week, the rack rates at the casino hotels shouldn't be too bad.

You shouldn't really have to worry about cabs and jitneys, unless you want to go really far. Walking the boardwalk is fine, even at night. It is quite a walk from Taj to Trop, so maybe you want to hop in a cab for that, but you want to stay near the middle of the boardwalk. Definitely need a cab/jitney if you want to hit up the Borg.

78suited.com is a good website to look at for hotels, restaurants, travel, etc.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

Hey Rook,

If you want to get a good idea of where all of the poker rooms are located in AC take a look at this map on The Poker Atlas. It may help you decide where you want to stay.

http://www.thepokeratlas.com/state/new-jersey/

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

IMO, the Trop poker rate is the best combination of room value, attainability, and quality of poker in AC. (The Borg is my favorite casino/poker room, but there's no chance of getting the poker rate if you're not a balla.) If there are rooms available at the Trop at the poker rate, you can get them during weekdays without prior experience. You need prior playing experience to qualify for the poker rate for the weekends. You'll need to play 4 hours a day while you are there to earn/maintain the poker rate. Even if you qualify, there are only a certain number of rooms available at the poker rate, so if you don't reserve it early enough, they might be booked. Shouldn't be a problem if you book now.

If possible, go to AC for a weekend in advance of your trip, play at least 4 hours each day at the Trop (make sure to get a poker card). It doesn't matter where you stay that weekend. That will establish your prior play and should qualify you for the whole week of your trip. The rates will probably be in the $59 to $69 range for the weekdays and $89 to $129 range for the weekends.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

stay in a casino hotel - check here for locations

ac map

the cheaper hotels outside AC are dumps and not worth the hassle - you didnt say how many were in your group but if you split up then walking distance is a must. caesars and ballys should be less than $100 a night. play where you stay to start - you may be able to get the poker rate adjusted at check out, you have to ask

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

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Since it is safe, do you think there is any reason to spend the extra money to stay in a casino hotel, or should we just look for some cheaper alternative?

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Cheaper means travel, the cheaper (and yes dumpier) places are just out of town. Probably safe (in spite of the dead hookers stacked out back) but I didn't mention them as I got the feeling you wouldn't have a car.

I've never stayed there, but a bed while I'm sleeping is a bed. I'd have no trouble making the 10 min commute everyday.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

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[ QUOTE ]
Since it is safe, do you think there is any reason to spend the extra money to stay in a casino hotel, or should we just look for some cheaper alternative?

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Cheaper means travel, the cheaper (and yes dumpier) places are just out of town. Probably safe (in spite of the dead hookers stacked out back) but I didn't mention them as I got the feeling you wouldn't have a car.

I've never stayed there, but a bed while I'm sleeping is a bed. I'd have no trouble making the 10 min commute everyday.

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We will in fact have a car there. I was looking at a map, is one off-boardwalk area nicer than any other? It looks like the area around the Borgata may not be so populated. How long is the drive from Borgata to the boardwalk, and is there parking readily available?

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

borgata<1M from boardwalk - plenty of parking if you have $5. you didnt say how many in your group but if its 4 then you have to ask yourself is it worth $7 apiece to risk your life on the outskirts of AC instead of staying at a casino? this isnt vegas the [censored]/unsafe hotels are not necessarily grouped in one location.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

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borgata<1M from boardwalk - plenty of parking if you have $5. you didnt say how many in your group but if its 4 then you have to ask yourself is it worth $7 apiece to risk your life on the outskirts of AC instead of staying at a casino? this isnt vegas the [censored]/unsafe hotels are not necessarily grouped in one location.

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I found a rate of $700 for 4 nights at Harrahs Atlantic City, the one by Borgata. What do you think of this hotel, not necessarily for the poker (if there is any) but for the other saftey concerns? Thanks again for all your help. There are 4 in the group.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

that hotel is fine - all the major casinos are "safe". the only downside is you will be using the car/cabs for everything. i dont think they have much of a poker room there - am i to assume you checked the hotels by boardwalk hall(ceasars,ballys) and they were more?

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

Bosco,

Since we decided that we may not even need to stay there Sat night, we may just need three nights, which brings the price at Ballys down to around 580, before any potential poker rate we might be able to get. I noticed that my Total Rewards card from Harrahs in St Louis and Harrahs in Metropolis Illinois, might work to get the cheaper rate. Who knows, but I think Bally's is where we are leaning. From earlier posts, it sounds like a decent location, nearby to most of the major poker rooms (except Borgata) and the basketball games as well.

If you are in AC that week, I'll look you up. I owe ya dinner.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Boardwalk right before New Years. I was VERY impressed. My room was VERY clean and I felt very safe. I came back from the Trop Poker at 2AM a few times. It's a very short walk from the Holiday Inn to the Trop poker room. It was also pretty cheap. I got Thurs. and Fri. for $89 or so a night.

EDIT: Wow. I just looked up your dates and they are showing $48 a night. Some special promotion you see after you hit Reserve.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

A little more on AC:

The safety thing... though most of the boardwalk is generally safe anytime, in the off-season I wouldn't really recommend 3am strolls alone in some parts. Mostly due to to local teenage trash.

The only places you'd be interested in would be on or along the boardwalk, with the exception of "The Walk", which is pretty much a few blocks worth of outlet stores. All of that is safe.

Everywhere else is kind of bad news, sometimes even in the daytime. Even if you're just stopping for a soda at a store on Atlantic Ave., you never know what you can run into. A lot of parts of the city aren't really "white friendly" (even if you grew up here!), so take that for what it's worth.

Borgata, Trump Marina, and Harrah's are the off-boardwalk locations. Borgata is obviously top-shelf. Harrah's is nice, and so is the poker room (though it's a little small). Marina I don't know about. The downside is that there's a mile of ghetto between you and the boardwalk (looks like more than that looking out the window).

Bally's is a good way to go because it's centrally located in the city. You can pretty much go anywhere you would want to go on foot, you're near the mall and the Walk outlet I mentioned.

Re: Free dinner - plan my AC trip
 

PM me a reminder and i will try to make it down for a little 3/6 or 5/10 donking - no need to buy dinner a drink will do [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]