AC Hilton trip report (or, Sirpupnyc and the craptacular day)

[sirpupnyc]

In which cards are not caught and money is lost.

Took the bus to AC on Saturday. Arrived in the bowels of Port Authority with plenty of time to spare, bought my ticket, got on line for the noon Hilton bus. Friend arrived to get in the lengthy ticket line just as the line for the noon Hilton bus began boarding. I left the line for the noon Hilton bus and got on line for the 12.30 Bally's bus. Friend returns with ticket, says he's going to grab something to eat. Line for 12.30 Bally's bus begins to move approximately three seconds later. I get on the bus, attempt to save a seat, eventually give the saved seat to a cranky old Chinese guy. Bus goes at 12.20. Friend gets on the actual 12.30 Bally's bus.

(Lesson learned here: the bus lines may move at any time, without warning or meaningful relation to scheduled departure times.)

Arrived at Bally's 3.30, exchanged bus bonus coupon for Bally's $20 cash coupon. Wandered into Bally's (never been there before), exchanged coupon for money. (This has to be done at the coin redemption windows, not slot or cashout machines.) Wandered some more, decided against checking out Bally's poker room. Across to Wild Wild West, marveled at the Disneyness of it all (it even has that Disney completely fabricated smell to it). Managed to find the poker "room" and snicker at its struggle to get three tables running.

Wow...I said this was about the Hilton, didn't I? I'd better get moving.

Friend arrives, cashes his coupon, we head for the Trop, I sit at 1-2NL, he loses a little at 3-6 O8 then heads for the Hilton tourney. I stick with the 1-2NL awhile to no avail, decide much too late that it's time for a change of venue. Head to the Hilton.

(Unusual chip side note: there was a $5 Tropworld Johnny Mathis and a an old $1 Tropicana of some sort in play at my 1-2NL.)

The poker room at the Hilton is on the 2nd floor at the back (away from the Boardwalk). I discovered this by wandering the whole Boardwalk level of the casino before asking a security person. Entering from the Boardwalk, go up the escalators immediately to your right, or all the way down the hallway immediately in front of you to the escalators around the fountain in the hotel lobby. If you take the Boardwalk escalator, follow the hallway through the restaurants and the poker room is at the end on the right. If you take the lobby escalator, the poker room is immediately to your left at the top.

It's a big, airy room, bright but not too bright, and attractive enough without being particularly special. The staff was friendly and eager to have new players in the room. The dealers were competent at minimum, personable and pretty reasonably skilled in general. The chips mostly wouldn't stick together unless you glued them.

They had 1-2NL, 2-5NL, 2-4 and 4-8 running, at least. I don't recall mention of other games, but there could well have been some. There was also a $150+25 tourney at 9PM (not 7PM) that got about 30 entries.

There were a handful of decent players and more than enough any-two-for-any-raise to feed anybody who could manage to make a hand. Lots of regulars. Decent age mix, though probably few under 30.

I'd say we'll certainly return to the Hilton, though I suspect at off-peak times it may seem a little deserted. It can't compete with the big three in volume, but I'd take the Hilton over Caesars any day. (I've not been to the Showboat HOB room yet, so I can't say yet how I think it stacks up there.) I see on 78suited that Caesars actually has two more tables than the Hilton, but the Hilton's room has a much bigger feel to it, and has the advantage of being off the main casino floor.

Return bus from Bally's: one filled up and left early, another came about 15 minutes later at an unscheduled time, filled up and left with the driver saying another would be along soon (even though the next scheduled wasn't for 2 hours). Apparently the schedules don't mean much.

[robber baron]

thanks for posting a report. I kinda liked the Hilton room also. It sucks that it is so out of the way though, I couldn't find it my first time there either. I thought that the floor personnel seemed pretty sharp, the dealers not so much but were okay nonetheless. Next time I'm there I want to try out that noodle bar across from the poker room it looked pretty good.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
It's a big, airy room, bright but not too bright, and attractive enough without being particularly special. The staff was friendly and eager to have new players in the room.

[/ QUOTE ]

That pretty much was my assessment. In the hyper-competitive AC poker market they may not see much return from their poker room expansion, but I'm pulling for them. They seem to want to build a decent room -- them and everyone else (except the Taj, who appears not to care. But they do have clean chips this month!).

The $2/hr comps are nice, too. Not nice enough to get me out of the Borgata when I go down, but nice.

[jjshabado]

I went down to AC on Saturday and almost went on a murderous rampage against Greyhound employees. When you say "schedules don't mean much" what you really mean is "Schedules are just random numbers that Greyhound pulls out of their asses"

I checked the Greyhound schedule at the AC bus terminal when I got there and saw that a bus left there approximately every 20-40 minutes all night long. So after playing at Borgata until 3am I head to the bus terminal and get there at 3:30ish. There's about a dozen people in line in front of me and they say that the 3:30 bus hasn't arrived yet. I think great. So no bus comes, 4:00 hits and that schedule bus doesn't show up, 4:40 hits and that bus isn't coming. By this time we've got a line of 40-50 people waiting for the NY bus. Someone goes inside to ask what the hell is going on, and we're told that a bus will be coming very soon. 5:00am hits and no bus. 5:15 someone goes in to really bitch at people and they are told that the Greyhound bus goes to [censored] Ballys first and then if there's room comes to the bus terminal, otherwise skips it. So finally at 5:30ish a bus shows up with about 20 empty seats, and I make it on. I don't know why the hell they have a posted schedule of buses leaving from the terminal when thats not what happens. [censored] Greyhound.

Long story short, I'll be looking for a new way to AC.

[punkass]

When I was taking the bus to AC (from Baltimore), I always just go to Bally's to hop on the greyhound bus. It always stops there first.

[jjshabado]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to go back to Greyhound, and that's what I'll be doing from now on (Going to Ballys to get the bus). Which is probably good because this time I was too lazy to redeem my Greyhound comp, and if I head back there I'll probably redeem it.

[poker327]

The Academy bus Sunday morning was not too much better. The 3:30 bus did not show up at Showboat (as I expected, it filled up at Caesar's). I was lucky to get on the 4:00 bus at Taj (a few people did not get seats). During Sunday mornings during the summer, you have to get to where the bus stops first early so you have a good spot in line.

[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]
During Sunday mornings during the summer, you have to get to where the bus stops first early so you have a good spot in line.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, if I'd been thinking I should have just kept playing until 6:30 or 7am and then tried to get the bus home. I'm assuming that by then its a little easier to get a seat.

[poker327]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm assuming that by then its a little easier to get a seat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not particularly. That is when some of the people who slept in a hotel room leave. The next time I go during the summer I think I will just drive.

[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]
That is when some of the people who slept in a hotel room leave.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously? Who the [censored] pays for a hotel room for the night so they can get up and leave at 8am? Maybe I'm not far enough removed from my University days but that seems ridiculous to me.