Borgata Trip Report 1/20

[Poshua]

Took a daytrip down to AC yesterday for a few hours of 1-2 at the Borgata. Some highlights:

1. Both tables I played at were ideal soft 1-2 games, with three or four callers to many preflop raises of 5x the big blind and players far too willing to call with marginal hands.

2. The poker room was absolutely swamped and seemed to be understaffed in terms of cage personnel, brushes, etc. All ~80 tables were running, but they only had one person working the check-in desk, resulting in a line often about 25 deep. On the other hand, the Borg continues to have excellent drink service and the only non-depressing environment in AC.

3. My first table featured a VERY bad calling station. He rebought for $200 at least twice in 90 minutes. His downfall was his willingness to, for example, call all-in preflop with a significant stack while holding AJo. It was possible to see the tail end of a tattoo sticking out under his shirtsleeve. Then he shifted and it became apparent that it was a POKER TATTOO. Sigh...

4. My second table featured a winner at the game of life in the 10 seat, party to this exchange:

7 seat: Am I big [blind]?
Dealer: I don't know. Are you big?
7 seat: My wife says I'm the biggest she's ever seen.
10 seat (who doesn't know 7 seat): That's just because she's never been with me.

Also, in a poker-table first for me, 10 seat complained that True Religion jeans run big, and therefore his size 31 does not fit him properly.

[Mike Gallo]

Nice report.

[cmurl904]

Good report. The Borg is the best in AC , we all know that...But, I don't know if the Borg is the only "non-depressing" environment in AC poker. The HOB/Showboat is real nice, and I've heard the Hilton is too. Those places just don't spread anything except tournaments, $2/4 LHE & 1/2 NL. Don't laugh but the Taj upgrades have helped there alot (electronic waiting lists, new carpet, new chairs, auto shufflers). It's the players/dealers that are depressing at the Taj...The atmosphere just seems less seedy than it used to, IMHO.

My only problem with the Borg is that it doesn't spread the games I really like to play ($5/10-10/20 stud, 4/8-5/10 HE, 3/6-4/8 O8). The couple of times I've played there I settled for a crazy 3/6 or tight 6/12 game.

[Mike Gallo]

The HOB/Showboat is real nice, and I've heard the Hilton is too. Those places just don't spread anything except tournaments, $2/4 LHE & 1/2 NL.

Those are the two casinos I have played at for the past year. I consider the Hilton to have the nicest poker roon in Atlantic City.

[Poshua]

[ QUOTE ]
But, I don't know if the Borg is the only "non-depressing" environment in AC poker. The HOB/Showboat is real nice, and I've heard the Hilton is too. Those places just don't spread anything except tournaments, $2/4 LHE & 1/2 NL. Don't laugh but the Taj upgrades have helped there alot (electronic waiting lists, new carpet, new chairs, auto shufflers). It's the players/dealers that are depressing at the Taj...The atmosphere just seems less seedy than it used to, IMHO.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually tried to play at Showboat, but when I got there at 1:15 (1) the 2:00 tournament was already full and (2) the 1-2 NL list was 15 deep with 2 tables running. I agree, the HOB poker room isn't itself depressing; I just find the Showboat (and other AC casinos except the Borg) to be depressing environments in general. Also, admittedly, I haven't been to the post-renovation Taj room, or to the Hilton.

[ChrisConstantine]

"My only problem with the Borg is that it doesn't spread the games I really like to play ($5/10-10/20 stud, 4/8-5/10 HE, 3/6-4/8 O8). "

If you like stud and Omaha and you're willing to play 10/20 you should consider the 10/20 "two-way" Stud Eight and Omaha hi-low game which seems to be going nearly every day and many evenings. A few more players will solidify the game.

[Jeffage]

Actually, I played this for like an hour last Sunday while waiting for another game. The players were of course, nitty, but the crowd is surprisingly fun in a carmudgeony sort of way(and the game is somewhat loose). I think it is fun to sit in - there are some weak spots.

Jeff

[poker327]

I played in the Taj yesterday the 15/30/45 two-way game and I couldn't wait to get out of the Taj, the place is still depressing to me so I went to Borgata.