East Coast Gambler

As I detailed last week Pennsylvania’s budget woes had the state moving closer to allowing casinos to have table games to join their bevy of slot machines.  Last night the proposed budget was agreed upon by the Gov. Ed Rendell and others.

The agreement calls for the first expansion of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania since slot casinos were legalized in 2004. Leaders agreed to work to get approval for legislation legalizing table games such as poker and roulette at the casinos, but they didn’t reveal whether agreement has been reached on key details such as the state tax rate on table games.

I hate politics, but I’m happy to have another regional gambling option.  This will put me in the middle of PA, CT and NJ gambling options.  I don’t consider slot houses to be real casinos because I enjoy the option of playing blackjack, craps, 3 card poker, etc.  This will make me consider Pennsylvania casinos and, if nothing else, explore my options.

The effect on Atlantic City could be very negative and very major.  Short term this could be very bad for Atlantic City by decreasing traffic and revenue.  However, long term, this could be very good for the market.  I firmly believe that competition is good for business and good for consumers.

If the Atlantic City casinos were smart they would have been preparing for this and have a course of actions prepared.  Unfortunately for them I haven’t seen much in the past few years to make me think they have been.  I’m just hoping for better options to enjoy myself – no matter where it takes me.

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I finally made it to The Ridge at Bally’s on my last trip to Atlantic City.  I haven’t heard too much about it, but what I read (and wrote) had me curious.

The Location – The Ridge is located where the old “gateway” games were between the Bally’s Casino and Claridge Casino.  A wall was built to separate The Ridge (and the music) from the machines outside and it does a good job.  More on that later.  Also of note is that the rest of the Claridge casino has been closed and there is a large banner covering up where the Total Rewards desk used to operate.

The Casino – The Ridge is made up of about 24 blackjack table games, a couple roulette and craps tables and a small run of  low limit slot machines.  Table limits are the same low $10 limits that the gateway games used to be.  Dealers dressed and acted very relaxed.  They wore a kind of bowling shirt and were doling out fist pounds for almost every blackjack.

Decor - The decor is blue and gray based with a modern feel to it.  Dealers were dressed in blue bowling type shirts.  Very loose and comfortable looking.

Vibe - The vibe I got was somewhere between a wedding and normal pop music bar.  One night there was just pretty loud new pop music.  After going to the Bikini Bar, I think they just used the same mix that the DJ plays.  When I went on Saturday it felt like dance time at a wedding.  In between the table area is a dance floor.  The DJ was playing a lot of wedding songs inclulding “Jump Around” by House of Pain and a couple of line dances.  A lot of people danced, even a security guard on a segway.

There was a “hype man” for the DJ trying to get people involved with the party vibe The Ridge was going for.  Special occurances got a bang on the gong which sat in the middle of the casino.

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I’m going to try to keep my trip notes updated while I have some down time during the trip. These are just shorthand notes to piece things together

Weds night – borgata
Traffic
Checkin quick. Woman had 2 suitecases and makeup bag. Dude had small travel bag and 2 shirts on hangers
Jr suite
Bbar -55 3 kettle soda
Cafeteria comps 2-1
Tony lukes cheese steak. Not bad. Coors light.
-45 wof slot
+200 $5 9/6 job
Tables packed
Bbar -20. No drinks
3cp -100 2 coronas
50 cent 9/6 +100
sleep

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Here’s ECG’s Week In Review.  This was a pretty busy week as I finally got up most of my Harrah’s Trip Report.  Let’s take a look back.

Weekend of Gambling in Atlantic City

Old School Atlantic City

Front Desk Tip Dot Com

Station Casinos Files for Chapter 11

Weekend of Gambing in Atlantic City – Video Poker

Is Donald Trump A Slum Lord?

Gambling in Atlantic City – 3 Card Poker

Catching up with Casino Stocks

Steve Wynn, I Call BS! – In the running for headline of the year.

Hard Rock Hotel Opens Fantasy Tower

Gambling in AC – Slot Machines

That marks the end of a very busy week for ECG.  I don’t think I’ve had this many posts in any week since I started the blog.  Nice!

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The weekend of gambling continues with more than a few hands of Three Card Poker.  I played a lot less than I have on recent trips, but I played more than enough.

I hit straight flush after straight flush followed by a few 3 of a kind and plenty of other good hands.  I won almost every time I sat down at a 3 card poker table at any casino.  This is not normal, but the suns and the stars must have been aligned.  It also helped that I was able to play two hands at a time since the tables were usually not full.  This reminds me that I need to update my 3 card poker strategy to include the number of player.

Table minimums were $10 and $15 all weekend so playing two hands wasn’t much of a strain on the bank roll.  At the end of the weekend I had one losing session in about eight.  My winnings at 3 card poker helped a lot to what became one of my most profitable weekends gambling.

I noticed a couple differences in payouts since I played at both the Borgata and Harrahs.  The differences won’t make a world of difference to most, but it really underlines how Harrah’s in shorting their gambling customers.

Pay Tables for Pair Plus bets were different:

Borgata
Straight Flush: 50-1
Mini Royal: 100-1

Harrahs
Straight Flush: 40-1
Mini Royal: 50-1

This would bother me less if there was only one Harrah’s casino, but pay tables are the same at all four properties they own in Atlantic City.

I’ve never had or seen a Mini Royal in 3 card poker, but a big part of the fun in 3 card poker is trying to squeeze out that last card to get the huge payout.  I’ve gotten more than a few straight flushes at Harrah’s and the extra pay would have been nice.

With all of my anger towards Harrah’s from this weekend I must say that, generally, I receive very good comps and very good service.  I’m questioning whether or not it’s worth the poor payouts I just noticed.

I’ll keep thinking about this while I write up my weekend.  Next up in my weekend review is my experience with the slots.

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I recently took a trip to Atlantic City for a little gambling and relaxing.  I will review my room at Harrah’s Resort later this week, but gambling is what’s really stirring my insides from this trip.

My Friday began at Bally’s where my friend had a good amount of cash back.  He ended up hitting 4 Queens, rather quickly, on a Bonus Poker video poker machine which paid a hefty $800.  I don’t normally play Bonus Poker, but I put my cash back in and lasted for a while which was nice.  Since I got my iPhone I’ve been practicing so I was happy to give it a whirl.  I don’t really like the variance with the game, but it was OK.

After I lost my allotted amount we headed to the wonderful Diamond Lounge at Bally’s for a snack and a few drinks.  The drinks turned into a relaxing six pack of Corona.

I really like the Bally’s Diamond Lounge because it is so big and never feels to crowded.  There are plenty of big chairs and a wonderful view.  By far, this is the best part of the Bally’s casino.  When I drink I often like to dabble with sweets so I grabbed a piece of chocolate cake.  It was pretty good and a nice compliment to my beers.

After the drinks I headed back to the casino fora little blackjack.  Atlantic City only has 6:5 blackjack when playing double deck.  Dealers hit on 17 so the scenario isn’t perfect.  I played for a little over an hour, but the night got a little fuzzy as a glass of kettle one was added to a few more beers. As usual with blackjack my stack went up and down and I finished up about $25 bucks.  Nothing great, just enough to pay for a cab back to Harrah’s.

I Did notice that there we A LOT of empty tables for a Friday night.  Even as I left, around 9 or 10pm limits were as low as $10. That seemed strange to me, but Harrah’s also had $10 and $15 tables.  However, Harrah’s was more crowded so it didn’t seem so sad as Bally’s.  Bally’s may need to do some cleaning up because of the casinos I’ve visited this summer it was, by far, the quietest.

It was back to Harrah’s for some video poker and 3 card poker.  A few beers and straight flushes later I was up a bit and wanted another snack since I passed up on dinner.  As usual I used my personal 3 card poker strategy.  It seems to work, so why mess with a good thing?  The only gambling of note from Friday night at Harrah’s was that I noticed my favorite $1 9/6 Jacks or Better machines were removed.  That didn’t sit too well with me, but it was just the beginning of the problems I’d find at Harrah’s…

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