Here’s a recent trip report from JMP to the Atlantic City Hilton.  It seems as if the Atlantic City Hilton Full-Pay Video Poker area may be a real deal.  Unfortunately, I don’t see them taking my business, because of location and casino demographics.  I love the moxy off adding good games to their mix in an effort to stay alive.  On to JMP.

Note: this is an actual trip report containing an actual story of actual gambling!
I recently had the good fortune of enjoying the best of both worlds when it comes to going down the Jersey Shore: we spent a week with another family to OC (where even the games of chance on their boardwalk always pay out), but the other husband and I also managed to get away Monday night to AC for some grown-up fun (and games that…. Well…. Don’t always pay out…. More on that later).

Despite the fact that both C and I like the Borgata, I wanted to be on the Boardwalk to see what it’s like on a summer weeknight.  Leading up to the ‘big night’, I was settled on Trump Plaza for their abundant full-pay 25 cent VP, but thanks to this very blog, I knew about their A/C woes.  So I called an audible to the AC Hilton b/c I had heard about their new full-pay VP area.

I strongly recommend taking local roads when going from OC to AC, but if you want to grab a coffee or something before heading out, make a detour because there won’t be a Starbucks or a Dunkin’ Donuts anywhere between the two cities.  On the plus side, you’ll get great views of AC the closer you get, especially of the ‘video’ playing on Harrah’s Waterfront Tower if you happen to travel at night.  Having said that, I’ll talk about the best way to get home later on.

As you can probably guess, we did NOT take a detour so C could get coffee, so upon parking at the AC Hilton, we immediately had to walk up to the Trop for his fix.  (Ed: I would have gone to Cappuccino’s at the Hilton for coffee, I don’t like waiting.) Despite the darkness, we could see that some upgrades have been made to the facades of many of the stores and possibly one or two new establishments as well (for example, I don’t think I’ve noticed a ‘Playcade’ before).  Despite the upgrades, the boards were dead at around 10:30 pm on this Monday night.  I think they need better overhead lighting, too.  When we got to the Trop, we were really dismayed to find the Starbucks was ALREADY CLOSED!  What does it say about the Trop (or AC in general) when the Starbucks Corporation takes a look at the numbers from that location and says “You know what?  You guys can close early from now on.”?

With caffeine in our systems (I had a Pepsi in the car on the way up), we proceeded to the AC Hilton for some VP and some free alcohol to counter said caffeine’s effects.  The full-pay area was VERY easy to find.  We’re not just talking about 2 banks of 6 machines each here; they have what must be a 50×30 area filled with various forms/denominations of full-pay, with signs advertising as such all above it.  It was a lot bigger than vpfree2 made it seem.

Since the casino, overall, was pretty dead, we had no problems finding adjoining machines.  C is sorta new to VP, so naturally he hit a straight flush pretty quickly.  I, on the other hand, proceeded to grind my way through about 1.5 hours, slowly bleeding credits.  Long story short, you need more than your fair share of full-houses and quads to just break even at VP and I was hitting at a level a bit below that.  Somewhere in there, C took his winnings over to the $5 craps table, only to return 20-30 minutes later with a story about a guy hurling the dice overhand thinking he was Johan Santana, but in reality he was more like Ollie Perez (the dice kept leaving the table).

Finally, after about 1.5 hours (and only about $70 down), I made the comment about how good a time I was having because all I ask for is a decent amount of play for my money.  Well, THAT apparently angered the gods – my remaining $30 evaporated, as did the additional $50 of ‘emergency cash’ I loaded up.

Our collective tails tucked between our collective legs (C finished the night down as well), we decided to take our leave.  On our way out of the garage, we encountered he who I can only describe as ‘the loneliest man in AC‘ – they weren’t charging for parking, but they still had this older gentleman sitting in the booth handing out flyers about upcoming entertainment.  Poor guy!
We decided to head back via the ACX and the GSP; I recommend this to anyone.  The way I see it, if you won, you don’t want to risk getting jacked taking local roads; if you lost, you want to put AC in your rear-view mirror ASAP.

So, despite the loss, I enjoyed my time at the AC Hilton.  Besides the VP, they are really making interesting strides to improve their fortunes.  You’ve probably already heard about their summer speaker series, which brings political names such as Dick Cheney and Bill Clinton to town.  They’ve also opened some new restaurants and have also worked with local businesses to let you use your comp dollars at their establishments.  It’s like they’re a Vegas off-Strip casino, but on the ‘strip’ of AC’s Boardwalk.  It’ll be interesting to see if they’re as generous with the comps as a Vegas off-Strip casino; C gambled on my card so it’s like I played for 4 hours not 2.  Hopefully they’ll make it worth my while to return.  That said, I encourage everyone out there to check this place out for yourselves and make your own decisions.  With full pay VP, low-limits on table games (at least at night on weekends) and a good mix of slots as well as ‘good in theory restaurants’ (Patsy’s, Kerry Simon’s new steakhouse), there’s something for everyone.

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I caught a virus midweek that slowed things down here, but I was able to get a few more items up from my trip to Las Vegas as well as some news.  Hopefully all future posts will come from my new Macbook.

• Harrah’s Takes Over Planet Hollywood This Weekend
• NFL Divisional Round Picks + Fantasy TE Roundup
• Seven Stars Insider: December – January Edition
• Room Service!
• Coffee At Palazzo

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I love coffee.  If you follow me on twitter, you see me talk about it just about every day.  So, with that being said, I always have an eye out for coffee when I travel.

Back in September I was listening to one of my favorite Las Vegas podcasts, Five Hundy By Midnight, when I swear I heard a caller say that there weren’t any places to get coffee at the Palazzo.  Needless to say this sent me into a mini tizzy with a trip upcoming.

I’m happy to report that coffee options were good and plentiful!

My first stop and the place I would get coffee from most was The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.  There was a location right at the room elevators.  Great location.  This is just a walk up location so there wasn’t anywhere to sit down.  I stopped here at least once per day.

One of my favorite ways to nurse a hangover is with iced coffee.  It goes down so easily is very refreshing.  They combination of caffeine and ice does wonders.

Of course, my first night in Las Vegas I drank way too much and mixed too many different drinks.  I needed more than the iced coffee above.

It took so long for a cocktail waitress to wander over to my where I was playing 5 cent Double Diamond slots that I ordered two cups of coffee.  A few notes here:

1. Palazzo cups of coffee are pretty large.  I lost my $20 before I could finish the 2nd and 3rd cups.
2. Palazzo coffee is damn hot.  Like damn hot.  Consider yourself warned.
3. Casino coffee usually isn’t great and these cups were no different.
4. This was the only time I had an extended wait for a cocktail waitress in my 4 days at Palazzo.

One morning I was wandering in the casino and came across Espressamente Illy in the walkway towards the Venetian.  I like Illy coffees so I stopped in for a large latte and banana nut muffin.  Both were good, but the $11 price tag was sticker shock.  That started me off on a bad foot and a losing morning of gambling.

Since I woke up from a nap and lost my friends I decided to wander the Shoppes.  That’s where I found Cafe Presse.  They provide Lavazza coffees and have a nice selection of muffins and sweets.  Cafe Presse is located right outside of the room elevators on the second floor.  There are a couple of tables out in the the mall and I believe they get free wifi.

In order to get my head together I had a latte and banana nut muffin.  The price was more reasonable than the Illy coffee and the muffin were both fantastic.  Unfortunately, this place was out of sight and therefor was out of mind.

The final coffee I had was in my room.  No the Palazzo suites do not have coffee makers.  I ordered a wonderful breakfast from room service on my last morning.

The Palazzo serves Starbucks coffee with room service.  I didn’t expect anything special and this wasn’t.  However, it was good enough that I drank the whole pot.

Overall, there are plenty of choices to grab a cup of coffee at the Palazzo and, outside of the casino coffee, they are all pretty good.  Being that you’re at a casino don’t be surprised when you are paying more than you normally would pay for coffee.

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While I was having a relaxing Sunday evening, licking my wounds from a brutal weekend of college and NFL parlays, I heard a disturbing call into a favorite Las Vegas podcast – Five Hundy By Midnight.  I may have misheard the caller; but I can swear that the person said:

THERE IS NOWHERE TO GET A CUP OF COFFEE AT THE PALAZZO

This sent me into a frenzy trying to find out if this is true.  Suddenly my chill night of podcasts and NFL highlights went away and my laptop and iPhone got fired up.

Before I get into anything else:

THERE ARE PLACES TO GET COFFEE AT BOTH PALAZZO AND VENETIAN

I’ll be staying at the Palazzo on my next trip to Las Vegas and I would not stay at a hotel that didn’t have a coffee shop.  Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Dunkin Donuts, whatever.  After throwing the question out to my twitter folks and pulling up The Palazzo website I found that there are multiple locations.  Whew!

There is a Coffee Bean at each hotel.  This is a west coast staple with good coffee.  There is also an illy location called espressamente illy at Palazzo.  There’s an illy location at the Borgata and Harrah’s in Atlantic City.  The coffee is nice, but add some espresso and you are rocking!

After about 15 minutes my nerves were calmed, but now I feel like I’m jacked up on Mountain Dew…like the kids from “Talladega Nights.”  I’m going to chill out for the night.

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continued…

After relaxing in the room for about 15 minutes I headed back down to the casino.  First was a stop at the newest addition to Harrah’s Resort – Temptations Fine Chocolate and Coffee.  It is right next to the elevator to the Waterfront Tower.  The prices are pretty high, but the cappuccino was awesome.  I never saw many people here, which was fine for me.  It was a great location for me and a place that I would frequent.  The feel is very modern and the mostly female staff was all in corsets.  Nothing wrong with that.

I headed back to the high limits slot area for a little while.  All of the 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machines were being used so I played some random slots for a while.  I lost $300 before hitting for over $1000 on a $5 Triple Diamond machine.  I have no idea what happened, but this was my biggest win so far for the weekend.  I’ll take it.  I deposited another $200 into another bonus type slot.  Someone walked over to me and mentioned that a man hit for $12,000 about 20 minutes before I sat there.  The man then walked by to tell me the same thing.  Wrong place at the wrong time.  I was sitting adjacent to when he won and didn’t realize the payout.  Oh well…time for dinner!

I headed to Borgata to enjoy a steak at one of my favorite steakhouses in New York, Old Homestead.  Some might start dinner off with soup or salad.  I started with an appetizer of BACON and a bottle of Lane Tanner Syrah.

The bacon was cooked perfectly.  It was nice and crisp, but not burned.  This was a perfect appetizer and prepared me for a steak that I knew would be perfectly cook.  The wine needed a little while to breathe, but by the time the steak showed up it was a perfect compliment.  I ordered the NY strip and as I expected my steak was fantastic.  It was perfectly cooked and flavored just enough with salt and pepper.  There was no need for dessert so it was off to the casino.

I eased into things when I saw my favorite nickle slot machine.  The giant Wheel of Fortune.  This game is a blast to play because of the big wheel.  I walked away after a few spins up $18!  All I wanted was a spin.

Borgata was PACKED again.  After a couple of laps around the 3 card poker tables I found a spot.  In December, I hit for a straight flush so I was feeling good about things.  That feeling was quickly shushed away.  I didn’t win a single hand and was down $300 in minutes.  I waited for a friend to win a few hundred dollars and it was back to Harrah’s.

My blood bath continued at Harrah’s with a couple more losing sessions of video poker with a total loss of $400.  I headed over to the video poker bar and lost another $10 over a few more beers.  I’d had enough again and decided to head back to the room.  On the way I stopped for a snack at Primo Pizza.   The rest of the food court was closed.  The pizza wasn’t too good, but at 3am it didn’t really matter.  The Pool area seemed to be rockin again.  This night there seemed to be a lot of underage girls walking around.  I’m not sure what that was about and I wasn’t going to find out.  Back up to the room for the night.

…final day…to be continued..

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