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Just returned from a fun and poker profitable vacation in northern New Mexico and Colorado. While others, particularly aggressive no-limit poker players, complain about the limits in these two states, I, as a recreational player, who prefers limit to no-limit poker, enjoy the reasonable limits and the limited rakes (3% rake set by the state of New Mexico and 3.5% in Colorado). On this trip I found that I played with players of all persuasions and abilities, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but always enjoying myself. The downside was limited and the house wasn’t allowed to be too greedy, so I had a chance to win, and I did indeed win some money overall.

The Albuquerque area of New Mexico has the most poker action in that state in which all the gambling is confined to Indian land, some sporting some very nice casinos with excellent poker rooms. The Sandia Resort and Casino, on the northern edge of Albuquerque, sports the closest and best poker room to town, with a dozen or so tables going at any time including options for Omaha 8 (hi-low), 2/4 and 3/6, 4/8 limit games with kills and some other options. This is probably the best poker room in the state. A skilled and patient player, with just enough luck, can do well here. There are numerous no-limit tournaments throughout the week. No food comps, but good restaurants, including a nice buffet. Lovely buildings, grounds and golf course as part of this resort.

Ten minutes or so farther north of Sandia is the Santa Ana Star Casino. Because they are farther from the city, they tend to offer a bit lower key and friendlier atmosphere as well more promotions and perks to attract gamblers. The poker was mostly at the 3/6 spread table when I visited in late May, with one or two tables going most of the time and regular tournaments. Joining the club, I received a promotion to go on-line to play a slots type game on their web site - it took an hour to play and was fairly boring (especially for someone like me who doesn’t understand the attraction of the slots) but it yielded $60 in free play the next day, which I used at the blackjack table and pocketed $45.

Twenty minutes north of Santa Fe are two casinos, each advertising poker rooms, but only one which really has poker action. The Camel Rock, which is 5 minutes closer to Santa Fe than the Cities of Gold Casino, has a couple of poker tables in the corner of a back room separated by a curtain from the slots. In their recorded message and in their many ads in the tourist magazines the Camel Rock claims to have poker Wednesdays through Sundays. But when we turned up there, we found that they only have very limited action on weekends. (They need to change their messages - creating frustration among poker customers.) Cities of Gold, on the other hand, is a well run, fun little poker room. The casino lacks the luster of the Sandia (and even when compared with Santa Ana Star), but the poker room is friendly and accommodating and there is rarely a long wait for a 3/6 (or was it 4/8?) game in the afternoons or evenings. The casino had some decent incentives for new players too. The poker room has liberal high hand jackpots (you don’t have to play both hole cards to win one), and a bad beat jackpot, toward which they take an extra dollar out of each pot. One evening, while playing here, one dealer dealt four high hand jackpots in about 45 minutes time, including a royal flush. I won $114 for my quad Kings.

New Mexico has poker at the Isleta Casino about one-half hour south of Albuquerque and at a couple more casinos along I-40 to the east. The Taos area casino has no poker. There is a poker room at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, which is about an hour plus south of Albuquerque, in Mescalero (near Rudisio), NM, sporting a nice resort and snow skiing as well as golf.

Colorado poker is limited to the state’s two mining towns: Cripple Creek, about an hour and a half southwest of Colorado Springs, and Black Hawk/Central City, about the same distance due west of Denver and southwest of Boulder. Colorado limits the rake to 3.5% as well as limits the stakes to maximum $5 bet. While I found it much easier to win in Black Hawk due to the many young, aggressive players from the Denver area, and though I enjoyed the food in Black Hawk much more than in Cripple Creek (try the buffet at the Ameristar Casino), as a tourist I enjoyed the ambiance of Cripple Creek much more. Black Hawk is rather unattractive with large commercial casinos leaving the old, historic main street basically deserted. But the drive into Cripple Creek unveils a quaint, restored main street of mostly small, three storied brick buildings sporting casinos on the ground floors, with restaurants and hotel rooms above. One of my favorite card rooms, the Midnight Rose, is affiliated with my favorite named casino, The Brass Ass, and we stayed in McGills, also affiliated, in a wonderfully renovated, large room with all amenities, for the poker room rate of $55/night. (As a comparison, the nightly rate in Black Hawk was three times that much.)

The main poker action in Cripple Creek is at the Midnight Rose, where you can find action ( $2/$5 spread mostly) all the time, day and night, until the state mandated closing time of 2am. Similar situation at the new Wildwood Casino, just off main street and up the hill. A couple of other casinos claimed to have poker, and had the tables and some dealers sitting around, but never had action during the three days in which I was visiting Cripple Creek. Both casinos feed poker players for free while seated at the tables, but Wildwood has much better food. Both are friendly and well run poker rooms with mostly regulars playing.

For you tourists - Cripple Creek has a couple of worthwhile attractions beyond poker. In particular check out: The Pikes Peak Heritage Center with its impressive interpretive experience for those who’d like to get an understanding of the history of this gold mining center as well as its other resources; the Molly Kathlene Gold Mine in which visitors go 1000 feet underground into the actual mines, which are still in operation, on a tour lead by a veteran miner - very interesting; and the town’s museums, including a visit to the Old Homestead, the preserved high-end brothel - an engaging and unique experience. If you visit during the summer season, be sure to attend a performance at the historic Butte Theatre on main street where you can see a professional theatre company perform traditional melodramas and old time musicals as well as special tribute shows, another worthwhile and unique experience which makes Cripple Creek an interesting tourist destination. And blink twice, but you’re not seeing things. strolling down main street in procession (whenever they feel like doing so, and all traffic yields the right of way to them) are the buros of Cripple Creek. These donkeys are “wild”, actually the decedents of donkeys which worked the mines, but which the miners liberated into the wild when the laws regarding their care became onerous. They are a hoot to see and you will see them all around town.

One other truly positive for Colorado poker - there is no smoking in the casinos in Colorado. That’s right - not just in the poker rooms, where you have to walk through the smoke to get in, or where the smoke wafts in from the adjacent areas–, Colorado’s casinos are completely smoke free. What a relief and a pleasure! There’s been some discussion of a loophole allowing casinos which meet certain requirements to circumvent the no-smoking laws by designating themselves “cigar bars”. I hope this doesn’t happen. The casinos believe that the lower revenues they received during first few months of 2008 has been due to the newly imposed smoking ban. I strongly believe it is the economy causing the recent slump in gambling. Throughout my trip I saw some sad smoker types, standing outside the casinos, puffing away in lonely desperation, but only a few.

Other Gambling — Both New Mexico and Colorado have attractive rules for blackjack, craps, 3-card poker and roulette players in some casinos (significantly better than can be found in Vegas and elsewhere these days), but neither the attractive rules nor the games themselves are consistently found, and seem to generate only light action. Check with each casino if you’re interested in these table games. Slots and more slots are everywhere, in every casino, but I can’t tell you much about them as I don’t play the slots.

Poker remains my game. I love the psychology of reading the hands and the players. I love the banter. I love the drink service and I love my seat at the table, playing against other players for long periods of time, getting better and better at reading them. I love the variances in poker - each hand unique. I even love the bad beats as they keep the emotions running high, though I prefer they aren’t mine too often.

The consensus of local players seems to be that the Isle (in Pompano, off Atlantic Blvd.) is the best place to play poker in the area. This is the place with the nice décor and more upscale clientele. Like many poker rooms, the local rocks hang out, but more during the day than on nights. Especially on weekend nights, lots of dating couples out to impress, throwing money around as well as young hot shots drinking too much, so the pickings can be good. Free soft drinks, nice tables with leather seats. Standard $100 maximum buy-in and many 2/5 games plus some others. Bad beat jackpot.

Other area options include:

Palm Beach Kennel Club which is well located, right across from the Palm Beach Airport, offers lower limit no-limit and limit games and Omaha. The usual mix of regular rocks and looser visitors. Bad beat jackpot and many tournaments.

Palm Beach Princess (cruise ship) is the only cruise ship option now that the Sun Cruz is out of service. Mostly oriented to the slots and casino table games, they make a poker game most sailings, but not all. Most of the poker players seem to prefer the land based games.

Seminole Casino Coconut Creek is located south of West Palm Beach and North of Ft. Lauderdale, west of I-95 and the Fla. Turnpike and east of the Sawgrass Expressway, one quarter mile east of State Road 7/ 441. This is a 24 hour casino and poker room, but without a huge action – a few tables and not much in the way of atmosphere. But it might be a good choice as competition can be weak.

Milwaukee:
Potawatomi (tribal) Casino and Bingo, just minutes from downtown Milwaukee,  recently spruced up its pokerroom and it is now a very pleasant place to play some poker and very popular.  Wait times can be long for a seat evening and weekends, but you can phone your name into their list up to two hours in advance or you might pick up a pager which allows you to move about other areas of the casino while waiting – you’ll need to join the players’ club to get the pager.  Early in the days on weekdays you’ll find a seat easily at 2/4 and 3/6 and sometimes find 4/8 going as well. There is usually a no limit game — starts at 2/5 with 200 minimum and 600 maximum buy in.  Limited tournaments.
Bingo is big here – including high stakes bingo and they have all the usual table games and slots and a couple of non-smoking casino areas.  If you stay at one of the many Millwaukee area hotels which are listed on their web site, you will get some discount and promotional coupons to the casino.  Several dining options and booked entertainment.

As Washington has not yet earned its deserved reputation as a fine poker destination for low limit poker playing tourists, most of the players are locals who seemed quite surprised when I told them we were from North Carolina and were on vacation in the Seattle area/Olympic Peninsula and that part of our vacation fun was to play some poker.  Though many had played poker in Vegas and other areas, they had not thought of their home area as a poker/tourist destination.  Not having any poker near where I live, and playing poker in many areas of the country while on vacation or business trips, I surprised the Washington locals by telling them I thought their area was top notch for tourist poker players.

Many locals play poker on the lunch breaks, after work and on weekends and days off.  All age groups, playing styles, and experience levels were represented.  In the more remote areas of the Olympic Peninsula (Sequim and Quinault Beach/Ocean City), the games seemed almost like being given the opportunity to sit in on a private game around the kitchen table with long time poker companions .  The players all seemed to know each other well and to have played together often, including couples who played at the same table.  These smaller areas had one or two tables and higher stakes – no limit or 6 -12 spreads with kills.  Inexperienced players could easily find themselves in over their heads.   Closer to Seattle in the Kitsap area and around Shelton (within and hour or so of Seattle or Tacoma) things loosen up.  There are more players, more hours of poker (often 24 hours per day at the tribal casinos), more betting limit options available.

Dealers seemed excellent everywhere I played.  They appear to be well trained and professional.  Most of  the dealers seem to have exceptionally good personalities, creating  fun atmospheres for the players.  They are genuinely appreciative of their tokes (tips) and welcoming to new players and regulars alike, learning the players’ names and welcoming all by name.

Hours:  Tribal casinos can go 24 hours per day, but private card rooms must close for several hours, usually from 3 am to 8 am.  Many run morning tournaments during the week and cash games start up at players are eliminated.  Not all tribal casinos operate 24 hours/day, especially in outlying areas.

Casino Hotels:  Some of the nicest tribal casinos have lovely resort type hotels with resort amenities.  The most expensive (+/- $150/night) The Quinault Beach Resort and Casino is right on the Pacific Ocean  (windows from the poker room overlook a beautiful, wide expanse of sandy beach and beach meadow).  Suquamish Clearwater Casino in Kitsap area, just over the bridge from Bainbridge Island, has a bay water view and advertises five-diamond amenities including full spa.   The Little Creek Casino in Shelton is quite nice, but without the ocean view for about half the cost.  The Tulalip Resort promises to be very nice – hotel/resort coming in 2008.

Seattle Area Poker:

Muckelshoot Casino in Auburn, 20 minutes south of SeaTac, is the largest poker room in the state.  Located on tribal lands on the outskirts of town, they have twenty or more tables going any night of the week, all playing Hold Em, starting at 3/6 limit, and progressing to higher limits and no limit.  This place is not the prettiest and can get packed with players so it can seem hectic and crowded.  When a room is this busy, the personal feel diminishes, but players get the advantage of more tables and game options.  There are some sharp players here, but a good mix of all sorts of levels and experience. When I visited last, in July 2007, their comp systems was badly defined with various personnel contradicting each other.  The most widely available comp is a special menu from which seated players get 50% discounts.  The food is above average with excellent variety.  Service was good for food and cocktails.  High hand and bad beat jackpots.  The sign up board is well managed and players are offered pagers so they can go into other areas of the casino while waiting for seats at poker.  This is a full casino with most slots and table games.  Hours are 24/7. No hotel on site.

Iron Horse Casino in Auburn is located in town, walking distance to several motels which are average in amenities and above average in service (try the Valu-Inn Motel – very nice).  This private casino has three poker tables at least one of which is in operation all the time they are open, which is 20 hours per day, the legal maximum for a non-tribal casino.  On weekend evenings, two or three tables are going and there may even be a short wait.  The sign up sheet is on paper but is aggressively and efficiently managed so that there is no unnecessary wait time.   Poker room staff is attentive and players get personal service.  The manager will obtain a players card for you while you are playing and log in your hours to their computer system for food comps.   They are liberal and generous with these comps so that even if earned comps are not yet sufficient for a meal, they allow seated players to order once per day.  No slots, but other table/card games. Hours – closes at 3am, reopens at 8am, seven days per week.

Tulalip (pronounced tulaylip) Casino in Marysville is a lovely, large facility located just north of Everett near the northern, suburbs of Seattle right off I-5.  The poker room is friendly, clean and spacious.  4/8 limit is usually the lowest limit game played going up from there.  On a week night in summer there were several tables going.   Near some of the more affluent suburbs of Seattle, this room has the reputation for having players who are loose and well funded.  My experience seemed to bear this out in the 4/8 game I played there.  $5 comps for food.  A full casino open 24/7, they have an open air amphitheater (not too good for Seattle with it high average rainfall) with name performer concerts throughout the year, and are building a large hotel and resort facility.

SeaTac (Seattle airport) area casinos:  There are a bunch of casinos around the SeaTac area.  In one block of Interurban Drive, just north of SeaTac, there are five private card room casinos, three of which have poker rooms.  These are smaller, less than classy, locals’ joints with some colorful players and, perhaps, somewhat gritty atmosphere.  But we felt comfortable enough that we dropped my 80 year old mother off at The Golden Nugget to play a morning tournament and some live games before catching a quick cab to the airport to catch her plane.  She wasn’t at all concerned and had a nice time.

Anacortes:  The Northern Lights Casino is a tribal casino, on the right before the town of Anacortes, as you drive from the mainland to Anacortes (the jumping off point for the ferries to the San Juan Islands).  We thought we would arrive in Anacortes early in the day to see the town and then to play some poker before lining up for the ferry to the islands.  Bad idea.  The casino is a true locals’ place, with small locals’ tournaments in late mornings which eventually lead to a cash game or two, but too late for our afternoon ferry ride.  The town is pretty, but not worth spending several hours exploring, though we did see the first bald eagle of our trip from a scenic overlook in town.  It would have been better to play poker at Tulalip in Marysville for a couple of hours before making our way to Anacortes.  Coming from the north (from Vancouver etc.) the Skagit Casino would be the choice as a stop off.  If you are returning from the islands, and get off the ferry in the afternoon or evening, it might be nice to play some poker in this friendly card room before continuing on to other destinations.

Olympic Peninsula Poker Rooms:

7 Cedars Casino in Sequim (pronounced squim) is a tribal casino on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula about one-half hour west of the charming (ferry port) Victorian town of Port Townsend and similar distance east of Port Angeles, the jumping off point and main info. center for exploring Olympic National Park and the western Olympic Peninsula.  (Note:  Port Angeles is also the ferry port for Victoria, British Columbia.)  I arrived on a Thursday afternoon to find only one active poker table, a no-limit game of all (not very friendly) locals, with many sharp players, on the other side of an office type partition from the smoke filled bingo hall and some slots.  (If you’re not already convinced that poker is the most interesting choice among casino options, just look at the faces of the bingo players; they looked downright comatose here, even worse than the expressions on the slot players’ faces.)  This is the only poker game in town, actually the only casino for quite a long distance.  From Sequim heading west, there is not much for poker – perhaps some very small local tables with very limited hours.

The Quinault Beach Resort and Casino is a pretty tribal resort/casino on the extreme western edge of the Olympic Peninsula, directly on the Pacific Ocean  (windows from the poker room can overlook a beautiful, wide expanse of sandy beach and beach meadow), but when I was there, the blinds were kept closed due to the afternoon sun, so not much advantage to the poker room view.  Mid week, evening, there were one or two tables going in the three table poker room.  Friendly management and nice enough local players.  The lowest limit game was 6 – 12 spread with full kill and the players were sharp.  An inexperienced player could get his/her clocked cleaned here, so be careful.  No significant comps.  Again, this is the only “game” in town.  They have a resort type hotel and full casino which is not open 24 hours per day.  Limited poker room promotions, many geared to locals.

The Little Creek Casino in Shelton is a full casino and hotel complex about an hour from Tacoma, 1 ½ hours from Seattle, but in a more populated area than Sequim or Quinault Beach.   A friendly cardroom with a mix or tourists and locals with one table playing 3/6 limit poker on a weekday evening an hour or two before their nightly tournament.  Once the tournament started, the cash game broke up, then multiple tables filled up with those eliminated from the tournament.  Friendly and well run casino with nice promotions in the poker room and in the casino.  A wonderful Oyster Bar Restaurant featuring local seafood, and a nice hotel.

The Lucky Dog Casino is just 20 minutes north on Highway 101 from the Little Creek, in Shelton.  This small, friendly, tribal casino has a poker room and poker ambitions but had no game going on the Thursday night in July when I visited.  The manager said his 3 poker players had given up and gone to the Little Creek to play.  They have a restaurant and other amenities.

Suquamish Clearwater Casino, just over the bridge from picturesque Bainbridge Island on the Kitsap Peninsula, is a bustling tribal casino with a decent sized, active poker room and similar promotions and amenities to others.  They have a four diamond level hotel/resort on the water with spa and several restaurants.
Skip their museum, which is not nearly as nice as its build-up in some travel articles.  The Makah Tribal Museum in Neah Bay, near Cape Flattery, at the far northwestern point on the Olympic Peninsula (the most northwesterly point in the lower 48 states) is a much nicer tribal museum and tells the story of the tribe in a compelling manner – well worth the trip to that isolated area.

Further up the Kitsap Peninsula, near Kingston, is The Point Casino.  Just a 30 minute ferry ride from Edmonds or Seattle, this casino is smaller than most but seems to be agressively building with interesting promotions.  Recently they advertised some reembursement of the ferry fare to qualifying players.  If you want an interesting day outing from Seattle consider taking the lovely ferry ride across the Puget Sound and then playing here for a few hours.

Seminole Hard Rock, Tampa is a 60 or so table poker rooms in an otherwise all slots “casino” with an upscale atmosphere.  Like most poker rooms it is non-smoking.  Buy-ins are capped by law at $100 but may be raised soon.  Until recently only very low limit poker was allowed., but with many college kids in the area as well as the usual assortment players who have been playing no-fold-em at the very low limits but who now are trying out the no-limit
games, the 1/2 NL games can be profitable for skilled players.   Wait times can be long on busy Saturday nights, but most players report 15 minute or less wait for seat.

Palm Beach Florida Area

Palm Beach Kennel Club, offers the newly allowed $100 buy 1/2 & 2/5 NL games along with 2/4 limit action. There is a daily multi table tourney with either a $65 or $100 buy. Single table tournaments run daily with buyins ranging from $65 to $800.

The Palm Beach Princess and SunCruz ships operate out of the Port of Palm Beach. They have no limit restrictions, but typically spread 2/5 NL with a $200 to $500 buy and 3/6 or 5/10 limit. Both have weekly and monthly multi table tournaments.

Chicago Area:
The closest poker rooms are found just over the Indiana line in “East Chicago” near Gary, Indiana, about 30 - 45 minutes outside Chicago, SE along I-90 and Lake Michigan.  Other casino/poker rooms can be found in Illinois, west of town.

Harrahs, The Majestic Star and Resorts “riverboat” casinos have poker rooms and other casino games which attract a range of players from Chicago and elsewhere, some of whom are said to be quite skilled poker players with many regular players playing tight.   As in other locales with limited competition, the biggest disadvantage to playing here may be the high rakes the poker rooms take  — one or the other or both may be taking $5 rake 10% or a $6 timed rake, meaning  that even winning players often walk away losers to the house.   Many tournaments each weak, limit and no-limit hold-em and the occasional Omaha hi/lo.   Open 24 hours/day and no admission charged (some Illinois casinos charge admission).

Harrah’s East Chicago, just over the Indiana border, at the south end of Lake Michigan, is only 20 minutes or so from downtown Chicago and is the largest and busiest poker room in the area.  Harrah’s Showboat Casino is housed on a riverboat called the Windstar, docked at Pastrick Marina just off Cline Avenue.   This 15-table poker room is on the fourth floor of the boat/casino which is open 8am to 5am and there is always plenty of poker action for limit poker from low to high stakes, holdem and Omaha 8 hi/lo, stud, and even some stud hi/lo.  Mixed games like HOSE, particularly at higher limits.  Hotel.  Restaurants from buffet to gormet. $1/hr comps using players’ card.  Be careful if you are a inexperienced recreational player  — it is said that the Chicago area has some of the better skilled players, better than many Vegas poker rooms.
Resorts East Chicago is a smaller room than Harrah’s, 15 or so tables of holdem, and sometimes Omaha, and stud poker.  Bad beat progressive jackpots at lower limits.  Three weekly tournaments.  You can phone ahead to reserve a seat which will be held up to one hour (877) REC-POKR.  Comps using the players card are sixty cents per hour, but higher rated players can get more, including food comps.  Attractive weekday poker room hotel rates.
Majestic Star (Fitzgeralds) in Gary, Indiana, has low cost no limit hold em tournaments every day of the week including Saturday freeze outs and ladies only tournaments on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month at 4pm.
Hollywood Casino, about 50 minutes west of Chicago on I-88 in Aurora, IL, has a medium sized poker room.  Wednesday and Sunday tournaments.  Limit poker $5/10 and $10/20, sometimes higher.  Free admission and free parking.

Winstar Casino in Thackerville, Ok, right across the Texas border, about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Dallas, has everything you could want in poker action. This 19,000 sq. foot poker “suite” (not just a poker room) is the largest poker room in the state with 46 tables with auto shufflers, 20 plasma screen TV’s, with action 24/7. Texas Holdem limits from $4/8 to $20/40 with $5 maximum rake on every game. Many tournaments and special promotions(800)- 622-6317. This is a full casino, fun place to play with entertainment and dining options.

The closest legal poker to NYC is in Connecticut at Foxwoods, the largest casino in the world with its well run poker room of 114 tables, located about an hour north of NYC — the only casino poker room in New England (the neighboring Mohegan Sun Casino closed its poker room a while back due to some insider shenanigans). Games of all limits from $1 games to high stakes no-limit. Full tournament schedule from $100 and up buy-ins including hold-em, stud, Omaha hi/lo. Special tournaments like women-only at 10am Saturdays, member of the World Poker Tour and holds the Foxwoods Poker Classic, attracting poker players from all over the world. Low limit play here is typical no-fold-em so knowledgeable players tend to prefer the N/L games. Many tourists report a not as friendly as they would like atmosphere generated by the local players. But if you’re headed north from NYC, this is your only poker option and it is not a bad one.

If you’re heading south from NYC, you can play poker at multiple venues in Atlantic City New Jersey casinos. (Get your fill here because heading south from Atlantic City along the east coast, you will not have another land based poker opportunity until you hit central Florida.)

There are poker rooms in most, if not all, of the casinos in Atlantic City. Players’ favorites seem to be The Showboat which is considered among the friendlier games in town and among the “cozier” rooms. The Trop is similar to the Showboat, but lacking most of Showboat’s charm and friendly vibe. The Taj attracts a good mix of players mixing mature business types in with the older local rocks along with their share of young guns. Borgota is the upscale place, the place for bigger stakes, more games and more limit options. Most comp similarly - $1/hour to the lower limit players, but higher stakes players can get bigger comps – check these out at Borgata and Taj. Competitive poker rooms rates, particularly at Trop, Taj and Borgata. All are 24/7.

The Showboat (the northern most casino on the boardwalk) is known for its great poker room staff that looks out for the players and keeps the games running smoothly and makes sure people are having fun. Located off the main casino floor near the House of Blues, their cash games are generally low limit, but the room does tend to fill up for their tournaments - especially Thursday through Sunday where the overflow does hit the cash games. Said to have less “regulars” than do others like Harrahs, Taj or Ballys, which might make for more profitable games. They get lots of action when House of Blues concerts let out Limited jackpots for bad-beats and straight flushes.
The Showboats tournaments are relatively small, 75 or so people, and are strictly freezeouts with no rebuys, no addons. 22 Tables with auto shufflers, regularly spreads: 2/4L, 3/6L, 1/2NL, 2/5NL $1 drop for jackpot

The Trop is a medium sized poker room, but low on atmosphere – low ceilings and near a smoking area of the casino, so can be smokey. No auto shufflers. Regularly spreads: 1/2, 2/5 NL, 2/4, 4/8 Limit, 1- 5 stud, with a 5 -10 stud game and sometimes 3/6 Omaha hi/lo on weekends. Usually not much call for higher stakes games. Two scheduled tournaments daily with 75 or so players. The somewhat downbeat mood I observed may be the result of older locals or just the unexciting atmosphere. If you’re looking for a good poker room rate, the Trop is said to have some very nice rates. Rake is $4 10%.

The (Trump) Taj is larger than Showboat and Trop but not as big as Borgata and offers a range of limit and no limit ( mostly hold em) games and some nice N/L holdem tournaments throughout the week. This well run poker room often has a low limit Omaha 8 hi/lo game which can be lucrative to a skilled player. Mix of players here from the young guns to tourists to middle aged business people.

The Bogata poker room is Atlantic City’s newest and most up-scale, rivaling Wynn and Venetian (in Vegas) for atmosphere with classy cocktail waitresses, nice appointments, and room to spread out. They regularly spread low to high limit as well as a range of no limit-games in an 85 table poker room. This is where many of the higher limit players play poker and also attracts a lot of the young poker players with high poker ambitions and some cocky attitudes, but can also pay off to skilled players. Regularly spreads: limit games of 2/4L, 3/6L, 5/10, 10/20 and up plus 1/2NL, 2/5NL, and 7 Card Stud. No jackpots.

There are three full service casinos on the north side of the Missouri River just north of town, a few miles apart from each other, open 20 hours/day – close 4am -8am. You’ll need clear directions to find them. $4 Rake is $4 plus a $1 drop for the bad beat jackpots. You’ll need to get a casino players card to enter a casino. Missouri has a chip purchase limit of $500 per 2 hours. Not a wealth of greatly skilled players, so can be profitable.

Ameristar is, with 15 tables, the biggest poker room in town in the biggest casino in town. A beautiful room regularly spreading 3-6 (with a Kill) and 1-2 NL and trying to expand to other games.

Harrahs here is at 12 table room similar to other Harrah’s poker rooms, which are not known for exceptional atmosphere or innovation. Regularly spread3-6 (NO Kill) 1-2 NL and 2-5 NL. Because of the no-kill – play tends to be less aggressive here than at the other area rooms. Use Harrahs players cards for comps.

Argosy is an attractive, smaller casino with 6 or 7 tables, lower limit poker room. Regularly spread 3-6 (with Kill) and 1-2 NL. Room amenities and management are said to be average.