Hello. I am a newbie to poker, maybe playing about one year online and a little with friends.

I am tired of playing online and am interested in heading to AC for a weekday. The Trump Taj Mahal has an $80 + $20 NL games, three times a day.

Does anyone have any experience going to the Taj and playing in these tourneys? Better to go in the morn or evening? Just some random thoughts or stories? Should I take the bus or drive?

Thanks

-A.T. aka QazQaz

I take the train from Wilmington to AC. I never drive, just seems pointless when you consider parking and the fact I am tired from playing poker for 5 or 6 hours and wont feel like driving.


Borgota has sit and gos Sun thru Thurs I never even walked in to the Taj I might check it out online.

I have played in the tournament at the Taj a lot. It is a decent, low stakes, tournament. It usually draws about 120 players and generally pays the final table and sometimes a little more.

In the tourny, you'll get 5000 chips to start. The blinds begin at 25/50 and double every 20 minutes. The antes start at level 3 (100/200 + 25), and the antes increase by 25 with each blind level. Thus, from level 3 on, virtually the entire field is relatively shortstacked.

The competition is average to above-average. It seems like a lot of regulars play in the tourny, but having said that, I've played against much tougher tournament fields than this game will draw.

As an alternative to the Taj, you might consider the daily tournament at Showboat. It costs $50 to play, you get 5000 chips, the blinds start at 25/50, and they double every twenty minutes. There are never any antes. The field is among the weaker that you will find.

Finally, although I have not played in one yet, the Borgata offers a daily $100 tourny. The benefit of playing there is that the Borgata's new poker room has 85 tables, and so you can easily move into a good cash game if you bust out.

Definitely go to play in the tournament that starts around noon. The cash games at the Taj during the day draw a lot of regulars, but at night, the tourists and the fish come out. So, I like to play in the noon tournament where, for a small buyin, I have a shot at a really nice payout. Then, if I miss the final table, I generally tend to get busted out late in the afternoon. It's just the right time for a food break before moving over to a juicy cash game for the evening. Regardless of what happens in the tourny, I've never come home with less money than I brought to the casino by following this schedule.

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. One last question though, sorry.

If I bust out of the tourney fast, you mention getting into a cash game. What is that like? Is there a minimum buy in? I assume you mean a basic 1/2, 2/4, 3/6 type of table? I'd probably need about 200-300$ with me to have a decent little run on a 1/2 or 2/4 table, right?

mx

ill see you soon buddy im heading up there and wanting to play that show boat tournament

is that the one that starts at midnight

__________________

Qaz...

Both the Taj and the Borgata spread a wide variety of games. Their limit games start at 2/4 and go up to 3/6, 6/12, 10/20, and higher. The NL games start at 1/2, and go up to 2/5, 5/10 and higher.

I've played all the limit stakes through 10/20, and there is no real difference in the competition until you hit 10/20. If you're a solid player, play the highest stakes that your bankroll can afford. If you haven't played much casino poker, I'd recommend starting at 3/6 if you can afford it. I always buy-in for 25x the BB. That's enough to withstand the variance in a low-stakes, no fold'em game. You're going to sucked out on a lot, but you'll drag some really big pots when the math holds up.

Over the last year, I've switched to NL exclusively, but I've only played at the 1/2 level. I always buy-in for the max ($300), and if I take a beat early and fall below $125, I put in another $100 (fortunately, that's only happened once). You always want to have as much money on the table as possible because when the right match up comes along, you WILL get paid off. After about 10 sessions, I've never lost at this level, and I'm thinking about moving up to 2/5.

Obga...

The Showboat runs the tourny that I mentioned at least three times a day. I think that they start at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. I've always played in the noon tourny, which draws the largest field (at least as compared to 2 p.m.). The key in this tournament is to build your stack through the first 3 levels. By Level 4, two things happen: (1) the tables start to tighten up, giving you some meaningful steal opportunities to stay ahead of the blinds; and (2) there are a lot of short stacks who start moving in with marginal hands. You want enough of a stack to take advantage of those situations.

Good luck!