AC venue question

I'm a relative beginner (home games only but some for pretty decent money, pretty good analytical mind, follows discussions on this site about hold'em strategy and smart/humble enough to learn from them) who wants to go play hold'em in an Atlantic City card room.


I'm thinking about starting around the 4/8 or 5/10 level. What casino in Atlantic City would be best for this, given that I'll be better than your average tourist or card playing amateur but susceptible to more experienced players exploiting my (anticipated) tight/pretty weak tendencies?


Also, what's with this no-smoking thing at many AC venues?

In my opinion the best place for you to play is the Taj. The trop 5-10 holdem game is pretty tough with lots of semibluffing and checkraising and most pots are raised preflop. I played there when I first started playing holdem last year and did not do so well. Now is a different story however.


you may want to start out at 3-6 to get your feet wet, as there is a big difference in the quality of play from 3-6 to 5-10.


Good Luck

Pat

I've been several times to AC to play. There are really only 2 places to play hold'em - Taj and Tropicana. I've had so so luck at both places. Haven't really played enough to form an opinion of one place over the other.

The Taj is really big fifty or sixty tables. Tropicana is maybe 20, 30 tables. They have 2-4, 3-6, 5-10 and so on. I have not seen 4-8 spread. I agree that 3-6 is a better place to start. On weekends there are some easier games that someone with reasonable skill should do okay in. However there are always a few good players in all of them.


Good Luck!


Yvonne


PS There is no smoking in either of these card rooms although you can smoke in the outer casino area.

I strongly recommend the Taj. The Taj has many more tables of hold'em running, so you will get into a game much quicker there. Also, the Taj has more casual players. I remember once playing in a 3-6 game at the Trop that was tighter than the 10-20 games at the Taj. I agree with the others that you should start at 3-6, not 5-10.


No smoking at the tables at the Taj and Trop. You have to live the room for a smoke break.


Good luck.

Thanks guys. Sounds like the Taj is the place for me. Now all I have to do is not embarrass myself...

If I were you I would start at the 2-4 or 3-6 level. The 2-4 games in AC are virtually always good games, and a good player should be able to beat them no problem. Of course you aren't going to make a LOT of money at that level, but you need to get experience before tackling bigger games. 3-6 games range from good to fairly tough, and are often filled with very tight regular, especially during the day. The 5-10 games in AC vary from really good to really tough. Starting there would be a very bad idea for you, IMO. AC was smoking when I was there, but I have heard that now it is all non-smoking. Good for them, the smoke used to just about kill me. I would go home looking like I smoked fifteen joints and stayed up for 96 hours straight, and I had only been playing for about six hours.


If you're a smoker, sorry, but if the entire country went completely non-smoking, I would be in heaven. I think we could stop slightly short of the death penalty for smokers though. Well, except for out here in southern california, in Del Mar. There, they believe in death by torture for all smokers, even if they are outdoors or in their own cars!