We visited Atlantic City for three days in May. It is covered in three separate trip reports. The first one was my big heater at Caesars. This post contains what we found on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The next post has the three casinos in the Atlantic City Marina District.
Resorts
On Thursday, we started at the Boardwalk casinos on the other end from Caesars. We walked down to Resorts. We had lunch in the food court before checking out the casino. I found full pay Triple Double Bonus and Bonus Poker for quarters. I played that until I lost $25.
I checked out the high limit and found the only full pay Jacks or Better in the casino game there. I played two hands at $25 each. I got a pair of jacks or better for a push on the first hand. I lost the second one. That made a $50 loss at Resorts.
The table game pit was mostly closed. One interesting part of it was seeing the double zero roulette wheel that New Jersey online casino players under Resorts have for live dealer games. Live players could join it for $10. Craps, 3:2 blackjack that stands on all 17’s and Spanish 21 were all $25. Baccarat was $50. House-banked poker games were mostly $5.
The high limit salon was closed. Its available games are six-deck blackjack, baccarat and single zero roulette. The minimum bet for the Resorts salon is $100.
Hard Rock Casino
The Hard Rock Casino was the shuttered Trump Taj Mahal when I last visited Atlantic City. The remodel looks great. The casino was busy for a weekday afternoon. I liked its layout.
I could not find any video poker that made me want to stay. I lost $10 on Pick a Pair. I decided to play a slot while I looked at some of the table game titles. The first spin was a bonus round and I won $45, making the visit a $35 winner.
The pit was mostly open. Poker table games were all $10. Double zero roulette and baccarat were $15. Craps was $25. High limit offered baccarat, blackjack that stands on all 17’s, and single zero roulette, all for $100. The high limit blackjack game permits surrender.
Ocean Resort
Ocean Resort is the former Revel. We entered from the Boardwalk and onto the long escalator.
There is a back section with all video poker towards the north end of the property. It offers one of the largest selections of variants in Atlantic City. I quickly found a decent bank of video poker at the $1 denomination. The machine included Illinois Deuces Wild, 9/6 Double Double Bonus and 9/7/5 Double Bonus. I played Double Bonus for a $40 loss.
The table game pit at Hard Rock is in a half-circle. Craps and carnival poker games are on one side. Blackjack and roulette are mostly towards the middle. Baccarat and pai gow are in the Asian games pit across the sportsbook from the craps and carnival game pit.
The minimum bet in the pits was surprisingly affordable. We were there on a mid-afternoon Thursday, so I would not expect to find these limits all of the time. If Kristina and I were not exhausted from four hours of walking the Boardwalk and the three casinos on this end, we would have played.
Most poker games had a $5 minimum bet. This includes Let it Ride, Three Card Poker, High Card Flush, Criss Cross Poker and Mississippi Stud. Ultimate Texas Hold’em was $10, as was double zero roulette, 3-4-5 times odds craps, 3:2 blackjack and Spanish 21. All blackjack tables at Ocean Resort offer surrender.
Baccarat started at $15. Pai gow games were $25.
We took a tram back to Caesars and relaxed in the hotel room before dinner. There were still dining restrictions and midweek closures so our options were limited. We ate at Gordon Ramsey’s Pub and Grill. It was good. I had beef wellington. Kristina had a chicken sandwich.
Tropicana
Once we ate dinner, we headed over to Tropicana to check it out. I played Five Joker Poker when I visited in 2018. Those machines were in bad shape then and did not survive my time away. I did not find any video poker that I wanted to play. I lost $20 on Pick a Pair and moved on to check out the pit.
Most poker table games were $10. A few had a $15 minimum bet. It was the typical selection. Double zero roulette was $15, as was 3:2 blackjack, Spanish 21 and craps with five times odds.
High limit started at $50. There is stand on all 17 blackjack, craps, pai gow tiles, pai gow poker, baccarat and single zero roulette. Only blackjack and baccarat were open during our visit.
We took a push cart to Bally’s
Kristina and I had done a lot of walking over the trip, especially in Atlantic City. We decided to take a push cart from Tropicana to Bally’s. The price was $15. I gave him $20 and we got in the cart. It was an adventure.
Our driver was angry at the world. He wanted to tell us all about it. He had a nasty comment about every person that made him have to slow down for a moment. It was an awkward ride, to say the least.
Bally’s
Bally’s was recently acquired by a company that now calls itself Bally’s. I found a bank of good video poker along the Boardwalk wall to the left when entering from that side. I found full pay Jacks or Better at quarter, half-dollar and dollar denominations. It is not on all machines. These are found by looking for the $50 per point disclosure by the buttons. Other titles include 9/7/5 Double Bonus, 9/6 Double Double Aces and Faces, 18/7/5 Joker Poker and 8/5 Bonus Poker. I also found $2, $5, $10 and $25 9/7/5 Double Bonus and 9/6 Double Double Bonus in the high limit room.
I played some full pay jacks. I lost $20.
Bally’s was not allowing players to touch cards. Most of the poker games were closed because of this policy. I saw signs that lead me to believe the minimum bet is usually $10 at these games.
Blackjack had a $10 minimum. It pays 3:2. Bally’s added re-split aces one time to the old Caesars standard double down rules. Double zero roulette was $15. Craps with 10 times odds was $25, a was baccarat and Face Up Pai Gow Poker and pai gow tiles.
The high limit blackjack started at $50. Baccarat and single zero roulette were $100.
Boardwalk results excluding Caesars: $-75, trip: +$4,002
Wild Wild West
I had not been to Atlantic City in three years. I could not find the way to Wild Wild West from Bally’s inside, presumably because Bally’s has no incentive to send its guests there anymore. We walked outside and all the way around it because the temperature check was on the other side.
Everything at Wild Wild West was closed except for the sportsbook. Many of the electronic table games were turned off. The casino was nearly empty. A band was just taking the stage to no audience. We did not spend much time there, though we did get some good pictures.
Caesars
We stayed at Caesars, but surveyed it last. I was already familiar with the video poker and blackjack in the casino. The last post was a trip report for that action.
There are banks of 99% and better games in the video poker area across from high limit slots. Full pay Jacks or Better is offered with a progressive at a quarter and without progressives at $1, $2 and $5 denominations. There is 8/5 Bonus Poker, 9/7/5 Double Bonus and Aces and Faces and Illinois Deuces, among other decent pay tables. There is also a large selection of variants in this section. These machines have stickers declaring $20 per point. There is 9/6 Double Double Bonus on these machines, but I recommend playing that game on other machines that give full points.
The typical poker table games had a $10 minimum bet. Craps, double zero roulette and 3:2 blackjack were $15. Craps odds are five times. Baccarat and pai gow started at $25. High limit games available are six-deck blackjack that stands on all 17’s, baccarat and single zero roulette.
