AC's Next 30 Years...

Thirty years ago a grouped of investors decided to take the ultimate gamble and built the first casino in Atlantic City. The place was the Resorts International and within the first 20 minutes of it's grand opening, it filled it's capacity of 5,000 guest. Since that mark in time, Atlantic City grew into one of the most well-known getaway spots on the Eastern Coast. Within those thirty years, Atlantic City has grown into a resort giant; building land marks like the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa which receives world-wide attention thanks to such media events like the World Poker Tour. To some, Atlantic City may be better known for hosting the American Beauty Pageant since 1921 (until recent). With it's distinct location, history, and presence, it's one of the few places known world-wide by it's initials alone, "AC".

The intentions of this entry is not to browse over the history of Atlantic City and what it has become; instead let's take a look at the future of a city who claims it's "always turned on".

A few years ago things looked bright for the city. Many new frontiers were being put together to start the transition of taking the eastern city and turning it into the successful glamoring styles of Las Vegas. Many Las Vegas owned hotel entertainment companies planned to come to the East and bring the Vegas charm with it, such as the $5 billion MGM Grand and the historical Sands replacement, Pinnacle Entertainment's Hotel.

But things sometimes change; recently Atlantic City has been suffering from negative press and record-breaking financial losses. Such causes of Atlantic City's depression are doest in it's headlines like: largest fine for underage service, full smoking ban, rise of gas prices, casino owner losing license, legalizing casino's in Philadelphia, and the announcement of possible 20 year toll hike. All of these reasons plus many others such as the general state of our economy leaving less disposable income, all lead to a not-so-sure future for Atlantic City.

You can feel it walking on the boardwalk. The row of shops look like shacks found in depressed area's of major cities. The once gorgeous casino's that lined the walk now look old and in need of new life. Places like the Hilton and Resorts feel dated and in need desperate need of TLC, while others like Bally's Wild West seem like a ghost town. Even the famous casino's by Trump Entertainment seem gaudy and dated compared to it's competitor, the Borgata.

But all is not lost. While rumors circulate that Pinnacle is putting a halt on it's casino due to the economy, others seem ready to dive in a help make the next 30 years of AC's history just as successful as it's previous. Not only has Pinnacle and MGM shown interest, but Morgan Stanley has purchased 20 acres North of the Showboat, AC Gateway - headed by former Caesar's CEO - is planning a $1.5-2.0 billion dollar hotel, and recently Coastal Marina LLC purchased the drowning Trump Marina to build Margaritaville in it's place.

I believe that the next few years will really set the tide on where Atlantic City will be 30 years from now. If the city continues to move forward and develop itself to be like Las Vegas, then I can envision an increase of visitor's and revenue especially with the cost of traveling rising almost every other day. People on the East would save the money and stay in Atlantic City instead of traveling the distance to Las Vegas. But as it stands right now, Atlantic City is a far cry from Vegas - not as fun, not as good looking, and not as bright of a future.

How to Bust an Honest Man

Interesting...

Poker-In-The-Rear

Greetings all,

As some of you may know, one of the world's most controversial video games has released; Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4. I'll spare you the details of it's history and what the game is about and jump right to the point of this blog. Throughout the game you can access the games Internet at various places in the map. When your using the game's internal Internet, there are tons of random and strange sites you can visit. One of these sites is "www.poker-in-the-rear.com". It presents itself as not only a online poker site, but a world-wide tournament very similar to the WPT. You can even catch episodes of poker on the games internal TV hosted by this make believe poker company. The reason I bring this to the table is if you were to take the time and actually read their website, it sends a very interesting opinion on the Internet Gambling Act. Here is a copy of the what is written on the website: (Warning, foul language is posted below)

Politicians don’t understand that you can’t legislate morality. First sex, now poker! The advent of online poker gave a whole new generation the chance to experience America’s greatest sport – going tits up and ruining your life based on random chance. It was like the old west but the hookers were hotter. Without ever having to step foot in seedy casino, a whole new generation had the chance to gamble without their friends and family finding out. Then president Lawton came along and spoiled the party with a new law blocking payments to Internet gambling sites from checks, debit cards, credit cards, or any type of electronic transfer. You can plow cash into a volatile stock market as assholes in suits run around fucking with your retirement. You can bet on an emaciated animal running around the track. You can buy a girl from Eastern Europe online. You can fritter away money on fantasy baseball. You can spend as much as you want on state lottery tickets at odds of 120 million to one. You can fill your home full of guns. You can even play Bingo in the church hall. Yet, according to the religious fervor and scare-mongering of the hypercritical, right-winged moralist on Las Venturas dole, they believe it is there job to ban everything that is fun. Online gambling is not suddenly a menace to society and a danger to our children. Smoking, goatse, polygamy, and now poker! And they call themselves patriots?!!! What could be more quintessentially American then addiction and gambling? Poker is a game of lying and taking other people’s shit so they are ruined for life. That’s my America, baby. Turn on your TV – The Ventura’s Poker Challenge is on all the time. Apparently, it is no longer up to us how we squander our money. What happen to Land of the Fucking Free?!!

The message is mixed. In my opinion it attacks poker as a game of skill, yet brings up some very strange, and some-what true claims. For instance, when it rambles about "You can plow cash into a volatile stock market... You can bet on an emaciated animal running around the track. You can buy a girl from Eastern Europe online. You can fritter away money on fantasy baseball. You can spend as much as you want on state lottery tickets at odds of 120 million to one. You can fill your home full of guns. You can even play Bingo in the church hall." These are all true, yet no "moral" law protects Americans from these what would be unmoral activities.

I am curious on how others feel about GTA's post on the matter. While it's not suppose to be serious by any means, I think it brings up some good points in a laughable manner.

Disappearing Act

Since December I have sort of disappeared from the blogging world. My first response to this is, I'm sorry. As of late, I have had some reversals on my quest to $500 following Chris Ferguson's Bankroll Management Rules. I was well over half way to the goal when I hit a cold deck. I lost many tournaments by what the general public would call "bad beats", however; I continued to keep my outlook positive by remembering in the long run I will win these races and have their money. I must admit, it's been extremely hard at times to keep that in mind, so much so that I am taking a break from SNG play and getting my feet wet in micro-limit cash games. I am starting out at the .05/.10 rooms to get use to the flow of a cash game. It's been different, but enjoyable. I'm hoping that things work well for me and allow me to move up the limits rather quickly. So far it seems that cash games fit my style of play, almost too good. I like to play a lot of suited connectors, and one-off hands. I like post-flop play and most importantly for a cash game; I like to gamble. The most difficult challenge is forcing myself to play in these micro-limits but, we'll see what the future may bring in this next chapter of my poker career.



In other news, what does Blackstone, Houdini, Wilson, Vernon and Burton have to do with anything? In my world, it has to do with everything. These are some of the greatest magicians that ever lived and over the last year I have developed an interest in the conjuring arts of magic. As an amateur illusionist and card sharp, I have been able to gain confidence in myself and started performing for friends and family. Their reactions fuel my interest in the arts even further, forcing me to spend less time behind the table and more time practicing sleights and illusions. As my interest grows I have been in heavy debates if I want to start posting about the arts in this blog. A typical blog is usually about yourself and your interest - and with my limited amount of time behind card tables, and more time on the stage, I believe this blog would have more entertainment over time if I opened it up to other things besides poker. I guess time will tell what this blog will develop into, so until then - good luck out there. May your good cards hold up.

Cheers.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It's been several weeks since I had the oppertunity to blog. I've been a victum of holiday madness which has kidnapped all my free time, leaving me with no outs. I have much I want to talk about but the madness has not stopped, I must travel to visit family and I plan to leave in an hour. Before I go, I just wanted to wish everyone a great holiday weekend and a wonderful New Year. Hopefully Santa brings you a pair of those unbreakable pocket-aces this year.

Cheers all!

Rest In Peace

David "Chip" Reese, 1951 - 2007
"The Greatest Cash Game Player That Ever Lived" - Jeffery Pollack

David "Chip" Reese passed away Tuesday morning from effects of pneumonia. Chip Reese was surely a living legend with a very impressive record for a "cash game player" including 3 World Series of Poker bracelets, 1991 induction into the Poker Hall of Fame, and over $2.9 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Chip Reese's most notable accomplishment was his most recent WSOP bracelet in the 2006 $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. Tournament taking home over $1.7 million.

Ton's of media and news outlets are covering the story, here are a few direct links:

Three-time WSOP bracelet winner Reese dead at 56 (ESPN)
Poker star David Reese dead at 56 (Sports Illustrated)
Poker Legend David 'Chip' Reese Dead at 56 (PokerNews)
Poker Legend David 'Chip' Reese Dies (CardPlayer)
Brunson's Issue Statement on Passing of Chip Reese (CardPlayer)

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TJ Cloutier, Moment of Silence



David Reese wins his third bracelet CardPlayer Tribute

Big Booms!

I've been extremely busy lately so I haven't had much time for cards. With that note I don't have much to say so instead I will leave you with some videos.


Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas


SANDS in AC


StarDust, Las Vegas


Aladdin Resort, Las Vegas


Boardwalk, Las Vegas


Landmark, Las Vegas


Hacienda, Las Vegas


Castaways, Las Vegas


Top 10 Vegas Implosions