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Poker Lowdown
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News on tournaments and other action in area casino poker rooms by Mike Pritchard
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To keep up to date on Atlantic City poker news and bad beat totals visit Atlantic City Weekly’s poker blog, “The Real Deal� at acweekly.com/poker. N
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Here’s a look at the latest regular tou nament action in Atlantic City:
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Bally’s — Billy’s Poker Room: Monday, Tuesday Wednesday & Thursday at 1pm & 7pm - $40 + $10 Fridays 1pm - $40 + $10 Friday 8pm - $60 + $15 Saturday at 1pm - $60 + $15 Saturday at 7pm - $60 + $15 ($15,00 chips) Sunday Speed Tournaments at 1pm & 6pm - $40 + $10
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For more information, call 340-1143. Borgata
1145 2'0 #6 EN2/ The Borgata offers 85 tables and fea
tures all variations of Texas Hold ‘Em
14 +0(14/#6+10 14 6#$.' 4'5'48#6+105X 7-Card Stud and Omaha. The casino ha daily poker tournaments with buy-in %#.. JNMTHHETIILI of $100 + $20 weekdays and $300 + $4 999T *' 11. (6'4 #4-T%1/ Friday and Saturday. Special room rate
are available for all tournament players. The Borgata also has daily single tabl “Sit and Go� tournaments that have buy 1 $11- *16'. 411/ n 57+6' 2#%-#)'5 ins ranging from $30 + $10 to $1,000 8+5+6 999T #44#*5 '5146T%1/ $60. Borgata has Survivor Tournaments tha are multi-table cash tournaments. On in every ten players wins ten times th buy-in. Fridays at 5pm: $350 Buy-in $50 Entry. Sunday 21+ with valid ID required to enter. We accept U.S. Issued Drivers License, Military State ID, at 11am and 4pm and Passports. Dress to impress. Nightclub Attire is required to enter and is enforced at all times. $30 Entry. www.thebo Management reserves the right to refuse admission. Know When$150 To StopBuy-in Before You+Start.Ž Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Š2010, Harrah’s License Company, LLC. gata.com
Caesars Caesars offers Texas Hold’em $1-2 N 1 15 5
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but maybe they just weren’t that lucky in this event. The event itself was won by Atlanta amateur Christopher Rivers (a pretty good poker name) who took home $64,565. Rivers went heads-up with Matthew Diggs of Edgewood, Md., on the final hands. Here’s a rundown of the action from the WSOP: Heads up play between Diggs and Rivers began shortly after 3am with blinds and antes at 50,000/100,000/20,000 and both players even in chips. The decisive hand came on a 6c, 5s, 4c flop after which Diggs raised Rivers’ 200k bet all-in. Rivers eventually made the call and showed pocket jacks. Diggs showed 2s, leaving him needing help on the turn and river. A queen and 10 were no help and Diggs was left with 700k. The final hand came shortly after with Diggs outkicked all-in with K-10 to Rivers’ K-Q. Rivers’ hand held through the river and a Circuit Event champion was made. “The last couple of times I limped, he raised,� Rivers recounted of the hand that crippled Diggs. “So I decided to limp with jacks, and though I hoped he would play me aggressive after the flop, I was worried about him drawing out on me, but I eventually called. “Oh man, this is great, I’m very excited.� Also, poker pro Annie Duke will appear at the circuit events Dec. 10 at 6pm in the poker room and then will play in the room Dec. 11 starting about 11am. Duke has been making numerous appearances in A.C. this year in support of WSOP events. In some other news, the Borgata has once again shown that it will always answer its competitors and has scheduled a series of special tournaments for December. The December Mini-series offers some amped up buy-ins, including a $1,500 + $150 Deepstack tournament on Dec. 17, just two-days before the WSOP circuit $10,000 regional championship event. The series begins this weekend, on Dec. 10, with a $500 + $60 No Limit event. You can check out the schedule at A.C. Weekly’s poker blog at acweekly.com/poker.
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N THE WAKE OF THE SEEMINGLY constant stream of bad news surrounding Atlantic City’s gaming revenues in recent months, a lot was riding on two events in the city this week. First was the successful transition of Resorts’ ownership to Dennis Gomes and Morris Bailey, which seems to be proceeding without a hitch and with little public fanfare. Of course this is a poker column, and since Resorts doesn’t offer a poker room, well, let’s move on. The second was the World Series of Poker circuit event that started Saturday, Dec. 4, at Harrah’s Resort. A poker tournament might seem to rank way below a struggling casino coming under new ownership. Yet throughout efforts to revitalize the resort, one word keeps coming up — perception. That Atlantic City has to change its image and perception to be more than just casinos is a constant refrain. But you know what? It wouldn’t hurt if the casinos were seen as hopping a little too. And at the opening of this WSOP circuit event, Harrah’s was hopping like never before. The opening event of the circuit, a $300 buy-in, No Limit event, set a record for Harrah’s Resort with 1,250 players. The field beats a 1,181-player field at a 2008 circuit event and is now the biggest tournament ever played at the casino. While the circuit events have benefited all year from reorganization and new structures, it’s still pretty gratifying to see a December event in Atlantic City draw that much attention and players. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that it proves another casino besides the Borgata can generate a little poker mania. “We’re really excited for having set this record,� said Harrah’s Resort’s poker director, John Arthur. “We got it right this year with the structures and everything else we have put into place for the Circuit and hope to continue having great numbers through the rest of the series.� Looking at the 135 players who got paid in the event, the field was dominated by New Jersey and New York players and had a good representation for Maryland and Virginia. Strangely, there weren’t that many Pennsylvania players,