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Originally Posted by Hibiyachi
I went and walked around the property last night and I thought it was pretty bangin. Those escalators are gonna be a disaster though with drunks dropping stuff off them.
I had the same thoughts. Another problem is that the glass barriers outside in the Sky Garden area are really short. If somebody got into a fight out there and/or was drunk, it could lead to a major problem. I'm sort of surprised they didn't build the barrier a little bit higher to prevent such accidents from occurring.
I was there on April 3. Some thoughts:
Revel (pronounced as if it rhymes with "rebel") is very, very nice. The designers and architects clearly took advantage of the water views in designing the property. When you enter from the Boardwalk, you enter on a level with large escalators going up and down. If you go down, you get to where the car entrance is (for valet) and the front desk. If you drive up that way, the first thing you would see is the ocean. If you go up one level, you get to the casino floor. The casino floor is designed in sort of a circular fashion and it's a little bit confusing to navigate. There really aren't any central walkways like at the Borgata. Overall, the casino has a modern design (it reminded me of Aria a bit).
The casino level seems to contain all of the restaurants - most of which are situated so that they have great ocean views. There is going to be a steak place, there is a lounge near the water, and Italian restaurant, a quicker Mexican "lunch truck" place, and a seafood place. Chef Michel Richard is also going to have two places, including a fancy French restaurant.
If you go up another level, you get to the poker room on "The Mezz" level. This level also has the event center and the conference room center. On "The Mezz" you find the SkyGarden, an outdoor space which has really great views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Boardwalk. I don't think there's really anything else like it at any of the other casinos on the Boardwalk. The SkyGarden was not fully open, but it looks like it will be pretty big when it is complete (there's also another similar space another level up, but I didn't go there).
If you go up the escalator to "The Mezz" it is quite a hike to get to the poker room (10 minutes or so). You basically have to walk through the entire conference center (which is extremely large) and down a winding hallway to get there. It would be quicker to go through the casino and go up a set of escalators near the poker room, but it's still not close. The poker room itself is very nice. It's sort of an L shape, rather than a square of rectangular room. There are good sight-lines to TVs. It has darker lighting, which I actually liked, and dark-green waterproof tables (someone put a little water on the table and it just beaded up and stayed there).
Complaints about the table leg space are warranted. I got stuck in one of the seats where I couldn't fully extend my legs (and I'm short). I only played about an hour and a half, so it wasn't a big deal, but if I was playing longer, I would have switched seats whenever possible. I played 1-2 NL there - there were about 6 or 7 games going on. The dealers seemed to be of pretty high quality - based on what a few of them said, it sounds like they had experience dealing elsewhere. I recognized one of the floor guys too - I had either seen him before at the Borgata or Showboat.
I think the poker room will be successful and surely draw people away from the Showboat room (not that there are many people there to begin with) and the Taj Mahal, since it's a much nicer place to play. However, I think the fact that the room is on the second floor away from anything else will make it less likely to draw casual players who come by and just randomly decide to play. There is literally nothing near the poker room on the second floor except the conference center, though there is an escalator down to the casino nearby.
Overall, the place is extremely nice and the employees were extraordinarily nice, with one exception (a restaurant hostess who was not nice and complained "there are too many people here" when I asked to see a menu). They are also obviously trying to cater to a younger crowd with a burlesque-themed nightclub and a "interactive gaming" area which are basically automatic table games (like roulette) with young hostesses there to "assist."
Overall, it's a great hotel. From a poker perspective, I think it's going to be hard for them to draw the higher limit games from the Borgata, but I am not sure that's their goal (especially since they only have 37 tables). That said, I think Revel will draw a younger more casual crowd than any place but the Borgata, and with it will likely bring some juicy games. I can definitely envision Revel as the type of place that draws guys there for bachelor parties, etc.
Poker players may find the dining options lacking too. As someone else mentioned, there really aren't any casual options open yet (except the Mexican place) and I am not sure if any more are planned. The shops are not open yet, so perhaps there will be more options there, but it doesn't look that way. There is also no food service to the poker room or eating allowed at the tables. There is nothing remotely as convenient as the Cafeteria at the Borgata.
There are definitely pluses and minuses to Revel, but I think overall, it will be a nice play to play poker, but I cannot see the bigger games moving over from the Borgata - at least not now.