Thanks again for the advice guys. Here's a quick TR. If I recall, strategy is not allowed in this forum so I'll keep that highly limited and post it elsewhere at some point.
I got in Friday around 7 for the company party, which was in a banquet room next to Night Fever at Resorts. Anything I write about the party would be tldr, because it was a typical company party and we spent an hour or so after at Night Fever, which is supposedly a good spot on Saturdays but I have my doubts...
Went to my room ($59 + tax) and it was sweeeeet. I should say, SUITE. Somehow I think they messed up and gave me a suite with a king bed rather than a standard king bed room. I had a huge living room, separate bed room, a jacuzzi and a separate part of the bathroom with a walk-in shower. It was awesome.
I took a walk over to the Taj after checking in just to see the poker room there, since I've never played there. I sat for a little while, but it was disgusting, so I left and walked back next door.
The jacuzzi may have been -EV, because I stayed up an extra hour or hour and a half to use it, maybe the second time in my life I've been in one... Relaxing, but I was very tired the next morning. My buddy and his girlfriend who live near AC took me to White House in the morning for cheesesteaks, which I'd say were not as good as true Philly ones... But still solid.
They dropped me back at Resorts and I walked down to Bally's. I found the poker room, signed up and started playing in the 1/1 around 1 p.m. I got one of the tables near the window, so I could see the ocean which was cool... First poker room I've ever been in with windows and a view. My goal was 6 hours, which I had read in a thread here was enough to get some comp offers or room rates on the Total Rewards card...
I literally had no hands of note, and I'd say the game is not beatable during the daytime once you factor in the rake. I had a few regs nitting it up and nut peddling, so I tried to run over the table... It's probably neutral EV considering the smaller blinds, smaller raise sizes and rake. I ended up in the game for $450 (buy-in is 150, I was down about 350 at my low) after catching a couple cold decks and missing some OESD/FD combos, but the game improved significantly around 5 or 6 and I left at 7 p.m. down $125.
I walked back to Resorts, got my car from the valet and put a bad beat on them. Somehow they charged me $2.78 for the valet, when the car was in there for 24 hours. The self park was $10, and it said something about a special rate level, so I dunno what happened but I'll take it. Between that and the room, maybe Resorts just likes me.
Drove up to the Borgata and got seated in a 1/2 game... Instantly it was MUCH, MUCH better action than the 1/1. It would ebb and flow, but there were always at least 2-3 bad players at the table and at times it got pretty wild. I won two big pots. One with KJ on a KK5x5 board, got it in on the turn against a super aggro villain presumably overplaying a flopped flush draw, which he had done in the past. The other was with JJ on a JT4 board with a flush draw out. Got called in three spots on the flop and thankfully the turn bricked, we got it in on the turn and the river Kx didn't hurt me. I stacked one guy for 300 and doubled through another for about 400 - pot was $1150.
Lost back about $200 w/ trips vs a full house and AK vs AA all-in preflop against a guy with 25bbs. So the overall trip was about +500.
I'd definitely say the 1/2 at the Borg is way better than the 1/1 at Ballys based on my experience, but for those trying to build live bankrolls, you may want to try to grind the 1/1 at prime times - weekend nights.
There's also the fact that the Borgata on a weekend night (maybe always?) is packed with incredibly hot girls dressed to the nines in very tight clothing. It's a distraction, but a good one
.