tl;dr Highlights- New casinos will not tier-match the 'Step Up' Golden Nugget card
- CET Platinum netted me $50 slot play plus a future room at Hard Rock.
- Hard Rock Elite card netted me $50 slot play and a future room at Ocean AC.
- Despite bombing tournament left AC up $265 on free slot play and $1/2 at Ocean.
Made an Atlantic City day trip yesterday. Some background - I have a Caesar's Total Rewards Platinum Card not because I play nearly enough but because I have the Total Rewards Visa card. The wife and I went out to tier match with the new casinos in town and see what we could get for it.
I was informed by a friend of mine to hit the Golden Nugget first to upgrade first since they have a match/upgrade offer right now and the "exchange rate" for their upgraded card was supposedly better than the CET Platinum. Unfortunately I didn't get anything for that which was tangible. My wife signed up for the first time and got $15 in slot play.
At the Hard Rock Casino they would not accept the Golden Nugget card because the card literally indicates that it was a 'step up.' My guess is that they were onto the scheme. Still, my Caesars Platinum netted me $50 in slot play at the Hard Rock and a free room offer for later. I turned the slot dollars into $120 which was nice!
We went over to Ocean AC and showing them my brand new Elite Hard Rock Casino Card was good for $50 in slot play plus a room down the road. Later that would be turned into $10 in actual money.
We ate at the burger place at the Showboat which was fine (tots are always +EV) before heading back to Ocean AC where I played in the $1/2 game that was running and the wife had fun on the boardwalk and beach. Played around three hours. They had two tables going though they got short at one point we never combined. There was a $2/5 interest list and they polled the room once but it never got off while I was there.
At the game I was greeted by a player who was putting in large sums of money without looking at his cards. As you can guess, that was something I wanted to exploit.
I attempted to do so when I had Jacks in early position. I just limped knowing Mr. Guy Who Won Several Thousand in Blackjack and was just being stupid for ****s and giggles was going to pop it. And he did to $20.
He got one caller and I reraised to $120. To the surprise of nobody, he shoved all in for his stack of $150ish. The other guy got out of the way and I called.
So I got my Jacks all in against what turned out to be 8-5 off suit. Needless to say the board went 5-5 turn and river so I lost. Fun!
Fortunately despite him racking up after doubling up through someone else and taking all that money with him, I won a few decent pots including one where I had Ace King of Spades and flopped all Spades and felted someone. I also won a decent pot with quad fours.
End result, I finished up exactly $200 after a Cage tip. It would have been nicer if it was $370, but oh well.
So we were up $330 for the trip. The plan was to hit the Golden Nugget for their 7:15 PM tournament (I always try and play that since I get to keep the $15 tournament fee since I work for a casino and there's usually overlay) and play until I busted and then have dinner.
After some time they finally got the 12 runners needed to start it (which I think is nonsense - a guaranteed tournament should always run unless something like a natural disaster strikes - but I didn't get a vote). I was happy it ran. I played okay, not great, wound up 9th when they paid top five.
Since it's a Monday and the Golden Nugget doesn't seem to be as 24-hour oriented as other casinos, specifically the ones on the boardwalk, our dinner wound up being at the sandwich place. But it was fine, better that fast food on the trip back to Philly.
Hoping to use each of the room offers for November and December since I have a Foxwoods trip lined up next month.
