Poker players in New Jersey have never been short of poker tournaments and events to take part in and this summer is no different. Atlantic City hosts all the legal poker rooms in the Garden State.
As such, there is always some round-the-clock action for punters to sink their teeth into. Combined, Atlantic City is home to 5 namely the poker tables at the Tropicana, Borgata, Golden Nugget, Bally’s, and Harrah’s.
What we cover
Borgata Hotel and Casino’s poker room
Borgata recently concluded its Survivor Week, which took place between July 18th and July 22nd. The Survivor Week consisted of 6 poker tournaments that had a range of buy-ins starting from as low as $125 and running to $450. In survivor poker tournaments, participants are expected to play until a certain remaining number of players is left.
Once this occurs, the remaining poker players are given a payout, thus ending the tournament. In July, Borgata also served up some great bounty poker events. In addition to all these festivities, Borgata also holds poker tournaments every week on Wednesdays, Thursdays, as well as Fridays. Borgata also offers several cash game promos in July including weekday high rands every Thursday through Sunday.
This July, Borgata set a new monthly record when it managed to generate $124 million from in-person and online gamblers. Based on figures shared by New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, Borgata produced approximately $77 million in retail casino gambling in July.
The highest revenue generator for retail casino gambling for the operator was slots, which produced $53.6 million of the total $77 million. Table games, on the other hand, produced $21.7 million while poker contributed an impressive $1.3 million.
The revenue generated by Borgata this July represented an increase of 41% compared to June and was an improvement of 20% compared to the same period last year. Borgata’s online casino, alternatively, produced a total of $43 million. Sports betting, on the other hand, generated a handsome $4.4 million.
The Harrah’s poker room
Harrah’s has not organized poker tournaments on-site in a while. However, all through July, the platform offered its customers various cash bonuses. For instance, Harrah’s customers were treated to a $300 high hand bonus every hour. Harrah’s also organized a Bad Beat Jackpot worth $50,000 on July 6th.
The Tropicana poker room
Like Harrah’s Tropicana’s poker room did not offer a poker tournament in July. However, it did offer cash game promotions for punters in New Jersey. Tropicana organized various club bonuses for customers including a $300 rake back monthly when a customer clocks 130 hours.
Customers were also treated to Royal Flushes each time 2 cards in hand earned a $100 comp. In July, Tropicana also organized a Bad Beat Jackpot worth $10,000 starting on July 6th. For customers to take part, they needed to have 4 of a kind, 8s or better.
Golden Nugget Poker room
In July, the Golden Nugget poker room continued with its Golden Nugget Grand Poker series, which kicked off on May 31st and concluded on July 3rd. The Grand Poker series at the Nugget consisted of 81 events that offered poker players guaranteed cash prizes of more than $3 million. The Grand Series featured an array of poker variants including Triple Stud, Big O, Mixed Triple Draw Lowball, Limit 2-7 Lowball, H.O.R.S.E., and of course Pot-Limit Omaha.
The Grand Series in Golden Nugget kicked off on May 31st with a $250 Dealer’s Choice that offered participants a guarantee of $5000. This first event was followed by a $150 Daily No Limit Hold’em with a guarantee of $10,000, as well as a $200 Big-O event. The first day also saw a $125 Nightly No Limit Hold’em offering a guarantee of $3000 unfolds.
The poker action carried into the next day with a H.O.R.S.E. tournament that had a buy-in of $250 and a $200 Pot Limit Omaha tournament that consisted of $100 re-buys. A highlight of the series early on was event 10, the $200 No Limit Hold’em with a guaranteed prize of $250,000. This tournament had an astonishing 9 starting flights for punters to choose from.
This event was followed by another event offering an additional $250,000 in cash guarantees at a buy-in of $200 during the NL Hold’em tournament. This event offered unlimited re-entries. Those poker players looking to take part in a Mystery Bounty tournament were given the chance during event #39, which was a $300 Mystery Bounty NLHE that offered a guarantee of $250,000.
Another highlight of the Golden Nugget Grand Series was Event #55: $1,100 NLHE which offered 3 starting flights. However, it was the enormous guarantee of $1 million that ensured that poker players in New Jersey turned up in the masses. The Grand series at Golden Nugget culminated with the No-Limit Hold’em Championship with a buy-in of $600.
Last year, the Grand poker series was a huge success managing to award John Gardner an enviable cash prize of $100,266. Gardener bear a field of 1096 runners to become the champion of the Grand Poker Series.
During the first 24 events of the 2022 Golden Nugget Grand Poker Series, a total of 3,786 poker players took part and cash prizes worth $656,930 were awarded. During this year’s festivities, Peiheng Chen, was the only poker player to capture 2 titles both of which were daily no-limit hold’em victories. First, Chen topped the $150 Daily NLH to win $2,384 before besting other participants in the $200 Daily NLH, where he walked away with winnings worth $3,606.
Final Thoughts
Atlantic City still remains one of the top hotspots for both online and retail poker. With so many card rooms available, punters in New Jersey never run out of tournaments. As the year starts to wind down gradually, there is still lots of poker action as New Jersey’s best casinos continue to push the envelope in order to attract more customers and offer even larger fields and cash prizes. Live poker action was missing in action for months during the pandemic. But now that poker operations have resumed fully, punters have all the cash game action that they need and more.
