It’s happening at Atlantic City Hotels and Casinos

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Trump Plaza’s 100% PokerPro(R) Poker Room will be hosting a $25,000 Freeroll No-Limit Texas Hold’Em Poker Tournament in December 2008. To qualify for a seat in the $25,000 Freeroll, players must play a minimum of 60 hours of cash/ring games in Trump Plaza’s Poker Room between November 1st and November 30th.

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Macau’s economy is based on tourism and gambling, much like its counterparts in the US – Las Vegas and Atlantic City. These three places, combined generate more revenue just from gambling than the total market Cap of Bank of America and US Bank combined, in fact they don’t even come close.
Here, we look at the key statistics at the “Terrific three” gambling hubs.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas has long been the world’s gambling hub. High end casinos, unparalleled service and a large variety of entertainment options have kept tourists coming back to Vegas year after year. Leading properties include casinos run by MGM Mirage Inc., Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corp and The Wynn Resorts Ltd.

At close to $6.5 Billion in gambling revenues in Las Vegas alone and $12 billion total gambling revenue in the state of Nevada which includes the City of Reno, a smaller gambling hub, it is still arguably the world’s largest entertainment location, even though Macau has exceeded Las Vegas in the last year or so as the world’s largest gambling hub.

Overall, the Las Vegas economy, which includes revenue from tourism, gambling, entertainment and a host of other smaller businesses including conventions, has been increasing 6.5% year after year and is about $110 billion now and is expected to reach $155 billion in 2012. No other location comes even close to that number.

2008, however, has been slower than usual, primarily due to the overall economic slowdown in the US due to the sub prime mortgage crisis.

Atlantic City:

Atlantic City has 11 major casinos and has been the second biggest gambling hub in the US for several decades. Research studies however show that 2007 will be the first year for the drop in revenue, because of the tough competition in the gambling industry.

Many of the old casinos that were there in Atlantic City have been shut down. The Trump Marina Hotel Casino had the biggest decline $11.8 million, and recently, Trump decided to sell this away as well. New casinos have started coming up though and it is unclear at this time what the future of Atlantic City would be.

Overall revenue for casinos in 2007 dropped 2.9% compared with 2006, but the decline in slots revenue was even sharper at 7.2%. The smoking ban, additional taxes, competition from casinos in neighboring states and the overall economic slowdown contributed to the slowdown. Despite these losses, Atlantic City generated $4.94 billion in gambling revenues in 2007, still a very strong number in the US. With new casinos coming up and the closure of the old loss-generating ones, Atlantic City seems to be poised for a comeback. Only time will tell.

Macau:

Gambling revenue in the enclave totaled 55.9 billion patacas ($6.95 billion) in 2006, which includes lottery and racing revenues although the booming bulk came from the casino floor. This may exceed the $6.2 billion generated by the Las Vegas strip. VIPs related revenue was higher but the mass market was slightly lower.

At the end of 2006, Macau had 24 casinos operating 2,762 gaming tables and 6,546 slot machines. In the beginning of the year 2007, with the increase in the gambling revenue by 22% reaching US$ 6.95 billion, Macau dethroned Las Vegas to emerge as the world’s No.1 gambling destination.

The success story of Macau may be due to the fact that the visitors from the nearby areas in mainland China show more interest towards gambling compared to the Americans in Las Vegas, whose people aren’t that interested in gambling in general. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal and within the reach of three billion people which positions it well for further growth, much better than Las Vegas and Atlantic City. It is already the world’s largest gambling center by volume and may soon become the largest by revenues as well.

Related Links:

• Wynn Macau Taking shape
• Stories on Atlantic City
• Las Vegas -Nevada

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The Story Of The Slot Machine - Over Hundred Years of Thrill and Entertainment

Did you know that what we call a slot machine in America is a fruit machine in the UK and a poker machine in Australia? In 1895, the first slot machine was created by inventor Charles Fey. Besides being its inventor, Charles Fey also sold and distributed slot machines to businesses as well. In 1907, Charles Fey decided to become partners with the Mills Novelty Company to produce a line of new slot machines. The first was the Mills Liberty Bell. 3 years later, the Mills Company created the very first fruit symbol slot machine called the Operator Bell. The early slot machines were made of cast iron, a heavy material that was hard to lug from casino to casino.

In 1915, with the Mills Company’s involvement came the first wood cabinet slot machine. This lighter material made it easier for them to deliver slot machines to various businesses. The Mills Company used its creative mind to branch out and create more interesting slot machines for players. In the 1930’s, it worked on different designs for different machines, all coming with their own mini-themes. These eye-catching, more colorful machines became a luxury for players. In the 1930’s, there was a slot machine boom throughout the United States especially in all gambling hubs like Atlantic City. Since then, slot machines have known a lot of transformations: the mechanical machines were replaced with electronic ones, and then video slot machines started to gain reputation.

The first electro-mechanical slot machine was developed by Bally Manufacturing in 1964 and was called Money Honey. This was the first machine in over 50 years that started to move on from Feys original invention. Internally the machine replaced springs and levers with electrical components and for the player the outward changes really added to the gaming experience with multiple coin play and higher jackpots. The use of the electricity allowed exciting slots noises and flashing lights. Overnight the slot machine had become a whole lot more exciting and appealing to a lot more people.

Bally Manufacturing continued to lead the way in the development of slot machines and in the mid 1970’s introduced a Dollar Slot Machine which casinos arranged in carousels and bigger jackpots. Until now slots had been consider secondary gambling games for the casinos, with the table games considered primary profit games. This was now changing as the slots become increasingly popular.

In 1980 a new company called Sircoma produced a Video Poker Slot Machine. At first players were untrusting of the video aspect as they could not actually see the reels spinning. There are many different kinds of gambling slot machines in places such as Atlantic City. However they soon become very popular and still are today both in live casinos and online.

In the mid 1990s slot machines started accepting bills so players no longer needed to get change in coins to play, this meant more time at the slot machine and actually playing the slot even easier.

Related Blogs :

• Firecasinos
• Vegas Baby

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Atlantic City is a city of Entertainment, joy and many firsts. Here, The world’s first Board walk was founded in the year 1890. This most delightful board walk catches the center of attraction with the many groundbreaking entertainment acts and establishments, so it is called the heart, soul and backbone of Atlantic City.

Though Atlantic city is hot with a salty air in the summer they get extinguished with a number of activities and hotels that are open to people along with the boardwalk. Atlantic boardwalk is place better than never. The Boardwalk seems to be getting attraction here gets better day by the day to increase the entertaining act for the people. You might be amazed that

The “main street” of Atlantic City was originallyactually put down to keep the sand off of the hotel carpets. The Boardwalk is named after Alexander Boardman, a key person behind the work of the Boardwalk, and it happened to be a coincidence that it’s made out of boards. Though in early period of 1870 Boardwalk was only temporary, in 1890 it was built with permanent structure of about 24 feet wide, 10 feet high and about 4 miles long-and with railings on both sides. In future it was also worn out because of weather and sand, and also by the cause of other natural calamities and at present, the structure is replaced with a seat of concrete and steel pilings and constructed of thousands of two-by-fours.

The most popular mode of century old transport on the boardwalk is rolling chairs, in 1887 they are which debuted in 1881. . Initially they were imported from Philadelphia Centennial and rented for the physically challenged, and later it became so popular that everyone wanted a ride, in day course rolling chair in boardwalk was it self an exciting entertainment for the visitors. Another most popular mode of vehicle is bicycle. Large number of bicycle rides can be seen in the morning hours especially in the summer. Bicycle ride is restricted to morning hours between 6a.m. to 10 a.m.

The Atlantic boardwalk has a rich and colorful experience from the start till the end, It entertains and attracts people with all kinds of interests memorably. Hence iIt is alsoeven called as board walking tour sometimes. This tour podcast offers the Showboat Casino and the HHouse of Blues, trolley tours, an Asir show, casinos, resort suite and many a whole bunch of fun more exciting funs for the for Boardwalker’s.

Trolley tour is a delightful tour that provides a fully guided sightseeing showcase that covers all the attractive spots of boardwalk. The attractive spots of boardwalk are Absecon lighthouse, Atlantic city Aquarium, the Historic Towne of Smithville, Cape may and more. Also Customized tours are available as well. The Beach bars in boardwalk add extra flavor for the Boardwalker’s providing great foods and cocktails with lively entertainment over the night.

The sky scrapping Atlantic air show “Tthunders over the Boardwalk” and is an another mosta popular event that enlightens the broad walk. The aerobatics maneuvers, formation flying and solo routines of military and civilian pilots make this show more fascinating and enjoyable.

The hotel packages are more easily affordable with all kinds of amenities and high luxury. They also provide offer packages seasonally. Staying in these suite gives more different experience and makes the visitors to enjoy the lives best, with all under one roof. Waterfront tower, Trump Taj Mahal are the AC spots with 1800 rooms of Accommodation along with the luxury amenities like star restaurants, casinos, spa, golf court, gaming, shopping and also with the expansion of additional dinning ,retail and entertainment properties within. Many more new Luxury hotels are under construction to make the stay more leisure and fun.

Related Links:

• Atlantic City, New Jersey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Atlantic City Hotels | Atlantic City Hotel Casino Deals
• City of Atlantic City

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This post was really informative - atlantic city gambling history

This site often posts useful news and information about NJ, Philadelphia and adjoining areas. We literally ‘live’ atlantic city but still found some of the information on this post new!

For instance, did you know that Resorts International was the first licensed casino in Atlantic City?

Did you know that gambling only started at 10 AM and wasn’t a 24 hour operation? That’s good to know :). I wouldn’t have wanted to go there at 8 AM and not had a slot machine to drop my money at :)). It always amazes me how there are people at the casino floor at 8 AM.

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Looks like only ones that carry that specific game are the Harrah’s corporate casinos so Harrah’s, Showboat, Caesars, Bally’s but only in $.05 denomination

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Blackjack is one of the most popular games that have ever been played at a casino. To this date there are as many variations of this game as the number of cards in a deck. In reality, of all the games that one finds at a casino, this is the one that truly offers a chance for the individual to potentially gain an edge over the house (the casino). Over the years, I have come across a few resources in blackjack that I believe are worth a read..

1. Arnold Snyder’s Blackjack Forum – BlackjackForumOnline.com
   It seems that there is such a thing as free money, well, or at least as close to it anyway. This site is an information portal with gambling tips from professional gamblers, a valuable tool that you get for free at this forum. It also hosts a Professional Gambling Library, one of the largest sources of gambling tips and tricks on Blackjack on the internet. The site is deep enough that you could consider using it as a launch pad to kick start a gambling career but simple enough to get a couple of ideas for your next trip to Atlantic City, even if you are a beginner.
2. Blackjackinfo.com
   As the very name suggests, this site is all about the game. One of the main features on this site is their software, or should I say, the casino verite, a perfect tool to practice Blackjack before hitting the casino floor.
3. When it comes to online gambling is concerned, most of us have questions ranging from which sites are the ones to trust, how to win online, the legalities and so on. Their online gambling section answers most of these commonly asked questions. Their side design and the depth of the information contained in this site makes them stand out from the crowd. If you are a professional blackjack Player, then you might find the update on blackjack tournaments listed here quite useful.
4. Blackjackincolor.com
   This site is perhaps the best place on the ‘Net to understand the underlying mechanics of Blackjack. They don’t really give you a formula to help one win the next hand of blackjack but rather helping one understand the vulnerabilities of the system and the player, which is you. What I really like about this site, is the way it takes one into the nuances of the game, step by step, but at the same time keeping it simple and interesting. Their discussions are scientific and their arguments make sense. Their explanations are often supported with charts that ram the point home. Take a peek and you’ll sound like a pro at your next dinner party!
5. BJMath.com
   Math is said to be the language that unites us all. Since math is their focus, it isn’t surprising how accurate their information is, a rare commodity in today’s internet sites. This site has various tools dealing with the game such as the Blackjack calculator that allows one to count the cards and the risk involved with each hand. With each hand that a player gets, and with the help of this calculator, you are able to determine your chances of winning the next hand. They also have some of the best tips for the live tables that I have ever come across. Math fanatics are likely to love this site but even if Math isn’t exactly your thing, I suggest checking the site out for their tools and tips.
6. BlackjackTactics.com
   There are a lot of sites that claim to have the formula for winning at Blackjack but their explanations often tend to be flat and leaves one wanting more. This site offers an in-depth strategic view of the game. From basic strategy to card counting strategies, they have it all. They also seem to update the site regularly with the latest strategy articles, game variations, game charts, betting systems, history and so on.

So the next time you plan a visit to Atlantic City to try your luck at Blackjack, you will might have a little more than luck on your side. Happy gaming!

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So what does it take to have a ‘poker face’? Is that something people are born with or can you cultivate what it takes to win at Poker? Like any other sport, talent does help, but in Poker, there are certain simple mistakes that beginners often make that we see over and over again.

1. Be the wolf and not the tiger - We all like to play to win a lot of money but so does everyone else at that table. Winning with a bad hand is not as common as the movies make it out to be. Once in a while everyone will fold and you may win even with a bad hand but, empirically speaking, those occasions are rare. The sooner you learn to treat a bad hand as just that, the better your chances of making it in poker.
2. Do not over-bluff – Beginners often make this mistake. Bluffing may be one of the key components of this game but remember that it is just one of them. Over bluffing actually makes it easier for your opponents to read you front side up. Learn to bluff at the right time and Poker will seem a lot easier to win at.
3. To expose or not, that’s the question – If you are one of those ultra-competitive people pouncing on every opportunity to prove your point, then this is for you. At the poker table, you may know when someone is bluffing, but you should still seriously evaluate if calling him or her out and exposing their bluff is going to be to your advantage. The catch is that calling someone on their hand means that you may have to put a few extra chips into the pot. Is that worth risk? Are you better off just letting it go and waiting for the right move? Be pragmatic when calling bluffs.
4. Pay attention to the cards – Counting cards is much more popular in Blackjack but can be used effectively in Poker as well. Pay attention to the folded hands and the cards that are missing in the action. Try to remember patterns in these cards. This is something that you become good at over time, but if you can do this, you certainly have an edge over those that don’t have the ability to focus long-term. Not many have the ability to focus and remember cards after several hours at the poker table.
5. Stay healthy – Last but not the least, a healthy body means a healthy mind and when one suffers, so does the other. Many successful professional poker players say that playing for 14 hours straight, their concentration only improved with the passage of time and that the tiredness and the numbness actually helped. Remember to keep drinking water so as not get dehydrated and make sure that you do break away from the game every now and then, to refresh yourself, in body and mind.

Finally, remember that it’s after-all just a game. Learning to enjoy it will mean that you stay healthy and focused longer and actually increase your chances of winning.
 

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Here are my top picks for Blackjack books, selected from several dozen books that were evaluated. Whether you are just learning how to play Blackjack or planning to quit your job to take on the game full time, I have a book for you in this list. The next time you are browsing through those blackjack books at the bookstore, here’s what you need to look for:

1. Blackjack Bluebook II - the simplest winning strategies ever published (2006 edition)
   This book is down to earth, good for beginning blackjack players. This book explores the strategy of the game with a strategy chart in different colors. The author does a good job with the illustrations for the hand play revisions and covers the different variations of the game quite well. It seeks out to debunk the blackjack myths quite effectively. The basic counting system is explained in detail in this book along with computer simulation results. This book also points out the various plays and maneuvers including several out-of-the-box techniques that I have not seen in too many other beginner books or guides. It has over 40 useful charts and 60 illustrated hand scenarios.
2. Blackjack Blueprint: How to Play like a Pro… Part-Time (Paperback): I give this book five stars for an interesting read about card counting. It offers a brief introduction to basic strategy and card counting based on Stanford Wong’s Hi-Lo system and illustrates how to tailor the play and the bet amount to the count. Card counting strategies account for nearly half the book and the reminder may not be all that engrossing to the reader. Although this book is titled part time, there are portions on this book that would make more sense to a professional than an amateur. And there is a section in this book called zone tracking and believe it or not, this part relates to team play. Another section talks about strategies for equalizing the negative swings one encounters during a play which I thought was the weakest link in the book. A good pick for your Atlantic City trip, just make sure you pick up the book well in advance of your trip!
3. Blackjack For Blood: The Card-Counters’ Bible, and Complete Winning Guide (Paperback): Humor can often make it worthwhile to read a book and this is one such rare blackjack book that actually has a strong element of humor. It includes several relevant anecdotes, making the book a further interesting read. The author also provides information on some of the ‘below the belt’ but not illegal tricks that a player can use to make money from the house. This book basically deals with the card counting system and gets quite involved in math and strategy. I would not recommend this book for  beginners.
4. Professional Blackjack (Paperback): This is a book that is definitely not for the beginners, but the best one out there for the more semi pros or the pros. The most in-depth coverage of card-counting strategies and results that can be expected. It makes you realize that making money at Blackjack is not easy, yet showing you how to do it all the same. This book may be a bit old but is still quite effective and relevant. Before you quit your job to start gambling, read this book to know where you stand.
5. Blackbelt in Blackjack: Playing 21 as a Martial Art: This book was authored by one of the grand masters of Blackjack and a legend by himself, Arnold Snyder. This book is aimed more at the professional niche.. Snyder reveals various tricks that he himself had used including shuffle tracking, team play, multiple decks and camouflage techniques. This book has also devoted large sections of it to card counting and various card counting systems. With this book one can pick up on systems ranging from the deadly red 7 count, the hi-lo count, the zen count, the true count, and so much more.

So there you go, depending on where you stand in your Blackjack skills, pick one of these and you are sure to have a little more fun during your next trip to Atlantic City.
Happy gaming!

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