10/31-11/01 Trip Report; @AC - Atlantic Club

My usual hangout in AC is Trump Plaza. It's clean, has a good location, and they give me a room for relatively little play. However, as some of you may know, that place is due to go under any day now, so I decided to use a free night offer from the Atlantic Club and see what they have to offer. I had previous play there, putting approximately $5k through 9/6 $1 JoB & a bit of craps, which had them sending me nonstop room and free play offers for the past year or so.

I had an offer for any two consecutive nights, but ended out staying Thur & Fri instead of Fri & Sat for two reasons. First off, I got the itch to go gambling two weeks ago and with such short notice they couldn't offer me Saturday night. Secondly, they have 3x comps (This works out to 1.2% comps + .2% cash back on 9/6 JoB) on Thursdays. So I head out from DC around 1PM and get there by 4:30 PM.

I arrive, check in, and immediately head to the VP. But there are people there. These a-holes are camped out, like with food and jackets to hold their spot. Little did I know that the Atlantic Club was giving out $500 in free play to anyone playing VP until 10PM. So these people, four in total on three machines, hogged them all the way until around midnight.

Gambling session #1:

- After I realized what was going on with VP and that there was no chance of me getting in unless I tried to snipe a "saved" seat, I went to the craps table. I bought in for $300 and shit hit the fan immediately. Before I knew it, I was down to $100 and bought in for $200 more. After some ridiculous swings (gotta love craps), I cashed out at $325 for a session (and total) loss of $175.

(I ate and hungout at my room for awhile here, maybe 2 hours)

- I'm trying hard to forget my next session, so let's just say I lost $300 in a half an hour and leave it at that. $500 total loss (some penny slots ate the difference).

(I decided I should take a nap, a long nap, woke up around midnight)

- I finally found a spot on the $1 9/6 JoB and threw in $500, right off the bat I get a few good hands and am up to $580-ish. Then, of course, the long VP grind takes effect. I had a couple of nice upswings, but after 3 hours I was down to like $50 and blew that on penny slots, getting to sleep around 4AM. I'm down $1000, which is more than I was hoping to be down at the end of the trip.

Gambling break:

- I slept in late, very late, because if I was up I'd just be gambling. I wake up, excited, because I get to have crab legs. Little did I know that the Caesar's buffet is closed for renovation. The Atlantic Club's buffet & Trump Plaza's buffets are both $10, trying to cater to the budget minded people. Fuck that. I want my snow crab. So I have to make the trek up to Showboat. For those that don't know the AC boardwalk, the Atlantic Club is the furthest casino downbeach (South) and Showboat is almost the furthest casino uptown (North) - two miles. As a slow walker, that's a solid 45 minute walk. I screw around on my walk up the boardwalk, play an eensy bit at Revel, then head to the Showboat buffet at 3:55 - CET buffets do NOT close between meals, so if you arrive at the end of lunch you get dinner for the lunch price.

The feast:

- I had never been here before, but I found it to be as good, if not better, than the old Caesar's buffet while being about $5 cheaper. My one complaint is that they have crackers for the crab, rather than the sliding knives, and I find the sliding knives to be better for snow crab. Thankfully, unlike Vegas, they give you the whole legs so get full pieces of leg meat. I highly recommend the Showboat buffet. I proceed to take a long nap, getting up around midnight.

Gambling session #2:

- I'm still down $1000, but I've decided I can lose $800 more and still have enough gambling money when I go home for the holidays - gotta love the funny math that goes on in your head during a losing trip. However, the craps tables are at $10 (being a Friday night I wasn't surprised). Now, I play with about $50 plus odds ($5 point + full odds, placing the 6 & 8 for $12-18 each with lots of pressing) on the table at any given point, but anyone here who plays craps knows that the difference between a $5 and a $10 table, variance-wise, can be HUGE when taking full odds. I just can't handle a $10 table on my current budget, so I take out $40 and head to the penny slots. That shit lasted me three hours. I played through bonus games on pretty much all of their featured (e.g. Star Wars, LOTR, Family guy) slots and had a blast. The Star Wars one with team-based battle games were the highlight of this slot session. I was lucky as hell and, as I said in my LV trip reports, penny slots are fun.

- I finally find a $5 table and buy in for $300. After some ups and downs, this guy next to me gets on a roll. He hit three points, a bunch of 6's and 8's (where I concentrate my place bets), and by the time he sevened out I was up to $600 in total chips. Funny story on this though... this guy refused to watch the dice go down the table. So he would set his dice, pick them up, look away, and toss them down the table. This resulted in some short throws, which got him a warning, then ONE time he threw them such that they hit the dealer on the opposite side of the table in the torso area. The supervisor then furiously went up to him, almost pushing me aside in the process, and told him he had to watch the dice as he threw him. Drunk and a Phish fan (they were in town), he obviously had a problem with this guy telling him what to do. They get into an argument for a few minutes, but things cool down. Of course, this amazing roll ends a few minutes after this argument. I end up cashing out with about $500 in chips, so a session win of $200.

- All in, I ended up down around $900 for the trip. That $100 in penny slots got me at least 6 hours in good entertainment, money well spent. The craps losses of $800? I'll get back to you when I finally have a good set of craps sessions in a trip.

Ending thoughts:

- The only food or drink I paid for was the buffet, I ate several meals at the Atlantic Club's diner-like restaurant which was paid for through my comp dollars. I only ended out paying $15 for the room tax I think.

- The Atlantic Club is far superior to Trump, far, far superior. This has encouraged me to stay downtown next time I'm in Vegas, not paying for food is kind of nice.

good report. We have stayed at the Atlantic Club the last 3 times. All 3 times we were also able to get a corner room. We are low level players and were able to spend 3 friday and saturday nights for free during the summer. My only complaint about the place is the horrible service at the coffee shop. We ate there 3 times and all 3 times I left no tip which happens to be the only 3 times in my life I have done that.

Quote: ahiromu

My usual hangout in AC is Trump Plaza. It's clean, has a good location, and they give me a room for relatively little play. However, as some of you may know, that place is due to go under any day now, so I decided to use a free night offer from the Atlantic Club and see what they have to offer. I had previous play there, putting approximately $5k through 9/6 $1 JoB & a bit of craps, which had them sending me nonstop room and free play offers for the past year or so.

I had an offer for any two consecutive nights, but ended out staying Thur & Fri instead of Fri & Sat for two reasons. First off, I got the itch to go gambling two weeks ago and with such short notice they couldn't offer me Saturday night. Secondly, they have 3x comps (This works out to 1.2% comps + .2% cash back on 9/6 JoB) on Thursdays. So I head out from DC around 1PM and get there by 4:30 PM.

I arrive, check in, and immediately head to the VP. But there are people there. These a-holes are camped out, like with food and jackets to hold their spot. Little did I know that the Atlantic Club was giving out $500 in free play to anyone playing VP until 10PM. So these people, four in total on three machines, hogged them all the way until around midnight.

Gambling session #1:

- After I realized what was going on with VP and that there was no chance of me getting in unless I tried to snipe a "saved" seat, I went to the craps table. I bought in for $300 and shit hit the fan immediately. Before I knew it, I was down to $100 and bought in for $200 more. After some ridiculous swings (gotta love craps), I cashed out at $325 for a session (and total) loss of $175.

(I ate and hungout at my room for awhile here, maybe 2 hours)

- I'm trying hard to forget my next session, so let's just say I lost $300 in a half an hour and leave it at that. $500 total loss (some penny slots ate the difference).

(I decided I should take a nap, a long nap, woke up around midnight)

- I finally found a spot on the $1 9/6 JoB and threw in $500, right off the bat I get a few good hands and am up to $580-ish. Then, of course, the long VP grind takes effect. I had a couple of nice upswings, but after 3 hours I was down to like $50 and blew that on penny slots, getting to sleep around 4AM. I'm down $1000, which is more than I was hoping to be down at the end of the trip.

Gambling break:

- I slept in late, very late, because if I was up I'd just be gambling. I wake up, excited, because I get to have crab legs. Little did I know that the Caesar's buffet is closed for renovation. The Atlantic Club's buffet & Trump Plaza's buffets are both $10, trying to cater to the budget minded people. Fuck that. I want my snow crab. So I have to make the trek up to Showboat. For those that don't know the AC boardwalk, the Atlantic Club is the furthest casino downbeach (South) and Showboat is almost the furthest casino uptown (North) - two miles. As a slow walker, that's a solid 45 minute walk. I screw around on my walk up the boardwalk, play an eensy bit at Revel, then head to the Showboat buffet at 3:55 - CET buffets do NOT close between meals, so if you arrive at the end of lunch you get dinner for the lunch price.

The feast:

- I had never been here before, but I found it to be as good, if not better, than the old Caesar's buffet while being about $5 cheaper. My one complaint is that they have crackers for the crab, rather than the sliding knives, and I find the sliding knives to be better for snow crab. Thankfully, unlike Vegas, they give you the whole legs so get full pieces of leg meat. I highly recommend the Showboat buffet. I proceed to take a long nap, getting up around midnight.

Gambling session #2:

- I'm still down $1000, but I've decided I can lose $800 more and still have enough gambling money when I go home for the holidays - gotta love the funny math that goes on in your head during a losing trip. However, the craps tables are at $10 (being a Friday night I wasn't surprised). Now, I play with about $50 plus odds ($5 point + full odds, placing the 6 & 8 for $12-18 each with lots of pressing) on the table at any given point, but anyone here who plays craps knows that the difference between a $5 and a $10 table, variance-wise, can be HUGE when taking full odds. I just can't handle a $10 table on my current budget, so I take out $40 and head to the penny slots. That shit lasted me three hours. I played through bonus games on pretty much all of their featured (e.g. Star Wars, LOTR, Family guy) slots and had a blast. The Star Wars one with team-based battle games were the highlight of this slot session. I was lucky as hell and, as I said in my LV trip reports, penny slots are fun.

- I finally find a $5 table and buy in for $300. After some ups and downs, this guy next to me gets on a roll. He hit three points, a bunch of 6's and 8's (where I concentrate my place bets), and by the time he sevened out I was up to $600 in total chips. Funny story on this though... this guy refused to watch the dice go down the table. So he would set his dice, pick them up, look away, and toss them down the table. This resulted in some short throws, which got him a warning, then ONE time he threw them such that they hit the dealer on the opposite side of the table in the torso area. The supervisor then furiously went up to him, almost pushing me aside in the process, and told him he had to watch the dice as he threw him. Drunk and a Phish fan (they were in town), he obviously had a problem with this guy telling him what to do. They get into an argument for a few minutes, but things cool down. Of course, this amazing roll ends a few minutes after this argument. I end up cashing out with about $500 in chips, so a session win of $200.

- All in, I ended up down around $900 for the trip. That $100 in penny slots got me at least 6 hours in good entertainment, money well spent. The craps losses of $800? I'll get back to you when I finally have a good set of craps sessions in a trip.

Ending thoughts:

- The only food or drink I paid for was the buffet, I ate several meals at the Atlantic Club's diner-like restaurant which was paid for through my comp dollars. I only ended out paying $15 for the room tax I think.

- The Atlantic Club is far superior to Trump, far, far superior. This has encouraged me to stay downtown next time I'm in Vegas, not paying for food is kind of nice.

I really enjoyed the place when it was the AC Hilton; very glad to hear it's still a place worth the trip. Does it seem like it's been renovated within the last couple of years? It had kind of an old, worn luxury to it, but I think it was 2007 last I was there. I'm curious whether they've spent any serious money on the property or whether they're in a holding action with AC in tough times.

I don't think they have done anything to it. The rooms are a bit dated but for me its no big deal, especially when its a free saturday night on the beach.

Nice report.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I really enjoyed the place when it was the AC Hilton; very glad to hear it's still a place worth the trip. Does it seem like it's been renovated within the last couple of years? It had kind of an old, worn luxury to it, but I think it was 2007 last I was there. I'm curious whether they've spent any serious money on the property or whether they're in a holding action with AC in tough times.

I still slip occasionally and call it the Golden Nugget.

Quote: beachbumbabs

I'm curious whether they've spent any serious money on the property or whether they're in a holding action with AC in tough times.

I found the room to be satisfactory, it was large with a good HVAC system. One complaint is that my neighbors didn't respect the no smoking sign on their room... and our rooms were connected by a door... so even though I'm not as offended as some on this site by cigarette smells it was still annoying. That, though, isn't on the hotel.

Quote: GWAE

My only complaint about the place is the horrible service at the coffee shop. We ate there 3 times and all 3 times I left no tip which happens to be the only 3 times in my life I have done that.

On the Coffee Shop... I agree, service was pretty horrendous. It wasn't because they were busy either, my waiter only had two tables, he was lazy and was off chatting with someone. With that said, the prices there are very respectable for an in-casino restaurant. You can get out of there for $10 + tip pretty easily.

Quote: ahiromu

I found the room to be satisfactory, it was large with a good HVAC system. One complaint is that my neighbors didn't respect the no smoking sign on their room... and our rooms were connected by a door... so even though I'm not as offended as some on this site by cigarette smells it was still annoying. That, though, isn't on the hotel.



On the Coffee Shop... I agree, service was pretty horrendous. It wasn't because they were busy either, my waiter only had two tables, he was lazy and was off chatting with someone. With that said, the prices there are very respectable for an in-casino restaurant. You can get out of there for $10 + tip pretty easily.

Yes I will agree with you on that one. And the food is pretty good. My wife and I said, next time we go we will eat there but only order water and maybe even bring a drink with us in case our server goes missing again.