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I am compelled to write what’s coming up even though it doesn’t have anything to do with Atlantic City per se, although it does have to do with the very worst 11 days I ever spent in a casino venue in my life. The badness of my 11 days had little to do with gambling; when I played I did very, very well – it had to do with everything else, every damn thing else.

I am at LaGuardia in New York for my 11:15AM flight to Memphis, Tennessee on Northwest Airlines. The day is dreary with intermittent rain and some light winds. I will get to Memphis at about 1:15PM, Central Time, and then Henry Tamburin, Dominator, Stickman and I will set up for the Golden Touch Blackjack class which we are holding in Tunica, Mississippi, near all the casinos but not at one of the casino properties.

I just had a procedure on my eye and I am not allowed to have daylight touch my skin today so I am completely covered when I enter the airport – the drug they used during the procedure affects the skin’s ability to deal with daylight. I am wearing an Indiana Jones hat and white gloves.

The winds, what there are of them, delay the plane for over an hour but the flight to Memphis is smooth. I was supposed to meet Dominator at the Memphis Airport but since I am going to be so late, he rents another vehicle and goes to Tunica on his own.

I rent an SUV from Avis.

We set up the Golden Touch Blackjack class at the hotel in a couple of hours and then Dominator and I head over to the Grand Casino-Hotel so I can check in. He’s already checked in. The Grand is the premier property in Tunica, with three hotels (the best of which, The Terrace, is where I am staying), a golf course, a shooting range, a spa and salon, a Kid’s Quest child-care center, and a convention hall. The property is huge with small lakes throughout. The views from the hotel are beautiful.

Now when I check in, I have to tell the desk clerk that the last three nights of my stay are comped with a room comp coupon. The first three nights are also comped.

I had made an 11-day reservation over the Internet and then I started to get comp offers. This will be my second time staying at Grand’s Terrace Hotel. I substituted the free offers for the first three days and now I wanted to substitute another free offer for the last three days of the trip.

"We got you (we gachew) for those days already (aweready)," says the clerk.

"Yes, I know but I want to use a free coupon," I say.

She looks at me as if I were speaking some strange dialect or maybe my New York (Yawk) accent is hard to fathom, but I can tell she doesn’t understand what I am saying as her eyes kind of look like a deer I once almost hit on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey on my way to Atlantic City. I figured I would come back once I was registered in the hotel and explain to someone else who could understand what I was saying that I want to substitute my paid days with the free days.

We eat at Muranos, an Italian restaurant, at the Grand Casino that night. Dom isn’t that hungry so he just has salad. That night when he gets back to his room after an evening of play he decides he wants to eat and calls room service. Then he calls me.

"Can you believe it?" he says to me. He is quite agitated.

"What?" I ask.

"The damn room service is closed because of bad weather."

"Bad weather? What bad weather? It’s not bad outside. And how would that affect room service even if it were bad outside?" I ask.

"It’s supposed to be bad tomorrow," he says.

"So what?"

So what? So the next morning an ice storm hits Mississippi and Tennessee. It isn’t a particularly bad ice storm and some salt and sand should take care of the roads, making them drivable. I call down for room service and the phone rings interminably and finally someone answered.

"I want to get in touch with room service," I say.

"There ain’t no room service. It’s closed." She hangs up.

I go downstairs to get a paper and find that the Gift Shop is closed. A crudely scrawled sign taped to the front door announces that fact. Then I go to get some coffee in the Java Grand shop. It is closed.

I go back to my room and drink some water. An hour later Dominator and I get into the SUV and head for the Golden Touch Blackjack class. We grouse about the fact that nothing is open because people hadn’t come into work. When we get to the hotel where we are holding the class, we ask Stickman, a resident of Tennessee and one of our instructors, about the fact that no one seems to have come to work at the Terrace Hotel. He laughs. "People here don’t go to work in the bad weather," explains Stickman.

"We drove here and the road was ice. They haven’t salted yet," I say.

"They don’t have salt," says Stickman. "It’ll melt on its own. God brought the storm; God will take it away. That’s the thinking."

After the class Dominator and I drive back to the hotel. We stop at the valet parking in front and wait. No one comes over. Finally we see a woman who looks like a worker and we call to her.

"Hey," yells Dominator, "we want to valet the car."

She ambles over slowly and looks at us, "There ain’t no valet parking now."

"What?" I ask.

"You’re kidding?" Dominator says.

"You got to park yourself," she says.

"You mean we have to go into that icy self-parking lot and park the car ourselves?" asks Dominator, his voice rising. Dominator is quick to get angry.

"Yup," she says and starts to walk away.

"Did the valet parkers come to work?" I ask.

"No, we a different department," she says.

"What does that mean?" says Dominator, really irritated now.

"We a different department," she says. "You park the car."

So we drive the car into the icy parking lot – it is a sheet of ice, there are no non-icy spots and we have to park in the very back of the lot which looks to be about ten miles away from our hotel. As I get out of the SUV on the driver’s side I slip, catch myself on the door and luckily don’t fall and kill myself. My Indiana Jones hat falls off my head however. I reach, get it just before it can blow away across the ice flow, and put it back on.

"God almighty. Be careful, Dom. We can kill ourselves trying to get to the hotel."

So we walk like fans going onto an ice-hockey rink. We slide along the ice. It is scary and dangerous. You park the car, the woman had said as she walked away from us. You come to a hotel for services and amenities; you don’t come to a hotel so that you park the car because the valet attendants don’t show up for work.

Inside the hotel I see that there is no bartender at the bar. I could use a drink but the bar is closed. Why would that be surprising? No one comes to work in bad weather. Great.

In the elevator, Dominator, a native New Yorker like me, rattles off, "No room service, no gift shop, no coffee shop, no valet, no bar, no salt or sand on the roads. What the hell? Does it get worse than this?"

Today is worse.

I look out my window and there is nothing but ice everywhere. I don’t bother with room service. I drink some water, take my vitamins, shower, dress, knock on Dominator’s door – we have adjoining rooms – and off we go to the Golden Touch Blackjack class.

Of course, we first have to negotiate our way into the parking lot – it is like walking over the frozen steppes. We could have used a Sherpa guide.

As we drive through the Grand’s property, it is a sheet of ice except on the roads that the shuttles use in order to take the players from the hotels to the Grand Casino; there’s sand on that road. Trying to exit the Grand property is hair-raising, as I must drive about 10 miles per hour.

"Do they want their f*%king players to die!?" screams Dominator as the SUV does a little skid.

"They are trapped on the property," I say as I right the SUV.

There is no sand, no salt, on any of the exit roads from the Grand.

We do the class and now we are heading back. We park in the lot, eight million miles from the Terrace Hotel, and walk – no, we cross country ski – our way to the hotel.

I go to the front desk to explain about my three free room nights the next weekend. Desk person doesn’t understand what I am saying. I explain it three times, in three different ways, all three ways engendering looks as if I were talking gibberish – ugab noto klepto descarties.

I give up.

We call the restaurant line from Dom’s room and finally someone answers. This woman doesn’t know if any restaurants will be open that night.

"Depends on if anyone comes to work," she says.

"If they salt the damn roads people could drive!" shouts Dominator into the phone.

Dominator looks at me. "She hung up."

"Crap."

That night at the Grand Casino all the restaurants are open. A few people seem to have made it to work after all.

I go down to the Bellissimo Spa at 7AM to work out. It is closed. It’s supposed to open at 7AM. I go back to my room and come down at 8AM. It is open; thank the lord! I work out for an hour.

The ice is beginning to melt and the valet parking is open. We take the shuttle to the Grand Casino so we can eat at the buffet. Of course, the gift shop is still closed and so is the Java Grand.

At the buffet there is no butter until the waiter finds some in the kitchen. That takes five months.

"They didn’t put it out," he says by way of explanation.

"I know that," I say. Obviously they didn’t put it out! That’s why I asked you to go find some! But to him I say, "Thank you."

We’ve experienced no room service, no gift shop, no coffee shop, no valet, no bar, no salt or sand on the exit roads, no understanding on the part of the check-in clerks and no butter at the buffet.

The Bellissimo Spa is open at 7AM today and I work out for an hour. I go back to my room, shower, shave, and knock on Dom’s door. We head for the Grand Casino to have a buffet breakfast.

Where they make the omelets, the toaster oven deposits the toast in the back on the counter so that you can’t get to it. You have to call over the worker – who slowly ambles over, letting the toast get chilled – to get your toast for you. It is rather weird that the toast comes out the back and it is also unsanitary that the toast falls directly onto the counter instead of in a plate or a basket or anything but on a counter! The butter doesn’t melt on the toast because it is cold by the time you get it back to your table and get the butter at the Southern Fried Foods station.

After breakfast I try to explain to the desk person at the Terrace about my three free nights.

"Oggle baba woudo mako nugatth," the clerk hears me say. (Actually I said, "I want to exchange three free nights for the three paid nights next weekend.")

"Huh?" she says.

"Macholutajkiuta," she hears. ("I want to speak to the manager.")

The clerk looks at me as if I am speaking some space-alien tongue. We stand there and look at each other.

"Never mind," I say and leave.

At noon, Dom sends out a rush overnight Fed Ex package to one of his clients. The problem is that the staff at the desk says that the package can’t be delivered until tomorrow.

"What are you talking about?" says Dom, "Fed Ex picks up at 5PM. It’s noon now for God’s sake." The desk clerk takes the Fed Ex package from Dominator.

Sign on elevator says Muranos, the Grand Casino’s Italian restaurant is closed on Wednesdays but open on Tuesdays. I’m not a big steak eater and this is the only Italian restaurant in Tunica. Just about all the other restaurants are steak houses or barbeque. I prefer pasta. So we go to Muranos tonight, which is Tuesday and it’s open, right? But it is closed! So we eat at some café at the Grand where the service is slower than a stop sign.

Back in the elevator going back to our rooms, I show Dom the sign. It says Muranos is open on Tuesdays. Except it was closed.

Dom expounds, "What the f*%k!"

In my room I suddenly hear a scream from Dominator’s room.

"Aaarrrgghhhhh! You STUPID F*%KS!"

I knock on his door and he opens it. He looks like a madman. The rush Fed Ex package has been returned to his room – it’s sitting right on the bed – because the Terrace staff thought it was addressed to him.

"They delivered the package to me!" he screams. "They delivered the package to me!"

I have a great workout in the spa.

We go over to the buffet later and now the toast comes out of the front of the toaster but still falls onto counter.

"Shouldn’t you have a basket or something to catch the toast?" I ask politely to the woman who works at this station. She is engaged in a heated discussion with a co-worker over the fact that the Grand didn’t pay them some money they felt they were owed.

She ignores me and continues her conversation.

I ask my question again and she says, "What?"

"Shouldn’t you have a basket or something to catch the toast?" I repeat for a third time.

"You just catch it with your hand, sir," she says and turns back to her conversation.

Great workout in the spa today.

I go over to the front desk afterwards to see if I can get someone to understand about my free rooms. The supervisor at the front desk understands that I want to substitute the three free room nights that I have with the three paid ones that I had booked over the Internet. He says, "It’s all taken care of sir." I’m happy. I thank him.

There is no whole wheat bread at the buffet. "There’s just white," says the girl working behind the counter.

I walk 3.5 miles on the treadmill and I lift weights. These are little 10 pound weights and an old lady is lifting 20 pounders.

Dominator is really frustrated by his stay at the Grand’s Terrace Hotel too – today neither of us got wash cloths from housekeeping – and we both decide to talk to the manager of the hotel this morning. The time has come to complain. I have a list of what has happened this week written on a piece of paper.

Dom explains all about how his Fed Ex package wound up back in his room.

"Ah heard about it," says the manager.

I then read my list: "No room service during storm, no gift shop during storm, no coffee shop during storm, no valet during storm, no bar during storm, no salt or sand on the exit roads, no understanding on the part of the check-in clerks about my rooms, no wash cloths, restaurant is closed when it is supposed to be open and no butter at the buffet and no wheat toast either and the damn toaster puts the bread on the counter."

"I am not responsible for the buffet," says the manager.

I look at the manager. Dom looks at the manager. Is this it? I mean, okay, he’s not responsible for the buffet but what about his hotel?

"You come to a hotel," I say calmly, "To enjoy amenities like room service and the other things. That’s why we are here. And we didn’t get any of the amenities."

"There was a storm," he says.

"So what? So what?" screams Dom.

"People don’t come to work in storms," says the manager.

We all stand there silently.

"How about you pick up the rooms we have paid for to make up for the lousy service?" asks Dom.

"I’d have to talk to the president," says the manager.

"Great, talk to him," I say.

Dom and I walk away. Dom says, "M%^&$#)*&!!!!!"

We go over to the hotel where we are holding our Golden Touch Craps dice control course. We are renting two rooms there and we have a lot of setting up to do – two full size casino craps tables, eight practice tables, in addition to all sorts of dice paraphernalia. The moving of all this stuff to the hotel takes a lot of time.

"Let’s relax," I say to Dom as we pull up to the hotel. "We relax and set up the rooms. You did call to remind them to clean the rooms?"

"No, they know they have to do that," says Dom.

Both rooms are not cleaned. There’s stuff all over the big room and the smaller room, where we do our lectures, is being painted by two skinny guys who look as if they have smoked five packs a day since they were toddlers.

We talk to the manager of the hotel and inform him we have to have both rooms set up. We need that second room.

"Ah didn’t think you need it," says the manager slowly, "so we went ahead to paint the molding."

He assures us that he will personally set up the room for tomorrow.

Dom offers to pay for the room in advance. The manager says we can pay on Sunday, there’s no rush.

"How many students should we set the room for?" asks the manager.

"Set it up for 32 students," says Dom.

The room is set up for 62 students. We have to quickly remove chairs and rearrange things. The front part of room’s wallpaper is starting to peel onto the new paint.

The class goes well and we head back to the Grand’s Terrace Hotel. In my room the phone rings. It’s the manager of the hotel where we did the Golden Touch Dice Control class.

"We want payment for the rooms right now!" he says.

"Didn’t you say Sunday was fine?" I ask.

"My boss wants it now," he says.

We have to go right back and pay him for the rooms.

Dom reminds him to clean up so that when we start tomorrow the rooms are ready to use.

That night Stickman, Mrs. Stickman, Rock ‘n Roller, Dom and I eat at Sheraton’s steakhouse. Stickman orders a Belvedere martini, dry, straight up, no vermouth, and Dom orders Kettle One on the rocks with an olive. About ten hours later, long after we have ordered our meal (which hasn’t yet arrived), the waiter brings over one of those round glasses you get in hotel rooms with some vodka in it and puts it in front of Stickman.

"What’s this?" asks Stickman.

"That’s (dats) your (yo) drink," says the waiter.

"I ordered a Martini," says Stickman.

"That bartender he says that this is what it is and he must be kidding me because…" and the waiter goes on and on and on as to why Stickman’s drink isn’t his drink. I didn’t understand what he was saying half the time but it was the longest excuse I have ever heard.

"Please go back and get me what I ordered," says Stickman.

"Bring my drink too," says Dom, looking disgusted. "How hard is it to get a drink order right?"

The waiter brings over our dinners with Stickman’s drink, this time made properly, but he doesn’t have Dom’s drink.

"Where’s my drink?" asks Dom.

"Your drink?" asks the waiter.

"Forget my drink. I don’t want it now."

"I’ll get your drink right away, sir," says the waiter.

"Forget my drink," says Dom.

"What did you order?" asks the waiter.

"Forget my drink," says Dom.

The waiter walks away, checking his notepad.

"You know I think they are trained in school to make excuses," I say.

I call room service at 6:30AM and order some eggs and toast with a small pot of coffee.

"It will be right up, sir," says the woman on the phone.

I call down at 7AM to check to see if my order is ready.

"It will be right up sir," says the woman on the phone.

I call down at 7:30AM to see what is taking so long.

"The cook didn’t come in. We got no cook," says the woman on the phone.

At 8AM, five minutes before I am to leave for class, my eggs arrive. I wolf them down and head out the door.

At the hotel where we are holding our class, the rooms haven’t been cleaned – so we clean them up.

That night we eat at the Grand’s Muranos and Rock’n Roller, another instructor, orders some penne pasta to go with his meal. After the table is cleared of dessert and our coffees, the pasta is brought to him.

I call the airlines and change my flight back home from Tuesday to Monday afternoon. I am anxious to get home because I have had the worst week I have ever spent in a casino hotel and town.

At the buffet this morning there is no bread to make toast

"Where’s the bread?" asks Dominator.

"No bread," says the woman behind the counter.

"Why isn’t there any bread?" I ask.

"The toaster exploded," she says. Sure enough there is no toaster either.

The buffet’s waitress took our order as soon as we came in and when we got back to our table we expected our coffees and Dom’s orange juice to be waiting for us. Why did we expect that? I don’t know. They are not on the table.

Three-quarters through the meal, the waitress comes over with our drinks. She places them down, walks away. Dom and I are talking. Dom reaches for his orange juice.

"What happened to my orange juice?" he asks. "It was right here." He points to the spot where the orange juice was – I saw it there too.

Dom calls over the waitress. "Where’s my orange juice?"

"Your orange juice?"

"Yes, you put my orange juice down and now it isn’t there," says Dom.

"I picked it up and gave it to him," she points to a man at a table next to us drinking the orange juice.

"Why did you give my orange juice to him?" asks Dom.

The waitress smiles a big smile but she doesn’t say anything. She has a very pretty smile. She has no reason why she gave Dom’s orange juice away. After smiling into our stunned faces, she walks away. That’s that.

"The toaster exploded," I say.

"She took my orange juice," Dom says.

It’s time to leave the Grand and boy am I glad to be going home to my beautiful wife AP. I go down to the front desk to check out my bill and there it is in black and white – they charged me for the three free nights. I tell the woman at the desk that the last three nights are supposed to be free. She is in the process of training a man to be a reservation agent. He looks dumbfounded as I speak. She looks dumbfounded as I speak. Her training is obviously going quite well.

I repeat the fact that my last three nights are free. She looks me up on the computer.

"You didn’t use them nights," she says.

I had a choice there to argue or to just sign the bill and get the hell away. I signed the bill.

It was a beautiful day in the South. The air was crisp and clean and Dominator, Street Dog (another Golden Touch Craps and Blackjack instructor), and I head to the airport. I will get on the plane and head to New York and home, and I would put this rotten week behind me.

Northwest Airlines is delayed on this beautiful day. My flight takes off an hour and twenty minutes late.

I am seated in the aisle seat and next to me is an elderly woman who falls asleep as soon as the plane lifts off. While she sleeps she snores really loud and then she starts to rip the most wicked sounding and horrendously smelling farts. She farts and snores; snores and farts.

When the stewardess comes by for drinks, the woman wakes up and orders orange juice. The stewardess hands it to her and he drops the glass and all the orange juice in my lap.

"Give me another," she says to the stewardess. "This one spilled on this man."

This man asks for some napkins to wipe himself off.

"I live in Connecticut," says the old woman and, finishing her orange juice, she promptly falls back to sleep, snoring and farting.

About 50 miles from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the pilot gets on the intercom and says, "You probably noticed that we just made a 180 degree turn. The tower has told us it will be another twenty minutes for us to land. So we’ve been delayed again. I’ll keep you posted."

We finally do land.

Of course, my limo service isn’t there at the airport. I am standing outside and there’s no one there to pick me up. I call my wife and she calls the limo service.

Five minutes later my limo arrives. I had been waiting on the departure level of the airport – where I always wait – and he had been waiting for me on the arrival level. He’s a new driver.

And we take off for Long Island and home.

Except there are three accidents on New York’s busy highways, which stall me getting home. It takes another hour and when I finally arrive home I feel like kissing the ground. Instead I kiss AP, my beautiful wife. When we disengage she says, "You smell like oranges."

Hi Frank and AP:

  Just went to AC again and visited a lot of the casinos.  Here's my report:

Wild Wild West, keep at three stars (nothing's changed.) Expect to play with bad players

Bally's drop down to 2 1/2 stars.  No waitresses bringing drinks for spans of over 45 minutes.  Table minimums of $25 on the weekends are typical.   Getting harder now just to get a $10 table even on the weekdays. Standard 75 percent penetration.  Customer service on phones is atrocious, as I've waited on average 10 minutes to be connected to a person.

Resorts drop down to 2 1/2 stars.  Place must be the smokiest casino in AC as they do not have any non-smoking tables unless the customer requests it and nobody else objects.  Also penetration has dropped to about 68-70 percent and $10 table minimums.

Taj Mahal keep at 4 stars.  Went back there and had a much better trip.  They offer lots of promotions that keep us coming back and have lots of tables to play at.  Hotel rooms aren't shabby either. $10 table minimums during weekdays and $15 during weekend nights.  Got 80-85% penetration.

Claridge Casino is as bad as ever!

Showboat is three and a half stars.  Nice pit bosses, excellent waitress service, and lively looking place.

Caesars is three stars. Nice looking place and upscale clientele. Just too damn expensive with $25 table minimums most of the time.

Hope this helps,

Ben

Dear Frank and AP:

Let me talk about dumps first and the two biggest dumps are still Claridge and Sands. I remember when Claridge was the "friendly casino," well it isn’t the friendly casino anymore. Sands is a real dump and should be blown up. The pits are ridiculously paranoid and some people who aren’t even counters but progression players have been short shoed and shuffled on. How this place stays in business is beyond me.

The two best casinos to play blackjack in are still Borgata and Taj Mahal. Borgata has the babes but Taj is a slightly better game.

Atlantic City players have to deal with mostly those bad eight-deck games but they still flock to the tables anxious to lose all their money.

Best wishes,

Andrew

* * * *

You can read about the Golden Touch Craps World records, including the Captain’s 147-roll hand at www.goldentouchcraps.com/worldrecords.shtml. Want to learn dice control from the masters? Get a copy of The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! by Frank Scoblete and Dominator.

* * * *

We’ve decided since many of our Golden Touch Craps dice controllers are now Speed Counters subscribing to this site, we are going to give a quick rundown of the craps games as well. We haven’t played in all the casinos in AC so we would appreciate it if you could email Frank with the table minimums, the odds bets, and anything else you think we might want to use (table lengths very helpful – if you just say "big" we will assume 14-feet as they are at Borgata). If you send us info we will give you a free month on our members-only board. Email address is fscobe@optonline.net.

All the ratings of casinos are based on the blackjack games.

***********************************************************************

If you’re going to play blackjack, why not play with an advantage? Golden Touch Blackjack will give you the easiest method for getting an advantage at the game. You’ll learn it in 10 minutes, practice for two days, and be able to go into the casino and have a verifiable edge! Learn Speed Count and the new optimum basic strategy in this class. Go to www.goldentouchblackjack.com. Call 1-800-944-0406 to sign up or for more information.

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Here are our ratings for March 2006.

BALLY’S PARK PLACE: Bad reports coming in about service here. No mid-shoe entry in high roller room and on a few of the main $50 tables in casino, otherwise you can usually Wong here if you wish. Mixed reviews about how deep the penetration is. For craps players, this is a good casino for the game. There is one 5X odds table, usually a $25 minimum; the rest are 2X odds. Crews are friendly. Tables are somewhat high so short shooters get your platform shoes. There are many more carnival games than ever before. Looks like Three-Card Poker rivals blackjack!

BORGATA: No change from last issue. This hotel-casino has brought the youth crowd to Atlantic City and the place seems to be hopping 24 hours a day. And Borgata is still one of the two best blackjack houses in Atlantic City. Penetration on all the 6-deck games varies between 75 and 85 percent so you can get some good games here. Craps has long tables, 14-footers, and very bouncy, although there is talk of two smaller tables - somewhere. There is always at least one $5 game available. Great casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

CAESARS: No change from last issue. Excellent restaurants. Cheerful place and worthy of the name it bears. Hotel/casino rating is A. They are going deeper. You can expect about 80 percent penetration with most of the dealers. The main floor of eight-deckers has some of the upper-limit tables ($25 and $50) with no mid-shoe entry. All the games in the high roller pit are also no mid-shoe entry with $100 minimums. Table game action has improved and that is very noticeable in the blackjack pits – which are all 8-deck games. Six-deck games in high roller room have 80 percent penetration, as do the eight-deckers on the main casino floor. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. The craps games here are good with 12-foot tables and friendly crews. The tables are a little high so smaller controlled shooters should wear their "special shoes."

CLARIDGE: No change from last issue. This was once the Captain’s favorite casino in Atlantic City and it was once ours as well. Maybe it will recapture its glory days again? Blackjack games have about 70 percent penetration. The rumor is that the casino is going to be closed so those glory days might not be coming back.

HARRAH’S: No change from last issue. Harrah’s knows how to treat its customer base and it shows. Excellent property, good rooms, good views, good staff in all areas. As a corporation Harrah’s is doing something right! Harrah’s has maintained a great corporate image and deservedly so. Hotel/casino rating is A. In the casino you will find very friendly dealers and pit personnel. Penetration now ranges in the 75 percent area. Resplitting allowed except aces. No midshoe entry. High roller room is 6-deck action, the rest of the casino was 8-decks. Play here and at Showboat and your play counts all across the nation. For those of you who like to go to Vegas you can get some good comps from your AC action in the desert! A room that would be discounted for $80 in AC would be free in Vegas based on the same play – this is not official but based on our calculations of the offers we’ve received. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Friendly crews and decent tables at craps. We haven’t played there but reports are good. But we must warn you, this is a big slot place too.

HILTON: A place to look at when you are in AC. The blackjack games here are getting good reports from some of our correspondents but you must pick the game based on the dealer because the penetration is dealer dependent. Resplitting allowed except aces. High roller room is 6-decks, rest of the casino is 8-decks with a few $25/$50 6-deckers on occasion. No mid-shoe entry on the six-deckers. High table minimums, especially on weekends, a lot of $25 tables, rare $10 tables. Penetration about 75 percent, sometimes up to 80 percent. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. For craps, we are dealing with 14-foot tables and a couple of 12 footers. Casino is dark. This place needs a buffing.

RESORTS: No change from last issue. Some contradictory reports on this place but we found it to be the same as last issue. Resplitting is allowed at all tables. Casino also offers multiple-action blackjack and Spanish 21 at $10 minimums. But Resorts has brought in those single-deck zombie-fied blackjack games too. Avoid the single-deckers. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Excellent place for craps. Mostly small tables, with some games 5X odds. Last we were there, the high roller room had two 10-foot craps tables that were open on the weekend.

SANDS: The El Cortez of Atlantic City.

SHOWBOAT: No change from last issue. The table game area has shrunk considerably. Good casino-hotel. Excellent blackjack in high roller room and sometimes the game is just $25 minimums. The penetration is about 80 percent now. A game worth looking at. Rooms are all full-sized and spacious; suites are great. Hotel/casino rating is A. Resplitting now allowed up to three hands. No mid-shoe entry. Eight-deck games have 80 percent penetration and allow mid-shoe entry, although there is not that many tables available. We remember when this place had great table-game action. Can now find $25 games in high roller room at those very good 6-deck games. You can get great deals in other venues by using your card, as it’s a part of the Harrah’s Total Rewards program. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. Craps is fine here too. All the tables are now 12 footers. There are 5X odds on all tables.

TROPICANA: The biggest moneymaker in AC. Hotel/casino rating is A. Blackjack games have actually improved here. The main floor now has 6-deckers with mid-shoe entry allowed on almost all of them. High roller room is 6-decks with no mid-shoe entry. Penetration is about 75 percent on all games. Big improvement here in all areas of play. Craps tables are 12-footers. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

Three Stars and a half stars: * * * ½ *

TRUMP MARINA: No change from last issue. Six-deck games in high roller room and 8-deck games on the main floor have penetration of 70-75 percent mark, but you won’t find any dealers going much deeper. Games are mostly $15/$25 and up, especially on weekends. No mid-shoe entry on the 6-deckers but you can jump in and out on the eight-deckers. Craps tables are 12-footers with 2X odds. Haven’t played here in years.

TRUMP PLAZA: Some of our Golden Touch craps players love this place and think we are too hard on it. There’s a multi-million dollar renovation going on to make this a prize casino-hotel again and it is starting to get back its old glamour. The 8-deck games have penetration at 75 percent, depending on the dealer. No midshoe entry on eight-deck games outside high-roller pit but you can find $25 (a few) to $50 minimums on these. Allows resplits, except aces. Most eight-deck tables are $10 and higher. High roller room is 6-deck games. Craps tables are 12-footers. Very friendly crews. Good casino for Golden Touch Blackjack.

TRUMP TAJ MAHAL: No change from last issue. It has the best casino and the best hotel too. Rooms are all clean and well attended; the building and casino are light and spacious. The staff in all areas is terrific. This is the place to stay. Hotel/casino rating is A+. Despite the fact that they have brought in those 6/5 single-deckers, this place is now tied #1 for blackjack (with Borgata) in Atlantic City as well. We are becoming patrons of the Taj because their dealers and crews are so friendly and professional. Good game with 75-80 percent penetration (even saw some 85 percenters!), dealer dependent. You can find 6-deck games with $25 minimums right outside the high roller room. In the high roller room all games have $100 minimums. Excellent casino for Golden Touch Blackjack. This is the best casino for craps in AC as well. All 5-X odds tables and one 20X odds table. The crews have been universally pleasant. Tables are all 12-footers. In our estimation, this is the number one craps and blackjack casino in Atlantic City.

WILD, WILD WEST: No change from last issue. All 8-deck games. This is a part of Bally’s Park Place. Penetration is about 75-80 percent on all games. Good place for Golden Touch Blackjack. For craps this is a fun place to play with one 5X odds table. Crews are very friendly.

THE BEST BLACKJACK IN ATLANTIC CITY: Taj Mahal and Borgata

The Best Craps in Atlantic City: Taj Mahal

The Best Hotel/Casino in Atlantic City: Taj Mahal

Alene Paone is the CEO of Paone Press, which sells gaming books and tapes at discount prices. She also writes for www.scoblete.com. Her husband, Frank Scoblete, is the #1 best-selling gaming author in America. Frank’s books and tapes have sold over a million copies. His newest book is The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution, co-authored with Dominator, the great dice controller.

For a free brochure call: 1-800-944-0406 or write: Paone Press, Box 610, Lynbrook, NY 11563. His websites are www.goldentouchblackjack.com, www.goldentouchcraps.com and www.scoblete.com.