I boarded the Showboat Casino Hotel In Atlantic City in the early evening after having played in each of the poker rooms on Atlantic City's boardwalk. I was a little tired and, frankly, a little weary from all of the poker rooms I had visited. The Showboat seemed a bit like an afterthought in the poker world, after experiencing the madness that is the Taj. I was looking forward to relaxing for a couple of hours before proceeding to the two poker rooms off the Boardwalk, Harrah's and the Borgata.

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I was very pleasantly surprised to find an excellent poker room with lots of energy, spirited play, a fun atmosphere, and a lot of variety to keep even the most energetic poker player amused.

• Information and Reviews about Showboat Casino Poker Room in Atlantic City, including Poker Tournaments, Games, Special Events and Promotions.
• Spent part of the past week at Showboat, and played several sessions in the poker room.For anyone visiting here, be warned this room is heavily populated by locals. Each table I sat at, it seemed the majority of players knew each other.

The Showboat is owned by Harrah's, but it has an identity very different from the other Harrah's properties I have visited over the years. In general, Harrah's tends to run a careful corporate room, with little exuberance, tending to favor the more sedate game. This room, by contrast, was loud and robust. The Showboat has 23 tables and they spread limit and no-limit hold'em. While I was there they had $2/4 and $3/6 limit games along with $1/2 and $2/5 no-limit games.

Showboat History. Showboat Atlantic City was opened in 1987. This Mardi Gras themed resort was purchased by Harrah’s Entertainment in 1998 and as such became a part of Caesars Entertainment’s New Jersey casino empire along with all the other Showboat properties located in other cities.

The room was very crowded and there was still some buzz going on about the $75,000 bad beat jackpot that had just been hit. As a rule, I don't care for bad beat jackpots – I believe they suck money out of the game and turn poker into a lottery, with everyone just waiting for the big prize to be won. But, for what it's worth, it had a positive effect on this room. There was a lot of talk and a lot of energy generated by the bad beat. So it accomplished its purpose of keeping people interested in the room.

I suspect that players would have been interested in this room even without the bad beat. The lighting is terrific. The poker room staff practically fall over themselves trying to be helpful. 'Hello, sir!' said one employee greeting me. 'Are you signed up for one of our games? Are you a tournament player? We have a tournament going off soon.' He was only one step more relaxed than a carnival barker – practically drawing players into the room who happened to walk by.

Not that there was a lot of foot traffic by the poker room. It is up on the second floor of the property, completely isolated from the noise and bustle of the slots and table games below. This is, in my mind, a good thing, though I suppose it cuts down on the number of gamblers who happen to wander into the poker room to try their luck… not that the poker room seemed to be hurting by its physical isolation. The games were all going strong when I arrived. 19 of the 23 tables were in action when I was there. There were also some waiting lists.

I was quickly seated in a $2/5 no-limit game. A floor person asked me if I'd like some chips. The buy-in limit for the $2/5 game was $500. I bought in for that amount. A couple of the players had much larger stacks — $1,000 or more; most had $200-300. One guy was very short-stacked with $40 or so. The crowd was young; most were in their 20s or early 30s. A few looked to be teenagers, though the legal age for gambling in Atlantic City is 21.

I quickly realized that I was not going to easily become the boss of this table. I was dealt in the small blind. Three players called the big blind, as did I. The big blind checked. Five of us saw a flop of . I figured I was in the lead – though I knew I had to be cautious without an ace kicker. Also, with five of us in there was a good chance that someone may have had two pair. Someone may have hit a straight or flush draw. I was happy to win the hand immediately. I bet $30. I got one caller – the player on the button.

The turn was the , making the board . A straight was surely possible – but not as likely as if a queen or eight hit. Would the button have called my larger-than-pot-sized-bet with only K-Q? Who knew? I didn't want to risk giving a guy with a draw a free card. So I bet $50.00. He called. I was admittedly confused. Could he have been on a flush draw? Could he have been sucking me along with trips or a straight?

The river was the , making the completed board . If he was drawing for a club flush he hit it. If he had a queen, he had a straight. Hell, he could even have had a straight flush. I figured I was dead and checked. He bet $150. I thought about calling just to confirm how prudent my check was, but then good judgment took over and I folded. Could he have been stealing with nothing? Who knew? As I said, I was not about to become the boss of that table.

I played for another hour or so and managed to hit a few hands. The level of play actually tended to be pretty mediocre – as there are many tourists in the game who really didn't know what they were doing (though my opponent in that early hand and a couple of other young guys clearly did). I left up $50.

Just as I was getting up to leave I noticed a great jazz band playing down the hall. They were strolling the full length of the hallway and came right by the poker room. They were very good and having a fun time of it – the same kind of attitude I tried to bring to my poker game.

All in all, the Showboat is a great, fun poker room surely worth a visit.

Showboat Atlantic City
801 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
(609) 343-4000

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Ameristar Casino Hotel East Chicago (formerly Showboat Mardi Gras Casino, Harrah's East Chicago, and Resorts East Chicago) is a riverboat casino in East Chicago, Indiana, docked at Indiana Harbor on Lake Michigan. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn National Gaming.

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The property features a 56,000-square-foot casino that offers 1,900 slot machines including reels, video reels and video poker; more than 40 table games; a high limit gaming room that is on land adjacent to the riverboat; and a 288-room hotel.^[1]

History[edit]

Showboat Mardi Gras Casino opened on April 18, 1997.^[2] In 1998, Harrah's Entertainment bought Showboat, Inc. and renamed the property as Harrah's East Chicago. Harrah's later sold it to Resorts International Holdings, and the casino's name was changed, along with the street name to 777 Resort Blvd (similar to the addresses used for some Harrah’s branded casinos: 777 Harrah’s Blvd). It was later sold in 2007 to Ameristar Casinos and changed its name to Ameristar before the September 2008 deadline.^[3][4][5]

In August 2013, the property became part of Pinnacle Entertainment when that company acquired Ameristar Casinos.^[6][7] In April 2016, the property was sold to Gaming and Leisure Properties along with almost all of Pinnacle's real estate assets, and leased back to Pinnacle.^[8][9]

In October 2018, Penn National Gaming acquired the property's operations as part of its acquisition of Pinnacle.^[10]

Vessel[edit]

The Win Star is the vessel that hosts the casino. The vessel uses a diesel reduction propulsion system and has a length of 332.2 feet. The boat's gross tons is 2803.0 and net tons measures 1906.0. It was built in 1997 by Atlantic Marine, Inc.^[11]

References[edit]

1. ^'Fact_Sheet_East_Chicago'(PDF). Ameristar.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2012-06-02. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
2. ^'Showboat casino opens with a bang'. Post-Tribune. Indiana: via HighBeam. May 21, 1997. Archived from the original on September 21, 2014. Retrieved 2012-05-13.(subscription required)
3. ^John Grochowski (June 21, 1998). 'Showboat changes course'. Chicago Sun-Times.
4. ^'Harrah's East Chicago casino is sold to Colony Capital'. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. September 2004. Retrieved 2008-06-22.^{[dead link]}
5. ^'AMERISTAR CASINOS' ACQUISITION OF RESORTS EAST CHICAGO' (Press release). Ameristar Casinos. September 13, 2007. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
6. ^Keith Benman (December 21, 2012). 'Ameristar Casino dealt to new owner in $869 million deal'. The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
7. ^Howard Stutz (August 14, 2013). 'Pinnacle Entertainment completes $2.8 billion buyout of Ameristar Casinos'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
8. ^Andrew Steele (April 27, 2016). 'Judge allows Ameristar deal to proceed'. The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 2016-07-23.
9. ^'Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. completes the previously announced acquisition of the real estate assets of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc' (Press release). Pinnacle Entertainment. April 28, 2016. Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
10. ^Andrew Steele (October 16, 2018). 'Penn National completes acquisition of Ameristar-owner Pinnacle Entertainment'. The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
11. ^'WINSTAR Boat Information'. BoatInfoWorld.com. Retrieved July 2, 2012.

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