“We can set it up anyway you want,” comes the enthusiastic voice of Bryan Hoey, executive director of the Greater Atlantic City Golf Association. “You want golf only, we can do that,” he says. “You want a golf-casino package, we can put that together, too.”

What Hoey offers is the up-to-date version of the Atlantic City Experience, featuring an exciting array of fine golf choices, a classic stroll down the renown Boardwalk, a chance to unwind at an architecturally spiffy hotel-casino ... and gambling 24/7 on a vast casino floor or in a private poker room.

Atlantic City can trace its oceanfront hotel lineage back a hundred years or more. The beach and the boardwalk are still here, as are the hotels, though mid-20th century hotel guests probably wouldn’t recognize them. That’s because they’ve morphed into modern hotel-casinos.

Familiar names tell the story: Bally’s. Borgata. Harrah’s. Caesars. Trump. Taj Mahal. Trump Marina. Trump Plaza. Hilton. Showboat. Tropicana.

The majority of hotel-casinos front the boardwalk and offer wide and dramatic ocean views. But several opted to build along the shore of Brigantine Inlet, about two miles away, where marinas provide ample dock space for those traveling by boat. The popularity of this choice is underscored by the fact the area is now known as the “marina district,” and from a modest perch at one of the hotel-casinos, sea views are plentiful and the Atlantic City skyline stands out clearly.

It’s gaming and gambling that have solidified Atlantic City’s persona since the mid-1970s, when the first casino went up. The variety of gaming choices is as wide as the human mind can conjure, from craps and roulette to blackjack and baccarat. And tucked away within some casinos are special spots where the continuing popularity of poker holds sway.

While all of Atlantic City’s casinos offer poker tables side-by-side with other gaming choices on their wide-open casinos floors, for private, uninterrupted poker play, it’s the dedicated poker room that beckons — and lately, it has beckoned big-time. Wide television coverage of the World Series of Poker on ESPN can certainly take some credit, as can the fact that poker offers challenges few other games can match.

Says Tom Gitto, director of poker operations at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel on the boardwalk: “I think poker players are the sharpest gamblers because of the quick decisions required.”
And for many, that’s the allure, all the more enhanced when a sea of players are playing the same game in a private enclave.
Take Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa, which opened in 2003 and offers 2,000 rooms at Renaissance Point on the inlet. While its casino floor is one of the largest in Atlantic City, occupying 161,000 square feet, its poker room is separate with 85 tables and action around the clock. No casino offers more seats, and Borgata spices things up with daily, single-table “Sit-n-Go” poker tournaments, where the entry fee and buy-in can be as low as $30. Then, too, Borgata sets up occasional special championships, where the level of play is high and the winner takes away substantial money.

Equally enticing is the poker room at the exotically designed Trump Taj Mahal, which has 1,250 oceanfront rooms, 70 tables in the poker room and four daily tournaments.
“For years, we were the only casino with a separate poker room, and we considered ourselves the ‘stud’ capital on the East Coast,” Gitto says. “We offered seven-card stud, which few others did, and we attracted a wide following with it.”

He bemoans the World Series of Poker emphasis on Texas hold ’em, which has pushed the classic stud poker games to the background.

“But we still offer it,” he says.

Other Atlantic City casinos have poker rooms, of course. There’s the Tropicana with 35 tables, two daily tournaments and a special section called the “Jade Palace,” which caters to Asian tastes with Pai Gow Poker and Pow Gai Tiles. There’s Bally’s Atlantic City with its poker room on the sixth floor, daily tournaments and a special table for Caribbean Stud Poker, as well as the standard Asian games. There’s Harrah’s Casino Hotel on the inlet, which sports 40 tables in its poker room and a special midnight tournament each day. And there’s Caesars Atlantic City with its “Palace East” section for specialized Asian gaming and a poker room with 25 tables, as well as daily tournaments.

Not to be overlooked is the Showboat Hotel and Casino on the boardwalk with its handful of poker room tables that are level with and look out onto nearby boardwalk strollers.

“We tend to attract a lot of new players here,” says pit manager Celia (no last names, please!). There are four easy-to-enter daily tournaments. “Sixty-five dollars is all you pay for 10,000 in chips,” she adds. “Play for five hours and you get a reduced room rate.” Then, she smiles. “We’re not so serious about things here.”

While gaming and gambling are certainly the indoor highlight of The Atlantic City Experience, golf on one of the fine area courses is the outdoor pursuit of choice, especially for poker players who can transport their wagering prowess to the tee box. As the Greater Atlantic City Golf Association’s Hoey points out, “We can design any type of package you wish.” He has nine golf courses within 45 minutes’ drive from downtown Atlantic City to choose from and match with an appropriate hotel-casino.
That golf and poker have a solid tie-in is underscored by Trump Taj Mahal’s Gitto, who sees the connection this way: “They both require self-control,” he says. “You have to stay on top of what you’re doing.” He mentions that many poker players do play golf, and in fact, Taj Mahal, as well as the other casinos, entertain high-end players with complimentary golf at area courses.

One favored must-play is Twisted Dune Golf Club, less than 20 minutes away. The course offers a links style laid out through massive sand dunes and deep ravines with almost no trees in sight.

Though it opened just 10 years ago, Twisted Dune has the feel of a course that has been around for generations, and it offers more than 100 deep traps and bunkers with neatly contoured fairways. Wind certainly plays a role here, but the starkness of the terrain in contrast with the lushness of the fairways presents unforgettable images.

Another must-play, though a bit farther away and opened in 2002, is Shore Gate Golf Club, which combines links and parkland styles to produce a sculpted, dramatic course with seven lakes and steep dunes. Unlike many Jersey Shore courses, “we have elevation changes here,” says Head Professional Greg Johnson. “Our greens undulate and there’s always a breeze. But we’re very picturesque, and ...” he pauses, “we’re open 12 months a year.”

For a more classic golf experience, the courses at Seaview Resort fit the bill. Within a half-hour drive from the casinos, there’s the links-style Bay Course, designed by Donald Ross in 1914, and the parkland-style Pines Course, which opened in 1929.

The Bay Course, windswept and touching the shores of Reed’s Bay, was the site of Sam Snead’s PGA Championship in 1942 and now hosts the annual LPGA ShopRite Championship.
The Pines Course is longer but more protected, and carved out of surrounding New Jersey pine forests. Both courses are getting a minor facelift, according to Steve Havrilla, director of golf. “We’re widening the fairways and greens to the original course designs,” he says, “and we’re edging all bunkers on both courses.” Otherwise, though, there’ll be no tampering with these Jersey Shore classics.

Other choices are available, too, throughout this stretch of the Garden State.

There’s the Links at Brigantine Beach, the closest golf course to Atlantic City with water on 14 holes; Harbor Pines Golf Club, featuring private, undisturbed golf along with 12 ponds and several massive bunkers; Mays Landing Golf Club, considered the “best birdie for the buck” among the area golf courses, with tree-lined fairways and wide landing areas; Blue Heron Pines Golf Club, one of the prettiest golf courses on the Jersey Shore, with an imposing parkland setting; Sand Barrens Golf Club, offering 27 holes and large sand, waste areas bordering wide fairways; and Atlantic City Country Club, which goes back 100 years and where the term “birdie” was coined.

In the end, the Atlantic City Experience is just as Bryan Hoey described it. If you want golf, they have golf. If you want gaming, they have gaming.

If you want poker, they have poker. Oh, yeah, and there’s the beach, too. And did we mention the boardwalk?

PLAY

Twisted Dune
www.twisteddune.com | 609.653.8019
rates $59-$89

Seaview Resort
www.dolce-seaview-hotel.com | 609.748.7680
rates $59-$109

Shore Gate
www.shoregategolfclub.com | 609.624.8337
rates $49-$99

Links at Brigantine Beach
www.brigantinegolf.com | 609.266.1388
rates $35-$70

Harbor Pines
www.harborpines.com | 609.927.0006
rates $89-$115

Sand Barrens
www.sandbarrensgolf.com | 609.465.3555
rates $50-$105