Cappelletti in Atlantic City - Tournament action is growing in Atlantic City

What a difference a year makes. The no-limit hold'em boom wrought by television and the proliferation of Internet tournaments has apparently changed the thinking of casino management regarding poker tournaments. When I visited Atlantic Citylast summer, the only weekend tournament then available was a late Friday afternoon hold'em tournament, which, as I recall, had about 80 entrants.

When I arrived in Atlantic City on the first weekend in May, I was advised that I had better make an advance reservation if I wanted to get one of the 130 seats in that same Friday no-limit hold'em tournament ($120 buy-in), which I understand now sells out about half an hour before game time.

Many Atlantic Citycasinos now have morning poker tournaments. On that Saturday morning, I chose to play in the $120 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament at the Taj Mahal, which had more than 100 entrants. There were also several tournaments available that Saturday afternoon and evening. I again chose to play at the Taj that evening, in a $340 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament. Four hours after starting, at the final table, my pocket kings went down in a blaze of glory, and I pocketed $1,040 for seventh place. First-place prize money was more than $11,000.

From chatting with Taj management, I learned that for many years, the Taj and most other Atlantic City casinos had not held weekly poker tournaments because from a business perspective, tournaments were generally not considered to be cost effective (they produced less revenue per table than ring games), and dealers received less in tips. Thus, local poker tournaments were held only occasionally, usually as a "loss leader" item (a retailing concept) to increase traffic in the poker room.

However, the popular demand for more poker tournaments has become so great over the past year that Taj management decided to give them a try. Right from the start, they were very successful in making money and attracting new players. The Taj went from holding only two major tournaments a year (the U.S. Poker Championships and the Trump Classic) to hosting two tournaments a day, seven days a week. And now, most other Atlantic City casinos with poker rooms are also holding daily tournaments.

In the tournament in which I eventually placed seventh, I held no playable hands at all for the first hour or so. My one big win came when I defended my $200 big blind for another $200 with the 5 3. The flop came K-4-2 offsuit. The preflop raiser led with $500. There was one other caller, so I ventured $500 of my remaining $4,000 in chips (we had started with $5,000).

If you raise, you are probably not yet an experienced no-limit hold'em player. In this highly favorable situation, you would raise only if you had some reason that required you to win this pot right now. This is a clear call. Yes, you are being greedy and are willing to risk losing the pot on the river (to a full house or high straight) in order to get more of your opponent's chips.

I simply called and the river card was a jack, which would beat me if my opponent held Q-10 (which was very unlikely). He carefully counted out his chips and bet $1,400. I had less than $2,500 left at that point, so I of course moved all in. He folded, so he obviously did not have much. If I had raised earlier, I probably would not have won his $1,400.

When you are fortunate enough to pick up a winning hand, your first consideration should be whether or not you like the current momentum of the hand.