It's Borgata Time Again

I am off to Borgata in a couple of days and am looking forward to playing in one of the best run, best value tournaments in poker today. I know I take some heat from the haters about speaking highly of The Borgata, but when something is really good, it deserves continuing attention. I remember a year ago when the Borgata Open Main Event attracted over 1,000 players and Negreanu criticized the event because the buy-in wasn’t big enough. Right after that he becomes the poster child, and I do mean child, for the NAPT and a 5k main event.

Businesses succeed or fail for a variety of reasons. One of the big reasons in an industry such as poker is customer service and value. This is where The Borgata shines. They have a tournament and cash room second to none as far as comfort and cleanliness. The dealers and floor staff are attentive and fair. The tournament director actually listens to comments and suggestions and tries to provide the services players want. I remember a couple of years ago when Matt Savage introduced a double elimination format heads up event that was a huge success and Tab, the Tournament Director at The Borgata received lots of suggestions about running a similar event, he got on the phone with Savage and got the info and then ran a similar event in his next tournament series. They run a wide range of buy-in tournaments and live action games, and the ability to play in a televised WPT event for a $3,500 buy in allows just about anyone to at least take a shot at a satellite.

All this takes place in a 1st class facility with solid restaurants, bars and clubs. So if you want to criticize me for saying nice things about the place, go ahead, and as long as they keep providing a high quality product for the same cost as everybody else, I say bring it.

Here is a link to the event schedule:

http://www.theborgata.com/Main.cfm?Category_1=3000&Category_2=3500&Category_3=3510&SchedulePageID=344C35F0-94B7-2309-8F95B5BD20F48F80