Revamped Trump Taj Mahal Won't Have Poker, But Casino Formerly Known As Revel WillRebranded Casinos To Open Late Next Month |
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Poker will not be returning to the Atlantic City casino that once housed one of the most iconic poker rooms in the world.
The former Trump Taj Mahal, which closed in late 2016, will reopen late next month as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. It will have more than 2,000 slot machines and 120 table games, but it won’t have traditional poker, Card Player has learned.
The Taj Mahal was famously featured in the 1998 cult classic “Rounders,” in which stars Matt Damon and Edward Norton play a session in the casino’s poker room. In addition to the juicy fictional underground poker games, the Taj’s poker room was held in high regard by the protagonists in the film.
“Rolled up aces over kings,” Worm, played by Norton, remarked at one point in the movie. “Check-raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off of them. Playing all-night high-limit hold’em at the Taj, ‘where the sand turns to gold.’ Stacks and towers of checks I can’t even see over.”
The Taj closed its 48-table poker room in 2015 but eventually reopened it the following year. The entire casino ended up folding just months later. The casino had been interested in online poker.
The casino was also once home to the prestigious United States Poker Championship.
Hard Rock will open its doors to gamblers on June 28, the same day that the casino formerly known as Revel will reopen as Ocean Resort Casino. That casino will have a poker room, Card Player has learned, but there’s no word yet on the number of tables it will have.
Revel, which cost an Atlantic City casino record $2.4 billion, once tried to become the destination for high-stakes poker on the East Coast. However, it closed its 37-table poker room in 2013. The entire casino shut down the following year before eventually being sold for pennies on the dollar.
The opening of a new brick-and-mortar poker room should be positive for Atlantic City’s struggling poker market. Earlier this month, New Jersey implemented online poker player sharing with Nevada and Delaware in order to grow the game.
Currently, five of Atlantic City’s seven brick-and-mortars have poker.
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