While on the dinner break, I thought I would take the opportunity to write a bit about the U.S. Poker Championship. It is held at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey. AC might not be one of the best places in the world to visit (in fact, it isn’t in the top half) but I have always kind of liked this place in a strange sort of way. However, the Taj isn’t exactly the top hotel in the city anymore, but it has it’s quaint little charms.

First, I arrived to find out that I had been put up in a suite. Needless to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised. It’s a monstrous room with 20 foot high ceilings and a great view of the ocean and the Boardwalk. However, there was something really odd about it. My room is on the 14th floor and after I checked in, I went to take my suitcase up to the room last night. When I got to my floor, I followed the signs to my room number, only to discover that it was nowhere to be found. Finally, after about 20 minutes of lugging my stuff around the hallway, I found two remote elevators that said they went to 14b.

So, I hopped in only to find two choices of destinations, 14A and 14B. Since the door just kept opening when I hit 14A, I tried 14B. The doors opened and I discovered my room right outside the elevator doors. It was the strangest thing. My room was literally on the 14th and a half floor. I was scared to even think about dropping any dirty clothes in the chute for cleaning. I just kept having this vision of opening up a GQ magazine to see a shirtless John Malkovich posing in an advertisement for True Religion jeans.

Now, one thing that I really look forward to in AC is the food on the Boardwalk. So, you can imagine my disappointment when, after fighting my way through what seemed like a million hungry seagulls, I discovered that the funnel cake stand that I wanted to hit was closed. You could get a gyro, pizza, burgers, fries, an assortment of deep fat fried delicacies as well as more salt water taffy than you could ever imagine, but no funnel cakes. I didn’t really feel like walking farther down the Boardwalk past the herd of wild cats that live there to try and find another one. So, I settled for a nice little meal at the House of Blues by myself.

If there is one thing that I can say for the Taj, they have superb taste in music. With the Police concert coming up here on November 3rd, their entire background music consists solely of Sting and the Police. Not everyone’s favorite, but it definately makes the place a bit more tolerable.

I will say that I have seen more Philadelphia Phillies hats in the last day than I probably have in my entire lifetime. Seems as though the entire East Coast (minus New York) has jumped on the Phillies bandwagon now that their precious Eagles are not faring so well. But, at least they got rid of those god awful uniforms they wore two weeks ago. But, I digress…

The tournament officials here really do run a good tournament. It has a nice slow structure that allows for alot of play. Everyone seems to enjoy their time here no matter how they do in the tourney. It really is great to be back here and be a part of this tournament.

Now, we just have to make sure Alex makes another final table. He is definately off to a great start through the first two levels…

See you all after the dinner break,

WhoJedi