Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Ups the Ante: Largest Poker Room in Atlantic City to Debut on June 30

[clevfan]

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Ups the Ante: Largest Poker Room in Atlantic City to Debut on June 30

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 06/19/2006 -- Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa will unveil the largest poker room in Atlantic City on June 30, 2006, further staking its claim as a premier poker destination.

Borgata's 85-table, 21,500 square-foot poker room will feature an eighteen-table High Limit Room offering food service; a nine-table tournament area offering bleacher seating for tournament viewing that can be partitioned off as a "reserved" poker area, and a 58-table Main Poker Room offering live poker action outfitted with plasma televisions. As an added convenience, a safe deposit box room is provided by Borgata for poker customers. Already known as the East Coast's preeminent poker hub, Borgata will offer the largest variety of games and limits in Atlantic City including all variations of Texas Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud and Omaha.

To celebrate the opening of the poker room, Borgata has lined up exciting events throughout the summer:

WIP Grudge Match Final Table: June 30, 2006

WIP Sports Talk hosts Angelo Cataldi and Howard Eskin have taken their dislike for each other to Borgata's poker tables in The WIP Poker Grudge Match. Throughout the month of June, Angelo listeners have taken on Howard listeners in weekly poker tournaments. The WIP Grudge Match Final table will be held at Borgata on Friday, June 30 in the poker room. Participants have a chance to win a share of $25,000 for representing Team Eskin or Team Cataldi in the poker tournament.

Borgata Holiday Weekend Tournament Schedule: June 30-July 4, 2006

To kick off Fourth of July weekend, Borgata will host daily tournaments in the new 85-table Poker Room.

-- Friday, June 30 - Noon, Buy in: $250 + $30 -- *$50,000 prize pool
guaranteed
-- Saturday, July 1 - 11 AM, Buy in: $300 + $40
-- Sunday, July 2 - 10AM, Buy in: $150 + $25
-- Monday, July 3 - 10AM, Buy in: $150 + $25
-- Tuesday, July 4 - 11AM, Buy in: $50 + $10
-- Tuesday, July 4 - 6PM, Buy in: $50 + $10

Poker Opening Celebration Electronics Giveaway: July 1-4, 2006
Borgata will also host an Electronics Giveaway, July 1-4, for all My Borgata cardholders playing in the poker room. Borgata will announce one winner every hour from 11AM - 8PM. Giveaways each day include:

-- Saturday, July 1: SONY DVD RECORDER
-- Sunday, July 2: SONY CYBERSHOT DIGITAL CAMERA
-- Monday, July 3: SONY PORTABLE DVD PLAYER
-- Tuesday, July 4: iPOD NANO (2GB)
-- Additionally, all My Borgata cardholders playing with their My Borgata
card July 1 - 4 have a chance to win a Sony 32" Bravia XBGR LCD Flat Panel
Integrated HD Television. The winner will be announced July 4 at 8 PM.
-- Plus, every My Borgata cardholder at the winning table each hour will
receive $25 comp dollars.

Borgata Summer Poker Open Tournament: July 5 - July 20, 2006
The inaugural Borgata Summer Poker Open Tournament will open for play on July 5 and offer players a chance to participate in thirteen main events including Texas Hold'Em No Limit, Texas Hold'Em Limit, 7-Card Stud, and Omaha tournaments. The sixteen-day, forty-one event tournament will also feature super satellites, second chance cash, and sit-and-go tournaments. The tournament will culminate with the $5,000 + $200 No Limit Championship. The Championship is a four-day event, starting on Monday, July 17 and concluding on Thursday, July 20. To register online, visit www.theborgata.com.

BORGATA AMPLIFIED

In addition to the Poker Room, Borgata's $200 million first-phase expansion will also feature three celebrity chef restaurants -- Bobby Flay Steak, Wolfgang Puck American Grille and SEABLUE, A Michael Mina restaurant; 36,120 square feet of casino floor space including 45 table games and over 500 slot machines; a second nightclub named Mur.Mur, and a multi-concept quick service dining option named The Cafeteria, which will include a number of beloved national and regional outlets such as Tony Luke's Old Philly Style Sandwiches, Fatburger, Panda Express, Hibachi San, Villa Pizza and Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, as well as two original concepts, Lettuce Head and MiniBar.

The second phase of Borgata's two-part $525 million expansion is scheduled to complete in fourth quarter 2007 with the debut of a $325 million hotel tower to be named The Water Club at Borgata.

About Borgata

Borgata is a joint venture of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE: BYD) and MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM). Located at Renaissance Pointe in Atlantic City, it features 2,000 guest rooms and suites, 125,000 square feet of gaming, 163 gaming tables, 3,600 slot machines, 11 destination restaurants, 11 retail boutiques, a 54,000 square foot spa, 70,000 square feet of event space, and parking for 7,100 cars.

For more information on Borgata, and/or to obtain a copy of this press release visit www.theborgata.com or use AOL keyword: borgata. Additional news and information on Boyd Gaming can be found at www.boydgaming.com, additional information on MGM MIRAGE can be found at www.mgmmirage.com.

[Juice]

It wil wear off quickly and be a huge waste of money in the long run for them.

[Total Square]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Juice

It wil wear off quickly and be a huge waste of money in the long run for them.</end quote></div>

the joint is a friggin gold mine, sb

the only other poker room close to that size, the taj, is consistently packed

[The Actuary]

The rooms are like SRO all the time-

it was kind of an abortion how slowly anywhere down there reacted to the popularity of the game.

planning on maybe going opening day, lol a tourney with a crowd that maybe Eskin and Cataldi attract is posev for a dead man.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

[BuzzRavanaugh]

TA--- Does the signal a market top??

[The Actuary]

Buzz there is a shot it has already peaked, we will only know one way or the other some years down the line. I do not play live nearly enough to know, but invho it peaked online sometime last year.

Ironically I recall a casino guy telling me in 1986-yea man see all this new square footage for the sportsbooks they are going to rake it in.

[BuzzRavanaugh]

Entries at the WSOP Circuit events are down but I still think pretty good.

WPT entries are down--and in some spots significantly.

[Juice]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Total Square

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Juice



It wil wear off quickly and be a huge waste of money in the long run for them.</end quote></div>



the joint is a friggin gold mine, sb



the only other poker room close to that size, the taj, is consistently packed</end quote></div>


The market is that small there?

[VegasCreep]

Was there today... about 80% full... hi-limit area only had a few games, plus about 4-6 empty tables in main room. On one hand, if it isn't full on Opening Weekend (which is also a holiday), when will it ever fill? On the other hand, wait times on weekends for popular games was brutal... once word gets out about "immediate seating" at most games, it will likely get more popular.

New racebook is sweet, as big as many in Las Vegas. Surface parking out back leads directly to racebook & poker (and fast food downstairs).

Also saw the new racebook at Caesars, very nice as well.