Editor’s Note: The Borgata poker room reopened on Wed., Oct. 21. The 30 tables are limited to a maximum of seven players each. For more information, click here.

Live poker rooms at Atlantic City casinos are still closed. And nearly three months have passed since land-based properties reopened.

Its been over nine months since Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City close down its live poker operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. This disrupted the gaming industry in a number of ways. Things have, however, began to get much better thanks to all of the efforts that have been put in place to prevent the further. Harrah's Resort Atlantic City. Resort Fee of $27 per night will be added to the indicated room rate and collected at checkout. Harrah’s Atlantic City will reopen its poker room for visitors on December 26. Although the pandemic is yet to pass, the operator has implemented strict health and safety protocols ensuring the well-being of guests and employees. The Poker Room at Harrah’s in Atlantic City Reopens on December 26. Harrah’s Resort will reopen its World Series of Poker Room this month as the official destination for poker at Caesars Entertainment’s Atlantic City casinos. The iconic brand of poker will. They are still usually on the lower side of entrants, 15-30ish. Most of their tournaments, like their cash games are on the lower end of buy in ranges. $60-$100 pending the day (Weekends are higher). One of the downfalls to Harrah's is the location being away from the strip.

At this point, there is no timeline for when Atlantic City’s five poker rooms will reopen. Basically, the COVID-19 closure announcements made back in March still apply to poker rooms.

This makes it 159 days and counting since poker rooms in Atlantic City were open to the public.

When the Borgatareopened to the public on July 26, ropes were set up to prevent players from entering the 85-table poker room.

And when customers try to call Harrah’s Resort, they get a recording dating back to March 16. This would be the date the poker room with 40 tables closed at 6 p.m.

Golden Nugget AC’swebsite continues to use this message: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Poker Room is closed until further notice.”

For now, no AC casino has any update on a timeline for restarting poker play.

Are poker games available in Atlantic City?

Different variations of poker are still being offered at Atlantic City casinos, even if the poker rooms themselves are closed. The games include:

• Pai Gow Poker
• Let It Ride
• Three Card Poker

Of course, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has safety protocols in place. It prevents the possibility of all the seats being filled.

Besides the 25% capacity limit on the gaming floors, Pai Gow tables are limited to three players at a time. The same rule applies to blackjack.

Other poker games can have up to four players. And plexiglass partitions must be set up at all table games, including poker.

The poker situation is similar in other jurisdictions. Pennsylvania’s poker rooms remain closed even as casinos reopen. In August, Play Pennsylvania learned that the World Series of Poker Room at Harrah’s Philadelphia is permanently closed.

In Las Vegas, some poker rooms are open but must follow Nevada’s COVID-19 protocols.

Besides impacting the players, the scenario in AC is eliminating jobs, even if it’s only temporary.

But these coronavirus restrictions regarding gameplay and number of players are likely the underlying reason Atlantic City poker rooms remain shut.

Atlantic City poker rooms closed, but online poker is always open

Harrah's Hotel In Atlantic City

New Jersey poker players do have another option, and this one doesn’t have COVID-19 restrictions.

There are seven legal NJ poker apps. They are:

Harrah's Atlantic City Poker Schedule

• Pala Poker

Harrah's Atlantic City Poker Room

And since Atlantic City casinos closed in March, the NJ online poker industry has recorded some pretty impressive numbers.

August NJ poker revenue came in at $3,035,033, which is down nearly 63% from July’s $4,818,561. Still, both numbers are a significant increase from February’s $1.8 million when land-based casinos (and live poker rooms) were fully operational.

These days, those popular WSOP tournaments are an online thing.

It doesn’t match the excitement of playing in a live poker room, but the alternative — no poker at all — would be far worse.

Harrah's Ac Poker Room

And with the word “temporary” being used when referencing closed AC poker rooms, there is still hope that operating hours will change.