(question marks below are from my copy/paste.)

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/03/03/travel/escapes/03black.html?8hpib

THE $5 blackjack table, baby.
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It's nomadic, elusive � the grail of weekend gambling in Atlantic City. It's also rather increasingly hard to find � as a January night traveling from casino to casino along the world-famous Boardwalk proved.

One summer, not long ago, it could be found on the sixth floor of Bally's. The next year, it was in a discrete, plain gaming room on the fourth floor of the Sands. Sometimes it's just sitting out there in plain sight � on the bustling main drag at the Wild Wild West Casino at Bally's, if you hit the tables before 5 p.m.

Rumor has it that Harrah's will be plugging one in permanently this April, but for now, it is found largely by word of mouth. Perhaps a security guard will point a finger in the right direction, or a waitress will shrug and say, "Well, you might try. ..." If you're lucky, the pit boss will offer a rare tip, or at least direct you to its equally hard-to-find sister, the $10 table.

Though it saddens the heart (and wallet) to say so, the low-limit table might just be a dying breed on weekends in the new Atlantic City, where the minimum limit often starts at $15 in the early evening and climbs to $25 in a number of hours.

As Jeff Barish, the pit manager of the sixth-floor room at Bally's, Billy's Poker Parlor, tells it: "Yeah. We used to have it up here � maybe two or three years ago. We had six tables, a whole pit of it, and a lot of young people learned to play on those tables. Now it's all Texas Hold 'Em. But sometimes, they'll still stop in and say, 'Where is it?' "

Where, indeed. The Atlantic City that was "America's Playground" is changing. Once known as the common man's gambling paradise, it is being revamped and repackaged as a hub for food, entertainment and nightlife. "Always Turned On" is the new slogan, and the marketing campaign is skewing young, sexy and upwardly mobile.

The Borgata has led the way, pulling in more than $248 million in 2005 from nongambling sources alone. The Tropicana's Quarter � a three-story ode to Las Vegas, with nightclubs, celebrity-chef restaurants and high-end stores � opened in late 2004. Caesars is building a dining, entertainment and retail space up and over the water on a new pier, set to open this summer.

And the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reports that casino gambling in Atlantic City is at an all-time high. Revenue for last year rose over the $5 billion mark for the first time.

All good and dandy � who doesn't like a good facelift? But here's the rub: Where do you still find the low-limit table in a city clawing its way to the high life?

5:28 P.M. CAESARS

The trip from the Port Authority Bus Terminal wasn't in Cinderella's princess coach, but you're looking to preserve your resources. A round-trip Greyhound ticket from the terminal to Atlantic City costs $30, and the buses run every 15 to 30 minutes.

Usually, it would be the HoJo up the strip, but on this Friday, because Caesars had the good sense to map out its nightly prices for the next couple of months online, there's a suite for $107. Check in and grab a drink at the Toga Bar if you must, but don't even think about gambling here. Caesars' blackjack tables start high, even at this hour, and rise rapidly as the night wears on.

7:17 P.M. BALLY'S WILD WILD WEST

In trips past, the Wild Wild West at sundown was always a sure bet for low-limit blackjack. Perhaps it's just an hour too late when you finally make it to the tables, but most are a $15 minimum. There are two $10 tables, but both are packed, with people hovering nearby to jump in if anyone leaves. A $15 table isn't completely out of the question for a late-night stab at glory, but nobody wants to lose his shirt before dinner.

7:33 P.M. THE TROPICANA

On the way to dinner, you ask the cabbie, "Where's a good place to find the cheap blackjack table?" When he responds with a dry "I don't gamble," you're not deterred. For now, you think about the Tropicana's extensive dinner options.

Just a quick look at the tables never hurt anyone. No $5 table in sight � not even a $10 one. A lot of tables haven't opened yet, but a friendly pit boss named Jim tells you that in 15 minutes a new shift will arrive, and maybe then there will be a $10 table. For now, though, it's dinnertime.

The Tropicana's new Quarter is gorgeous, so you'll be making a stylish, albeit budget-minded, appearance. You fill up at the tasty and inexpensive Adam Good Deli, before heading across the square to the sexy Red Square for some chilled vodka concoctions.

10:05 P.M. THE SANDS

The grail of blackjack past � the fourth floor of the Sands.

For a couple of years, the Sands was the surefire home of the $5 table. A security guard once tipped you off that the casino doing the worst would usually offer the $5 table, and the Casino Control Commission's December report seems to agree � in 2005, the Sands pulled in the lowest gambling revenue of all the registered casinos. You have hope, and the night is young.

The elevator opens, and you stride into the room, confident. Like a blow to the ribs, you see that the blackjack tables are all empty. No dealers, no cards, nothing. Nothing but poker, poker � everywhere.

You find the pit boss and creak out the question, terrified of the answer.

"Nope," he says, not even glancing up. "Not since last summer."

10:31 P.M. THE CLARIDGE

Your spirits are low. You have made your way to the Claridge and bellied excitedly up to a $10 table, only to have the pit boss change the sign ($15 minimum!) five minutes later. You head back to the Sands and pray for a miracle. Though you're loath to admit it, your search has now officially been narrowed: the $10 table, baby.

And for that, you'd kiss the ground.

11:07 P.M. THE SANDS, REDUX

It is the moment you've been waiting for � the turning point. It's deep in the corner of the main-floor casino, and it's got four empty seats. It's the last of two $10 tables, and the minimum is (hold your breath) not going up.

In addition, a floor person, Dan Boyle, has promising news about a possible return to the $5 table. "During the week, of course, you can find it anywhere � here, even Trump or Harrah's," he says, adding mischievously, "and every once in a while, it's still on the fourth floor. I was up there last weekend."

And a pit boss passing by says that the $5 table might return for summer weekends.

The cocktails are flowing, and for the next four hours, life is good. You're losing some money at the $10 table, but not all. If you play your cards right, the $100 you took to gamble will last you the rest of the night. The dealer's up card is seven or higher? Hit on 16, kid � even if it hurts.

4:33 A.M. CAESARS

All right, you lost your shirt. But you've put in a valiant effort, and you have a glimmer of hope that the $5 table will be back.

So you stumble wearily up to Caf� Roma, the 24-hour restaurant at Caesars, for a lukewarm Philly cheese steak and some barely edible onion rings. Between the salt and pepper shakers, you find a slip of paper and a pencil, with some instructions referring to the blinking numbers on the wall above.

4:34 A.M. CAESARS

$5 Keno, baby?

SEVERAL WEEKS LATER

Stop the presses. Back home, you discover, heartbreakingly late, that what you had been looking for all along is at the Borgata, go figure, that decadent behemoth. Bargain-basement blackjack in penthouse-style luxury.

The Borgata informs you by e-mail that it has one � count it, one � $5 table, and that it runs 24/7. So on a Friday night, weeks later, you head back to A.C.

9 P.M. THE BORGATA

Talk about a well-kept secret. You start your hunt at the B Bar on the main floor, a loud, lively place hopping with young, good-looking people happily yelling over one another. You ask two waitresses and three bartenders; none has a clue.

"Here?" one waitress says, shaking her head. "I seriously doubt it."

You'll have to hoof it � and bring your walking shoes � as the Borgata is home to more than 100 gambling tables, 54 of them devoted to blackjack. Lo and behold, after a couple of laps, it rises in the distance � the beloved $5 table. A mere 50 steps, you note, with a curt nod to the waitress, from the B Bar.

It's a rare slow night at the $5 table, and only a handful are waiting � among them Bob Mangold and Melissa Shaya. Tonight, they'll log an hour-and-a-half wait to procure a seat (for Ms. Shaya, naturally � Mr. Mangold will do the backseat driving from a stool). For these two Borgata regulars, this is making "good time" � on busier nights, they wait longer.

Surprisingly, there are also a couple of $15 tables, but they soon climb to $25. The rest of the tables are, well, a tad pricey.

As the night continues, the waiting line at the $5 table grows thick with a rowdy, good-natured crowd. One guy goes to the bathroom and gives a knowing smirk as the jokes swirl. "Get his seat!" one standee, Laron Brown, shouts from the back of the crowd. But the bathroom guy returns safely.

By 1 a.m., no one at the table has budged.

Try another casino? That's the hitch. The Borgata's not on the Boardwalk with the other casinos. A cab is about $15 each way, including tip � round trip, $30.

And as they say in blackjack, anything over 21 is a bust.

Robert