My buddy Jeremiah Pierce placed 60th in the tournament for $482. The rest of us didn't. I got destroyed at the 2/5 tables Saturday and Sunday. Without whining too much, here are some memorable beats:

Ran into quads 3 times on Saturday in about a 10-hour period.

KK vs. 77, short stack flops set

AA vs. 1010, short stack flops set

Flopped a flush three different times, other player flopped bigger flush. Once was a straight flush!

Ugh. Had a good time overall, but didn't run worth a ****. Already ready to go back!

I was of this same opinion until this visit. I have to say that the 2/5 tables are beginning to get stupid loose. I can't count how many times I was involved in hands where players called me down to the river with maybe 2nd pair at best. I liked it, but it's definitely not as tight as it was 6 or 8 months ago.

I played about 8 hours total of 2-5 and sucked out twice in all in pots. And yeah, most every time I came in for a raise I got called and took a flop like 5 ways. It was super annoying considering how nitty I was forced to play. The massive suckouts I pulled made up for it though.

Yeah, I just ran into bad situations overall, and it didn't help that I played way too late Saturday night trying to claw my way back. Started making stupid decisions. Time to grind away I guess!

I got crushed in a 2/5 game on Friday night. Same deal just beat after beat after beat on the river. Obviously we have all had bad nights but I was playing really good and didn't get it in bad once and still lost 3 buy ins. It was a pretty nasty session. People were trying to give me their money and the river wouldn't allow it. The games are pretty good at BB even with the $100 min.

(Hand 1: I 3 bet utg raise with 10,10 on button, mp nit tourny reg is only caller. 9, 5, 3 flop I c-bet, he calls. 2 turn, I bet 3/4 pot he shoves for like $100 more, I call. 4 on river, his AK is good. lol

Hand 2: I make a big raise with AK in cut off. Same guy as in hand one calls. Q 9 7. I c-bet he calls. K turn, He check shoves my bet. I call, 8 river his 10,6 is good. "nh sir")


I think the game is pretty good at peak hours but they play very nitty mid day and the room is very quick to open tables and slow to close them so you often have a lot of tables playing 7 or 8 handed which I think adds to nittyness for most of the other people at the table. Was planning on taking a shot at the 5/5 but have to reload a bit after a few bad sessions lately. That game looks pretty juicy.

The 5/5 PLO game looks super juicy. I'd consider moving to Jaxville if there was anything to do besides drink there.

BestBet has announced the Spring WPT event. It will be held from April 11 - April 30 culminating with the $500,000 guarantee! Can't wait to get down there for this; tons of action for three straight weeks! I wonder if my employer will grant a sabbatical?

is there a schedule yet?

I haven't seen one. I'm pretty sure within a few weeks either www.bestbetjax.com or www.wpt.com will have more information. I saw the initial notice on bestbet's website.

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I'm originally from AC, NJ. Living in SC now for past 2years, but ready to start being a rounder again and quit my dayjob as my bankroll has compiled up the past 2 years. I am very new to the south, and see there's FL poker rooms, I have a wife and a newborn. So i'd like to see if Jacksonville would be a better area and I see BestBet seems the poker room of choice because of it's size, or would Tampa be a better fit? Or maybe even somewhere else i'm unaware in the south? I have never been to either city, so don't know how many homes they have for rent in the immediate outskirts from where these two rooms are located. I'm a 1/2. 2/5 NL player, used to 300 or 500 max buy in's. Any help would be great guys, as i'm looking to make this move within the next month.

There are decent 2bdrm apartments near BB for under $1k and Jax would be a reasonable spot for you to try out for 6-12mths. I would presume you could rent a house also relatively cheap within a 15min commute as well.

Def would need a 3bedroom home, but how's that area of the city where the casino is located? I've heard that Jax is pretty high in crime, is that only in the inner city? I'd like to get something within 15min or so from the casino, so i'd like to know the immediate area. Thanks alot fellas.

The area close to BestBet in Jax isn't bad at all. You'd also be very close to the beach if that matter, and I don't think cost of living is horrible. I don't know much about Tampa except cost of living would probably be higher.

I have a buddy who tried grinding it out in Jax for awhile. He said it's doable, but tough. Almost exclusively local regs during weekdays. The good news is they have a LOT of events (50k and 30k guarantees, WPT events, etc) so those bring in lots of fishies. The 2/5 game is good, $500 max buy in and lots of nits who give it away $100 at a time.

Good luck with everything!

If you are looking at Florida you really have 3 main options, Jax, Tampa and S. Florida. I've played in all three, IMO you can't beat S. Florida.

Jacksonville has the new Best Best (Monument Rd.), it's a very large and really nice facility, but it's the only game in Jax (they actually have 3 facilities in Jax all owned by Best Bet but the two tracks are worthless IMO). Best Bet is a large property, lots of players, decent tournies. However their promos are non existent (I think you actually have to pay for water and sodas) and its in a somewhat sketchy area of town.

Tampa has Hard Rock, Derby Lane (St. Pete), Silks (Tampa Bay Downs) and Lucky's (Tampa Greyhound). Tampa Hard Rock (THR) is very poorly run/terrible management and not overly player friendly but overall it's the best room in Tampa (particularly for cash games) due to the traffic that the casino generates for the poker room. Derby Lane is a nice facility with good tournaments (best tournaments in Tampa but they lack the player traffic that THR has. Silks is a nice facility but has gone downhill due to poor management and has less traffic than Derby. Lucky's is a dump in the ghetto that is known for a wild PLO game, enough said. Sarasota Kennel Club has a room called One Eyed Jacks about 40 mins. south of Tampa, not really worth going there if you live in Tampa. The cost of living in Tampa is not bad although rental property costs have increased recently although you should be able to find a decent 3-4 bedroom for a reasonable price if you are willing to do some legwork.

S. Florida has several decent rooms to choose from all within a reasonable distance of one another, leading the way in my opinion are the Isle (Pompano) and Hollywood Hard Rock and then a number of smaller rooms. There is also a room to the north called Palm Beach Kennel Club, probably the only time it is worth it to play there is during the upcoming WSOPc event which they run every Feb. Cost of living in S. Florida is generally higher than Tampa or Jax but if you are willing to put in some time and leg work you should be able to find a decent deal on a rental.

I'd rank the markets as 1. S. Florida, 2. Tampa, 3. Jax.

If I had to rank the facilities alone without considering the area then the main Jax Best Bet (on Monument Rd.) would be in top two or three in the state with the Isle Pompano probably being the overall #1.

Good luck! PM me if you want to discuss...

For best home for the money, and best neighborhood, you might want to expand your area to a little more than 15 min. If you do that, you can find what you want.

Time and distance vary a lot depending on traffic, which depends on what time of day you are traveling. If you will be avoiding rush hours, then an extra 5-10 miles (extra 5-10 minutes) can make a big difference in your options.

You are correct for the most part, most of the poker rooms in Florida are associated with dog/horse tracks and are not casino/hotel properties. An exception to this is the Seminole Hard Rock properties (Tampa and Hollywood) which have hotels that are ridiculously over priced and they don't comp poker players.

There are tons of reasonably priced hotels near the poker rooms in all the major Florida markets, if you don't rent a car you might have to take a cab.

bird of prey if you could email me at jeffkaviani@gmail.com to discuss more i'd like to pick your brain for a few min, maybe even a quick phonecall. I'm guessing bc i'm a new user the site won't let me PM you? Anyways thanks again!

Moving to the Jax area next month, no more commuting from Charleston once a month. I'll be a semi-reg at 5/5 - 5/10 --- sorry in advance gentlemen

slowcheetah1 could ya email me at jeffkaviani@yahoo.com. I'm from NJ, but lived in Chucktown for a year and now in Cola bc of work. But i'm considering making this same move your doing, obv I'd like to pick your brain a bit because you've been to the room and sounds like ur a cash game player like me, just sounds like a tad more higher stakes. Thanks bro.

Schedule just released for the WPT. Hopefully structures will come out soon

http://www.bestbetjax.com/2013/02/be...3-card-player/

for the cash games on avg weekdays vs weekends how many 1/2 and 2/5 games are usually running. Also, what are they min and max buy ins for both games. I'm used to AC where 300 max for 1/2 and 500 max for 2/5.

More 2/2 tables than I can count -- max buyin 200 -- average buyin probably 100. Maybe 5 to 10 2/5 and 5/5 tables running -- max buyin 500 for 2/5 with average around 300. For the 5/5 there aren't more than a handful running but the max buyin is 3000 if I remember correctly -- but the average buyin is probably around 1000.

cant descide on best bet vs daytona any thoughts?

The max for 5/5 NL is $1000, most buy for around $500. The max for 5/10 NL is $3000, most buy in for close to max.

The 5/10 game is mega loose so be careful!

The quality of life in Tampa makes it number one in my book, especially if you are moving a family. There are always pluses and minuses with all the poker rooms.