Agreed. Well said. And of course checkout south beach at least once.

My guess is that South Beach represents much of what OP doesn't like about the idea of Miami. Too touristy, too noisy, too crowded, all style and little substance. But lots of great eye candy to be sure.

South of 5th Street is a very cool neighborhood, though.

Heading down to palm beach gardens next week. Usually play at PBKC and have played at hard rock which is like an hour drive.. Its been a couple years Just wondering if PBKC is still a good safe place to play or is there another venue around to check out?

PBKC is fine, but I always valet there. The Isle in Pompano is definitely worth visiting and is closer than the Hard Rock.

Scroll back up and you'll see that I said "all Ive seen is run down crime ridden neighborhoods, but Im sure like every city they have some nice areas too. Honestly Ive never even heard of Brickell, Midtown or Edgewater."

Where did I say there were no nice parts of Miami? I said Ive ever seen them and haven't heard of them. I have been to S. Beach a couple times and liked it just fine. I didnt think that was actually in the City of Miami.

The action is better at PBKC than the Isle, but there have been a couple incidents in the parking lots late at night. Id be careful after dark, but then you should be careful everywhere. I play mostly at the Isle only because I live very close. Its safer and more upscale than PBKC but there are also more nits and OMCs.

South Beach isn't in the city of Miami but it's definitely part of the Greater Miami metro area. It's about 10 minutes from downtown Miami. For that matter Hialeah is it's own city too and isn't part of Miami, but again, it's also part of Greater Miami.

I have heard this about Maryland but aren't there like 3 casinos worth playing at? What are the pluses and minuses of Maryland? And I assume you mean the Baltimore area? Sorry, closest I've ever been to the area was DC a couple times, and I don't know the area at all really.

That is interesting you mention "remote markets". I had never heard of it (shows how out of touch I am with live casinos) but Winstar is 3 miles due north of where I live right now. I read it's open 24/7. Is there really enough action to play at night, 40 hours a week? And pokeratlas.com says the rake is 10% capped at $5, but it's sometimes wrong. Does that sound right?

I could move to Gainesville, TX, which is just 10 minutes south of Winstar. It's a small town of like 15000 but whatever. The only "quality of life" thing I really care about is access to good grocery stores, which I doubt I'll find there, but Gainesville is not that far from Dallas suburbs. Like 45 minutes to the nearest Whole Foods. Seems very doable for me. Rent is probably dirt cheap too. Alternatively I could live in Denton, which would have higher QOL but 45 minute drive to Winstar. Higher rent I assume.

I don't know...this is sounding very doable to me. The idea of being limited to one casino worries me, though. Also there would be no tournament scene I expect. And I hate Texas. The people here are the worst. But I'm playing poker, not making friends. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to drive up there pretty soon and check it out.

I don't fish, but somebody else in this thread suggested Tampa and made some compelling points. Definitely considering it.

Why is it the worst area you've ever been? I don't like beaches and hot muggy weather or what I think you referred to as the "Miami vice" appeal, but what is specifically bad about it?

I do actually have STEM degrees (mathematics and computer networking with emphasis on cloud computing). Near perfect grades. Superb letters of recommendation. But I've been trying for the last two years to get a tech job and I didn't get a single offer, not even for like Tier 1 tech support, and I'm qualified for much better positions. My advisor said I was the best student to have ever come through their program. My conclusion, and it's based on considerable evidence, is that people dislike me. At the least, I make bad first impressions and am the world's worst interviewer, which is mostly due to me having Aspergers. People with Aspergers are just naturally terrible at all the things you're supposed to do in interviewers. I got some feedback from one interview due to a connection my Dad had, and the interviewers felt like I had no interest in the job or company and seemed like a negative person. That's just my voice and personality. There's a reason 9 in 10 people with Aspergers are unemployed, and it's not that we're stupid or incapable.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go off on a big tangent about that. But I've applied to by my estimate well over 100 positions for which I was qualified on paper, and I never got past the phone interviews but once, and that live interview I only got due to a personal connection. Bottom line, I don't really want a tech job and the tech companies don't want to hire me.

That's not the main reason I want to play poker though. I love strategy games. I would play poker for free, assuming the rules worked in a way that allowed that. That would be fun for me. The fact that getting a job is ludicrously difficult for me just reinforces the fact that poker is a good option.

Ive been all over the world and I lived in Texas most of my life. The people in Texas are the nicest Ive ever been around. Your two statements that I bolded most likely go hand in hand.

Back to poker, Yes, Winstar has mega action all the time. The room is one of the biggest and busiest in the country. How do you live 3 miles from Winstar and not know this?

I have lived in South Florida for 6 years. Here is my take as someone who has lived and played in several states including California. South Florida is a huge sprawling metro with a lot of the same problems other huge sprawling metros have. It reminds me a lot of LA in that it is extremely culturally diverse to go a long with the sprawl. If you are not used to or have experience with a lot of these cultures then you will most likely not like it here.
The other LA quality to SoFlo is that it attracts dbags and social climbers from all cultures. It also attracts the dregs from up north, bc if they have no opportunity up there it is an easy transition to better weather and in most cases better cost of living down here. So you have a nice mixture of dbags from everywhere and loser scumbags from up north.
If you value warm weather, water sports etc then SoFlo is a good place to be. If you value cultural diversity or are immigrating from a Spanish speaking country then SoFlo is a good place to be. If you like poker then SoFlo is awesome bc you have several rooms and you can not really live more than 30 mins from a room anywhere down here save for South Beach or maybe other parts of Miami. The games are generally nitty during the day but get great at night and early morning. The main drawbacks are the rake and the fact that many rooms close at like 3 and dont reopen until 9am.

Sorry Mike, I didn't mean to offend you. And I don't want to derail my own thread, but I've lived in several states in the Deep South, the Pacific Northwest, Colorado, and Florida. Spent significant time in many others. Haven't spent much time in the Northeast. But from my personal experience, I've found the Texans where I live to be rather unfriendly. If you're white, conservative, go to church, hunt, and love guns, sure, they're nice people. But I'm a leftist vegan atheist, so I might as well be an alien.

Regardless, my feelings about Texas don't come up in job interviews. Trust me, people dislike me, particularly when based on live first impressions, and it's 99% due to having Aspergers. They assume all kinds of things about me--I'm shifty and untrustworthy because I don't make eye contact, I'm bored because I speak in monotone, I'm boring because my facial expressions are limited, I have no sense of humor because I don't laugh enough, and on top of that I don't know how to answer the personal/behavioral questions because I typically don't realize at the time they're trick questions. Like I said, there's a reason nine in ten people like me are unemployed, and it's not because we all don't like Texas.

Damn, that was a typo/mistake. Sorry. It's actually about 200 miles. I meant 3 hours. I don't think there's anywhere to live that's 3 miles from there. Gainesville is the closest town and it's about 10 miles. I still should have known about Winstar, I suppose, but I've only been in Texas a few years and I don't know any gamblers.

I asked this in the Winstar thread but I'll ask here as well. Is moving to Gainesville to grind exclusively at Winstar feasible? Their rake structure seems too high. $1 drop every hand plus $5 from the pot. I guess it's still beatable because people are super bad? Living in Gainesville would be pretty crappy, but it's not that important to me. I could move to Denton but it's a 45 minute commute, so Gainesville is probably better, despite being a small, impoverished town. Rent there is super cheap. Like, huge 2 bedroom apartments cost $700.

Vegas or Miami or Tampa sound like a lot more fun, but Winstar probably makes more sense for me until I'm rolled for and can beat 2/5.

I lived most of my life in Dallas and I lived in S. Florida for the last 2 years. Anywhere around Dallas is a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere in S.Florida and anywhere in S.Florida is a hell of a lot more fun than Dallas. Those 2 things go hand in hand.

Places that are more fun, have better weather, have more things to do and more people want to live there, are more expensive.

There's definitely a correlation between cost of living and quality of life, but it's far from 1:1, and there are some great places to live out there with reasonable COL. For example, my rent in Eugene, Oregon, was less than my rent in Waco, Texas. And Eugene is awesome. Some people don't like the weather, but I do. Never gets hot. Rare even in July to reach the 80s. Doesn't get cold either. And you're about an hour from the coast on the west and the Cascades on the east. More parks per capita than anywhere in the country. Bike trails everywhere. Great restaurants, grocery stores, and options for vegans. Very friendly people, plus cheap, plentiful drugs.

Portland is similar but larger. The Pacific Northwest in general is great for relatively low COL but high QOL. In my opinion, anyway. It all depends what you like, I suppose. Main downside is few poker options, but most of the country is like that. Personally I'm not sure I'd like South Florida. Hot, muggy, and sunny all the time, plus I'm not really fond of hot crowded beaches. Or nightclubs, or whatever it is that people like about South Florida. I'm just looking at it from a poker perspective.

How's the poker scene in Eugene? I was there recently but didn't have a chance to check out any of the poker rooms/clubs.

It's not great, but better than one might think. Poker is de facto legal there (i.e., technically illegal but the police leave it alone) so there are I would guess at least 5 card rooms. Some of them just do regular donkaments, but there's a room downtown called Full House Poker that is pretty nice and always has 1/3 and 2/5 going and occasionally 5/10, as well as some nicely structured tournaments maybe 4 times a month on average (plus daily donkaments). It was walking distance from my apartment when I lived there, but internet poker was still legal so I only went a few times unfortunately. To play cash games you have to buy a "membership" for $25 a month or $100 a year which grants you free entry to a couple tournaments a month, plus more important, members pay zero rake on the cash games. I imagine the 2/5 games are pretty full of regs, but the ability to play with effectively zero rake (100/year) might make it worthwhile.

There are a couple other rooms that spread 1/2 that weren't there when I lived there. Namely, Beach Poker Club and High Mountain Poker Palace. Beach Poker Club also spreads some PLO.

I probably wouldn't recommend moving there for full time poker but if you're a recreational player it's a decent place to be.

Lot of the snowbirds are going home now. Are the game qualities gonna go down?

One word. Yes

Isle was half empty on Sat night for their $2000 high hand promo. Three 2/5 games going, two were playing 7-handed w/ regs.

Kentucky Derby night.

I dont know which table you were at but I played 9 hours of 2/5 on Sat. I couldnt pull myself away because the tables were so soft. I didnt see many of the good regs on Sat at all. A lot of them were at HR playing a tourney.

Of course Im used to playing during the daytime on weekdays so any other time seems like a gold mine to me.

I grinded 1/2 and was miserable the whole time.

I was miserable during the derby. I had to break out the Bose noise cancellation headphones and I could still hear the crap over the loud speaker. So annoying.

Let me know if you ever want to meet. I enjoy meeting other 2+2ers.

Hard Rock Poker Room moving tomorrow for those who aren't aware. They say "new" but pretty sure this is until they complete the new hotel tower and rebuild the area they just tore down outside the current poker room

Has anyone played at Magic City Casino or Miccosukee Resort lately? They are both in Miami.

If you played there, how was it?

Miccosukee is awful. Smoke wafts in from the casino. Customer service is non existent and they spread 2 games. 2/4 lhe and 1/2 nl. You also have to pay a dollar for soda. The dealers are also awful with the exception of 1 or 2.