I play 2/5NL at Magic City a couple of times a week. As with all SoFla rooms, it has its good points and bad. I'll be happy to answer any specific questions you may have about the room.

Is there any demand for a poker room/casino in the Sawgrass Mills area? Seems like a great location. Tons of tourists for shows at stadium and shopping at mall.

I can't really speak about the general population around there, but right now it's about 30 minutes to the nearest card room for people in that area. I agree that it may attract a lot of tourists.

Seminole Hard Rock and Seminole Coconut Creek are both about 20-30 minutes from Sawgrass Mills. The Isle in Pompano, Gulfstream, and Mardi Gras aren't much farther.

There's no legal authority for a stand-alone poker room/casino in that area. Casinos (other than those on Indian land) can only be established at places that already have parimutual gambling; e.g., dog tracks, horse tracks, and jai-alai frontons.

I doubt it would ever happen but I would be all for it. I live very close to there.

Are you thinking of building a dog track?

Sure

hey wasn't there talk about Mardi Gras moving out that way?

Mikestarr were you in vegas in early february?

LOL. No. Why such a random question?

It depends on what you mean by "talk."

They want to end the requirement to run dog races and instead, build a casino out near the BB&T Center; but as I noted in my earlier post, there currently is no legal authority to do so. In fact, I believe that all of the owners of the dog racing tracks and jai-alai frontons are lobbying to end the requirement to put on those activities in order to operate their casinos. But, AFAIK, that idea has never gained any traction in Tallahassee.

Actually, that idea has gained quite a bit of traction in Tallahassee. The last couple of years the comprehensive gambling bills have included partial or full de-coupling of the poker rooms from dog racing and jai-alai (but not from horse racing). If the Florida legislature ever gets around to passing a gambling bill - which they pretty much have to before long or the state will lose all revenue-sharing from the Seminole tribe, retroactive to 2015 - then I expect to see de-coupling become a reality. There won't be new licenses issued so it won't mean that anyone can open a poker room. But there might be some eventual re-shuffling of licenses or expansion of facilities that lead to a few new poker rooms in the state. (And given the history of mis-interpretation of law and regulation by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, I wouldn't be shocked to eventually see them handing out licenses to open new poker rooms to anyone who already has one.)

Are there any better regular tourneys than this SHR 115+35 with 5k seat added? Looks like nothing runs above $200 around here :-/

https://www.seminolehardrockpokerope...LH-Special.pdf

Lol I met a Florida pokerreg there named Mike and took a shot it was you. Random indeed😀..

My real name is not Mike.

Any reports on wether or not the new Kings Court poker room opened on Sat? There are reports that the first Jai alai games were played on Friday.

Bravo, which wasn't listing Kings Court earlier today, now has them up and running.

Just wanted to post a couple thoughts on last nights hard rock promo.
For those unaware, it was 1k high hand every 30 mins and every 2 hours you also won a ticket(must play) into the $5250 event next month! Awesome promo in my mind, especially for those who would otherwise never play that kind of event.

Now for the not so good news. A player at my table wins the high hand that includes the ticket, however since he is not a US resident he must pay 30% on the 1k cash(standard for these for non-residents) but then if he wants the ticket he needs to pay 30% on that as well Again standard but now he is winning 6250 and must pay 1875($875 out of pocket). He was not interested in having to pay this and therefore simply forfeited the ticket, which i can understand if that is not an option or he doesn't play tournaments. Even though its great value his options are take $700 cash for just high hand or pay $875 to play the event which is really $1575 swing.

Few thoughts.
If they do this in the future, Hard rock should at least make the high hand for that 30 mins be $2k so in this spot it is 175 out of pocket, or 2200 to make it basically nothing or offer a lesser cash amount instead of the ticket.

On top of that hard rock didn't roll the ticket over or let anyone else know this went down, which is pretty gross. I asked the floor when he explained his options to the player if the ticket would be rolled over, he said no and obviously they made no announcement as that would not make them look great.

I assume the ticket cost comes from the promo fund and that the 5250 will go back in the player's promo fund but the ticket was part of the draw to get player's in the room last night and then they don't roll it over.

I think that might actually cause some player's to stay longer if they did it. This was for the 10pm ticket, last ticket at midnight, if they announced hey everyone the winner could not accept the ticket so we are rolling it over!! would have generated excitement and made the HR look good.

Lastly they weren't even announcing anything special, half the people i talked to had no idea about the ticket for certain high hands periods. It was simply the standard "The winning high hand this half hour is Quad Aces", what a missed opportunity, should have been "Congratulations to the high hand of quad aces who also wins himself a seat to the 5250 3 million guarantee main event next month!!!!"

I have a buddy who recently moved to Gainesville area and said he plays in a room in Ocala if I am thinking right. He said it's super soft compared to other places in the country he has played.

So I was wondering what you guys that play in Florida on a regular basis think of the current action within the state?
Hoping to get there this coming winter for a couple weeks to check it out myself!

Does anyone have any experience at the MTT's at Dania and Mardi Gras? They both advertise "freeroll" tournaments. For the 0 entry free you get one $500 chip. There are various other options like $20, $40 or $60 for various amount of chips and one final add on for another $40 rebuy at the end of the reentry period.

Anyway, I really wanted to try someplace other than Gulfstream in this part of town, but the strange format just turned me off.

Any reason why these poker rooms have gone to these types of tournaments?

Some time ago I became interested in poker room choice and table selection.

I identified numerous factors that enter into the choice of room, i.e.;

1. Proximity,
2. Room itself (how nice, space between tables, comfort of chairs),
3. Staff (how nice, efficient and competent),
4. Amenities (ample parking, good food service, comps),
5. High hand jackpot (hereinafter “HHJ”) being offered,
6. $s on the tables, and
7. Amount of “gamble” in the players at the room.

I’m sure there are other factors too. Of the foregoing, I think factors 5, 6, and 7 figure most prominently.

It’s easy to track the hhjs being offered at any time at any local room by using the Bravo app or making a few telephone calls. Knowing the $s on the tables and the “gamble” of the players in the room is a little more difficult.

I mostly play 1/2 NLHE, mainly at Hialeah, the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood (hereinafter “SHRH”), and the Isle.

The players at Hialeah appear to be the least affluent but the age demographic appeared to be equally distributed. The players at the Isle seem to be the most affluent but the age demographic appears to be weighed more heavily toward the seniors. All this makes sense because Hialeah is located in and surrounded by low-income working class neighborhoods. The Isle draws players from Palm Beach and Broward Counties. Affluent retirees populate many of the communities from which they draw. The players at the SHRH seem slightly less affluent than the players at the Isle but are much more affluent than the players at Hialeah. The age demographic at the SHRH appears also to be equally distributed.

I believed that many of the Isle players were nits and the room had the least amount of “gamble” of the three. I thought there was a lot of “gamble” at the SHRH but the most existed at Hialeah.
I believe there are good players in all three rooms but more fish at Hialeah (the least at the SHRH). I do not think many of the players at Hialeah have read many poker books.

Because I believed that it was most advantageous to play at rooms with most $s on the tables, I decided to try to verify which room this might be. I had noticed that when seated at a new 1/2 NLHE table being opened, the buy-ins usually were in 3 general stack sizes: 60, 100, and 200. More recently I have noticed a 4th size, 300. The players buying–in for 300 were often waiting for a seat at a 2-5 table.

Each of the first three stack sizes buy-ins was represented at each of the three poker rooms where I concentrate my efforts. I noticed that at Hialeah more players seemed to be starting with stacks of 60 than at the SHRH or the Isle – perhaps 2-4 at Hialeah as opposed to 1 or 2 at the Isle and none at the SHRH (where the minimum buy-in is 100). Perhaps 4-5 players were buying in for 100 and 2 for 200 at Hialeah as opposed to 4-6 for 100 and 2-4 for 200 at the Isle and SHRH.

SURVEY

A. Methodology

I decided to track the buy-ins, re-buys and add-ons. I have done so for 164 hours at SHRH, for 418 hours at Hialeah, and for 57 hours at the Isle.

At each racino I categorized the buy-ins into 6 categories:
300, <300, 200, <200, 100, and <100.
I lumped the re-buys and add-ons together and used categories as follows:
300, <300, 200, <200, 100, <100, and =<60.

If I were initially seated when a table was opening, I would note every player’s stack, including mine. As players left and were replaced, I noted each new player stack size. If I were initially seated at a table that had already been opened, I noted the stack with which I started. I did not note the stack sizes of the players already at the table. As players left and were replaced, I noted each new player’s stack size.

B. RESULTS

1. BUY-INS

During the survey I recorded the total number of buy-ins as follows:
643 at the SHRH (average of 3.9 per hour),
1519 at Hialeah (average of 3.6 per hour), and
234 at the Isle (average of 4.1 per hour).

The percentage buy-in amounts were as follows:
For $300, at the SHRH it was 12%,
at Hialeah it was 7%, and
at the Isle it was 8%.
For <$300, at the SHRH it was 4%,
at Hialeah it was 3%, and
at the Isle it was 3%.
For $200 at the SHRH it was 33%,
at Hialeah it was 24%, and
at the Isle it was 23%.
For <$200 at the SHRH it was 17%,
at Hialeah it was 14%, and
at the Isle it was 17%.
For $100 at the SHRH it was 34%,
at Hialeah it was 33%, and
at the Isle it was 30%.
For <$100 at the SHRH it was 0%.
at Hialeah it was 19%, and
at the Isle it was 17%.

2. RE-BUYS and ADD-ONS

The total number of re-buys and add-ons were as follows:
336 at the SHRH (average of 2 per hour),
1396 at Hialeah (average of 3.3 per hour), and
134 at the Isle (average of 2.3 per hour).

The percentage of re-buys and add-ons amounts were as follows:
For $300 at the SHRH it was 3%,
at Hialeah it was 3%, and
at the Isle it was 0%.
For <$300 at the SHRH it was 1%,
at Hialeah it was 1%, and
at the Isle it was 0%.
For $200 at the SHRH it was 10%,
at Hialeah it was 10%, and
at the Isle it was 9%.
For <$200 at the SHRH it was 4%,
at Hialeah it was 4%, and
at the Isle it was 5%.
For $100 at the SHRH it was 65%,
at Hialeah it was 52%, and
at the Isle it was 51%.
For <$100 at the SHRH it was 2%,
at Hialeah it was 7%, and
at the Isle it was 7%.
For =<60 at the SHRH it was 15%,
at Hialeah it was 30%, and
at the Isle it was 30%.

CONCLUSIONS

What does all this mean? It means that there was more money on the table at SHRH, less at the Isle and much less at Hialeah.

At the SHRH no one bought in for less than $100 ($100 is its minimum 1/2 NLHE buy-in), at the Isle 17% did and at Hialeah 19% did. At the SHRH 66% bought in for more than $100, at the Isle 53% did and at Hialeah only 48% did. Note that the buy-ins averages per hour were close, i.e., 4 at the SHRH, 3.8 at Hialeah, and 3.7 at the Isle. One might conclude that seats open up at relatively the same rate in each room.

At both Hialeah and the Isle 37% re-bought or added-on for <$100. At the SHRH 22% did.
At Hialeah there was an average of 3.3 re-buys and add-ons per hour. At the Isle the number was 2.0 and at the SHRH the number was 2.3. One might question why the Hialeah number was much higher than the other two. Was it because the tables at Hialeah had more short stacks than the tables at the other two or was it because the players at Hialeah have a lot of “gamble” in them and are more willing to risk their stacks? Or was it because Hialeah had the most fish at the tables? I think the answer is probably a combination of the three.

QUESTIONS

1. What drives players to the local rooms? I personally believe it’s the HHJ on any particular day. If the HHJs are the same in 2 or more rooms, I believe the other identified factors will all contribute to the decision as to where to play. In such a case I’m personally going to the nearest room with the most “gamble” and most fish.

2. As a poker player who plays to win, what should determine in which room you play on any particular day? Again, I personally believe it should be the room offering the highest HHJ that particular day. First, a lot of players chase the HHJs from one room to another because at 1/2 winning a HHJ can really make a difference in your year (especially if it’s for 750 or 1,000). Second, a lot of the players chasing the HHJs will not be good ones, i.e., more fish in the room. Third, if one room is offering significantly higher HHJs than the others on a particular day, that room is likely to be fuller than the others. More players mean more tables and more choice in table selection/change.

3. Once in a room, should you try to get seated at a table with a lot of $s on it or should you look for one with lot of “action?” I believe you try to start with the table with lots of $s on it. If it is full of nits, consider a table change.

I would appreciate your thoughts. If anyone has done similar studies or made observations of other rooms in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, please post them.

Remarkable.

Interesting decision that the Isle and Hard rock are running nearly identical tournaments this weekend:
Isle: $100,000 GTD - $150 BUY-IN 8/23-8/27 - Day 2 is 8/27 at noon - $115+20+15
Hard Rock - $100,000 GTD - $130 BUY-IN 8/23-8/27 - Day 2 is 8/27 at noon - $100+20+10

Hard rock is cheaper, rake is near identical. Wonder if either will miss the guarantee. Biggest blunder being exact same Day 2, down to the starting time.

Hard rock is 15k stacks/30 min levels throughout, antes start at level 3, isle is 18k/25 min levels day 1/30 min levels day 2, antes start at level 5. so structures are close, not sure which is better for first 16 levels, 5 minute longer levels or 3k more in starting chips.

Hello my name is Jr was wondering if anyone stakes live cash games ? I am a 2/5 grinder currently living in Miami who's been playing now for about 3 years. Have had some unexpected situations that has led my bankroll to decrease largely, and looking to get back to playing.