I will be driving to Florida, and stay there for a month to play poker. I never played in Florida, and not sure which area/casino to choose for th best action. I am going in the beginning of march. I play 2/5 and prefer a game with a bigger max buyin than 500 (800-1000). A lot of people recommended the hard rock in Hollywood to me, and it's likely to be my destination, but I would like to hear more advises.

I also will need a place to stay, and was wondering what is my best option. Should I rent an apt for a month? Should I stay at hotel/motel? Does any of the casinos comp rooms to poker players? If so which ones? Basically looking for a most inexpensive place to stay.

All information is welcome.
Thx.

My advice is to go to <a porn site we don't need linked -Max> and preview the ladies you'll be encountering.

Cool, anyone else?

You can stay in a hostel for 20 or so bucks a night in south beach Miami. I stayed at two the first was called the Tropics, its clean has a pool and is about two blocks off the beach. The other I think was just called South beach hostle it was slightly closer to the casino's and it had a bar. Both were crammed with hot europeon chicks.

I did this for a small while then I drove up through Floridia to Tallahasse on the way I stopped at every card room. (Was alotta fun)

People might poo poo this because its a bit of a dive, but the softest games I found were at magic city(The bigger casino's seem to attract better players IME). They had at least 3 or 4 2/5 tables running each night I went, unfortunatly it is only a $500 max (I play 1/2 in california but the games were so increadably soft by comparison I thought id take a stab at it). The next best was the seminole(I wanna say Miami but I cant fully remember) where they let people smoke !!!! If you can put up with nasty smoke the games here are off the wall soft but I was only playing the 1/2 and I dont know if they even spread a 2/5 there.

Hostles are not for everyone, but I love em. You will meet alot of different and often interesting people which I found refreashing, staying in a hotel I think would have made me lonely as I was playing poker everyday and that can be kinda of lonely at least for me.

gl. Beergutter

Thx beergutter, I'll keep in mind those places you mentioned.

hard rock 2/5 max is 600 i believe. the isle has a nice room and always seems to be full as well. its about 30 minutes north of hard rock. if you stay in hollywood, you have hard rock right there, mardi gras has ok action and is in hollywood/dania area too, gulfstream park pretty close, calder close, and the isle not too far. pretty good poker area. gl!

Hey, I went to south Florida in Decemeber, for a week. I ended up using priceline for my hotel. I got a 3* Courtyard by Marrioitt in Boca for $52 a night. I checked out the West Palm Beach Kennel Club, Isle of Capri, and the Hard Rock. I liked the Isle the best and didn't really care for WPBKC.

Hope this helps.

i'd check out the ocala and jai alai poker room if i were you. played there over new years. quite a juicy 2/5. average age 60+

one trick is to go to a casino where 2-5 is the biggest game but runs regularly. this makes for a weaker field.

Immokalee Casino is one choice. Can't be expensive to stay nearby, and the 2-5 was very soft last Saturday night. There was one player who could play, Asian kid named Mike, but he wasn't anything special, and several wannabe pro types, each of whom made enormous mistakes. E.g. very first hand of table some guy in giant white headphones and a new Chicago Bulls cap calls 15 from small blind. Leads 35 on 953 rainbow flop into 3 players. One calls. Turn 6, bets 45 or so, gets called. Opponent has less than 100 behind now. River jack he checks and other guy checks behind as was obvious from the way he called the turn and acted on the river. Bull turns over 65 for the turned two pair. Opp had 92s. Wow. Preflop too loose for the shot stacks. Flop and turn fine, might make it more on the turn. But checking that river? How is it possible not to bet that river? And 92s called the preflop raise. It got worse from there. Great place to play. Floor Hugh was cool guy too.

Yeah but if you play in immokalee that means you have to be in immokalee. That city is disgusting.

QFT

Best action is probably in Hollywood and on the Atlantic coast (cleaned out the 5-10 at HR only to donk it off at PLO once), but if you get tired of it over there check out the Hard Rock in Tampa and the other local rooms; i.e. Tampa Bay Downs, Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Lucky's at the Tampa Greyhound Track, etc.

Tampa HR is solid, good action. Derby Lane is the biggest room outside of the HR, friendly staff; Tampa Bay Downs is well run also but a little smaller. Lucky's is in a real ****ty part of town so watch your ass walking out to the car but it's filled with donkeys at the low limits and word is Racener plays some super sick games there.

Where are you coming from? Florida is a pretty big place, you can spend a lot of time driving.

That hotel is actually a mile from my house. I agree that the Isle is the nicest and cleanest casino in the area. Though he should check out the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood just because it is the biggest and has blackjack, etc.

Hardrock in Tampa is 24/7 and Derby Lane has some decent games as well (however I've only played their a few times)..There is a new poker room opening up in Jax I believe the first and they already have two poker rooms out there..Orange Park soft with a juicy 2/5 game (at least the times I've played it) however its 500max bi...As far as West Palms goes haven't played there yet so couldn't give you much insight there...Was going to go down for circuit event but got sick and just getting over it now :/

I used to live in Tampa, daughter goes to college there.

The Tampa HRC is a nice venue but they say, "We don't comp poker players" like only a moron would ask. Tampa itself is pretty low rent imho. Not as in "easy to find a cheap place to stay" but rather as in "more skanky white chicks working in topless bars and Hooters than anywhere else in the world." I mean, they're kind of sexy in a Marlboro-smoking, Camaro-driving sorta way. But dang.

South Fla is WAY more fun than Tampa. Hollywood is kinda ghetto but South Beach is like nothing else. There's nothing like sitting at a sidewalk cafe, with the soft sounds of silky, sexy house music in the air, Brazilian models walking by, the sun sparkling on the water. Once I went Nikki's on a Sunday night, and the people were gorgeous and happy to be out. I walked out to the beach in the middle of night and heard the DJ play that mashup of "For an angel" and "Delirium Silence feat Mclaughlin (summerbreeze mix)" and agreed fully, and remembered the sorrow and regret, the hope and longing that summer so long ago when I danced and danced to this music. On a Wednesday night I went to Bed, and at 4am on a humid rainy night they played that mix of "The Beloved--Sweet Harmony" that Nick Warren used to play, and it moved people: everyone dancing, the girls dancing and jumping up and down on the beds; and the wave of love that swept through the room was breathtaking.

So take your pick. Skanky lap dance or breathtaking love.