Gentlemen. In less than 72 hours we will have legitimate poker in FL, so I figure this place finally deserves to have its own thread.

New poker limits:http://www.seminolehardrocktampa.com/gaming/high-stakes

I'm def planning on being a reg there, anyone else making the move? Who all is gonna be there Wednesday night for the opening? I think the "2p2 meet" spot is gonna be the center bar, then hopefully we can get some flipaments going on.

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FAQ for Hard Rock Tampa Casino. [Thank you to parisron and browser2920 for putting it together!]

Is there a poker room hotel rate? No.

Where can I stay close to the casino?

The hard rock hotel's best rate is usually around $190/night and that is slow weekdays.
Likely $300-400/night and even higher on weekends most of the time.

On US301 1 mile away there are several nice hotels, red roof inn, holiday inn express, la quinta and comfort suites. They are usually in the $70-$100/night range.

There are 2 other cheaper options, east lake inn which is half mile away and walking distance if needed on hillsborough ave that runs about $50/night and what used to be motel 6 but was recently renovated into knights inn and added coffee makers, refrigerators, microwave and free wi fi in each room. Its on US301 about 1 mile away and around $40/night.

What is the best place to park?

You should park in the Draper Place Parking Garage. The poker room is actually located on the ground floor of that garage. Just get in the elevator and push the "*P - poker" button and the doors will open at the entrance to the poker room.

The Draper Place garage is the lone garage on the south end of the property. If you are heading north on Orient Road after coming off the I4 interstate, it will be the first garage on your right. Turn right at the light onto Draper Place and the garage entrance is about 50 yards down on the right.

If you are coming from Hillsborough Ave, turn onto Orient Road heading south. Go past the parking garages on the left, and turn left at the light onto Draper Place.

It is a very long walk from the other parking garages to the poker room. Unless you plan on finishing your time in the main casino, definitely park in the Draper Place Garage

What games run there?

On a daily basis on average this is what will be running in afternoon and evening. In general, the morning/early afternoon has more limit games than during the evening. PLO is becoming more popular each month.

1/2nl $60-$300. Usually 6 to 10 games going.
2/5nl $200-$1000. Usually 3 to 6 games going.
5/10nl $500-$2500 Usually 0 or 1 game going.
10/10nl $800-$3000 usually 0 or 1 game going

2/2 PLO with $5 rock $200-$1000. 1-3 tables daily
5/5 PLO with $10 rock -$500-2500. Usually 1 or 2 games going.
10/10 PLO $1000-$5000 usually 1 game going;mostly weekends

4/8 limit hold em. Min buyin $40. Usually 3-6 tables daytime. Fewer at night unless big high hand promo going.

4/8 limit omaha h/l. Usually 0-1 game running with a half kill.
6/12 limit omaha h/l. Runs occasionally, with a full kill.

Various mixed games run occasionally when requested; very few requests in last few months [mid 2021]

Do they have comps?

Comp Dollars are earned for live poker play, using your Seminole Players Card:

$1-$2 No Limit/Pot Limit & $5-$10 Limit games and lower earn $1 Comp Dollar for every hour played.
$2-$5 No Limit/Pot Limit & $6-$12 Limit games and higher earn $2 Comp Dollar for every hour played.

Comp Dollars expire after 60 days.

Comp Dollars can be redeemed at hotels, restaurants, bars, lounges and retail stores at all Seminole casinos in Florida. They cannot be used at the Food Court.

The redemption rate for comp dollars at all locations accepted is 1 comp dollar equals one real dollar.

Comp Dollars cannot be used at slot machines, table games or poker tables.

What is the rake?

Timed rake games (5/10 NL and up; 5/5 PLO and up) are $8/30 minutes on main floor and $10/30 minutes in VIP room. Pot raked games are 10% up to $5 max and rake is rounded up at $5 with $1 minimum rake every hand that has a flop. If there is no flop, there is no rake drop. $1 jackpot drop is taken at $10 and a second dollar is taken at $20.

Examples:
No flop, no drop
$1 rake on any pot up to $9 that has a flop
$1 rake plus $1 jackpot drop on $10 to $14
$2 plus $1 on $15 to $19
$2 plus $2 on $20 to $24
$3 plus $2 on $25 to $34
$4 plus $2 on $35 to $44
$5 plus $2 on $45 and up

100% of the jackpot drop goes to the Poker Marketing Promotion Fund to pay for all the promotion payouts such as high hands, time played based promos, and hot seat promos. and Poker Rewards (comps).

Reduced rake is available when there are 5 players or less. The max rake when reduced is $3 rather than $5. The jackpot drop is taken regardless of number of players and table remains eligible for promos.

Is there a bad beat or promos?

There are various promos from month to month, with different ones rotating in and out month to month. Currently there are high hands every half hour, 24/7. The amount varies by day and by hours, usually between 100-800. They also have selected mega high hand days that can have high hands in the thousands. Other promos have included cash for reaching certain levels of hours played, hot seat drawings, and an hours played leaderboard.

There is no bad beat jackpot.

Jackpot awards - IDs required

To receive any sort of jackpot/promotional award, including high hands, bad beat, gas card awards, tournament seats, etc. (as well as tournament wins over 5K), two forms of government issued ID are required. If you have just one ID on you, they will allow you to come back later with another ID to claim the award. If you have no ID on you, they will deny you the award and may kick you out of the casino. It is a requirement to have an ID on you to play in the Hard Rock.

What tournaments are available?

The room offers a wide variety of both daily tournaments and tournament series. Daily tournaments range from around $40-$500 and the bigger the buy in the more chips and time between levels. Tournament series offer a range of buy ins up to the main events of 1000-1500 or so. The complete tournament schedule can be found on the poker room website or on their Bravo Poker app page.

Are there player cash boxes? No.

Does the poker room have a website?

Yes. https://www.shrtpoker.com. You can complete listing of monthly promos and tournaments at this site, as well as on their Bravo Poker app page.

***If you would like to contribute to this FAQ, please send a PM to Browser2920***

I will def be there. I really can't wait. It feels like christmas!!!!

I will be there.

damn rake is getting high per 1/2 in comparison to vegas and cali for bigger games

IN. I plan on leaving my house around 8 or 9 because it'll take me about an hour to get there. But in all reality i'll prob get excited and leave at 6 or something.

Lol that you berated me for suggesting to move your "Flip" chat from the Legislation thread over to B&M (even suggested the thread I started for it be locked iirc) and now here you are starting your own thread and chatting it up.

Not really meant as an "F U" flame, just a friendly "I told you so..." jab

Probably won't be at the meetup, but if you see a young kid wearing an "LOL Donkaments" t-shirt, feel free to say hey.

yeah dude u totally got me brah! so you gonna be a degenerate and flip with us or what!?

I'll be there a lot, but won't be home from the series til mid july after i final table the main obv.

10pm Wednesday night. Center bar. Be there.

I would love to be there, But ill be at Casino Niagara for all of July for vacation, but if any 2p2 is doing great and wants to fly down a fellow member, ill be up for it!

What he said obv...

Just say you are here for the flip at the center bar. First we do a shot- then we degen it up

high rake on the omaha Hi/Lo! and I would assume the PLO has its own Jackpot seperate from the other otherwise they will almost always win it.

I believe. 1/2plo is regular rake with bbj. and 2/5plo and up is time rake with no bbj. There is already a seperate BBJ for Omaha/8, so the PLO will probably just be on that(Im guessing)

I hear the New chips, which will be BJ chips for now but Brand New, will be swapped for the old poker chips before noon Tomorrow.
Also they will get a big tv up front with the bravo list, so it can be seen from around the room. And supposedly getting 10 new TV's 55".
Maybe we can actually read the damn scores now. No word on when exactly this will happen.

Nobody seems to know if we can get on list for bigger games 1 hour before midnight, 2 hours, etc. should be a cluster F for sure.

i'll be there all weekend long (starting thursday night) and if the games are as juicy as i suspect i'll be there 30+ hrs/wk for a while. i might make it to the meeting at the center bar tomorrow but i'm not sure. i'm pretty sure it's more EV for me to start my poker weekend on thursday night instead of wednesday night. anyways, i'm very excited and i've been thinking about this every 5 mins for the last couple of weeks. let's hope we do become the biggest state for poker.

I will be there Thursday night after work, hopefully I will be able to get on a table

I was there today and they told us that at 8 pm tonight they will start taking names on the lists for the different tables.

called this afternoon and they said not till midnight. Just called now and they said around 9:30pm they will start taking a list.

Are there any nice family areas not far from the hr Tampa?

Busch Gardens in North Tampa

Lowry Park Zoo in Seminole Heights

Florida Aquarium (not sure where exactly)

Penthouse Club in Westshore area.

Brandon

Won't be able to make it there tonight for the flip. Hopefully everything is good. I am gonna try and make it up there tmrw sometime and watch people funnel 200 bbs in with top pair. Should be fun.

Florida Aquarium is at Channelside which is downtown, next to the Port of Tampa. Good restaurants and a restaurant/bar/bowling alley called Splitsville.

Penthouse Club... always a family fav.

Lists:1/3nl 37, 2/5nl 93, 5/10nl 50