Florida To Get Blackjack and More

[PrimogenitoX]

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Are the Seminoles pressed for land? Look at Winstar in Oklahoma, they put the poker room in a damned glorified tent and its PACKED with the Cali drop and 200max buy.

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It is not 200max buy. I just played there last night and bought in for $2,000. Also, last week I played and bought in for $5,000.

[Legislurker]

I was there in March and the 1/2 was 200 max. They were opening a new room that looked like it was in a tent. There was a huge storm as well and I thought the roof was going to collapse. My main reason for never going back was the Cali drop and excessive rake. They had up to 25 blind games if I remember right, and some limit games, not as restrictive as Fla by a mile.

[PrimogenitoX]

Oh, ok, yea..I didn't see where you said you played 1/2..I guess that game is 200max...I played the 5/10 which is 2,000 max and the 10/25 which was 5,000 max.

[CybrPunk]

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P.S. Remember the first week when the Tribe was allowing anything goes? You think that was a accident or a miscommunication as they claimed when they went back to the $100.00 limit? I don't.

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The excuse given by one of their officers was that he was out of town and not included in that decision making process.

Somehow I don't think this even slightly resembles the truth.

A friend of mine was recently hired at the Seminole HR and he says the management is already working on a few changes. One possible plan, apparently, is to move the poker room into the room that is currently the non-smoking slot area. Another includes two separate poker areas - with one for high stakes games exclusively.

A Miami Herald article that I read seems to express the same opinion... that the door is now open to class 3 gaming and the state can't do anything but ensure that it gets a cut of the revenues.

One thing is for sure. The management at the Seminole HR in Hollywood is gearing up for this fully expecting to get everything that is being speculated upon and both the Hollywood and Tampa locations are already building new gaming space.

Obviously that guarantees nothing... but it sure does seem to look favorable.

[jrock901]

The Rock in Tampa had a press release about the renovation on thier website the weekend before the new limits went into place. Seems the plan for expansion had nothing to do with poker, unless someone can come forward and provide evidence. That said, it would only make good business sense to try and raise the limits or at least the cap on some of the games. I went down the Sunday the new limits were run, (before the state made them change) and the place was insane. Even with the betting limits now, they aren't doing half bad. I don't think they will expand the poker room anytime soon but time will tell.

[soulvamp]

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The Rock in Tampa had a press release about the renovation on thier website the weekend before the new limits went into place. Seems the plan for expansion had nothing to do with poker, unless someone can come forward and provide evidence. That said, it would only make good business sense to try and raise the limits or at least the cap on some of the games. I went down the Sunday the new limits were run, (before the state made them change) and the place was insane. Even with the betting limits now, they aren't doing half bad. I don't think they will expand the poker room anytime soon but time will tell.

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I live in S.Fla., was in Tampa area over the weekend and drove over to check out the HR there. Looked to me like the expansion is for a shopping/restaurant area like they have at the HR here, nothing to do with the casino.

[Fishhead24]

The BJ will in all liklihood pay 6/5 for blackjack........don't get to excited folks.

[cmitch]

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I live in S.Fla., was in Tampa area over the weekend and drove over to check out the HR there. Looked to me like the expansion is for a shopping/restaurant area like they have at the HR here, nothing to do with the casino.

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It is a $120 Million renovation that is adding 50,000 sf of casino floor space (among other things)

[TGPDLR]

The expansion at the HR Tampa (This phase anyway) is for restaruant and shops. HOWEVER. There is another phase (so I am told by HR employees) that will expand the gaming area. For now, I believe they will blanket the new shopping area with the slots that are in the former ball rooms, and that area will become the table gaming area. My personal hope is that the limits on poker will remain the same so that other rooms like the one I work in will have a level playing field for business. Who knows. Maybe they will downsize the poker area and Tampa Greyhound and the other rooms in the Tampa St. Pete area will benefit. I hope that the Govenor will think before acting for the benefit of all Florida.

[soulvamp]

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The expansion at the HR Tampa (This phase anyway) is for restaruant and shops. HOWEVER. There is another phase (so I am told by HR employees) that will expand the gaming area. For now, I believe they will blanket the new shopping area with the slots that are in the former ball rooms, and that area will become the table gaming area. My personal hope is that the limits on poker will remain the same so that other rooms like the one I work in will have a level playing field for business. Who knows. Maybe they will downsize the poker area and Tampa Greyhound and the other rooms in the Tampa St. Pete area will benefit. I hope that the Govenor will think before acting for the benefit of all Florida.

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I don't know whether the governor really has much leverage at all. Seems to me -- and this is purely a guess on my part -- that the only real bone he can ask for is that they hold the line on poker, which they very well could do to keep their relationship intact. I really don't see how the Seminoles would benefit all that much by pressing for high-stakes poker. They could make more money devoting their resources to table games.