Florida Poker Bil Become Law

[juiCe[3x]]

From pokernews.com.

A bill passed by the Florida legislature allowing casinos to raise stakes offered in poker ring games and tournaments has become law. The law will go into effect on July 1.

After being passed by both the Florida House and Senate in late April, Florida Senate Bill 752 was forwarded to Governor Charlie Crist on June 1. Gov. Crist had the option to sign the bill, to veto it, or to leave it without a signature in which case the bill would automatically become law after a designated period. According to the official website of the Florida House of Representatives, SB 752 "Became Law without Governor's Signature" late Wednesday. Florida does not allow the governor a pocket veto.

Poker has been legal in Florida for years, although with restricted betting limits. In 1996, legislation was passed allowing cardrooms to spread poker games with a $10 maximum pot per hand. Then in 2003, new legislation was passed eliminating the $10-per-hand rule, but introducing a new maximum of $2 per betting round, thus ensuring $1/$2 limit hold 'em would become the most prevalent game spread in Florida casinos.

The new law allows single bet limits to be raised to $5. Perhaps most significantly, the law also allows for no limit Texas Hold'em games with a maximum buy-in of $100. Tournaments may be offered with increased buy-ins. Cardrooms have also been given new freedoms when it comes to scheduling their hours of operation. While they still can only operate a maximum of 12 hours per day, they no longer are restricted to the noon-to-midnight window. Additionally, cardrooms associated with live racing are now allowed to open at times when racing is not being offered.

"With Bill 752 becoming law . . . the possibilites are nearly endless for Florida poker rooms," said Christopher Cosenza, co-host of a poker podcast produced by the St. Petersburg (FL) Times. "In the past, cardroom managers were handcuffed by miniscule maximum bets, making the cash tables a mockery of skill and turning any given hand into a mini-lottery. Now, with the increase in betting limits, truly skilled players will have a better shot at plying their craft while the recreational player will have an even bigger thrill to brag about to their friends."

[omahilo]

good news for you boys down south.

[Talking Poker]

The new limits are still too low for me to want to go play live, at 10% as many hands per hour as I can get online and probably triple the rake... but it's certainly a step in the right direction. If they start having bigger tourneys with reasonable juice, that would be cool.

[PShabi]

Aaaaaaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahaha ha.

[Talking Poker]

LOL.

Dick.

[lightfungus]

I have hopeful thoughts that the fish will be abundant the first couple of weeks after July 1st and worth a trip. I was wondering if you could point me to some solid poker rooms in FL that are close to the FL/GA border?

[Talking Poker]

I know of the ONE room here, anout 3 hours from the GA border... so.... no. RD lives in Jacksonville though, so I'm sure he can hook you up.

[thrash1294]

Tampa hard rock I have played will be headed there thanksgiving week

[Reel Deal]

There's actually a poker room right across the border on I-75... I don't remember the name of it but you'll see billboards for it once you cross into Florida (it's either an Indian reservation or dog track). It's probably 15-20 miles north of Lake City. After that the next closest is probably the dog track here in Jax or the Tampa Hard Rock.

[herschelw]

If the tourney buyins get bigger and the rake gets smaller as a % then it will be a good value to go to the dog tracks.

[lightfungus]

These dog tracks have poker at them then?

[Talking Poker]

Yes... that's what we have here in Melbourne. The poker room is at the dog track.

[Reel Deal]

Here's a listing of all the card rooms in Florida:

This is the one I was thinking of (just across the Ga-Fl line off I-75 in Jasper, Fl):

Strange thing is that you'd think our local poker room would be advertising the fact that the poker games will change big time starting next week, but they haven't.

[Reel Deal]

OK, I did some further recon today… since I had to speak at a round-table discussion at the law school during the lunch hour and since the local poker room just happened to be on the way back to my office, I felt I was duty-bound to my fellow forum members to stop in and ask some questions (I also happened to play in two of their turbo SnGs and took one down… but I digress). Back to the real reason I stopped in… I found a floor manager and asked him about the changes they were going to make after July 1st. Here’s what he told me:

1. The limit games are going to be spread from $1/2, $2/4 and $5 straight.

2. They are going to have some higher buy-in tournaments (the highest would be $100).

And that was it. So, I asked what about NL cash games. He said they were not going to start those yet because they were unclear what the new law allowed them to run. The floor manager said he thought they would have it figured out by the end of July and thereafter they would have some NL cash games.

So, fung and anyone else that is thinking about coming down here after July 1, I would recommend that you call the poker room you are going to first and ask them specifically what games/limits they are running.

[lightfungus]

You da man. Thanks for the info.