December 18, 2008
What's a visiting Texas pokerstars player to do? Fortunately, there is one pokerstar room that is about 35 minutes away... if you drive fast. It's on the Seminole reservation known as Brighton – about 25 miles south-southeast as the crow flies from Lake Placid. They draw from retirement communities in central Florida, and from some of the citrus farming communities in south-central Florida as well.
I visited a few times, during the week and on the weekend. It's a nine-table room, but I never saw all of the tables full. I was told that they fill up sometimes on Wednesday I try to learn to play pokerstar at 7:00 PM. That has a $20 buy-in with unlimited rebuys the first hour and a $20 add-on. I was told they get six full tables plus side games as players bust out. When I was there, three tables were going. One was $1/2 blind, $2/4 limit Omaha-8. Another was a similarly structured limit hold'em game.
And the third was a $1/2 blind, $100 maximum buy-in no-limit hold'em game. They're willing to spread 7-card stud, I was told, and they used to. But in the last three years they rarely have players interested in it. Too bad; it's a common tale. They have the standard Florida rake of 10% with a $5 maximum. They also take out $1 to fund the high-hand bonus. That's a lot of money taken out of a relatively low-stakes pot. But it's all there is within 50 or so miles so the players don't complain. And I bet they wouldn't complain anyway; there were few who seemed like experienced players.
Eating and drinking are allowed at the table, and there's a nearby fast food window to accommodate players. Prices are reasonable, with sandwich prices ranging from $4 – 6, French fries $2, and a chicken dish for $5 or so. The players tend to be older, but not ancient. They have to be young enough to make it to this place, which isn't near anything. I'd say the median age was about 60, with few players under 50. There's no smoking in the room (and I saw three players on oxygen tanks), but the casino itself is very smoky, and the smoke drifts in to the pokerstar language.
