Seminole Casinos to Offer No Limit Poker

Beginning on July 1, Seminole casinos in Florida will begin spreading no-limit and high stakes poker games in their poker rooms. This change was prompted by actions of the Florida Legislature and the Seminole Tribal Council, which helped to remove the previous limit of $100 buy-ins and $5 maximum bets per round on limit games.

The new poker games will be available at six Seminole casinos, including the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, as well as Seminole Casinos in Coconut Creek, Hollywood, Brighton and Immokalee. In addition, the previously instituted $1,000 limit on tournament buy-ins has also been eliminated, allowing these casinos to run larger tournaments with bigger prize funds.

While other venues, such as horse and dog tracks, will also be able to spread the same variety of games under the new regulations, they are limited to being open for a maximum of 18 hours on weekdays. In contrast, the Seminole casinos will be able to offer poker 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Accord to Scott Long, publisher of Ante Up Magazine, opening Florida to larger tournaments is the best way to improve exposure for Florida’s poker rooms.

“Nowhere is the potential exposure for Florida poker bigger than in the tournament arena,” Long said. “With buy-in caps removed, Florida rooms can now court the World Poker Tour, the North American Poker Tour, perhaps even a World Series of Poker circuit event, all of which provide expansive television coverage that will show players around the world that real poker can now be played in Florida.”

The various casinos under the operation of the Seminole Tribe should be ready for the increase in action. Their poker rooms feature state-of-the-art tracking systems, and they have previously organized large celebrity poker events in their casinos.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida owns and operates a total of seven casinos throughout Florida, and opened the first high-stakes bingo hall in the United States in 1979, which helped begin the Indian Gaming movement that has led to the opening of numerous casinos by Native American tribes.