Positive News for Pensacola Poker players

[MiamiMackk]

Cardroom gaming at Pensacola Greyhound Track is back on the table for consideration by Escambia County commissioners.


Commissioners on Thursday voted 4 to 1 to have a public hearing Dec. 11 on whether to allow poker cardrooms at parimutuel gaming facilities. Such an ordinance would only affect the greyhound dog track.

District 3 Commissioner Marie Young voted against having the meeting.

“It’s an indication I’m probably going to vote against the whole idea,” said Young, chairwoman of the commission.

Commissioner Gene Valentino brought up the issue in February 2007, when the same board voted down poker games at the track, 4-1.

“It would represent at least 150 additional jobs for this county, according to the operators,” Valentino said. “Admittedly, this isn’t the best kind of jobs, but in this very fragile and delicate economy, it is certainly welcomed.”

Mark Harrison of Pensacola isn’t much of a gambler but feels it could be an economic development move for the county.

“I wouldn’t use it, but I personally would be OK with it if it were properly monitored,” said Harrison, 48. “It would be a source of revenue in Escambia County. We already have games of chance in the area; the racetrack, bingo parlors and the lottery.”

The Florida Legislature created the law several years ago that allows cardroom gaming at parimutuel gaming facilities — greyhound tracks, thoroughbred tracks, jai-alai frontons, and harness tracks — but it must be approved by individual counties for it to take effect.

Chris Forehand, 30, of Pensacola, moved here from Greenville, Miss., where riverboat gambling is available, and seeing the effects of it soured him on any kind of gambling.

“I could see the effect on people’s lives there, people who couldn’t afford gambling,” Forehand said. “I don’t think they should allow it. I think it’s another way to take people’s money.”

Of the 26 pari-mutuel wagering facilities in Florida, 21 have cardrooms.

Only Pensacola Greyhound Track, Jacksonville Kennel Club, Sanford Orlando Kennel Club, Florida Jai Alai in Fern Park, and Calder/Tropical (Thoroughbred Track) Park in Miami, do not, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which regulates parimutuel wagering


http://www.pnj.com/article/20081120/NEW ... 20047/1006

[alpha1243]

The vote was a big "no" for poker in Pensacola.

[alpha1243]

Poker was finally passed in February 2009 in Pensacola.

Three top stories:

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 9902200325
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 9902200328
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl ... 9902210318

[alpha1243]

The poker room at Pensacola Greyhound Track opened on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at noon. Their hours are noon to midnight Sunday-Thursday and 1pm to 1am Friday and Saturday. The room has 25 tables -- 8 with Shufflemasters. Soft drinks are free.

They do take a bigger drop than neighboring Biloxi poker rooms and Ebro Greyhound Park. Here's the drop:

$1 Rake at $6, $16, $26, $36, and $46 ($5 max)
$2 Jackpot drop at $10
They do have a "No Flop - No Drop" policy.

They also do not limit the number of raises in the no-limit games as Ebro does. Max buy-in is still $100.

Half of the Jackpot drop funds the Bad Beat Jackpot which is quads beaten. The other half funds various promotions. The only promotion announced thus far is a $25 payout for a full house or better Monday-Thursday. They pay the first 20 of the day. On Thursday morning, after the 20 full houses were paid out, they announced that they would be paying $25 again on the first 100 full houses starting at 7pm.

Many of the dealer you'll recognize from Biloxi and Ebro. Operations were running pretty smoothly on their first 2 days of operation from what I could see. Since the poker room is at the top of the greyhound track seating area it gets pretty cold in the evenings since 3 walls are nothing but glass. The tables are pretty cheap and rock/wobble quite a bit, but the cloth is top notch and the rails somewhat average. They seat 10 per table (as opposed to only 9 at Ebro). The chairs are new, but solid vinyl seats and backs as opposed to the cloth type, so if you're in the seat a while expect to get a little sweaty. The chairs are the cheaper 4-legged type with no height to tilt controls like the better chairs at the Beau Rivage.

Their chips are the cheaper chipco knock offs (ceramic types) in denominations of $1, $5, and $25. No Grand Opening chips were issued. The $1 chip is shown below. (Scott/Chris - Feel free to use this image in the magazine. E-Mail me if you want better resolution scans of the $1, $5, or $25 chips. )

No poker information or link is posted on their website (http://www.pensacolagreyhoundpark.com).

[Scott Long]

Thanks for the review, Alpha! I'm looking forward to getting up there and seeing it myself!