What a difference 4 years makes!

I went to the Naples-Ft Myers Greyhound Track poker room for the first time in 4 years last Saturday. My, how things have changed! The room was jumping, with easily 10 tables of live action going on one side and 6-8 tourneys running on the other. I made the 6th player on the $2-$4 hold'em list, so they called for the game to start; I bought chips from the cashier, as there appeared to be no chip runners to sell chips at the table (although the dealers obviously could, I prefer to not slow the game like that). Players did continually come into the game, eventually filling our table within roughly a half hour.

My table was comparatively weak, with one maniac, 2 calling stations, and the rest being what I would consider "average players." Most players bought into the game for between $50 and $100, so there wasn't a surfeit of short stacks playing (in fact, the only all-in bet I saw in several hours was mine, and that was because I'd managed to maximize a pot with the nut straight!). The players were often distracted from the game, as they were watching either the live greyhound racing, or the simulcast dog and horse races, to see how their pari-mutual bets worked out. The dealer often had to bring the player's attention back to the poker game; good from a poker playing perspective (hey, they weren't watching the game!) but kind of annoying since it slowed the game.

The dealing was professional for the most part, although as in any room there can be exceptions. The game's pace was a little slow, but that's mainly due to the players, not the dealers.

The house rake seemed a bit high, at 10% of the pot (rounded to thenearest $10) taken in $1 increments. Yes, that's right, they round off the pot -- if the pot is $46, they'll rake $5! Ouch! Still, because of the quality of play, even this stiff rake is probably beatable, as I walked out with twice my buy-in after pulling only two or three decent-sized pots (the players seemed to want to call too much, even when check-raised on the river).

The good: Weak players. Good dealers. Reasonable game selection. Low limits, if you like "social" poker.

The bad: Distracted players. High rake. Game limits are set by state law (NL games can't have more than a $100 buy-in, and limit games have a $5 max bet).

The verdict: I'll be back, and not only because it's close to where I live and work.

Tyler

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