Want live poker experience? Two options in Dania
I got scooped by a blogmate: David Anesta posted below about Dania’s $25 game.
For those looking to play live multi-table poker, but not yet ready to play for big bucks, there are two options at Dania Jai-Alai: A $5 tournament at 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and a $25 tournament at 6:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.
Dania puts on the tournaments to get people in the door. The jai-alai fronton is permitted to have slots, but hasn’t put them in yet. Management is awaiting word on renovations plans, similar to what has happened at Gulfstream Park, Mardi Gras and the Isle. But for now, all it has is jai-alai, and, very small crowds. (Update: They also have $50 multitable tournaments at 5 p.m. Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Thursday; $100 tournaments at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Check the schedule atwww.betdania.com.)
So it offers inexpensive poker tournaments, with the hope that players might stick around after they get knocked out from the tournament and play a cash game (more lucrative for the fronton), or bet a few jai-alai games or the simulcast horse races. (Gulfstream recently granted permission for Dania to simulcast its last two races each day.)
The tournaments usually draw at least 50 players and a good mix of ages, although the $5 game comes with a caveat – the game is pretty loose, because the players have so little to lose.
“Poker is meant to be played for something. I feel like I’m wasting my time,” said Angelo Arce, 19, of North Miami.
But his friends, Mitchell Rubenstein, 21, of Hollywood and Michael Cohen, 19, of Hollywood play the $5 tournament almost every day, before heading over to other casinos to play the $5-$10 no-limit games.
Joan Cook, 76, and her husband, Bob, 77, play to sharpen their games. They often travel to Las Vegas and Joan said she’s been reluctant to sit at the games there. They live in Massachusetts part of the year and are staying in Hallandale Beach this winter.
“I want to feel more comfortable at the table, and it’s a great deal,” says Joan, who also plays the $2-$4 game at Gulfstream.
She’s also picking up the first steps of tournament strategy. For example, she raised with pocket jacks, only to get a big re-raise before the flop from a generally tight player, who, it turned out, had pocket kings.
“I should have laid the jacks down,” she said.
Honing strategy is also a reason Brian Sparaco, 22, of Jupiter often plays the $5 tournament.
“It’s just as good as the cash games or other tournaments,” he said. “It’s poker.”
Comments
You don't like Hard Rock? You never seem to mention it. I'll stick with Hard Rock over Dania, nonetheless.
Posted by: KCK | January 23, 2008 5:34 PM