Buried beneath the talk of blackjack, roulette and compacts, are two words, magic words in the Florida Senate's gambling proposal: No limit.

It's two words that mean the world to the best poker players, but if you're not a regular, it doesn't mean squat.

So let me explain.

We play what is called "no-limit" Texas Hold 'em at poker rooms here. But that's a false title. There's a $100 limit buy-in. That means the largest bet you can make is $100, unless you win a hand or two. Just compare that to slots, horses and the Lottery, where you can spend as much as you want whenever you want, and you see that it's an arbitrary rule, written in by the state on July 1, 2007, presumably to "protect us."

Now, look at what the Senate is offering not just the Seminoles, but every pari-mutuel in the state: "No-limit poker."

Think of it this way: If you play for nickels at home, you likely call your opponent on every hand. If you were playing for, say, $20, you'd stop and think. Extrapolate the economics and apply to no-limit.

Real poker players, the ones with money (not me!), know the difference. That's why they never come to Florida to play and prefer to play elsewhere. When a player has to call with flush draw when his opponent likely has a pair, and it costs only $100, well, he's often "priced in." Now, make that same decision with $5,000 out there...

"No-limit should be just that. No limit," says poker pro Clonie Gowen, who on her recent visit said she wouldn't play the current $100 buy-in game because, essentially, it's not really poker.

Adds Jon Marks of Weston, a regular player who rolls numbers around in his head so much that he's part man, part abacus: "The current game just becomes an all-in Yahtzeefest."

I put out some emails for comments to poker players who know more than me. Here we go:

Chris Costenza, co-publisher of AnteUp Magazine, which covers the state: "We were placated by the no-limit concession back in 2007, thinking it would give us a chance to ply our poker skill. But in the end it was merely a mirage that turned the game into a lottery. A true no-limit
poker game where bets can be crafted to separate the chaff from the wheat has endless possibilities. Real poker players, with real money, will find their way to Florida now, and we'll benefit from the influx of gambling dollars from around the country."

Marks notes that at the Bogota the $5-$10 game is a $500 minimum buy in with a $2,500
max. The $2-$5 is a $300 minimum with a $1,500 max. You can buy in as often as you want so the upper limit is more of a guideline.

Wil Herrera, manager of Mardi Gras Poker Room, says in some ways, players lose more at $100 buy-in, than if it were, say, $500. Players push all-in for $100 a few times, then re-buy when they lose.

"He’s not going to push all in every hand if it's $500," Herrera said. "You see peple lose $1,000 by losing $100 at a time.

An increase to no-limit would bring big tournaments here, he said, because players come not only for the tournament, but for the side action cash games afterward.

"Poker would explode down here," he said. "For the player who travels across the country, the tournament is part of it, but the main part of it is the side action."

So, my point is that even if they didn't go all the way with no-limit, maybe they'll bump it up to say, $500 or $1,000 buy-in.

Meanwhile, tell me. Would any of this affect your poker habits?