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I recently made my second trip to Derby Lane. I tried it last year because the Friday tournament looked interesting. This time I stopped after a baseball game at Tropicana Field. Although I have 4 other poker rooms in central Florida closer to my house, I plan to drive the extra 30 minutes to get here more and more often. The mix between the serious players and the gamblers is just about right. Of all the parimutuel poker rooms in Florida this one seems to have more players just as interested in simulcast racing as poker, and that means more gamblers. I also like the how the room is stationed overlooking the greyhound course, This is especially eye catching during the afternoon.
I had an issue during a tournament the next day and I thought the manager handled it quite well. I wasn't happy and they were fair in their ruling.
I played the $1-3 and the $2-5 NL game and both were worthwhile. I especially liked the $2-5 which is often times a must move game. There was some grumbling from the players that were made to move, but I tend to think it's a better solution to keeping a $2-5 game going than having two short-stacked tables that eventually run off the players.
The cocktail waitresses were few and far between on a Friday night. Twice I asked for a menu and twice the waitress forgot. Luckily the dog track snack bar was open and I could fend for myself. Looking over the room it seemed as though they had two waitresses covering 20 tables. I hope it was due to call-ins because it wasn't very efficient from the players side. I didn't have the same problem on Thursday so it could have been an emergency staffing problem. The food wasn't bad and the afternoon draft beer special was appreciated.
They were running $500 half hour hands on Friday night. I felt that it brought more rocks to the game than I saw late Thursday. They don't give you hourly comps which is also a minus. I would rather have the latter over the former. No issue with any of the dealers. Some were quiet and some were witty and although they catered to the locals a bit, it wasn't as bad as I have seen it at other places.
