TGT Poker and Racebook — Attraction in Tampa

This review is litte overdue. I was regular at TGT poker for over 15 years because it was convenient. It was on way back home from work. Yes cheap drinks and promos but they dont make up for the lack of players and good dose of racism. Let me elaborate.

Lets talk business. Imagine having won a lotto where your establishment is one of the 4 others that can run poker games within 300 miles around. People from 100s of miles drive all the way to Tampa to play. For 15 years you make barely any improvements to the building. Have the place lit up like costco. Have the cars broken in the parking lot. So basically make it completely abhorrent to any touristy gamblers visiting our town. Then you make zero effort to understand the market. For couple years around 2021, the place became the best PLO joint. But guess what, the management kept letting folks host private games which siphon the best players away. And guess what when the private game organizers have enough players, they just make it a home game taking the players with them. Kept happening over and over, and guess what no more PLO. There is barely 1 table now, with same 8-12 players. Same thing happened with 1-3 game which siphoned all the decent 1-2 players and then simply left. Now there are couple 1-2 tables. But guess what, all of them are set miners or promo chasers. The dealers there know it and have often expressed this concern. But guess what, when the management has tenure.. why make any effort. Ok so I can understand managment not willing to make an effort, where the eff are the owners. Luckys could have been a minting machine only if run like a business. They have the space, they have infrastructure. Hard Rock poker room few miles away used to have 15 tables. now they have over 60. And still there is couple of hours wait on every game. Though not an exact comparison, but still...

Lets talk racism. Yep, complained about it couple of times to the management. But seems like they are in on it too. So whats the point. Luckys sits smack in the middle of one of most racially diverse neighborhoods. Guess whats the diversification of Luckys management. ZERO. Saw one brown guy in mangement for couple of years and then they let him go too. This is in the span of full 15 years.

Lets talk service. They dont care. Whether you patronize the establishment or not. Hence the rot. If you dont want your customers, your customers will find someone who does. Here is kicker, got an expired beer. Almost 2 years old. Complained. Mike came over and took the beer for inspection. No word no apology not even a replacement beer, no nothing. When I asked, he said he checked, that was the only one expired. That should tell you enough of this establishment.

Go here if you must, and is convenient for you to kill some time. but if you wanna play poker, there is HR and Silks and even Derby has better games.

One of my longest...

I really like this place. It is the cheapest way to play No limit Texas Hold 'em in Tampa. The $1/$2 no limit is reasonable to play with only $200. You can technically buy in for $100 and things happen, but the minimum to sit is only$40, but that is basically one all in bet. The drink service is hit or miss. Last week my whole table had to wait over an hour and a half to get our drinks placed and then we waited so long one of the players got up took his money and said he was going to the Hard Rock. His drink arrived a good bit after he left. However, this Thurs. I played and there were a similar number of people and was pleasantly surprised at how quick our waitress Kayla got our drinks and was always at the ready to take more orders and deliver them promptly. So I guess it just depends on your waitress. The food is edible. It's not bad but it's nothing fancy. Overall, the place could use a face lift, but I'm not there for ambience, I am there to play poker. More particularly poker that is in my price range! And this is just that. There's also a bunch of player rewards, and tournaments also. Also the wait time to get a spot at one two table with the hard rock is pretty much an hour and a half and I've rarely had to wait more than 30 minutes at its worst to get a seat at a 1-2 table. Most of the time there's a seat available when you show up. This is a major consideration for me when deciding to go play because I don't want to sit around I...

Covid Injection Site run by FEMA - Total Time 1hour 37 minutes. Tents in Parking lot along I-275 Open 7am to 7pm. Was in line at 7am taking my 87 Y/O parents. 1st 1/2 hour In line while they looked at ID's, took temps, Dad uses wheelchair, so they mark a 'W' on windshield. Then entire line of 20 or 30 cars move at once to park. There are small shuttles available to take people to the entrance. We were directed to the front near the entrance. There were 5 or 6 tents you go through. 1st 3 were areas with lines. Having a wheelchair, we were directed around the queue. Then to a table where both parents were registered at once and got a barcoded stick-on label to stick on their jackets. Then into a tent where they both got their shot (Pfizer Brand). Then a waiting tent where we had a 30 minute wait instead of the usual 15 due to a drug allergy we listed. Your time starts when your barcode is read. There is 1 large clock on the wall and you keep track of your own time (which they probably check when your barcode is read for the last time). Tips; They have wheelchairs available for use, 3 row golf-cart type shuttles not needed for much of the parking lot. For someone who can't walk far or stand very long and has someone to push them, a wheelchair probably actually saved some time by jumping part of the queue. When we drove by Waters Ave upon leaving there were no cars in line, at 7am there were about 25 cars, so maybe a little...