The Sunshine State officially signed a Bill into Law without the Governor’s signature on June 13, 2007 to increase betting limits in Florida. Along with increased stakes, favorable revisions were made to hours of operation, addition of No Limit games, and added Cardroom prize giveaways.

The Bill HB 1377 which combines CS/CS/S752 & CS/S1192 will become affective July 1, 2007.

Prior to this Bill becoming law “No Limit” games were not part of Florida poker rooms unless conducted in a tournament setting.  With this new law Florida poker players will be allowed to play at cash tables that have No Limit Texas Holdem.  The max a player is allowed to buy-in with is $100.

Increased stakes at “Limit” Texas Holdem games are also now lawful under this legislation.  Previous “Limit” Holdem games consisted of $2/2 but now players in Florida can bet at $5/5 tables.

According to one player at a local “Best Bet” poker Cardroom in Jacksonville, Florida , “It’s about time they did something to make the games a little more interesting.  I’m just happy they added No-Limit cash tables.  The low stakes “Limit” games were a crap shoot because everyone called everything.  It’s good timing too because it’s getting really hard to play US online poker with all the new laws passing.”

Tournament stakes have also increased according to HB 1377.  

“The entry fee for a tournament may not exceed the max amount that could be wagered by a player in 10 like-kind non-tournament games.”  

Many Cardrooms in Florida were previously set to only have $45 tournaments where most of the “buy-in” went towards the rake.  That combined with super aggressive blinds left a bitter taste in players’ mouths.

Because of such recent passing of the law many Cardrooms have not released their new blinds/ante/ and rake schedules.  So far most Cardrooms like Pompano Harness in Ft. Lauderdale plan to have $1/2 and $2/5 “No Limit” Holdem games.  While these are different betting limits, players can still only buy-in for a max of $100 at each table.  Under normal circumstances like in Las Vegas players would generally buy-in for $200-$500 at these stakes. 

Source Citations:  
Myfloridahouse.gov
Twoplustwo.com
SPeteTimes.com