Rival poker player of mine shoots himself at the Hard Rock in Tampa

Fishhead · May 5, 2009

Played 2-5 and 5-10 NL on a few occassions with the victim. Another player I know well was with him when the shooting occurred......he said the guy told him to follow him out of the pokerroom to the front of the casino so he could watch him kill himself...........and he did.

Although I've known about this for a couple days, didn't know that I actually knew the guy.........SHOCKING

Man commits suicide amid casino crowd

TAMPA - A man committed suicide in front of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino tonight.
The 58-year-old, who has not been identified, shot himself in the chest with a 45- caliber handgun around 9:30 p.m., said tribe spokesman, Gary Bitner.

The man shot himself while in in a crowd of people under the covered driveway in the valet at the casino’s entrance area, Bitner said.
No others were injured. The man was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead
There were lots of witnesses, Bitner said, and they’ve all been cooperative.
Guns are not permitted on the premises, Bitner said

M.Saracen · May 5, 2009

must have been a really bad beat.

Fishhead · May 6, 2009

M.Saracen said:
must have been a really bad beat.

Rumor was he lost a $3,000+ pot on some type of beat.

Will try to find the details as the week passes.

billsfan · May 6, 2009

who was it? Do I know him?

M.Saracen · May 6, 2009

sad story.

bad story for all of us who want gambling made a little more legal too...

billsfan · May 6, 2009

I was there the night it occurred....They were going around saying the guy was a multi-millionaire?? Any truth to this statement?

Betallsports · May 6, 2009

Hate to hear stuff like this..Very sad

ProPokerPlayer · May 6, 2009

multi-millionaires dont shoot themselves over $3k.......

Poker can drive someone nutty though.....so i hear..lol

Dante · May 6, 2009

very sad... Fish did you beat this donk for a ton of $$?

PO69 · May 6, 2009

Are they still limiting the buy-ins for no limit games in Florida?

Fishhead · May 6, 2009

PO69 said:
Are they still limiting the buy-ins for no limit games in Florida?

Yes

However, by the end of this week we will know if a new law will go into effect beginning July 1st that will allow the intial buy-ins to on no limit games to be unlimited or up to a maximum of $1,000.

This would also allow for LIMIT games up to 20-40 and tourament buy-ins up to at least $8,000.

Currently it appears that this has a strong chance of happening.

With the exception of the nosebleed players in this country, even with the current $100 buy-in cap, the state of Florida is still the best overall state in the country to play poker. With this new law, it's really going to be something.

Fishhead · May 6, 2009

Dante said:
very sad... Fish did you beat this donk for a ton of $$?

Played a few sessions with him, very aggressive player.

I recall about a month ago whacking him quite good in a 5-10 NL game at the Hard Rock.

Boxer22 · May 6, 2009

Damn. This is sad.

FearTheRaven · May 6, 2009

what a selfish idiot

Fishhead · May 6, 2009

FearTheRaven said:
what a selfish idiot

Let's just be glad he didn't take out his frustrations on any innocent bystanders, which included my beloved Billsfan who was there when it happened.

Biggamer3 · May 6, 2009

I love how the article has to mention that guns arent permitted in casino

PO69 · May 6, 2009

It is tough to beat Louisiana and Mississippi in terms of NO LIMIT poker Fish.

Both have tournaments over $5000 real often and there is no buy-in limit for no-limit if the game is high enough.

$2-5 no limit buy in is limited to $500 at most casinos or half of the big stack.

But in New Orleans, you can show up at the table with $20,000 if you want to. What is the present buy-in limit for $2-5 in Florida??

Fishhead said:
Yes

However, by the end of this week we will know if a new law will go into effect beginning July 1st that will allow the intial buy-ins to on no limit games to be unlimited or up to a maximum of $1,000.

This would also allow for LIMIT games up to 20-40 and tourament buy-ins up to at least $8,000.

Currently it appears that this has a strong chance of happening.

With the exception of the nosebleed players in this country, even with the current $100 buy-in cap, the state of Florida is still the best overall state in the country to play poker. With this new law, it's really going to be something.

itssadhedied · May 6, 2009

wow ya'll dont even know this man, i do lets just say i know him alot better then you all im a very close friend of the family and for all the people assuming he killed himself over losing Chunk change in your mind, ive been to vegas with him he dropped 80,000 on roulette just like that!
you need to keep the comments to yourself.. he was a man that had 6 kids, and several grandkids..he was depressed he had 2 huge companies and he just couldnt handal it anymore.. so next time you open your mouth's think of the family members coming on here looking this up.. his name was Charles meeks and he was the best man alot of people knew, the funeral is this friday,he wanted to probably have one last fun game of poker, so really think is it worth hurting the family over? because im a very close friend of the families and to the guy that commented "what an idiot" your an idiot for being so selfish that you just had to write that

Buster · May 6, 2009

itssadhedied said:
wow ya'll dont even know this man, i do lets just say i know him alot better then you all im a very close friend of the family and for all the people assuming he killed himself over losing Chunk change in your mind, ive been to vegas with him he dropped 80,000 on roulette just like that!
you need to keep the comments to yourself.. he was a man that had 6 kids, and several grandkids..he was depressed he had 2 huge companies and he just couldnt handal it anymore.. so next time you open your mouth's think of the family members coming on here looking this up.. his name was Charles meeks and he was the best man alot of people knew, the funeral is this friday,he wanted to probably have one last fun game of poker, so really think is it worth hurting the family over? because im a very close friend of the families and to the guy that commented "what an idiot" your an idiot for being so selfish that you just had to write that

next step for you should be to go to school and get an education...especially since you run with people that have a lot of money that evidently like to kill themselves with an audience..

Fishhead · May 6, 2009

PO69 said:
It is tough to beat Louisiana and Mississippi in terms of NO LIMIT poker Fish.

Both have tournaments over $5000 real often and there is no buy-in limit for no-limit if the game is high enough.

$2-5 no limit buy in is limited to $500 at most casinos or half of the big stack.

But in New Orleans, you can show up at the table with $20,000 if you want to. What is the present buy-in limit for $2-5 in Florida??

PO69.............

Played NL cash games in virtually every MS. casino that offers poker and it doesn't come close to the HR in Tampa for overall action.

And as I stated, if they able to raise the buyins to 1,000 on NL in Florida, this is going to be one wild and crazy state for poker.

On most given days, the HR in Tampa alone has TWICE as many NL games going then the entire Biloxi area combined............and the same can be said for Derby Lane across the bay.

Then throw in Tampa Greyhound and Tampa Downs, and one can see how Tampa is well enhanced with poker.