The Palm Beach Kennel Club Poker Room in West Palm Beach, Florida has been closed since March 16. Now, over two months later, they’re slated to reopen on Friday, May 22 with procedures that have elicited praise from many in the poker community.

The Palm Beach Kennel Club is set to reopen its popular poker room, implementing a raft of safety precautions. The West Palm Beach gambling venue will get its poker games underway at 9am each day beginning Friday, May 22. All other areas of the property will open at 11:30am. Specialties: Palm Beach Kennel Club is a one-stop shop of fun and excitement for all ages. Conveniently located on North Congress Ave, directly across from the Palm Beach International airport, PBKC has been a staple of the Palm Beach. The Kennel Club lets you enjoy simulcast wagering at hundreds of the nation's finest tracks and sporting venues. Thoroughbreds, harness and jai alai in addition to daily greyhound races.

Starting at 9 a.m., the poker room will spread cash games, while the rest of the property will open up at 11:30 a.m. Upon entering the premises, which will operate at 50 percent capacity, guests will be required to sign a waiver and have their temperature checked.

In addition, they will need to adhere to the following poker room procedures:

Games will be played with a designated number of players to be determined by management
The waiting area will not be utilized. Players will be seated upon arrival and games will commence when the designated number of players is achieved.
Players will not be granted table transfers. The table you are seated will be your table for the duration of the day.
Players will be required to purchase their initial and buy-ins at the cage.
Dealers will not rotate from table to table. Dealers will be assigned to one table only.
Chips will be isolated to a specific table. Once chips have been introduced to a game, they can only exit in the following manners: Drop Boxes, Dealer tip boxes, Cashed out at the cashier.
Once chips are removed from play, they will not be recirculated until after they are sanitized.
Paper cards will be utilized and discarded at regular intervals.
Eating food at the tables will be prohibited.
Drinks will be served with tabletop cup holders; cup holders will be sanitized prior to being issued to a new customer.
Hand sanitizer will be used in lieu of a dealer button. When a player has the sanitizer, they are encouraged to use it.
Dealers will sanitize their hands after arriving at the table.
All players will be required to sanitize their hands upon initially or subsequently arriving at the table.

When word of the procedures hit Twitter, users seemed receptive.

“Interesting, sounds functional, especially that hand sanitizer will be used as the dealer button,” said Michael Miller.

Joe Hebda added: “If these rules tay permanent I may play live poker again.”

Director of Poker Weighs In

In addition, PBKC has established a “PBKC Clean Team' to ensure the frequent cleaning and sanitization of all public spaces.

“PBKC was one of the first properties in Florida to close its doors due to the Corona Virus. It was a pretty rapid decision, but times like these require companies to react fluidly,” Director of Poker Noah Carbone told PokerNews. “PBKC held off as long as feasible before having to furlough over 400 employees. Employees were paid for six weeks and their medical benefits were continued prior to the furlough. We are currently in the process of bringing back our employees.”

He continued: “We held weekly Facebook live meetings to keep everyone in the loop during the pandemic. This was our most valuable tool as we were able to openly communicate with the employees and see if they had any needs or concerns to address during this time. It also reassured the employees that they were still part of the PBKC family.”

Regarding the poker chips, Carbone added: “Each and every one of our chips have been cleaned and sanitized. Moving forward, we will be sterilizing all our chips prior to being reintroduced into play. Basically, our chips are now one-use chips. Once they enter a game they cannot enter another game or circulated prior to being sanitized.”

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Finally, Carbone weighed in on the recent introduction of tables utilizing plexiglass dividers — such as the Hard Rock Tampa that is also reopening — something PBKC doesn’t plan to do.

“PBKC did take a close look at plexiglass dividers. However, we determined that game containment was the best way to provide the most sanitary environment for the group as a whole. Game containment is defined as isolating each and every person and object in one game from another game.”

The PBKC is prepared to amend its rules as necessary and will announce any changes on its website and various social media channels.

_{*Images courtesy of PBKC.}

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© Allen Eyestone, The Palm Beach Post Live greyhound racing has resumed without fans at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach, May 6, 2020. The dog track has been shut down to the public by the coronavirus pandemic. You can watch and wager at www.greyhoundchannel.com [ALLEN EYESTONE/palmbeachpost.com]

WEST PALM BEACH — There will be a myriad of emotions as the Palm Beach Kennel Club nears the Dec. 31 finish line of its 88-year run.

Anger. Sadness. Relief.

But around 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, there will be joy for the handlers of the greyhound who wins the $100,000 Legacy Grand Championship. The winning kennel earns $50,000 in the richest — and final — stakes race in PBKC history.

More: Greyhound Bug Brush leads all the way in win at PBKC's postponed St. Patrick's Invitational

More: Remember when: Pat C Rendezvous sets world record with 33rd consecutive win at Palm Beach Kennel Club

That’s a nice parting gift from owners forced to stop live greyhound racing in Florida because of a 2018 voter referendum. And it also says plenty about how the Rooney family has operated the dog track since patriarch Arthur J. Rooney bought it 50 years ago.

“I really wanted to show our appreciation, not only to our fans, but really the kennel operators and trainers,” said track president Pat Rooney Jr. “A lot of other tracks (in Florida) have taken the path of 'We’re going to quietly end this thing.' I didn’t want to do that. I want this to be a celebration to mark a point in time. We’ve had this here for almost 90 years. I just didn’t want it to fade out.

“I told them whatever the biggest stakes race we’ve had here, let’s double it. Our biggest race was $50,000, so we made this $100,000.”

© Allen Eyestone, The Palm Beach Post Live greyhound racing ends in the state on December 31 and the Palm Beach Kennel Club is going out with a 'celebration to mark a point in time,' according to track president Pat Rooney Jr.

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Trainer John Allen of the Lester Raines kennel has the favorite, Bug Brush, who drew the No. 2 box. Bug Brush won last month’s $50,000 Arthur J. Rooney Sr. St. Patrick’s Invitational and led the 64 greyhounds in Legacy Grand Championship qualifying with four wins and two seconds. Bug Brush could earn Raines $75,000 in these two stakes races alone.

“If he runs his race, I like his chances,” Allen said. “This dog never disappoints me. He’s a good boy.”

Trainer Monica Smith of the Jamie Carroll Kennel has the most finalists, three of them: Old Town Road (post No. 8), Abbi’s Frontman (No. 4) and B’s Americano (No. 6). Smith has been in the business long enough — 40 years — to know math doesn’t win stakes races.

“Even if you have seven dogs in the race, that doesn’t mean the other dog can’t win,” Smith said. “Don’t jinx the race. Just because I have three dogs in the race doesn’t mean I’m going to win it. Everybody has a fair chance to win this race.”

The other finalists are Jax Blow Pop (No. 3), Thrill U (No. 5), Superior Piper (No. 1) and Opal Long (No. 7). The Legacy Grand Ch

Director of Poker Weighs In

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