Cardroom Manager: Russ Martin

Website: www.costarica4poker.com, www.hscasino.com

Games Spread: $100- $200 Buy In, $1/$2 blinds, No Limit Texas Hold’em

Games Start: Usually about 3pm

Tournaments: Sundays and Thursdays at 8pm, freezeouts limited to 20 players, call for details

Phone: +506-825-4694

Located inside the Horseshoe Casino in the heart of downtown San Jose, the poker room is on the second floor of the casino building. This poker room started in 2003 and had game s going for about a year, when they decided to close the room and turn it into a gentleman’s club and extension of their higher limit table games. Just what a blackjack player needs: T and A in his face as he’s getting his two-card 20 snapped by a dealer’s four-card 21!

Russ Martin, an American expat, is running the cardroom

The operating partners of the casino are Dewey Tomko and Jaime Ligator. Dewey Tomko is a well-known and respected name to any follower of the poker scene. Jaime is a businessman and poker player. In Costa Rica, there is a law stating that a casino must be operated by a qualified hotel. But in the case of this casino, it was somehow grandfathered in. The Horseshoe Casino is the only casino in Costa Rica not physically adjacent to a hotel.

Another distraction, as if getting killed by the dealers’ 15’s on his 20’s isn’t enough!

Russ Martin, an American expat re-opened the poker room in early March 2005. He has two tables and thte game of choice so far is No Limit Texas Hold’em with $1/$2 blinds and a $100 or $200 buy in, player’s choice.