A half hour north of Miami, and just off the Florida's Turnpike exit immediately south of Fort Lauderdale, The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino lights up the South Florida night.

This 86-acre resort has a 4-acre lagoon tropical pool area with a theme-park-style water slide, legendary Hard Rock Cafe, and European-style spa and fitness center.

It also has an active afterdark outdoor shopping area with a variety of restaurants, boutiques, an Improv, live bands and more.

Most importantly, the Seminole Hard Rock features a 130,000-square-foot casino, offering nearly 2,500 gaming machines, and 50 tables of live-action Poker, with games ranging from Seven-Card Stud and Texas Hold'em to Omaha. While poker rooms at the nearby South Florida racinos are only allowed by Florida law to operate 12 hours a day, the Seminole Hard Rock poker room (see below) is open around-the-clock, hosting daily multiple-table tournaments as well as $140, $250, $520, and $1,050 single table offerings.

On Jan. 28, 2008, the Seminole Hard Rock also became the first of the seven Seminole casinos in Florida to offer real slots. On that date, the Seminoles introduced 800 Vegas-style Class III slots and began phasing out the Hard Rock's 2,500 Class II video devices -- that look like slots but are actually bingo games. The Seminoles said they expect the transition to Class III slots at the Hard Rock to be completed by the end of March.

Even with the Class II slots, some gamers are obviously having a good time. On a recent visit, some of the sections with the old slots (shown at right) were as busy as sections with the new Vegas-style slots (shown below).

While the Seminoles decline to disclose the payout percentage on their slots, the Seminole Hard Rock claims its slots are paying out, on average, more than $8.5 million per day.

What the Seminole Hard Rock does not yet have are the Class III table games -- blackjack and baccarat. ....While these were agreed to in the compact signed by Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, that agreement remains the subject of litigation. Nevertheless, the Seminoles say they have ordered blackjack and baccarat tables and are training dealers, and hope to introduce the two games in late Spring 2008.

This Seminole Hard Rock complex, which seems to be adding features by the day, is only going to become better.

It is located between Florida's Turnpike and Interstate 95 at 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood, Florida.