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Parkland Woman Wins Big At Seminole Casino Coconut Creek

by Martin Lenkowsky February 12, 2025

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Marci Goldman at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek. {courtesy}

When Parkland resident Marci Goldman paid a visit to the Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek on Saturday, Lady Luck was there waiting for her.

Goldman, who lives in the MiraLago community, won almost $28,000 at the 3-card poker table by drawing a straight flush. For those unfamiliar with this popular casino card game, each player draws three cards. When she and her close friend, Batya Kaufman, who was visiting her from Queens, N.Y., saw she drew the 9, 10, and jack of clubs, they realized something huge might be in the cards (pun intended.)

“I screamed, and she was just in disbelief,” said Kaufman.

Enter Lady Luck, big time. The dealer drew two more cards: a queen and king of clubs, hence Goldman’s straight flush. “If you get a straight flush, you get the entire payout,” Goldman said, pointing out a TV screen at the table flashes the payout amount.

Goldman, a Marlboro, N.J. native and a Cornell University graduate, was just one card shy – the ace of clubs – from making a rare royal flush, which would’ve brought a payout of $658,000. Coincidently, “the guy sitting next to her had the ace of clubs,” said Kaufman.

This casino trip was not Goldman’s first taste of success at a poker table. She was playing the same game in Las Vegas about six or seven years ago when she won a payout of more than $5,000. (Perhaps Lady Luck’s kid sister?)

Does Goldman attribute her poker prowess to pure luck, or is some degree of skill required? “It’s pure luck,” she answered. “You literally get three cards, and you either play or fold.”

Following her big win, she and Kaufman relocated to a different table. Goldman explained that whenever there’s a huge payout – like hers – the payout amount drops considerably at all the other tables. “People at the new table wondered who had won,” she said.

Goldman said she had not spent her newfound winnings as yet; however, she did donate to her children’s school. When her friend asked her what she plans to do with the money, her four-year-old daughter answered quickly with a simple, one-word wish list: “toys.”

She has two children. One is four, and the other is nearly two years old. She and her husband have lived in Parkland since July 2019. Goldman works for Bank of America.

After graduating from Cornell, Goldman returned to New Jersey for two months. She then moved across the Hudson River to live in the Big Apple. It was there she befriended Kaufman, who usually plays regular poker.

The two friends met in Hadassah. “Marci led a ‘learn to play Mah Jong’ group,” Kaufman recalled. “A core of us started playing regularly.”

And they’ve been friends ever since.

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Martin Lenkowsky

Martin Lenkowsky moved to Coral Springs from NYC in 1982. He has a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College. He has been both writer and editor for a number of South Florida publications since 1983. He considers features writing his specialty.