So received this email today regarding some legislation changes to charity rooms in Michigan. Sounds like we're getting super screwed.

On July 1, the state put out a new set of directives. Your local charity poker rooms will be updating their schedules and tweaking their offerings to comply with the new rules. The basics of the new directives are as follows:

Freerolls have been eliminated
Guaranteed prize pools have been eliminated
Bounty tournaments have been eliminated
Player Loyalty programs have been eliminated
High Hand & Bad Beat Jackpots have been eliminated
No alternative prices of any kind may be awarded



Have you read Michigan House bill 5121 & Senate bill 669? The wording is the same for each bill. The bills are proposing raising the price of a license to host a charity poker fundraiser from $50 / day to $250 / day.



Thanks to Umichiganpoker for sending this news out.

So, how big of a deal is this? I know a guaranteed prize pool is nice when numbers are low at these places, and I've always been a fan of bounty tournaments.

Sounds like the state is making it harder for these charities to operate. 5 or 6 months ago I said that casinos were going to put the smackdown on charity casinos.

I think the $250 requirement would be a big deal, but not a deal ender. The stoppage of freerolls is no big deal, I have already seen ads for "almost freeroll tournaments" costing $1 to enter w/ rebuys. I would say the elimination of bad beat jackpots etc. will not matter much either. I must admit I often think the current situation is too good to be true, living in SW Oakland county I have like 8 places to play within 30 min. from my house on any given night. I agree w/ Otter, someone is gonna put on the smackdown!

Anyone have a website address for all these rule changes? I was told they can no longer run Omaha tournaments or any Pot Limit tounaments at all. Why would they make a certain game "illegal" to run? Just curious for some answers on a few things.

the rumor in my neck of the woods was that occasionally charities would be confused/upset about having to pay out these types of special offerings ("an overlay? what do you mean the prize pool is more than we took in?" "we have to put money into a freeroll -- WHAT??!" etc. etc.) and that's why the state banned them

^^
What??

I have yet to see everything in print, but i believe the intent was to get rid of all the "extra's" some rooms were offering. Nothing of cash value could be given for free and some of these other offerings could be considered...cash value.

Otter is right in the sense that i am sure the casinos are lobbying hard to fight it and the charities and suppliers are fighting to keep it.

What amuses me is that most of the downtown casinos consider their poker rooms as red-headed step childs and would rather fill the rooms with slots anyway. They see the poker room as an annoyance and is therefor treated as such. ie... Greektown....

$250 a day, 500% increase is robbery. Why is everyone opposed to charities making money and the people who assist them to make it??

Rounders poker room (Clinton Township) hasn't been open in forever. I wonder if this has something to do with it.

Well instead of talking amongst ourselves. Contact your state senator and congressman and voice your opinions.

Bad beats wasn't that big of a thing, but I liked the high hands of the night. I would sometimes get people to stay in and try to beat it when they should've folded their hand.

What I am afraid of is that many of the smaller rooms (the ones that can barely get one table going) are going to not survive. In either case, both the poker rooms and the charities will have to take more (like many rooms have gone to a $6 rake) from the players.

My 'prediction' is that poker rooms will parallel video rental stores. When renting tapes first came out, there was a small or mom and pop shop on every corner. Now only the larger chains have survived. The same will be true for the poker rooms.

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/docume...9-HIB-5121.htm

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/%28S%2...e=2009-SB-0669

Skyking,,,,,,,,that is in a nutshell the intent. I heard a 3rd hand conversation of a gaming official and a room manager that when like this,,,

there are 194 rooms or some number and we want to get it down to 50.

Really, why not 40,or60 or 12,,, how did you come up with fiddy,,,just sound like a nice round number??

dollar king still does high hand

Yo Mike, where do you live in Oakland County? I live in Troy. I am sure we might live by each other, lol. Do you ever go play at Sunnybrook lanes? Lol, worst poker there ever..........

I heard that the state was going to to require that all tournaments have a specific payout (75% I think) and the charities can't pay a higher percentage even if they want to. Probably makes most of them unbeatable for any significant win rate.

Hey BBall - I live in South Lyon, kind of the opposite end of big 'ol Oakland Cty. I am pretty good friends with the manager of Sunnybrook's poker room, in fact he is fairly regular in our home games. He is a good guy and a good poker player, and I think that room is one of the busiest. I have only been out there once, when I do play the charity rooms it is either Northville Downs or links of Whitmore Lake, just because they are so close to me.

Rounders is open and has been open for a while now. Check it out.

www.rounderspokerroom.com

Do they actually use those labeled PI Chinese clay chips in their cash games? If they do, I don't know how they don't have a huge problem with chips suddenly appearing.

Houghton Lake Poker Room uses literally fairly inexpensive cheap plastic chips that I've seen everywhere that simply have "HLPP" printed on one side and the denomination preinted on the other side. With some work you could probably slowly bleed them dry but I assume the owners try to keep track.

Im not sure what labeled PI Chinese clay chips are, but Rounders Poker Room has the best chips of any charity room I have seen. Most places are cheap plastic that you have a hard time stacking. These chips compare more to any Las Vegas chip. Its a good poker room, go check it out.