Played in the new MGM room on Thursday night. Great decision to move it there from upstairs. They had 7-8 tables of 1/2, 2 2/5, and 2 1/3 PLO going strong when I left at midnight. The new room is much better than MCC, MCC is smoky and cramped and the casino itself is just grungy. I'll definitely be going to MGM from now on. Although as a side note, I do wish they would keep their own tips.

I haven't noticed it. Id check bravo tonight to see if it even gets one. My info is really limited, basically each time I visit I try and make a friend at the table and learn more about the poker economy etc. So far it has always been Motor City > charity rooms > MGM >>>>>>>>>>Greek town.

Detroit really does have good action, the quality of the 2/5s are significantly better than south Florida as a comparable. Just limited quantity ime.

I haven't tried a charity room bc I am a safety nit, though I've heard incredible things on a consistent basis.

Thanks for the TR. They pool tips there?? How are the dealers?

Hopefully MGM gets a boom in the next few months and those become the regular games. That's all it takes.

Anyone know how many entrants the Second and Fourth Sunday tourneys at FireKeepers get on average? Thanks.

Unfortunately it's hit or miss, but I would say that the $240s would have 80 minimum. They can get up to 130+ as well. Weather and timing with other poker action is key I think. Not sure if they are doing their 'tournament of champions' this year or not. That always draws in quite a few 'regs'.

Don't forget that this month has a 5th Sunday ... $400 BI that usually draws at least 140 and up to 200. I think they had some 'timing' issues and a payout issue last year as well so you may want to do some research. I don't think they have a structure issue but I think during the July one last year a min cash was less than the BI. I think they 'fixed' that for the October one though. Cash games are usually very good that day also. Last January was around 240 and they gave 11 people their entry back. The room expansion wasn't done at that time so they were limited to the main room. That one paid around $20K I think and the winner parlayed that into a huge score in Florida shortly after.

Bad beat is up there now as well ... $45K is big for them. Aces full of Jacks getting beat by Quads or better. Room share only if it gets above $75K ... and I've heard of at least 2 stories where the BBJ was mucked by an 'unknowing' player. One was a reg who should've very well known better but was just pissed he lost the hand. TABLE YOUR CARDS!! GL

Dutchboy should have a few comments on 'video' poker. I think it's not kosher in Michigan and I'm pretty sure the one 'event' he participated in from Ohio (Poker on Air) was rake-free as one requirement. Straight up strategy talk should be fine on any medium but 'live' games are probably an issue with hurdles that need to be cleared ... especially with the venue.

I usually enjoy 'Live at the Bike' on TwitchTV.net but some of the other ones are a snooze most of the time. GL

So I finally made it down to the new MGM poker room the other day. Very nice. *Much* better location than before, as they can now pick up foot traffic. The pizza they have there is actually *good* and much better than that hot-box little caesars **** at MCC.

Room was packed on Sunday, but with the holiday and football game everything in town should have been packed. One of the dealers told me that the room immediately started making 20% more money once they moved it, so traffic in general has picked up. No longer need to post when you sit down too. BBJ must have been hit twice because it's really low


Also took a trip to Windsor for the hell of it yesterday. No hassle at the CAN side, typical border BS coming home. Game was really soft with a lot of multiway pots where 2/3 of the table is calling $15-20 bets preflop. Some guys punting off with trash, etc. Not sure how typical that is as I haven't been over there in a while. With the exchange rate the way it is the hotel rooms and whores are really cheap, so maybe I'll work that into the rotation more often.

You know you are a true degen when you logically consider the exchange rate with regards to hookers. Well done.

One time we thought we got stranded in Windsor (used to go more often when I was friends with more 19-21 y/o's that could only play over there) when the guy that drove us was no-where to be found at about 3am when the game was slowing and we were looking to bail. Hour later he finally answers his phone and says he'll meet us in a couple mins. ****er walks in with this big grin on his face and says "Hey guys, guess what's legal here!"

Thanks for all the info. I forgot about the 5th week! Would like to try that some day.

I think I'm going to try the $240 this week.

Thanks again.

Hand from the other night... tournament. Known spaz raises pf. One caller. Flop 3 5 K two diamonds. Spaz leads, gets called. 10 turn, non diamond. Spaz leads, gets called. River Qd. Spaz leads huge, other guy tanks for a while.... Finally calls. Spaz throws his hand very quickly toward the muck, face up. (Hand is live according to the dealer after the fact). One of the cards tucks under one of the board cards so you can only see the color and number, it's a red 4. The other is visible, the jack of diamonds. Other guy sees them, instantly mucks, face down, in the muck. Dealer spreads the card tucked under the board card, it's the 4 of hearts. Pot shipped to the spaz. lol.

MGM's poker activity seems to have really picked up.

3am and there was a 1/3 PLO, two 1/2 NL, and (1) 25/50 PLO with a wait list for each game.

Welcome to the forum ... not sure if you're kidding or not but any show of effort about poker from MGM or Greektown is initially appreciated by the poker community. I think that slate of games running looks pretty normal for them on a Tuesday, but perhaps they are just running later into the night than usual.

A big step for MGM would be to get busy enough that they choose not to shut down at 5 AM ... or at least stay open if a table is running. The big time frame for them will be coming next month when people start to smell their tax money. Mid-February to Mid-May is the best poker of the year IMO. GL

All that needs to happen is 3-5 of the regulars for motor to go to mgm. (For each stake) Then the games will shift.

I've seen it happen in FL several times.

Went to the new MGM poker room in December before the Christmas holiday. Would agree that it's much improved. Location, food/drink, everything is better. However, they seemed to be breaking in a lot of new dealers, which will annoy a lot of 1-2 NL players until the employees get up to speed. Fortunately the floor didn't put any newbies on the PLO games.

I've been peeking at Bravo since I went there and the traffic certainly is up. Now, it is winter and the holiday season, but still seems like more games are running, and earlier. I did notice some familiar Motor faces when I was there last time, so the regs are at least giving it a try.

25-50 PLO running on a Tuesday isn't out of the ordinary, but a waitlist is. Plus, Motor was running a 10-20 PLO game last night at the same time. So some huge action going on in both places.


In terms of running a broadcasted poker stream, I cannot comment on Michigan's legalities. But what I can say is a big hinderance is the cost of buying an RFID table, training people to operate and fix it, purchasing camera equipment, purchasing a broadcast tri-caster for the producer, paying that producer, finding and paying commentators, and then running all of these aspects on a weekly basis to attract an audience. Casinos just don't seem to want to invest those resources into a poker room, at least in the Midwest. Look how long it took MGM to make the smart decision to move the room downstairs. And Motor continues to be a total cluster who just make the flow of their room worse by building a new cage in a bad location. No room runs a big tournament either. If you want to play on "TV", fly to CA or final table a WSOP event.

Totally serious. This new account is because I can't recall any of the info I used for my old account - but I think I met 1 or 2 people from here over a year ago at a charity room when I first moved to Detroit.

Anyways, I didn't realize MGM closed their room at 5am. Is there a specific reasoning for this? Was it due to them not having enough traffic and it not being viable?

They didn't have enough traffic to make it worth it to run all night during the week. If they're open they need at least 2 dealers and 1 floor man. They also have a dedicated cage that required staffing. No way that's worth it with one table running, let alone if it died.

And of course Heartland Poker Tour stops in Michigan.

Read somewhere that Greektown was introducing a $1/hr comp? I'm curious if this is true and what the other rooms in the area offer.. (if anything) Thank you for your help!

I thought MGM was giving me $1 and hour.

I thought Greektown was already $1/hr.

My entire life has been a lie.

It has been for a long time.

No more HPT in Michigan ... SE screwed that up. (Or HPT woke up.) I would love to see FK (or Detroit/Toledo area) latch onto HPT but there may be issues with them based on distance from AmeriStar or MSPT.

With Poto (Mil, WI) having both MSPT and (now next month) WSOPc it appears that you 'can' have more than one tour stop at your venue. The Poto blog indicates that the Bravo should be up and running soon. WSOPc forced them to install Bravo as a condition of being a tour stop. So we all can 'see' them starting soon.

Might be a slow day in general, but FK (4 tables) and Hammond (8 tables) both looked very weak today when I looked at them. Joliet was at 6 though, which is high for them on a Sunday. FK had a $240 today so I would've thought cash would've been higher.

No biggie ... I took on the task of putting Christmas away .. which always takes twice as long as setting it up!! GL

What is SE?

soaring eagle

SE is Soaring Eagle ... Of course I don't know all the details as to why HPT is not there anymore but it's fun to speculate.

I'm generally overly positive with my comments and I would LOVE to have reason to plug SE and turn the poker world's opinion of that room. I have 2 problems ... One, I'm not there enough and Two, they've done nothing to show me that all the rumors aren't true when I'm there. That wont keep me from playing there when I'm in the area as I'm very tolerant of things and I love to play but SE and FK are 'exactly' the same distance from my home and work ... FK gets the lean most every time. GL