Snookers closing during the 2 weeks I'll be home for the next 6 months, what a shame. Was really looking forward to putting in some time there, seeing some familiar faces. Hope it's not permanent.

I have a hard time believing that they care enough about poker in their buildings to make the effort. The only one might be MCC, but since their room is already filled most of the time there isn't even room for additional traffic.

The other charity room owners have much more incentive to shut them down, since they're going to directly benefit from the increased traffic in their own rooms. Especially the ones that are geographically closer to Snookers.

But at the end of the day ... if they weren't breaking the rules and overselling then they wouldn't be getting shut down. (or suspended, if they're coming back).

The casinos lobby and spend millions of dollars to block any type of competition.

MGM spent a ton of money to make sure the casino in Port Huron did not pass.

I believe that all charity rooms will eventually be closed. Only time will tell tho.

I doubt this will ever happen. Shutting down any "charity" will not look good for any of the big casinos.

Lobbying to shut down another casino seems like direct competition to me, slots, blackjack, hotels and restaurants, etc. I'm not sure how much of the charity room clientele overlaps with the downtown casinos (are slot players at Snookers?). I wouldn't rule out the big guys, but it seems like the guy with a room a mile down the road has much more motivation to meddle.


I actually agree with you about the charity rooms being closed down eventually. From what I've read of the law and the rules, it was never intended that these places would exist and operate just like 'real' casinos. It all seems geared towards rare fundraising events. But now that all of the local charities have gotten used to the influx of money (can't blame them, probably does a lot of good for the community too), it may be politically difficult for anyone to shut them down.

Lol people at my table saying tonight that almost no one playing in charity rooms would play in a casino if the charities shut down. One guy said, why would the casinos want the charities closed? They don't make money on poker.

They don't. Not anywhere near as much $/sqft as slot machines, or blackjack tables.

One of the reasons that nearly all casinos have poker rooms is because we (poker players) don't come to the casino alone. We bring friends and family that play other games. When I go visit my parents, we pick our casino destinations based largely on where I want to play poker. So a casino _without_ a poker room is at a disadvantage compared to another that doesn't.

Edit: The guy is wrong that "almost no one" from the charity games would play downtown if they were shut down permanently. But there are a good number of them that would. There are a lot of players that just stop by and play for a while on a random weekday because the room is a mile from their house. Those are the ones that are less likely to make it downtown (as often).

Also, all of The River's tournaments from now on are going to be 50$ with 80 max entrants, and I'm pretty sure they took out the 2PMs.

I wish someone could add up how much Michigan charities made since they've been doing this... Now double it and that's how much money has been taken away from casinos. Anyone who doesn't think casinos don't want every last dollar is naive and clueless. These places are taking money out (mostly from poker) of their pocket. It's not just poker. It's that guy who losses a few hundred at poker then losses another few hundred at blackjack or slots. It's the person who isn't buying their food or spending a weekend at the casino with the wife eating in their restaurants enjoying the spa etc etc.

In addition don't forget these places offer blackjack and I think I've seen some machines too?

Many of the players were regulars at the casino. Close the charities and I suspect 80% of them start going downtown

otter you're drunk

I believe I read an article that the charities made 16M last year.

Many of the players at Snookers are primarily tournament players that may play some cash here and there. Those recreational players will not go downtown to play. They live over on the east side and will start playing at the River and BBT most likely since they offer tournaments.

The charity rooms do have BJ but they do not use casino rules. The players would actually do better downtown if the had any sense but gravitate to the charity rooms because of the proximity to their homes.

As far as slots at the charity room, they have 'Nudgemasters' which is another bad deal for players. They can win Visa Gift Cards but have to cash out in multiples of $10s or $25s so they may lose out on points as well just to cash out. There are also 'Sweepstakes' rooms now that offer cash prizes but I haven't been in one to see what it's like.

If all the players flock to the other rooms, the rooms will sell out to quick and will cause more issues with upset players. They will not be able to get a seat and when they do, the charity may be sold out so it's a bad game to be in since people cannot rebuy.

Do you think anyone else will over-sell anytime soon? The MGCB is all over the place now checking these rooms. They even went into the Heidelberg twice in a week and there were not any vilolations.

The reason the MGCB is handling these rooms now is because the Charitable Gaming Division was never equipped to handle the number of requests for license and monitoring of the poker rooms. I would hope they wouldn't start shutting them down just to shut them down but they won't think twice about disciplinary action against rooms that aren't following the rules.

I've seen a lot of charity rooms say they will be closed for 2 weeks and never come back. I don't even live near Snookers but would hate to see that happen to the biggest charity room in Michigan.

Cada's is still down right for over 6+ weeks now? Hopefully they won't be gone forever even if they have new charities lined up the problem is if they didn't go by the rules (like they didn't aka oversold) at any point the state can just come in and swipe your license.

roll west y'all

Some of us in St. Clair County have a hard time with that, but I would love to otherwise.

BTW BB, Cadas was closed because of no liquor license afaik, not because of infractions.

I've had this discussion with casino management, and they definitely make money at poker when the room is busy. Now they don't make as much as slots, but they feel it on the bottomline when poker players go elsewhere and not just because of ancillary gambling although that's definitely part of it. It is a myth that casinos use poker as a loss leader. They don't make as much as slots per square foot is all. But poker rooms are rake machines just like slots. And btw the house never loses at poker.

Had this situation at Snookers last night. Seat 1 and I were talking about the room being closed down, being friendly. We get in a hand where I make Broadway on the turn but it completes the flush and three of us check it through. I value bet on the river, and he check raises me enough to have me all in. The bet doesn't make sense but this guy has played a few hands tricky. While I'm thinking he shows me the jack of clubs, friendly like. I fold and he says bad fold and shows 9s. Angle shoot or just a false tell?

He did angle shoot multiple times later on showdowns saying he had quads, straights, etc. when he had pairs, but my hand was more borderline in my mind. I still didn't like it because he was pretending to be all friendly outside the game, but honestly I think I was just having a hard time being objective because I lost the hand and was probably going to call until he showed me the card, as if to save me money. What do you guys think?

Hike up your skirt and double up next time



As far as the charity rooms discussion:

Does anyone really think that Don at Snookers (or any other owner of a charity room) opened up his business to make money for charities?

They do it to make money for themselves. Giving money to the charities is the rake that they pay.

Also, LOL@ casinos NOT wanting these rooms closed.

nowhere near an angle shoot.

The discussion on Snookers facebook page is loltastic.

Can't find it. Link?

Yeah I figured it wasn't but villain's later actions made me wonder. I definitely think the dealer should speak up to protect the game if people are trying to angle after action is over, but I think here I just felt prey to the guy pretending he was saving me money.

Gambit, next time I will just listen to my poker mind. Check/raise bluff the river. Who does that?

https://www.facebook.com/Snookers.Poker?ref=ts&fref=ts

Thanks for the linkee.

Haha everyone talking out of their ass. Will be interesting how this changes Michigan poker.