Well done FK!! Around 500 golden tickets were won via the qualifying tournaments. That's almost more than the total number of entries HPT had for all 4 of their Day 1s this past weekend at AmeriStar.

Unfortunately they didn't know how many of those are delegated to Thursday when I called ... and only 44 Players had actually registered as of 7AM this morning. On the flip side, the person I talked to thought that their largest Thursday was 'only' 299 and with 36 tables available (Dealers?) everyone should be able to sit down fairly quickly. The 299 includes re-entries so it's just a matter of when you want to start and how much you are willing to risk a long wait in line to register. GL

On poker bravo app it says 1/3 NL is running now at firekeepers, on a thursday afternoon! That sounds great.

There will be some games that dont normally run between now and sunday due to the mspt. However 1/3 is definitely back, With a regular Wednesday start, and will run on weekends as well.

Theres a mix of some of the 1/2 players like me who will buy in a bit deeper, and some deep pocket gamblers that will match any stack and throw out some massive straddles.

I've played in MSPT events, and would be happy to play in more. The main reason I pick one place over another is definitely not due to structures and such. It is mostly who will comp me the best, and convenience relative to my schedule. I play a lot of HPT stops because they tend to be at properties who will comp me the best. And since I don't play in the pit or on the machines, the comp is only based upon poker. As such, many places just won't comp at all, which I get.

Overall, I think both tours offer the best structures possible, for the time periods in which they run. If the MSPT went to a 3-day schedule, with the final table on Monday, they would hopefully offer a slightly slower structure. While the HPT structure offers more play, it wouldn't work if they had to play to a winner on Sunday. So both fit their intended time period well.

The price point of $1650 vs $1100 is very important, and many HPT stops are now priced at $1100. Neither is inherently better, it just depends upon your budget and personal preferences.

You can find HPT structures within the information for each stop. They use the same structure for each $1650 event, and I think (not sure) a different structure for the $1100 events.

Thanks for the nice chat!

Cheers, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

ZERO issues that I saw/heard about at FKeepers yestereday!! Day 1A set a record for entries at over 350, up from 299. So everything points to setting some Michigan state records for a poker tournament.

Sadly I couldn't get above 35K all day and lost 2 of 3 all-in spots. I doubled with 64s (yikes) when I shoved from HJ and got called by A6 (double yikes) UTG. Then AQs got beat by 89s (same suit) and finally KQ was bested by AK (same guy). Overall I think this may have been my best tournament run as far as reading the spots and not getting too out of line (until the 64 shove). I really only had one spot where I read the spot correctly but conservatively folded second pair with a fairly tight player yet to act behind.

The 1/3 (2-3 tables) and 5/10 PLO games were rocking but I didn't hear good things about the 1/3 NL game mainly just due to who was at the table.

One thing that FKeepers does that GLake needs to work on is food service. They had girls in the room all day making sure that Players could remain in their seats if they wanted to while ordering/eating some chow. I did get to go in the Aurora Room via a wristband 'donation' so that was nice.

Might make it back down there Sunday .. we'll see .. GL

First time back playing at FK in about 4 years was thursday night. played about 2 hours of 1/2 and 2 hours of 1/3.

games were pretty good although i thought it was a little funny they had a must move 1/2 game feeding 2? main games. not sure i've ever seen that at a stake lower than 2/5.

good times man. not sure if anyone i played with was a 2p2er type.

Glad you made it back .. You didn't mention the expansion, but I didn't think it had been over 4 years for that ... maybe.

I like the idea of the feeder MM tables. FK doesn't really get into multiple tables of other stakes very often so that's really the only place to apply it. There is a fine line with MM, but there's a general thought that the 1/2 players complain the most about being short handed. It's also more common that players don't want to move if they like the game their at so you need a MM to keep the other tables full and then apply table changes (first) as they are requested. GL

yea, last time i was there they only had the 12 (14?) tables. extremely nice room before and even nicer now

Generally speaking, what's the EV+ way to get rid of a junker/beater vehicle? Just looking for some advice as I am inexperienced.

(Sorry for asking here, but I didn't know where else to go. lol)

Depending on the condition you can search locally for a donation 'center' (usually for women in various states of need). I would assume you can right off the 'full' Kelly Blue Book value on your taxes, otherwise the agency will let you know.

Otherwise you can call a local parts yard and they may come and get it and hand you $100? If you can drive it to the yard you may get $300 for it. Scrapping out cars (and pretty much anything) was a pretty good 'business' the last couple of years but scrap prices have fallen so I'm not sure where things are at for cards right now. GL

Stopped in for a quick session on Thursday and noticed lots of money on the "boards" right now. $5000 on the top of the pyramid, $3000 for 2 of the Royal's and Bad Beat over 100K.

Hoping to get in on Sunday and see if I can crack the top of that pyramid.

Was also told that the 1-3 "Match the Stack" game seems to be running Wed-Sat pretty regularly now.

Hope you made it in there and scooped some promo chips!

I haven't been watching Bravo too much, but there are definitely some Players 'absent' from the GLake scene that could be playing in that game that were FK regs before. I actually would like (not rather) to have the option to play in a nice deeper NL game than PLO some of the time to mix it up for sure. GL

Why does it feel like the BBJ has come to a standstill? Did it's upward movement slowdown for some reason?

Maybe traffic (rake) is down now that summer has official started.

I have been garage sale shopping instead of playing cards.

It is mostly feeding the reserve, as it was explained at my table a few days ago.

Anyways Hi everybody, I have been playing at FK since mid may. Mostly have sat in the 1/3 game although played some 1/2 waiting for a seat. Good **** so far, mostly really nice people, some great players so far mostly recreational and gambler types. The dealers are pretty good. Have the flu right now but hoping to be back Wednesday!

Promotions have guidelines they must follow per the 'submittal' to the Gaming Board. Typically they will have formulas/ratios for how the promo rake is distributed. One thing they also have to look out for is maintaining a 'balance' for each promo being offered. So if rake is down, but the pyramid is still paying out 'a lot' then the rake would have to fund that promo more so than the BBJ promo in order to be in compliance with the gaming submittal. GL

I must say after initially being pleased with Firekeepers I am no longer. Back in May, I learned that they have been successfully running a $1 / $3 $500 max game. They usually try to go for it starting on Wednesday, and then thru the weekend. Okay so the first couple Wednesdays I played and it went off without a hitch, simply due to having enough available players right away. So that is good.

This Wednesday (yesterday) and last Wednesday, here is what happened time and time again throughout the evening while I was waiting for the game to run.
There is a list for 1/3 NL. The list has say, 7-8 names on it and the game is nearly about to run. A drunk guy / truck driver / wealthy person / somebody in a cowboy hat / somebody super old / etc walks in. Keep in mind I happened to be seated near the floor so I hear the conversations... So anyways
Random guy: "Hey I see you have some pokers here what games are running / is there a seat open / what is the buy in?"
Floor response: "We have 1/2 no limit. Get your chips over there, I have a seat open" OR even worse "I can put you on the list for 1/2 No limit."

How hard would it be for the floor to say something like "Hi there, we currently have 1/2 no limit however, we have a list for 1/3 no limit which you can buy into for as little as $100. You'd make 9 so I can open it up right away. If you wanted to play I can put your name on the list, and you can even play 1/2 while you wait." Something like that...

OR if not that, why not just open the game with 8 people? I mean, most of the time their tables aren't full anyways. So last night for example I show up and there are 8 on the list for several hours. I do not hear them pushing the 1/3. By midnight the game never ran and I am beginning to feel like I am wasting my time... But wait! It is getting late, and now our game is shorthanded. 6 Handed now, we get a rake reduction, most of the guys have $300 or more, hell this isn't 1/3 but finally some action!!

NOPE

Floor comes by almost immediately and says we are breaking the game and moving you to other tables. Everyone at my table wanted to continue playing but they would not let us.

So because of this, I will be taking my business elsewhere unless I see on the poker bravo app the game has started already.

FK also had a problem with managing the big PLO game that used to run there. Rumor came down that management actually didn't like the game and were hoping it went away. So they treated players poorly and tried their best to not fill the game however possible. Now that game runs at GL most Friday's and brings guys away from Firekeepers on a weekly basis.

I'm not sure if they feel the same way about the 1-3 game or not, but it's a lack of education and a lack of salesmanship to not get another game open. Too often the floor is concerned that they'd have to break a current table to start a 1-3. Not thinking far enough ahead that they could potentially re-open another 1-2 table soon. It's all about the rake, not so much about keeping players happy or offering a variety of games.

Sample size.

Up Most people don't want to start a game shorthanded and a casino doesn't want to start a game shorthanded with no board to back it up only to have it break. That's especially true if there is a chance of opening another game they might open instead, or if they're short on dealers.

And really it's kind of silly for the casino to have 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5 at the same time.
If people want to buy for $500 they're probably going to play 2/5.

After a bit of an inquiry it appears that the promo formula is written so that the reserve gets a larger share of the promo drop once the BBJ hits the room share mark of 100K. That's why the reserve was so close to the BBJ that was just hit recently (at $104?), resetting at $78K. GL

It has been 'understood' for a long time that FK likes to keep tables full. This very well could be from regs whining. I believe they fill tables different than Motor City as well, using the ladder concept. Where the 'main' game gets a Player from the first feeder and then the first feeder gets a Player from the Must Move. At MCC, they have a MM that feeds whatever seat opened up unless there are any table changes in front of the MM Player. I think either concept is fine, you just have to be aware of how each room handles it. Obviously MCC has more traffic so the ladder system would be much harder to 'enforce' in that room.

This concept also affects how they handle starting new games. In the past they would have lists for 2/5 NL and 1/3 PLO and depending on which list got filled first then the other one probably wouldn't run that night. And on some nights the 2/5 NL would fall apart as soon as the PLO list grew and got started due to Players changing over to that game and the NL seats not getting filled quick enough for the remaining Players at the NL table. Typically when neither game is running Players will sign up for both to insure that they get onto which ever 'big' game starts first.

To the point, if they start another stake, then the incoming Players get split and can create short handed play at both stakes eventually ... which seems to bother 'them' (Floors or Players, or both).

There seems to be a different mind set at GLake. Tables will run 4-6 handed on a regular basis without too much whining. We've even run the PLO 2-3 handed to get through a 45-90 slow period in hopes that the next 'shift' of Players arrives. GL

I personally think they should phase out 1/2 and make 1/3 the new standard, but at the same time I see why it would never happen (at least for now).

The concept makes sense at almost every casino you will walk into. 1/3 produces a tad more rake while yet taking care of the short and deeper buy-ins. The 'issue' at FK is that the 1/3 is their uncapped stake, which if it became the norm would run many of the regs out the door. It's been said a few times that the 5/10 PLO that ran on occasion was tighter than the 1/3 table.

The same quandary exists at GLake for PLO. Although both the 1/2-5 and 2/5 stakes have the same bring-in, just the fact that Players can buy-in for $1500 at 2/5 makes the game too deep for a lot of regs.

There is a local at one of the last WSOP Final Tables today ... with the chip lead. 6-handed PLO. Starts at 5 PM but I'm not sure it's going to be streamed anywhere with the ME taking up most of the IT folks!! GL