Since we've got some downtime here in this thread, what's the status of Michigan opening up online poker/sportsbetting/gambling? In short, when can I play on PokerStars, and whom can I play against?

I have been playing at Ignition poker. Its O.K. but PokerStars was been. (more game selection, better interface, etc.) I don't know if we can play on PokerStars, yet.

There is a Michigan online gaming thread that you can search for on this site. When the package of laws was approved Gaming was going to first get sports betting going and then go to work on poker and other online games. Recently there has been a push with new legislation ongoing in Lansing that could pull that up .. but it may also prevent Michigan from joining into any 'partnership' outside the state. I would encourage you to find that thread and read through the comments of posters who are following things much closer than I. The assumption is that Poker Stars will be the administrator for at least one of the license holders.

Sports betting is moving forward but was slowed by CV. I think FKeepers was the most aggressive but I don't know their status as of today. GLake has moved some employees from poker into their sports book 'department' while poker is suspended ... again, I don't know if or when they will actually take a wager.

For as much as Michigan is ahead of many other states in the online gaming arena, I think it would be unwise for them to try and keep it contained MI IP addresses. The Feds have shown no signs of trying to get in the middle of NJ and Nevada at this point in time. GL

I received word yesterday that 'almost' 100 GLake employees were put on home quarantine status due to a positive test. Over 30 were 'dealers' along with the other staff that may have come in contact with that person.

Much to their credit, GLake posted a message on Facebook, and I assume Twitter, revealing the situation and the continued measures being taken in their facility.

Part of the conversation included how disappointed this person was with the lack of 'space' enforcement around table games and even the lack of mask wearing by some staff as well. This incident may spur an increased effort internally to increase compliance. Obviously table games can attract a crowd of both players and observers.

We'll see what the Gov has for us later in the week .. which may include even more 'backwards' movement in policies. The numbers are going down but ...

I traveled to 'the bridge' and the previous weekend and we saw plates from 29 states in 4 days of travel ... Most folks were being very respectful in the shops, but outdoors it was much different as you might expect. GL

I just came back from a 3 day trip to Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel. The Hotel and its properties were very good at handeling social distance, cleaning and so forth. But In town or on the mainland it was a bit rough especially when people were excessively drinking. So best to avoid all bars or areas where there is public intoxication. On the other hand stores and gift shops were all doing their very best to enforce social distancing and mask wearing.

Pretty quiet in here ...

1) Just got back from a WI Dells trip .. saw plates from 39 states in just under 900 miles driven. Walked through Ho Chunk casino, which has hosted some MSPT events, and they had (surprisingly) just reopened with slots only. I didn't see a poker room but it may have been in a part of the facility that was still blocked off.

2) Per some requests I tried to find out the status and timeline of the sports book at GLake ... mums the word so far. In a not-so-surprising comment a source at GLake said they would not consider bringing poker back until slot play was at 100%. That could be a while!

3) Was told that FKeepers has now removed all of the poker tables in lieu of slots.

4) In a possible 'squirrel-nut' scenario ... last night 22-yr old YouTube Vlogger 'Rampage Poker' won a WSOP.com bracelet event for $160K-ish. If you've ever watched his vlogs I think you'd want him playing at your table. This, on top of the guy playing from the Whole Foods parking lot, shows you that poker is alive and well ... where available. GL

Per a call to the 'general' line at MCC this morning ... There will be live poker and sports book starting with their re-opening at 10 AM on Wed this week.

Even though the governor clamped down on the 'public' apparently they want to tap into the revenue that the tribal casinos have been enjoying so far.

NO poker or sports book at MGM as of yet. They are set to open to the public on Friday at 11 AM. Their 'operator' was much less educated than the MCC person. GL

What stakes are typically played at Odawa in petosky and soaring eagle in mt pleasant. Does 2-5 run daily? Or mostly 1-2? Speaking only of NLH.

Welcome Ryan .. I assume you are aware that there is no live casino poker being played right now in Michigan?

Don't know much about Odawa, but I believe they have 1-2 tables that 'might' run and I can't imagine that they get anything over 1-2 going unless just by chance.

SEagle is a bit of a mixed bag with both 1/2 and 3/6 limit being their primary games that run. They will get 2/5, RxR or PLO going if the right crowd shows up and will depend on who gets the list going first. GL

Motor City DID NOT open their poker room ... No phones answered nor anything on Bravo. Just misinformed phone folks!! It was a hopeful thought.

I assume the Sport Book is open but that's not my thing.

Via YouTube there may be a 'card club' open in Columbus, OH that runs a 1/2 uncapped game. I've never looked into the club scene in OH ... similar to the ones that run in Texas. GL

All 1/2 everywhere across the globe should be uncapped.

Stopped at GLake since I was driving by .. and to use up some of my Reward Dollars on 'free' food. From what I'm told, you only need to visit one a year to prevent the loss of any Reward Dollars or Reward Points. Obv your club level will drop, but your account will just remain where it was on your last visit. You'll probably want to play 2-300 points worth of something just to be safe. If you go on/near your birthday you may get a 5x point multiplier to help your cause.

The sports book is tied up on a regulatory issue (not clearly defined) but they do have a counter in 131 and kiosks throughout the casino that you will be able to use to place wagers.

The big boss has told remaining poker staff that poker will return, but obviously there's no timeline for it currently.

IMO the construction is not moving very fast, but what do I know!!

I did sit down at Ultimate Texas and left up a bit. GL

Yeah, I'm aware. Why I asked here couldn't scope it out on the apps.

When you say 3-6 at Soaring eagle, is it NLH? or limit?

Thanks

3/6 in a casino is pretty much always limit

Take a peek at TheMidwayPokerTour.com ... It appears they are putting together a MSPT type of tournament in Chicago, IN TWO WEEKS! $100K prize pool

Chicago Charity Rooms has been hosting events in Illinois recently and this appears to be using the charity route as well. Based on that, I'm not really expecting this to get 'raided' but this is a first time event for the organizers so you would have to assume some glitches may pop up. GL

Wow that GLC bad beat giveaway pisses me off. You'll see when you get your mail.

I'm assuming it's for all patrons but wont know for sure until someone goes in there. If there's a pamphlet then that's a tell tale sign.

Wording is a bit funny as well .. makes it seem you only get one free ticket per week and then can only get one more per week with 200+ points ($200 in recorded play). That's odd as well. Also remains to be seen if you can 'buy' more tickets with your Reward Points.

I'll do some math on the drawings to see what the total is later. Looks like they found a loophole to get these funds 'out' .. and it's not a very good sign for poker's return to this location. GL

Got the GLC postcard. It looks to me like this is limited to people who played in the Poker Room, not for everyone. Contrary to what you wrote, it looks like you can earn an extra entry per day, not per week.

So say I went down there next Saturday and just had my 1 entry... let's do some back-of-the-napkin math to see what the EV is on that. I'm guessing perhaps 2,500 people got this flyer, since it goes out to anyone who played even once in the past year or so (but, of course, no one has played for 6 months).

Let's say just 300 of those people come down to GLC this week due to COVID, no poker room, etc. They all collect their free entry, and on average pick up maybe 1 more entry sometime during the week. (Some people will get multiple extra entries, while some will get none.) So you're looking at 600 total entries. $17,385 will be (attempted to be) given away, meaning each entry is worth about $29.

I would love to have others challenge my ballpark estimates there... do you think far fewer/more people got the flier? Will far more/fewer come to GLC this week? Very curious about whether there's enough incentive for me to pop down there next Saturday.

Got some information from a Player who went down to Gun Lake today. This may very well be for previous poker participants only .. but the jury is still out IMO, maybe.

The Player had another person register for a Rewards Card today and when they logged into their account there was no free entry into this promo .. but it may be that a brand new card holder needs to show some action (like 200 points) in order to trigger the ticket. Yes, I'm reaching here, but I've had this same scenario come up at other casinos where free play doesn't active until you actually play a game.

Certainly I'm hoping for the smallest 'field' as possible, but it just seems weird that they would go over the loud speakers, on a Saturday, for a limited field drawing. Yes, they do have senior and slot winners drawings so it is possible.

I'm certainly one to run with 'new' and exciting news and have it be slightly wrong, but this is news and I think it only fair to get the chatter out there so that everyone has a chance to react to it.

One thing I didn't ask today was whether the ticket was only good for one week or if they stack up through the end of the drawings.

It's hard to say how many Players went through the room going back to January/June 1st of 2019 .. There has to be a promotional document available, perhaps it will be online come October 1st if they don't print up a pamphlet.

I'll keep pounding away as always .. GL

I really dont like how GLC operates they are always behind the curb. Took forever to get poker.. now its struggling to get the sportsbook open. Frustrating that I have to drive to firekeepers to get a above average experience.

BBJ drawing tickets are only good for the week you get them. They will go into a drum, so no computer pick. So you will have to be there to put your tickets in the drum, which also should mean that the likelihood of unclaimed prizes on these initial Saturdays is low, but still possible if someone doesn't make the whole 4 hours. In total the prizes are slightly over $159K.

The wording on the flyer does indicate that you can get one additional ticker per day that you 'earn' 200 points. I played about an hour of Ultimate Texas Holdem and that worked out to over 400 points, so not too bad and better than most slot play .. at least there's some strategy involved with that game.

I didn't talk to anyone about the promo and there was no information on the promo touch screen near the main rewards center. So that's a good sign that this is an 'invite' only event .. obv after the first set of drawings this week we will see who's claiming the prizes. GL

Any updates from Saturday?

Also, any updates re: sports betting at GLC?

What an interesting weekend for 'regional' poker ...

The drawing at Gun Lake went very smooth, with zero prizes going unclaimed. (Not really a surprise when poker Players are involved.) One lucky Boy Scout was drawn in each of the first three draws, taking down 777+1000+1500 for the day. IMO there was definitely over 200 entries by the last draw, but it's pretty clear at this point in time it really is for patrons of the Poker Room only. There was some chatter that you can get 2 tickets per day, so a max of 14 into the drum each week. That's a bump from the assumed 8 tickets per week .. but I still like that everyone has an opportunity to hang out for a few hours the next few weeks.

The Sports Book opened earlier in the week with a tribal member laying some cash down on the Lions +4 (Ooops). I found a couple of kiosks operational by the old poker room. I'm not much of a sports bettor, but if you bet $100 on a $110 payout your cashout will be $191.00. So if you lose, they keep your $100 .. and if you win, they keep $19 of your 'winnings' as juice (210-191). Why didn't we all think of this?

There may be a stalling of enthusiasm in the home game scene for a couple weeks with some sickness cris-crossing around town. Word is that things were getting pretty crazy and the Player Pools were getting mixed quite a bit. Be safe, we'll all still be here later in the month!

I'm not going into much detail here as you can search for it yourself, but what a mess in Chicago concerning the payouts for the $1100 tournament held there by the Midway Poker Tour. It appears that the tour didn't completely clear how Players were going to be paid out with Gaming/Attorney General and the alternative method still has Players a bit worried about lost value. There's a thread here as well as Twitter and Facebook posts if you want to read about all the drama. GL

Yup, that's how sports betting works. The juice is less than it appears though.

All things being equal, assume a 50/50 outcome. So you make 2 bets, each $110 to win $100, and win 1 lose 1. That means you bet $220 total and got $210 back. So the juice is 10/220 or 4.5%.

In your example, it should be 200-191 (200, not 210), So $9 juice, 9/200 = 4.5%

Interesting. I received a mailer since I played there a couple times and was considering a day trip on Nov 28 on the assumption that there might be a number of unclaimed prizes for the final draw, but now that I think about it the way it's set up that shouldn't be super likely.