Great weekend at FKeepers with another record for the MSPT .. HH promos coming up Fri 28th ($1k hourly HH) and Sat 29th ($500 30min HH) as well as the Fifth Sunday $500 on the 30th

SEagle has $200 2-hour HH Mon-Thur (AAAJJ min) 1pm to 1am .. no end date shown. Heard that these are either the best games or the worst games .. travel at your own risk!

WGate and Kings going strong on the charity front

Check Bravo for promos in Detroit .. they are daily and they change all the time!

No MSPT tournament cash for me, but the cash games went well. Lots of local big hitters cashed in the tournament but I didn't really see as many GR charity cash Players down there as usual, even on Sunday for cash play. Doesn't mean they didn't try on Fri or Sat, just means I didn't see them. GL

BREAKING over the weekend .. Gun Lake has committed to opening a poker room 'soon' .. as early as December 16th. This is coming through from sources within GLake with promises of more exact details coming soon. The assumption is that poker will reopen in the previous (2nd) location since that may be the easiest to convert in what I consider a relatively short time frame. I'm not sure what slots are in there right now but with the expansion there are a lot more slots available throughout the gaming areas. While this area was a bit noisy at times it did have it's own cage and was near a bigger bathroom is the one in the room was tied up.

This will obviously impact both charity and home games in Kent County. IMO it's unlikely that they will try to jump into 'daily' tournaments but that will depend on patron 'demand' and staffing commitment.


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The 1st location had a cage too, lol.. Great news if true.

Mod note: I deleted/edited some posts that quoted or referenced a post related to debt payment deleted by another mod so that there is continuity as to the deletion. I am seeking higher up guidance on our policy concerning this type of post in V&C as they usually only occur in the online forums rather than live venues, and can be very sensitive in nature. When I get an answer I will post it in the V&C mod discussion thread. Also, if you want to further discuss this issue, pls do it over there. But for now, pls discontinue any ref to this situation in this thread. Thanks.
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High Hand promo at FKeepers today ($1000/hour) and tomorrow ($500/30 minutes) with the $500 5th Sunday tournament also this weekend.

Remember that that last Saturday of the month is always crazy there .. and with MSU/UM and the UFC fight both at night (and costume contest) it will/could/should be even more crazy this time around.



It appears that Gun Lake has 28 Dealer spots that they want to fill, with 9-12 of those being returning Dealers (perhaps). It also appears that they may not be 24 hours during the week, opening at 9 or 10am and closing ?? based on volume and perhaps a hard stop at 2, 3 or 4am. (Same as FKeepers) GL

Good stuff.. UFC has an event pretty much every weekend.

Thanks for all of these updates! This is fantastic news regarding GLC -- I didn't expect poker to make such a quick return there.

What do we have for charity games? Westgate and Kings the top 2 in the GR area?

You're tempting me to head to FK tomorrow.

FK 500 looked like it went very well from afar .. I posted an update in the FK thread .. 6-way chop around 1145pm with $6828 due 6th at the time.

Charity poker can be found using the Millionaire Party Locator via the State of Michigan website.

Grand Rapids currently has Westgate (Mon-Thur, 2pm to 145am) and King's/BreeJo's (11am-5pm and 6pm to 130am, Thur-Sun) Both have tournaments of some sort in the evening starting at 7pm

There is also poker in Muskegon at Northway Lanes (Thur-Sun) but I've heard that cash is not as consistent at that location, more a tournament location. If cash gets going before the tournament starts then it can be very good, otherwise it wont start until Players start to bust the tournament. Never been but hear pretty good things out there.

There been some discussions as to what 'suggestion' to make to Gun Lake about the lowest stake of NL to be offered. LOTS of Players leaning towards 1/3 with a 4-500 max buy-in. Since 2/5 NL rarely ran down there quite a few of the Players want the opportunity to buy-in higher at the game that runs the most. I did send thru this information to Gun Lake .. IMO there are pluses and minuses. Will Players stay in GR and play 'cheaper' 1/2 charity poker? Will the short stacks just not show up?

I've also yet to crack open the 'comps' door and (obviously) there's nothing to report. Not sure if I put this anywhere, but SEagle is not giving Players any 'casino' points/comps at this time. They are providing food and beverage in the room at no cost 'in exchange'. This really wont be an option for GLake in the 'last' room and I'm not sure if food is even allowed on the floor at GLake right now anyway. I was pleasantly surprised that my balance at FKeepers was pretty damn high last I checked. Not sure the rate down there, but I was happy with my balance that's for sure. Most who come to this forum know that the system at GLake was changed at least twice during it's operations.

As we head into November poker is still gaining speed .. and yes, tax season is only 3 months away! GL

Not specific to this room but my general comments on the buy in caps. If you want the 2/5 to go then you need to limit 1/3 max cap. IME, where 1/3 starts or even quickly gets "deep" (if match stack is allowed), the 2/5 won't go. Simply no need.

So if the room is a match stack or has a 500+ max cap, I don't think you will routinely see 2/5 run or run multiple tables. Thus to routinely get multiple good 2/5 games, you need a 300 (4 max) 1/3 cap and no match stack. At least this is my experience in other markets.

I would not assume that because 2/5 never went previously that it won't go now. If the player pool is deep enough with enough $ (though honestly, if there are enough $ for 1/3 NL, then should be enough for 2/5 unless it is HIGHLY concentrated albeit maybe not a bunch of tables). Personally, I would try a set up to get 2/5 running and if that proved unsuccessful, then maybe alter teh 1/3. Ofc altering the 1/3 to go deeper after players are used to no match 300 cap will have the OMC's and comp chasers (if any comps) in a uproar.

Another option if the 2/5 can't make a go of it, would be a 2/4 with the big cap and allow match. I have been often surprised at the people who won't move up from 1/3 to 2/5 but will to a 2/4. Doesn't make sense but whatever. Could even maybe split the 1/3 into 1/2 small stack and 2/4 deep pools. Eventually, once the 2/4 was well established and a "habit", then switch to a 2/5.

So you're just going to completely ignore the mod?

Are there any Poker Rooms or Casinos around that have billiards as well?

Kind of an interesting question .. ALL the casinos have billboards somewhere and it's always intriguing that one casino will put a billboard at the exit for another. IMO Firekeepers does the most billboards of any casino, but I don't really see what's on the east side of the state. I don't think SEagle has as many as before, but they may be looking to the east side as well.

'Advertising' for the charity games is very complicated and pretty much unavailable without a lot of effort and detail. The Suppliers could operate a website, but they can only state where they will be .. but no mention of poker. The charities themselves could advertise but anything would have to have the license number shown somewhere. The Supplier can not 'help' the charity with a website/flyer. The Location can do limited 'street side' advertising and also promote poker on their website. Again, this is all touchy and if Gaming is in a bad mood that day they probably could find something to complain about.



FKeepers has a couple of events Thanksgiving weekend .. High Hands on Friday and a Black Chip Bounty (350/100) on Saturday. The Diamond Royal is over $7k today also!


It really looks like Gun Lake is full steam ahead, still aiming for Dec 16th, Friday. Dealers/Floors are going through the employment and gaming license process. I've heard that there will be 26 positions for Dealers with in-house Dealers receiving priority for shifts, then returning Dealers .. then the newbies get the scraps. It remains to be seen how this will impact the Dealers at the charity rooms, but certainly some are attempting to move.


Westgate and Kings have both been steady, perhaps a touch slower at times but the PLO games have been gaining ground at King's on Thur and Fri during the day. GL

Thanks Lattimer. You beat me to it. I deleted his post.

Thanks answer20, but I think you misunderstood my question. I asked about billiards, not billboards haha. Pool tables and such.

FireKeepers High Hands are also this Friday for Veteran's Day .. $500 hourly to go along with the $500 half-hour High Hands on Black Friday.


I don't know of any casinos or charity rooms that have permanent 'pool table' set ups. As you probably already know, SEagle was host to a large competition in past years, but I really don't know where all the tables came from for that! GL

It's been a while since I have been to Westgate but they used to have pool tables on the other side of the building away from the poker room.

Yes, I think those went away when they upgraded their arcade, but I'm not in that part of the building either. The same goes for Woody's, when the poker room closed and they upgraded their arcade the tables went away.

A quick Google search shows possibly three 'major' locations to play in Kent County, with two of them being fairly close to each other at 28th and EBLine. Anazeh has two locations, being 'Kentwood' and Wyoming (28th st also) and Eastside is mixed into Centerpointe Mall somewhere.

Not sure the popularity of Billiards, Darts or Ping Pong these days .. Bags seems to have some steam, but kids are typically 'competing' via video games, which can stretch well across just the neighborhood via the 'net. GL

High Hands today at FKeepers .. $500 per hour

Drama at Westgate with the charity pulling the plug on Thursday's (yesterday) poker with limited notice. As any Reg would know, the volume at Westgate drops on Thursday and they try to have a deeper cash game with the buy-in increased to $500 from the normal $300. They do hold a large buy-in tournament on the first Thursday of the month, but that was last week.

There are other potential factors that I know about but would only be speculation at this point in time, so I'm not making them 'public'. Although a lot of it is already being chatted about in the 'circles'. GL

Was just in Gun Lake last night and can confirm through my sources that Gun Lake is getting a poker room, and they're putting it back in the 2nd location. Gun Lake has already started clearing out slots closer to the buffet near where the Hee Haw slots are, and they're moving the Dragon Link slots from the poker room to the cleared out area.

Don't know any details yet, but it's definitely happening. I didn't believe it when I heard the news, so I had to come here to verify the rumors. Very exciting! Firekeepers is just too far for me. Gun Lake is close enough to me where I can go for a couple of hours after work.

Also was up at Soaring Eagle last week. Their poker room is REALLY nice. It's the nicest thing in a casino that otherwise looks and feels very dated. The tables are really spaced out and it's far away from a lot of the noise, like the craps tables. It's a significant upgrade from their old poker room. It feels Vegas nice. I was really impressed.

Firekeepers is great and all, but the room is pretty plain, and it's really close to a lot of noise. They should build a new room worthy of the big MSPT tournaments...something like the new high limit slot room they recently built. The bathrooms in the high limit area are exceptionally nicer than the main bathrooms. Worth the walk, IMO.

MI Gaming has put their foot down on a (re)enforcement of how Dealers are tipped in Charity Rooms .. Apparently letters were sent to both WGate and King's and Gaming did visit both rooms last week to discuss this 'issue'. Gaming will not fully explain their reasoning for this .. other than it may be part of the newest version of the law and/or their Supplier Guidelines.

Players MUST only hand over cash to Dealers, not chips. Even the Charity is not supposed to hand Dealers cash .. per se. Players are allowed to keep cash for tipping on the table and that is now the preferred method.

If a Player want to tip using chips from their stack, then they must redeem chips wit the Charity before handing the cash over themselves.


This is not the best news as GLake is pressing forward with their yet unannounced reopening of a poker room. Any time you make things more complicated (per se) and potentially cost Dealers part of their income it will put strain on the local rooms.

Will GLake be successful? I think there's opportunity for both types of rooms. The Charity Rooms will (obviously) have a shorter drive and (assumed) smaller rake. GLake never really game tournaments a big effort. Will the Charity Rooms be able to hang onto their skilled Dealers if cash games slow down? Will charities start to waver if they start to see a reduced benefit to holding/hosting the Millionaire Parties?

All remains to be seen .. GL

Kings will not be open on Thursday but will be open as normal Fri-Sun. PLO has run during the day Thur/Fri the last few weeks. I've not heard of the 'invite' game that has been played on Black Friday in the past .. BUT ..

FKeepers has $500 30-minute High Hands on Friday and the $450 Black Chip Bounty on Saturday

Still making progress at GLake .. I assume that they will make some sort of official announcement via their December flyer or at least want to be sure that Dec is a good date based on the conversion back to poker in that room. Dealers are scheduled for at least two days of training prior to the anticipated Friday opening.

Our local tournament crusher Brek finished 5th in the WSOPc Main Event yesterday outside Chicago for about $70k ($1700 entry). The Blinds were squeezing everyone with 6 to go and he had 10M of the 34M in play .. then two hands turned it all south and he busted AQ v AK. Another less known local finished 60th for about $4500. GL

As another week ticks past, is GLC still on as described?

Can't really put it any other way than above ..

1) Dealers are 'hired' and/or going through their paces with HR
2) The room is being changed over from what I'm being told .. haven't been there myself
3) Dealers are scheduled for 'training' on Dec 14-15 .. only a snafu with the staff/room would delay that
4) There's no mention of poker in my December promo flyer .. but I do have the potential for $35 in free play!

While there's been no official statement, there's been no 'news' to suggest that Dec 16th is not the date. Will it be on FaceBook/Twitter? Will it come via email? Very unlikely it would be via TV commercial, but perhaps a quick spot during the nightly news.

In retrospect they really don't need to advertise it much at all .. 70% or more of the 'interested' parties already have been in on some conversations about it. It always amazes me when Players don't know poker 'news' .. but then again poker may not rank very high on their list of things either. I mean really .. there are still people who don't know SEagle has reopened (or that it's an isolated room with free food) .. or that the MSPT was at FKeepers .. or they are just playing it off that way.

I've got a pretty busy month .. can't say I'll be the first to know anything or even be able to post things as they come out .. but it's being watched enough that the news will 'break' quickly when it's made officially public. GL

I'd say the only reason I know anything about the West Michigan Poker community is because of this thread. I predominantly play online and rarely go the casino. Will def go for a session as at GL as it's not too far up the road from me (Kalamazoo). Generally, I swing over to FK 2-3x a year.

I go to Gun Lake 1-2 times a week. If I see/hear anything, I can post here for those who live further.

As of this afternoon, the poker room is completely cleared out. It now sits empty.

The entrances are blocked off by black curtains, so you can't get in...however, you can sneak a peek through the cracks.

I'm going this weekend, so I'll check back then.