How are the games at these places now that all the "charity" poker rooms at the bars have opened? Has the traffic gone way down? Could I still walk into any of them and not have trouble finding a 1/2 NL game? And finally, do any of them have limit games running ever? I know Greektown used to at least have a 3/6 running.

I play at a couple charity event locations and love it because of location, location, location. I live about an hour away from downtown. I would like to head down to the casinos though once in awhile and was just curious what to expect. Thanks for any info. Hopefully otter will see this. He seems to have the scoop most of the time.

greektown not as busy as it used to be dont know if its economy or the charity rooms.. was kinda busy last few days this week because BBJ ws up to like 70k... heard today that motor city was packed (50 ppl waitlist for 200nl) because the BBJ was 90k

Greektown has two major problems in their poker room. The place is a dump in terms of appearance. It isn't clean and they're still allowing smoking in part of the room and it's just dirty.

The second issue they have is the customer service is terrible. It's like they don't really care about the poker players at all. I played there almost 4 times a week for over a year and not a single person in there new my name. I played at MGM that often for a week and they all knew me by name the next week I went in. Not that it really matters to know my name, but it's just one of many examples of Greektown not caring about their customers.

You're not the only person that gets bothered by this. I've been in similar situations where I played in a card room 12 hours every day for months on end and the floor and dealers still seemed oblivious to me. In addition to taking it somewhat personally, it is also not infrequent that the floor not knowing you causes your name to get skipped or erased from the board. In theory, this shouldn't make a difference but in practice a variety of situations occur (never seemingly the same) that cause it to happen.

J

Not a problem in MGM or Greektown that I've really noticed. I've never played at Motor City though. And yes, Greektown always has multiple 3/6 tables running (I've never noticed anything higher), whereas MGM will always have nl games.

I agree that Greektown's biggest issue has little to do with the Economy or Competition - their problems are self imposed. They simply haven't improved their product. Tired Casino and (at best) indifferent Floor.

MGM is a Good room that is well run. Still very good action. On Friday and Saturday you still have a profitable stream of drunks (and annoying techno thump music) flowing in from the nightclubs.

MCC is most consistent. Weekend waiting lists can still top 50 or 60 names.

I'd like to hear more about the various Charity Rooms.

My feeling is that even in the Suburbs, I am almost exactly 1/2 hour from my front door to the tables at any of the three casinos - I can even change my plans in transit. No one charity room is going to offer any better convenience than that - much less than three of them within 5 minutes of each other. I have also wondered about the play, number of tables, and security of the "Charity" Rooms. Is there any concern about finding a good full table or even having to wait for a seat? What about hours of operation? I don't often pull an marathon session, but it is good to know my table isn't going to start to break up at midnight.

Any insights?

^

I've only been to two charity rooms (Belmark lanes in AA, Woodhaven lanes), but there were definitely some common themes:

- The game is innately shortstacked. 1/2nl max buy in is 50bb ($100). This takes away a lot of edge that better player has (not all, but a lot). The 2/5 game in AA is mostly $200 max, but on the weeknights it's sometimes $300 max. Both very shortstacked as well.
- Max rake is 10% up to $7. With the shorter stacks and the greater rake, these games are much tougher to beat than casino games (I know that Greektown takes 6+1, but the stacks are twice the size). Also, the 2/5 game in AA takes 10% up to $10. This is terrible
- If you are interested in cheap tournies, charity rooms will be a great place. Again, they take 30% for the house, but the nightly tourny in AA is a $25 rebuy +$10 add on, with about 20 people and first place getting about $375. A lot of them will run different tournies every night, you just have to know the schedule.

All in all, I believe the casinos are a much better place to play (I drive about an extra 40 mins to get to Detroit over going to the AA room), but the charity rooms are a nice change of pace every once in a while, especially if you're in the mood for a donkament, and have a caliber of player that is just below that of 1/2nl in the casino. Let me know if you want to know anything else!

Greektown has multiple 3-6 Limit with a kill going any day. Win two pots in a row, any size pot as long as there is a flop, and the next hand is 6-12. They also have 20-40 Limit Round by Round going on Tuesday and I think Sunday?

MGM - all NL games. 1-2 and 2-5. nice smaller room with really good action Thursday night thru sunday.

Motor City - best run with games always going. The only limit they have spread recently is 15-30 round by round and that goes on Tuesday and Saturday. You need to get on the list the week before for the Tuesday game or you will be waiting hours or hoping a 2nd table opens up. They also have 5-10 Limit Omaha/8 or B with a kill ($80 pot or bigger) on Wednesdays.

So MotorCity or MGM never spread a lower LIMIT game (4/8 - 6/12)?

I only play in Detroit once every few months and mostly at Greektown (I like to smoke when I play and they have Limit games w/in my BR - more the 2nd reason than the 1st). It seems a 5/10 game goes for an hour or two and then dies. I'm guessing that's still the case?

What about Windsor for Limit HE? Any info?

10% up to $7?~!?~?~? RIP OFF for charity room. look elsewhere.

When I went back after a 16 month absence, there was one dealer who said "Oh, you're that guy" More disappointing was that most dealers seemed to have turned over, and the limit hold'em games were long gone.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen limit of any kind at MGM. It's all 1/2 and 2/5 NL.
Once in a blue moon I have seen them with a "interest" list for some other games but it is very rare and even rarer that they run. I guess if 10 people walked in on a weekday and asked to run limit they would

Pretty much same thing at MC. They have interest lists but rarely run limit

Has anyone been to soaring eagle? If so how is the poker there?

The games are AWESOME at soaring eagle. I play with the morning nits on Mondays and Wednesdays and I usually crush the game for a buy-in or so ($200-$600 profit most sessions). It's worth the price in gas, especially with fuel prices going down. I drive from Detroit twice a week. Deep stack poker is the way to go.

By crush, I mean around $50-$80/hour. My sessions are short due to other commitments.

greektown is horrible. a few thoughts:

- the place is a dump
- the tourney structures are horrible
- 90 percent of the dealers are clueless, unfriendly
- a large majority of the staff is unprofessional, swearing and yelling at each other across the room about unrelated stuff
- the no limit games are standard as far as soft live games go. lots of limping, no reraising before the flop, people paying off with third pair, lots of short stack ******ation
- the only saving grace is the fact they are going under in a few weeks (hopefully)

Why? I'm from Cleveland so I don't follow the goings on in Detroit on a regular basis.

Yeah. Joy of all joys, a major high profile employer going out of business. Just what Detroit and the surrounding region needs.

Im pretty sure they filed for Chapter 11 Bankrupcy because the construction of there new hotel cost alot more than expected.

On a side note I played at Greeektown last night and the play @ 1-2 is awful and very profitable.

The Bad Beat at Motor City was at 116k as of yesterday and it is over a 3 hour wait at anytime now to get on a 1-2 table, the list at 5pm when I called was 96 deep.

They've been in Chapter 11 Reorganization for a few months. However they did (re)open their VIP "High Roller" area last week and still claim to be on target for opening their Hotel in February.

It seems like I'm resigned to Greektown (since I'm a limit player). What was the Bad Beat there?

If you can take Greektown then all of the other casinos feel like kindergarten.