The Poker Landscape is Still Crazy

A lot has happened in the last month.  I should be posting at least once a week, but the situation can get so strange that I don't know what to say, or if anything that I post will be outdated as soon as I post it.

The latest is that my local poker room has decided that they are no longer going to have a web site.  The explanation that I got is that the state of Michigan is taking such a big cut from the charity room profits is that they can't afford a web site.  Also, the second room at Pope's Pub is not yet up and running, even though the web site of the Michigan Gaming Control Board showed them being licensed a month ago.

This is about more than a web site.  There is no information at all.  No announcements during a tournament.  No flyers. Nothing posted in the room.  I just play a tournament and assume that next week there will be a tournament at the same place on the same day at the same time next week.  I have been going to the various locations run by The Big Game Room for a few years, and from time to time I am surprised when I go there and find the room closed.  The last time was about a month ago--the bowling alley was closed for maintenance and no one thought it was important that the players know that.

On the twoplustwo.com poker forums, there is a regional thread for the Detroit area.  http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/200/regional-communities/detroit-737949/

The players talk to each other about the poker room options and ask things like:

How many players are usually in that tournament?
How is the traffic to drive there?
Do the tournaments have a good structure?
Is the room comfortable and a fun place to play?
What is the food like there?
Is there a schedule of blinds and antes?

In short, the Detroit players gather information and anaylze it.  We're poker players, that's what we do.  Even though, as far as I know, every Detroit area poker room has a web site (what business doesn't in 2015?) the players always want to know more, and they critique everything.  If a dealer is rude on Tuesday night, a post will go up on the Detroit thread, often in real time.

Every room has strong and weak points.  One of the rooms in Grand Rapids (about 30 miles from my home) was so poorly lit that I had to take my sunglasses off to tell the difference between a club and a spade with the cards inches from my face..  At another Grand Rapids room the food is bad and expensive (especially the $9 chicken sandwich.)  I can certainly be surprised, but at least before I play in Grand Rapids I can check the web sites and know what tournaments are running when, and something about the tournament structures.

The Detroit players communicate about everything and the room owners know it.  They demand information that west Michigan players can never get, because we have no organized way of communicating.

I didn't really want to take this on, but I have petitioned 2+2 for a West Michigan regional thread.  Something has to change.  These rooms have to know that they are competing for our dollars, and for that to happen, the players in West Michigan have to be able to communicate.