Your Guide to Retail and Online Poker Championships in Michigan This January

Early this January, PokerStars US announced the Winter Series, a flagship online poker tournament scheduled to run from January 12 to 29. With this event now in progress, Michiganders can enjoy interstate poker action with players from New Jersey. This shared player pool system launched about a year ago and has been instrumental in transforming Michigan to the top online poker market in the country.

But if for any reason you miss out on the $2.25 million guaranteed prize money available on the PokerStars championship, there are a torrent of other events to look out for. Here’s an outline of tournament series in Michigan that are currently ongoing or scheduled for later this January.

Although WSOP.com has a shared player pool in Nevada and New Jersey, there is interstate liquidity feature for Michiganders. Players from the state are nonetheless invited to participate in the January Online Circuit.

There will be 12 WSOP Circuit gold rings, alongside a guaranteed prize pool of $320K to compete for in Michigan between January 12 and 23. This is the first online series WSOP.com MI is hosting in the year 2024, with separate festivals ongoing in Pennsylvania and the Nevada/New Jersey combined market.

WSOP.com started the competition with a $20,000 NLH Turbo 6-Max with a $215 Buy-in. On January 16, the $40,000 GTD NLH High-Roller 8-Max is scheduled to take place. The main event is a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool to hold on January 21 and has a $525 buy-in.

Events are scheduled for all days of the tournament and hold 7pm daily. In addition, buy-ins range from $100 to $1,000 for casual players and high rollers alike. Winners of the WSOP Gold Rings from the Michigan events will qualify for the “Tournament of Champions” $1 Million Freeroll.

You can find a full schedule of upcoming events here and participate via the WSOP.com MI app or website.

If you enjoy a show where a high-ranking poker hand loses to an even better one, then you should try the Bad Beat jackpots. The rules to hit a BBJ across poker rooms may differ slightly, but the probability is usually steep, with players having a 1 in 2 million chance of winning.

Nevertheless, with each hand dealt, the house takes a predetermined sum from the collective pot, typically $1. In turn, this incrementally boosts the BBJ pool's monetary reserves.

Below are some active bad beat jackpots at Michigan poker rooms. All jackpots are confirmed as of January 15, 2024.

Away from BBJs, there are daily poker tournaments at Michigan casino locations. These tournaments have varying buy-in sizes and follow a regular schedule.

Here are some tournaments to add to your calendar this January.

FireKeepers Casino at Battle Creek

• Monday to Wednesday at 12:15 and 18:15, there is a $50 NLH poker game.
• Thursday at 12:15, $50 NLH; 18:15, RxR PLO/NLH
• Friday at 12:15 $50 NLH; 18:15, $95 Mega Stack NLH
• Saturday: 12:15 $50 Crazy Pineapple; 18:15, $125 NLH Green Chip Bounty
• Sunday: 12:15 $200 NLH; 18:15, $50 Pineapple

Gun Lake Casino at Wayland

• Monday and Wednesday at 19:15, $60 NLH
• Saturday at 12:15, $125 NLH Green Chip Bounty

Island Resort Casino at Harris

• Wednesday at 18:30, $80 NLH
• Thursday at 18:30, $100 NLH Satellite to Vegas Satellite Finale ($650 value)
• Sunday at 17:00, $60 NLH Satellite to Midwest Poker Challenge ($350 value)

Finally, there are tons of charity poker tournaments in Michigan. These games are also scheduled daily across poker rooms. However, in this case, 20% of the prize pool goes to charitable donations.

You can find ongoing charity poker room tournaments at all the following locations:

• King Poker Room, Grand Rapids
• Ciccarelli’s Sports Bar (Utica)
• One Eyed Jacks Poker Room (Shelby Township)
• The Saginaw Poker Room (Saginaw)
• The Event Spot (Lansing)
• Legends Poker Place of Metamora (Metamora)
• Waterford Card Room at 300 Bowl (Waterford)
• Momo’s Poker Room (Taylor)
• Krazy Kopz at Vision Lanes (Westland)
• DiCicco’s Poker Room (Shelby Township)
• Westgate Poker (Comstock)
• Rosemack Poker Room (Roseville)