Poker Room Review: Howell Shark Club

Howell Shark Club
1140 Pinckney Rd
Howell, MI 48843
4 Days a week Wed—Sun 5PM –2AM
20 of 25 Chips

It was pouring buckets when I pulled into the Shark Club
parking lot. Plenty of cars in the lot for a Wednesday
night, plenty of poker players.

Two full cash tables and a good sized list for the tournament
greeted me at the door. Later in the evening a local
poker star dropped in to play some cash games—the first
place winner of the WPT Open on Jan 24, and at the final
table in the Heartland Poker Tour at Greektown in June.

#1 Games
The Shark Club offers $1/$2 and $2/$5 Cash Games, $20
Turbo 9-player Sit-n-goes, plus a $25 buy-in tournament
each night. Cash rake is 10% up to $6.
3 of 5 chips

#2 Tournament
Another fun tournament! For a $25 buy-in, you get 2500
chips—plus another 500 bonus chips for $5 more. 80% of
the tourney buy-in and bonus chips go to the prize pool.
The top 5 of 23 players cashed the night I played. The
blind structure is pretty aggressive, increasing every 15
minutes with blinds starting at 25/50. Get aggressive or go
home. Players deal to themselves until the final table.
Rules are standard, enforced across the board.
3 of 5 chips!

#3 Atmosphere
As you walk in the main doors, the poker room is to the
left, the bar straight ahead, dining tables and additional
bar seating to the right. Music plays at just the right volume,
where you can hear it, but don’t have to shout over
the songs. Flat screen TV’s are everywhere.
5-Chips in this category!

#4 Equipment
We played on six brand new 10-person poker tables with
cup holders and the card suits on the center felt and padded
chairs! Custom Shark Club chips with denominations
stamped in at the cash tables. The tourney chips are
pretty generic—but brand new!
4 chips for equipment—nice stuff!!

#5 Staff
The charity volunteers are at the bar as you walk in selling
chips and taking names for the tournament. Cash table
dealers are quick, accurate, and friendly. The Shark Club
wait-staff are quick, friendly, and cute.
5 chips for a great staff.

This was a really fun evening with friendly players, and a
brush with fame!! Recommended!!!