Michigan Poker Tour Day 2: Holland

There are two poker room in Holland. The Poker Zone and Century Lanes. I've played at the Poker Zone a couple times and had a great time at both visits, so I was pretty excited to get there again. (check out the poker room review - on UMichiganPoker.com under the "Reviews" tab, and on this blog)

Around 5:30pm I pulled into the strip mall where the Poker Zone is located - I could see a full cash game when I parked the truck. As I walked in, Tom greeted me with a smile. People were signing up for the 7pm tournament. There was one seat left at the cash table, so I bought in and sat down.

The plan was to play for about an hour, cash out and drive over to see what's going on at Century. You know what they say about the best laid plans....

Two terrible hands in less than 10 minutes, and I was done at the Poker Zone.

On to Century Lanes...

Century Lanes is, as the name implies - in a bowling alley. The parking lot was packed. The poker room is in the middle of the bowling alley down the hall. There's also an entrance on the north end of the building. Completely non-smoking poker room, tunes in the background, and separate from the bar & bowling alley.

I showed up at 7:10 for the 7pm tournament and was put 2nd on the alternates list. That was great - gave me a chance to meet the crazy room manager, Russ. Within 5 minutes of the tournament start, there were enough alternates so they opened another tournament table. 65 players for the $10 + $10 add-on tournament paid 6 places with a $380 first prize. Add-ons available in the first 4 levels as long as you still had chips.

Before the tournament end, Russ had opened a 7-card stud $3/$6 limit table. Now, I've heard of charity rooms playing 7-card, but this was the first time I had ever seen it in person! Pretty cool. There were also two $1/$2 hold'em cash tables going. With the complete beat-down I took earlier, cash tables were a rail-birding only!!

Two great poker rooms! Can't wait to see what Muskegon has to offer!!!