Friday, February 4, 2005

Casino Windsor to open 10-table poker room

24-hour venue is in response to game's growing popularity, due to cable shows.

By Joel J. Smith / The Detroit News

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Casino Windsor will open a poker room on Feb. 11, the third Detroit-area casino to offer the card game in response to its growing popularity.

Workers are putting the finishing touches on Poker Place, a 3,000-square-foot room that will have 10 poker tables offering games Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and others.

The riverfront Canadian casino overlooking Detroit will offer poker 24 hours a day. Table limits will vary from $3 to unlimited amounts.

"We're anticipating a busy opening day . . . ," said Grant Darling, Casino Windsor's vice president of table games. "Opening this room is a direct response to the increasing popularity of the game and it gives our table game customers the full package when they visit Casino Windsor."

Casino Windsor gets about 80 percent of its customers from the United States, mostly from Michigan.

The popularity of poker has skyrocketed over the last several years as a number of cable television stations began broadcasting poker tournaments, complete with expert commentary. Through small cameras embedded in the poker tables, television viewers as well as the TV commentators can see the players' cards and follow the betting strategy.

Greektown Casino in Detroit was the first area casino to offer a poker room. They started with eight tables in 2002 but doubled the number in early 2004 by removing several rows of nearby slot machines.

Detroit's MotorCity Casino opened its eight-table poker room on July 4, 2004. MGM Grand Detroit Casino does not offer poker .

Officials at Greektown and MotorCity report having waiting lists for seats at the poker tables during peak weekday hours and on weekends.

You can reach Joel J. Smith at (313) 222-2556 or jsmith@detnews.com.