Went up north to the Leelanau peninsula in northern lower Michigan for a weekend break and stayed at the Leelanau Sands casino because it was cheap and I heard they had poker. Up north was beautiful as always and the casino was not bad either.
Leelanau Sands opened in 1985 and was one of the earliest Indian casinos in Michigan. Run by the Grand Traverse Band of Odawa and Ojibwe, it is located on their reservation in Peshawbestown. It is a long, one story building housing mostly slots and other electronica, but with about 7-8 table games with $2 minimums and decent poker room with 5 real tables and two video tables. It's old and a bit dirty, but open and airy with high ceilings.
I played the Sunday tournament, which was a $60 buy-in for 3500 in chips, blinds starting at 25-50 and roughly doubling every 20 minutes. It's a crappy structure, which has everyone short-stacked by the end of the second hour, but it's just for giggles. And what giggles! There was a great cast of characters, mostly colorful locals and a few tourists. I must say it was the most pleasant poker game I've ever been in. Friendly folks with a wry sense of humor about the whole thing -- even likely grumblers had to shut up and smile. Play was weak of course, but that didn't stop me from losing about midway when I shoved my short stack on the button with 5-6 suited and the BB woke up with AA.
Times are changing though, and the Band has a flashy new casino down the road in Traverse City, called Turtle Creek, that just opened on June 24. I hear that the weekly tournament will move there and only a few tables will remain at the Sands (no word on whether they will be electronic-only). It's likely to be more touristy, since the Grand Traverse Resort is adjacent, but the new casino looks very good, with some nice, angular, modern architecture and a bigger hotel (the Sands' hotel was more of motel). I look forward to checking out Turtle Creek on my next trip, but if they still have a live cash game, I will probably head back to the Sands for its nice, cozy, out of the way location, and friendly faces. Besides, $60/night for a last-minute hotel up north is hard to beat.
Oh, and the chips were dirty Chipcos that I gave away as quickly as I could.
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