I have visited Firekeepers several times in the last few months and it is my new casino of choice. I play slots and have found the selection of slot machines astounding! Even better than any casino in Las Vegas. While I haven't won anything big, I find I can play for 8-10 hours and spend far less than in Detroit casinos - usually around $50.00 per visit. The staff is friendly, the casino floor and public areas are clean and the food is worth the price. We loved their "Happy Hour" drink prices. I just wish they had a hotel on site.
This place has a lot of potential but its Blackjack rules and conditions are terrible: H17, AMS machines and ridiculously high minimum tables, especially on weekends. All tables are at least $15 minimum on weekends.
The buffet is okay but the selection is rather limited to say the least. I expect when the casino near Wayland opens this place is going to lose most of its business. They may be able to get away with screwing over the players now, but once a little competition moves into the neighborhood...
My games are JOB Video Poker and Blackjack and I have no opinions of other gaming options.
Outside of Nevada, good blackjack conditions are impossible to find. But at least Firekeepers (locally dubbed "Moneykeepers") offers several $5 tables - weekdays anyway. The $5 tables are usually full and hard to find a seat. I settled for a $10 table - a multideck continuous shuffle affair - at least six decks - dealer hits soft 17. I played for a half hour or so - left up $7.50
The Video poker choices were better than other Michigan casinos. Unless you are familiar with video poker, you won't understand the lingo but I found a bank of 25 cent 9-6 machines (bonus) which got most of my play.
One needs to pay attention to the pay tables - along the back wall (near poker room) there is a row of seemingly identical $.25/.50/1.00 denomination Multi game machines. But the VP JOB pay tables range from 8-5 to 9-5. You need to check each one if you are particular. If you play alongside the wife, as I do, one of you will most probably have a lesser paying machine.
If you prefer a bar top machine, you will find poorer pay tables. I didn't check each one but the most frequent was 7-5. And it didn't matter what denomination - $1 credits had same returns. Again - I didn't check every barstool.
Even after choosing the best paytable, one still needs luck. I was fortunate to basically break even during my 4 hour visit. Most play was at the $.25 level but when ahead (on house money), I would change to the dollar level.
In all, I found the place to be completely acceptable.
Very Nice Employees, good location, just off I-94..Casino was very large..lots of penny machines..in fact too many. The smoking areas were confusing. But will go back.
