With dozens of legal sites running across the world, PokerStars has an established track record operating online poker games on the biggest of scales. Its international sites rank at or near the top for usability, player numbers and prize pools, and the company has brought that best-in-class approach to its Michigan online poker site.
PokerStars’ biggest appeal comes from the fact it offers more games, more opponents, more choice and more prizes than its competitors.
Ready to play online poker for real money in Michigan? Don’t miss out on your welcome bonus! At PokerStars MI you can choose between two first deposit offers: $30 in free play, or a matched deposit of up to $600.
Depositing $20 or more with the code ‘FREE30’ rewards you with an additional $30 in gameplay credit and tournament tickets, letting you try new games or formats with nothing to lose.
Using the code ‘STARS600’ sees your deposit amount matched up to $600. This applies for your first few deposits, with bonus funds unlocked through gameplay and released in $10 increments.
PokerStars MI offers a range of changing promotions throughout the year, with some linked to its casino or sportsbook and others concentrating on online poker games. Here’s an overview on the type of poker promotion you can find at PokerStars’ Michigan online poker site:
As you’d expect, these award the biggest prizes to those who make it highest up the table.
These jackpot sit & go tournaments feature randomized prize pools with a small chance of winning a huge prize. Promotional Spin & Go’s may award high-value tickets for big tournaments, or even more enormous cash prizes.
The Stars Rewards loyalty program (more on that below) awards Chests for regular play. Collectibles or dice throws in these Chests allow players to take part in promotional mini games and win extra prizes.
Win holding a specific hand to receive a randomized cash reward.
Details of current promotions can be found on the PokerStars MI homepage.
It’s easy to get started playing online poker for real money in Michigan. First download the installation file from the website – hit the ‘Download’ button on the homepage and save the file to your computer. Next, run the file and install the program or, if you’re on mobile, simply download and launch the app.
Once installed and launched, the software will prompt you to create an account. You’ll need your personal details handy, so make sure you have your ID, social security number, bank details and proof of address nearby. Now’s the time to come up with that perfect screen name!
You’ll be able to play for play money straight away, but if you prefer your online poker gambling to involve real money you’ll need to fund your account, so hit the ‘Cashier’ button in the lobby. Luckily, PokerStars MI offers a great range of useful and popular payment methods including credit cards and PayPal, so you’ll find a convenient option in no time.
Once you’re ready to play, you’ll find the lobby very easy to navigate and your favorite games just a few clicks or taps away.
The Stars Rewards loyalty program aims to give players of online poker in Michigan rewards that are relevant to them. This means that if you never play casino or bet sports you won’t receive rewards you won’t use. But if you enjoy slots, sports, roulette or other games, you can expect to receive related rewards in your Chests.
Stars Rewards can be joined by a simple click in the lobby – look for the Stars Rewards button (it may say ‘Join’ or ‘Join Now’). It’s free to opt in and, once you do, you’ll receive reward points for most of your real money activity on the site.
These points fill a progress bar, which when filled award you with a Chest of goodies like tournament tickets, cash or StarsCoin (which can be exchanged for cash or other items). Complete enough bars and you’ll move up a level for even bigger rewards.
In Michigan online poker can be played on desktop or mobile. So, which is better for you? Fortunately, the mobile apps for Android and iOS offer almost all the games and features found on the desktop version.
In the desktop software, tabs along the top and side of the lobby provide access to everything PokerStars has to offer. In the mobile app, a simplified set of tabs along the bottom make it easy to navigate your account, as well as find online poker cash games and tournaments, using the smaller screen space available.
For most fans of online poker Texas Hold’em will be what they’re looking for, and all those games are easily found on both mobile and desktop, as is multi-tabling support.
The Cashier section is available on both desktop and mobile for payments and withdrawals, alongside the ‘My Stars’ menu which lets you access your account, rewards, tickets and more.
Since launching in 2001 PokerStars has built an international reputation as the best online poker site, and that quality is on display when it comes to its Michigan online poker room.
Smooth software, 24/7 customer support and a trustworthy and transparent commitment to fair play are what players expect from the number one name in online poker, and that’s what they’ll find at PokerStars MI.
What’s more, the large number of players at PokerStars allows the site to spread games and formats that might not be possible elsewhere, such as mixed games.
We at GambleOnlineMichigan checked where PokerStars Michigan can improve and we think desktop users will love the filtering options in the lobby, making it easy to find the exact game they’re looking for, but the mobile app offers a watered-down version of this feature. It would be great to have the choice to switch to a fully-fledged version of the lobby on mobile – even if it clutters up the screen a little.
The loyalty program also has room to improve. Each Chest you receive is randomized, so could contain a huge prize. But most of the time you’ll receive something much smaller, and the fact you never know what you’ll receive can be a frustration.
Additionally, the points needed to complete a progress bar and receive a Chest can vary wildly, as they are tied to factors such as the amount you have played, deposited or withdrawn.
PokerStars has a well-established reputation as a giant in the world of online poker, offering a wider variety of games and tournament formats than even its biggest rivals.
Online poker cash games in Michigan are available in a variety of stakes, table sizes and game types. These include:
Games may be available in no limit, pot limit or limit variants, with stakes ranging from $0.01/$0.02 up to $100/$200.
Online poker tournaments are available in various different formats, from freeze-outs to rebuys and even KO tournaments which award cash prizes for each player you eliminate.
These begin as soon as the required number of players have registered, and can be played for as little as $1 or as much as $500.
Like a short-handed Sit & Go, with the twist that the winner-take-all prize pool can be anything up to 1,000x the buy-in. These are generally available at $1, $5, $10 and $25 buy-ins, with other special versions introduced from time to time.
Starting at a fixed time, these attract the most players and so offer the biggest prizes. Buy-ins usually range from around $3 to $50, with the biggest tourneys – like the Sunday Special, or the MICOOP Main Event – reaching the $200-$300 mark.
Hitting the ‘Tournaments’ or ‘Tourney’ tabs (depending on if you are on mobile or desktop) brings up the list of multi-table online poker tournaments.
This lobby also shows tournament details at a glance, including the size of the buy-in and guaranteed prize pool, the speed of the tourney (e.g. slow, regular, turbo, hyper-turbo), the game being played and how long is left of any late registration.
Few rivals can compete with PokerStars’ software, which has been leading the industry for several decades. The company was founded by a former IBM programmer who decided to create the software from scratch, and the current PokerStars software is a continuation of that legacy.
Most users find PokerStars’ software to offer a best-in-class experience when it comes to usability, with the only potential downside coming from the fact it rarely gets completely overhauled. This means if you don’t like the software as it is, you’re unlikely to be swayed by a big update around the corner.
As a fully-licensed operator, all player funds and data are completely secure at PokerStars MI.
| Deposit | Withdrawal | |||
Payment Method | Minimum / Maximum | Process Time | Minimum / Maximum | Process Time |
| Visa | $10 / N/A | Instant | N/A | N/A |
| MasterCard | $10 / N/A | Instant | N/A | N/A |
| Paysafecard | $10 / N/A | Instant | N/A | N/A |
| Bank Transfer | $10 / N/A | Instant | $5 / N/A | 3-10 business days |
| PayPal | $10 / N/A | Instant | $5 / N/A | Instant |
| Skrill | $10 / N/A | Instant | $5 / N/A | Instant |
Just as the padlock symbol in your browser indicates your personal information is encrypted and safe, the license PokerStars received from the State of Michigan similarly guarantees that your funds are completely secure. Even if the company were to fold overnight, your money would still be 100% safe.
The PokerStars online poker site offers a virtual assistant feature to provide customer support, although it may not be available at all times. You can easily contact support with a few clicks via the contact support form on their site, in their software and in their apps.
Further assistance is also available in the very detailed Help section of the PokerStars MI website. Unfortunately, customer support is not available by telephone.
Being licensed by the state of Michigan, PokerStars MI is obliged to meet extremely high standards of security and safety. This may mean a few extra measures taken to verify your identity when you first register, but that’s a small price to pay for the knowledge your funds and data are secure.
As well as ensuring a high degree of safety for data and money, PokerStars is also required to maintain the highest of standards when it comes to fair play. They use an advanced RNG (random number generator) based in quantum physics to ensure the cards are random, fair and mathematically unpredictable.
Per state law, PokerStars’ license is issued as a partnership between the company and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Gaming Authority.
While PokerStars Casino may use games supplied by third parties, when it comes to poker the company uses its own proprietary technology.
First launched in 2001, PokerStars quickly became the biggest online poker room in the world, with a reputation as the home of online poker.
Due to complex legal issues, access to the worldwide site was taken away from US citizens in 2011, to be reintroduced at a state-by-state level. Some other states that now offer access to PokerStars include New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
The PokerStars website offers one of the most complete FAQ sections you’re likely to find online, with detailed answers to any number of frequently asked questions.
This includes everything from game rules and poker room policies (for example, what happens if a server crashes during a tournament), to issues around deposits and withdrawals, to information on how to customize the software with hotkeys and shortcuts.
We’ve gathered a few of the most helpful questions here:
StarCodes are used to activate certain promotions, to award select prizes or tickets, or to opt in to specific activities. If you’re eligible, you will receive a StarCode directly from PokerStars. Enter it in the desktop software via the ‘Tools’ menu.
No. Part of poker is learning how your opponents play, so users are only permitted one account and are not allowed to change their username.
Yes, PokerStars offers play money games in a wide variety of games, stakes and formats. These games are raked to more accurately represent real money games.
In this infrequent event, a cash game would be ‘rolled back’ as if the hand never took place. If a technical error were to result in a tournament needing to be cancelled, players are refunded their buy-ins and fees if the tournament is still in its early phases. Later on in a tournament, any remaining players would receive their buy-ins and fees, as well as a proportion of the prize pool according to their chip count at the time.
We know why you’re reading this PokerStars Michigan review, and that’s to get the answer to the only question that really matters: “Is it worth joining PokerStars MI?”
In our opinion, the answer is a wholehearted “yes”!
International players have agreed for years that the PokerStars software is the best online poker platform available, and now players of online poker in Michigan can see the proof for themselves.
From the high levels of security to the smooth operation of the software, the large range of games and formats to the wide choice of payment methods, PokerStars gives us a lot of reasons to recommend it.
But the biggest plus, for us, is the number of great games running at any given time, making it ideal for online poker players who want to set their own agendas.
If you love to play poker online in Michigan, you owe it to yourself to give PokerStars a try.
