Needing help to make my games grow.
I have ran tournaments and cash games out of a local bar for about 4 years and my games have seemed to stop growing. I hope you guys can give me some ideas to get my games to growing again. Here are some details of things I already have going.
My poker games are held in two different rooms. Cash games are played in a private poker room that hold about 60 people. The tournaments are held in a room with a capacity of 170.
I have 3 really good dealers with a very good back up in case one calls in. I have bought uniforms to make them look more professional. I have 24 copag decks of cards. Four new nine foot poker tables with six by 4 inch rails. 11.5gram poker chips, New large dealer buttons so the whole table can see it.
I use a very strict system of casino rules.
I use the poker manger system from this website to keep the game flowing. I use it on my laptop and its hooked up to a 47 inch tv so the whole room can see it.
We do all sorts of promotions for our games like: free addons if you bring a new player, Big hand of the night jackpot, A mini and major bad beat jackpot, Chip bonuses for money spent in the bar. I even do a rebate for getting your aces cracked. I also run a 3month poker league. I'm really interested in ideas for this area.
I hope you guys can give me some help because i have racked my brain for new ideas. Anything will help. Buy in ideas, Game types, hardware, rule changes, tips on freerolls, tips for bounty tournaments. I want to know the things you have most enjoyed from games you have ran and/or played in. Thanks.
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October 16, 2012 at 11:17 amI think I have an idea for you that MAY work. Around where I live there is a live poker league in tenvras and restaraunts that advertise for free poker and it is. Now, from time to time we hold CHARITY events where the buy in is say $60 and the charity gets $10 of it and the players winnings come from the rest. Should the Charity HIRE You to run the event, you could take a portion of the buy in also. $45 to players $10 to charity $5 to house. The players will then eat food and drink while playing or on break and you can make money there with the restaraunt also. Now, sometimes there MAY be a friendly game or two being held in the back corner of the room played with CHIPS. Might not work for you where you are at but may have given you some sort of an idea. Check with your city clerk.
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September 12, 2012 at 7:23 amIMHO you’ve got the right anwesr!
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March 8, 2012 at 11:51 amNice post Zombie.
On the one hand you’d think that the demise of online poker would cause an uptick in live game participation in the US; on the other that does not seem to be the result!
I think the part about presidential candidates would stand on its own and should be a separate blog post though. That’s something that should be talked about more and I hate to see it buried in a reply.
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March 7, 2012 at 3:37 pm1); As in any business, the first three rules to success are Location, Location, Location. Is the local populace big enough? Perhaps you already have every poker player in the area, and the well is running dry. Is the bar a nice place? Be objective here, if the place looks like a smoke filled dump, and crack dealers are pushing their product nearby, a lot of serious players (myself included) won’t even stop. How is the local poker climate? Organized poker games are illegal in many places, so many would be players are kept away by the social stigma of being arrested for a misdemeanor.
2); Has growth stopped because you are losing players as quickly as you are gaining players? In the business world, this is called “churn”. While Churn is unavoidable, it can be slowed via loyalty programs. Player of the Year awards, Free admission after 20 events, or a year end bonus that is available only to players who attended at least 75% of the events.
3); If you are located in the United States, the poker boom got crushed by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Legislation was supported by casinos to shut down online poker because they were afraid they were losing patrons to their home computers. They got the UIGEA attached to a non-related bill, and the poker-boom was over. Political action groups, like the Poker Players Alliance and now major casinos (who noticed a loss of poker players since the legislation) have been working hard to repeal the UIGEA or at least allow some form of online poker in the USA. When/If online poker is allowed again, then I believe poker will thrive again.
I don’t want to get political on this forum, but the following presidential candidates have made statements regarding online poker:
Mitt Romney: “social costs are too high, and legalization would have detrimental effects on people’s addictive habits”
Rick Santorum: “gaming is not something that is beneficial,” and is a “vice” – the detrimental effects of which would “grow exponentially” if people were allowed to gamble in the comfort of their own homes.
Ron Paul: “I think people should have legalized freedom. People should be free to make their own decisions. There should be no regulations on the Internet.”
Barack Obama: Is a known poker player, and his administration written that the Wire act of 1961 (the basis of the UIGEA) only applies to sporting events. This, in theory, clears the the way for online poker again, but Obama has not yet made an official pro or con statement.
Growing your poker game may depend quite a bit on the next American President.
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February 18, 2012 at 2:05 pmYou need to put yourself in contact with other players in the area.
Attend any area games you can. Look for local players on home poker sites like DIY, there are many, contact them.
Try to put yourself in the position of being the local authority on area games. Maybe make a website and offer to post local game announcements there. Post photos of local game rooms there also. people love showing of there nice poker setups!
The poker boom has faded a bit in the last few years. Good luck!
rodders
February 4, 2012 at 4:49 pmHi Adam, just checking the obvious – have you advertised your game on PokeRIDY? http://pokerdiy.com/find-poker-games.aspx