Hi Adam, just checking the obvious - have you advertised your game on PokeRIDY? http://www.pokerdiy.com/find-poker-games.aspx

You 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!

1) 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.

Nice 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.