Next person that hits a 4 card straight on me is getting a hex put on them.

Good morning Caveman.

How was the MGCB meeting yesterday? Any good/bad news for Snookers?

Good morning Gambit. The meeting was only about Casino business. There is 1 guy, who's name escapes me at the moment, that handles all the Millionaire party stuff. I'm going to try to contact him via phone or email.

Don was there but no news on the investigation. Hopefully they are wrapping it up soon one way or the other.

From what I have heard, Snookers (Don) is pretty much finished. But that is from all unreliable sources. Would be best if they figure it out asap so he can sell the place and let someone else open it back up. Hopefully, to an honest person who will follow the rules, that way we all will have a kick ass place to play again in.

If he were to lose his license the only thing to sell would be the restaurant as there wouldn't be a license to sell.

I'm thinking if we want more rooms with more fish, we need to start supporting smaller rooms from time to time. Specifically, we should plan some sessions at Hamlin Pub after they open back up. No reason we can't do it "Rounder's Style."

I'm seeing some of the regulars from Snookers' at other rooms but where did all the fish go? If Snookers' doesn't open back up, I think we losing money out of the poker economy that may never drive an extra 20 minutes to another room. All the more reason to help get smaller rooms the business to pull in the local fish.

I think you answered your own question. People/Fish are not likely to drive very far to play. Snookers was perfect cuz of the location imo. It drew people from all over the place, but also drew all the fish in that area. People like nice, clean places to play.

Also, I think that the fact that Snookers ALWAYS had games going was a huge reason that fish went up there. Would you want to drive a half hour our more to play poker and not be 100% sure that you will be able to sit down and play?

That is the problem with small rooms. They are hit or miss. Not worth the risk for a lot of people who work 40+ hours a week and just want to play cards for an hour or two.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for support all the rooms. I just think that if they can not supply a game everytime they are open, it turns people away.

Totally agree with Gambit. Location is such a huge factor for rec players, but so is action. I don't know how else you build action at a room other than having a bunch of regs, and I know it is expensive to have big tournaments to keep filling the seats, but somehow you have to have both: location and action.

The thing is charity rooms are limited in the offers they can make to attract and keep players. That's why I'm shocked the casinos downtown don't offer more with the advantage they have over charity rooms. Where are guaranteed prize pools to attract players? Where are the free meals and free rolls for regs?

Also, there are people that own a license that would love to own Snookers cuz of the location and cuz it was/is established. I would bet that Don would have no problem selling that place (assuming that he accepts fair market pricing for it).

Having new ownership in there would be the best solution to the problem imo.

Great minds think alike, and so do ours

Very true on all counts.

Keys to starting a room:
1. ADVERTISE!
2. Run tournaments.
3. Offer free food to cash game players.
4. Make sure a cash game is going when the tourney starts for people to fill spots as people bust out.
5. If you cannot get the cash game going, hire prop players to get it started.

Cash games are what make the money. You cannot start a business without losing money for a while. If the charities don't make money, they won't come back. A poker room can be a gold mine but you have to spend the money to make the money..

I know one of the financial planners at Greektown. He is also an avid poker player. According to him, the main reason the rooms at the major casinos are pretty poorly run is because poker just isn't important to the casino. He said that poker was less than 1% of GTs revenue even when they had more players. He estimated that poker was not much more than 1% at Motor City Casino. The poker room manager would love to get things done and make things better, but the casino as a whole does not care and therefore doesn't spend resources on the poker room. The reason a place like Snookers gets these things right is because their main focus is poker. Fwiw there are free meals at MCC but it's only average. Little Caesar's pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, sandwiches, chips, fruit. It would be nice to have comps instead of this stuff, but it's not bad and it's convenient.

As for tournaments, a place like MCC just doesn't have the table space. When the BBJ was around 350k, they cut out their 1 and 2 table tournies altogether. Again, a big tournament might be profitable, but the casino just isn't going to go out of their way to host a big poker tournament that takes up space outside the poker room.

Probably pocket change for you and Frank. You guys should make him an offer. I'm sure I could get Rob to help me interview the thong wearing waitresses

I wish it was. No way I'm abdicating talent recruitment to you and Rob anyway. Actually, I want the person from Hollywood Casino to do the recruiting.

Sad but true. There is just no justice for poker players in the whole deal. We need like a players alliance where we all show up as a group and fill a room if we get the right comps and rake deal.

Scott,

Are there licenses for sale? What is the chance that Don will litigate the closing? Is the MGCB's decision final?

Lol... you crack me up.

I can just imagine you, Rob, and I sitting there playing would you-how much while interviewing the talent.

I was talking to a guy from Santinos and he stated the owner of the place bought the last license from the state of Michigan.

I would love to see them open up more licenses... I would like to have one myself.

I like the sound of this. If you grossly mismanage a room, and completely disregard mgcb rules, you shouldn't have a license, or one to sell.

This was supposed to be quoted in my last post.

I don't believe you can sell any at this time. Your best bet is to find someone that still has an active license and offer to run the room for them.

I want to know from the MGCB what their intentions are with the moratorium. It was put into place when there were 192 poker rooms and now we have less than 50. I would think they would start opening some more up but the influx of people that would want to open them would be huge. I wouldn't want 3 of them to open in Waterford all at once.

No one is going to want to buy Snookers when they can only have 3 charities running at a time.

I would.

You can still make money. Also, with 3 charities, your costs would less.

Ofcourse, unlimited charities would be the best case scenario.

They should license them by geographic location to avoid saturation.

Pffff, bite your tongue sir!!

Exactly! Their employment future SHOULD be determined by "would you-how much"