Quote:
Originally Posted by joejoe1337
Anything that includes extra money being taken from the pot is intensely disliked on the forum/amongst most live regulars. It's no coincidence that the Hippodrome is the flavour of the month. They have a draw every afternoon for free rake which is worth a decent amount to a few regulars that get down and start games early. If you're going to run a promotion that may get new players through the door, it's really worth thinking about how good the game will be.
These loyalty freerolls take a lot of money out of the community (which you want for rake, we want to win) to the hands of people that roll up for an hour, don't play a hand, then leave. Admittedly, it does give your regulars a chance at a big score - which they'll probably like - but I really think they're bad for the game and the scene in London.
That turned in to a bit of a rant, but I think it's an opinion that's shared here a decent amount.
Hear, hear!
Quote:
Originally Posted by GHSPoker
Hi,
At this juncture, it's all £1-£2 NLH cash games.
I may well start to run a tournament or two, but I am not sure yet. There are hurdles to overcome before I can consider that, realistically (dealers needed etc)
At Luton, we needed to run tournament poker to draw in a playerbase. In London, I expect that there's a larger captive audience looking for decent cash games in and of themselves, so I need a bit longer to see what it's like before I know which way I'll go.
The problem with loyalty freerolls/BBJ is that on the surface, they appear popular and well liked. It's ultimately hard to guage just what kind of value it has on your business because ultimately, no one that's doing it is going to feel brave enough to stop and try something different.
Being new to the place, I'm in a good position to make that call early on. I don't know if offering free rake etc is enough of an incentive, however, given the venue doesn't seem that well known. I can appreciate it being liked at the Hippo, but they're always going to draw a big crowd because of where they're located.
Lots of London poker regs know about Queensway, hardly anyone calls it the Horseshoe, consider that in your marketing.
I can imagine its tough for you being a small room, when you're competing with the Hippo, Vic, Empire, Aspers and don't forget the Mint. There is actually a fair bit of crossover in recreational players from the Mint/Queensway, so find out who they are and keep them sweet.
My advice would be to build a niche. You'll never compete on a volume basis with the big 4 cardrooms. The Mint is buoyed up by its sister room the Beach, I have regularly seen 5/10 regs playing 1/3 and 1/2 in the Mint late at night, and the Genting poker guys always accommodate 1/2 DC, whether its spontaneous or organised. Plus they have their nightly 'hyper' MTTs which seem popular.
Try and organise a regular PLO on a certain night. Or low stake DC. IIRC some chinese guys used to run a private 25-50 NLHE there about 4 years ago. Whatever you do don't roll out a nightly tourny schedule. There is such little crossover between tourny and cash players in London.
Sort out a facebook page. Tweet bollocks all day. It all helps.
Anyway, kudos for posting here, speak to the B&M mods about getting your account official. I'll have to come in and support a couple nights a month.