Good suggestions.

1. And 4. Are done.

1.

I'll bet CeJeh a dinner at thunder cafe that you'll never see the line rule at another thunder valley series tournament. (2014)

4. They do listen. Buy me a Starbucks and I'll give you 100 items they've improved in the last two years.

For 2 and 3 those are strictly cash game items. I couldn't comment on those although the host idea I heard for the first time last week as something thunder should improve on.


As a tournament player I wantore tournament oriented items. Thunder will be the premier wsop satellite location in 2014. Be looking for some serious $500 and $1,000 satellites.

Couple more late-night Redbull-induced wet dream thoughts...

1. The Kings owners announced the other day that they're seeking out sponsors for the planned Downtown Arena. Looking for $120 mil for 20 years or something like that. I think Thunder Valley should do it. $6 million dollars per year for international advertising is not bad for a company that makes $1 million dollars a day. They could partner with the Kings by having contests for tickets and memorabilia, having meet and greets with players, etc. They could give away hotel/spa packages or restaurant coupons at Kings games to bring people in. Commercials on TV breaks advertising what's new in the poker room and any tournaments that are upcoming, as well as other casino advertisements. Oh man I gotta stop I'm getting too excited about Thunder Valley Arena (is that not the perfect name for our location/crowd)!

2. They need a Twitter account. Not the generic Thunder Valley Casino account, no. They need a @ThunderValleyPoker account. Have whoever is on the floor or at the front desk update on cash games every 30 minutes or so, in addition to tweeting out any promotions/upcoming tournaments. Also tweet tournament updates. This is so simple that I can't believe it hasn't happened yet. Free advertising...

3. Anybody down to raise the limits on cash games? I'm thinking...

1/3: $50-$500
2/5: $200-$1000
5/10: $500-$3000 to start then table max after the game gets going

$300 cap on 1/3 is whatever, but too small IMO. $100 min is too small for 2/5. If you wanna play for $100 go play 1/3. And $300 is too small for 5/10, that's what 2/5 is for. This will spice things up a bit and create a bit more action in the 1/3 and 2/5 games.

4. They need hosts! Royale runs big games because the hosts put asses in seats and take care of those asses once they occupy a seat. Capitol has hosts as well. Graton's hosts are what has created those absurd games they've been running.

I think 2 categories of hosts would be just swell. They need a high-limit host to bring players in for 5/10+ (maybe start running a 10/25 game on weekends?) to ensure that those games run smoothly and regularly. They could offer meal service and/or free rooms in the hotel for the high limit players. Jimmy at Peppermill takes great care of his high-limit players and offers suites to people that play a minimum # of hours in the 5/10 game. Why not Thunder? Especially with their location.

They could also use a mixed game/non hold-em host. There is definitely a demand for non hold-em games here. Whether it's 4-8 H.O.R.S.E., or 5/5 PLO, some people want to play something different. No rooms spread these games because there's no organization between the players: they show up to random places at random times and complain when 8 other people don't magically appear to play with them. A host could organize such things, and corral people to show up and get games started. In the last couple months I've heard demand for the following games which have no regular home in Shaqramento:

A) Big Limit Hold-Em: nothing above 8/16 runs here. Could we support a 20/40 1/2 Kill game once a week?

B) H.O.R.S.E.: never heard of this running around here. Doesn't have to be big, 4/8 would be a fine start.

C) PLO8: I've played PLO8 at FLB once for about 2 hours. It was 4 handed. Much funs were had. I want very much do this again. 1/2/5 sound good.

D) PLO: has had a variety of foster parents over the years, but has been too fickle a child to maintain consistency. Thunder has had most success recently, which isn't saying much. Perhaps it would be better packaged as...

E): NLHE/PLO mix: this went down at Royale for awhile and was a lot of fun! Except for PLO fish like me, in which case it was 50% fun! We played 2/5 and it was a blast. Ran relatively consistently for a month or so before sharting all over itself.

F) Various small limit games. Stud, Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, Badugi, 5 card draw, lowball, or whatever. I don't play these god-forsaken no-go-all-in games, but whatever! Some people do! Give the people what they want!

And finally, the Cadillac of poker...

G) Crazy Pineapple. Especially if you have to discard face-up. Mother. Of. God. I might just touch myself the fun is out of control.

Nobody seems to want to make these games happen regularly. The 1st room to give any of these a legitimate shot wins them forever. Somebody please at least try to get this crap to run! We need some variety around here! 10 card rooms all running the same games isn't good for anybody. Try something new!!!

This has been another late-night rant, brought to you by Redbull. Hope you enjoyed it! Or not. Who cares?

CeJeh are you the 5/10 guy me and Pat and Adam played OFC with at limelight?

No. I don't gamble.

discarding face up on crazy was def interesting

@TVPokerRoom , god damn fish!

Yes they need a twitter account badly!

I just noticed that the winter POG at grand Sierra was under way. It also lands right on same day as main event at 2pair magazine tour in Fresno.

2pair has a guarantee and magazine cover to win.

2pair had Chris spears.

POG at GSR doesn't seem to have a toe plus two forum to its name.

Or a two plus two thread! Word on the street is that they canceled today's event.

GSR is dead, they might as well shut down the poker room.

Lol wtf I spend an unhealthy amount of time on twitter and have never heard of this **** gat dammit

Yeah that's easily my favorite poker game. The face-up discard adds a whole new dimension to it. Definitely need to do that again.

Also, NP, you mentioned that the line rule will never be used in a tournament again starting 2014? That's great! But what about the cash games? It's just as horrible in cash as it is in tournaments. It needs to be gone altogether.

Hey NP since your the go to guy for TVC why is the pay structure so shi*** for the 40k grnt?? 212 players and only 10k for 1st? This past wsopc in Tahoe event 1 drew 202 players and it was over 15k for first.

It's because TV takes 25% as a rake, which is WAY too high. It's one of the reasons why I'll only play there in a pinch or if someone else is running the tournament (HPT, Card Player, or now WPT). They should only be taking 11% or so, IMO.

Didn't realized wsop was 365 and Tvc is 300 so that is some of it but doesn't make 5k difference for 1st

That's a joke right?

I don't know the exact changeover date. Maybe when someone finishes coloring in the line rule with a black sharpie. I would think the lines on tables would be gone too just so people wouldn't get confused.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't play cash except for right now as I type I'm at a cash game. .

But obviously when the line rule is removed it will be gone for all games.

No dealers jumping in and out of cash and tournament with different rules. Could you imagine?

Already enough to worry about since many days during the week thunder is running 3 different tournaments.

Where did you see payout structure?
I went out when we were at 3 tables.
Could have min cashed but always play for top 3 spots. I swear first was 13k. 58k prize pool.

Maybe it was another event. Played 81 events this year so far.

Wish I hadn't already taken my receipt out of my pocket.

I do not think it is 25%. Actually there is no way. You've got to be kidding. You think only $225 out of $300 goes into prize pool?

I'm halfway thinking about leaving the cash game to go out to the car to check my receipt. It's not 25%.

I think it's 9%

Pretty sure 1st was $13.5k

9% seems reasonable. I wouldn't think anyone could be +EV at 25% rake.

Gotta laugh at the 25% rake idea.

I checked the paperwork. It's 10% exactly. Not 25%, a huge difference.

I'm sorry you've been missing out on a slew of great tournaments and series because you thought the rake was 25%.

I hope with this new information that it is actually lower than you think it should be that you'll be playing many more events now.

Also, gonna give you benefit of the doubt that it was an honest mistake and not intentional.

10% seems very fair for the structure and 15,000 starting chips.

As we covered before most rooms wouldn't give up the seats on a weekend with this kind of structure. They would rather run cash games.

Yep 10%. $57,240 prizepool with 212 entries. $30 rake

Yeah guys of all the things to knock Thunder about, the 1st Saturday $300 40k gtd is not one of them. As far as Local Casinos go you really can't ask for much better than this for a monthly tournament.