Quote:
Originally Posted by torontotablecpt
I’m way too lazy to review pages 3 and 4, and although I believe the continued responses from the OP I are super levels, how does the playground poker room on a reserve in Canada make money? I know their rate is ridiculous, but you get free steak and drinks at the table around the clock all you can eat!!
Playground is a great example, probably the most profitable all-poker club in North America. They do this by the following:
1) Providing the best managed games in the most comfortable environment
2) Low building costs: basically a warehouse-type building on a piece of land on a reservation that has no intrinsic real-estate value
3) Low staff costs: while managers/floor/dealers/restaurant & bar staff are paid reasonable wages, the waitresses work for tips only (which are quite lucrative, mostly based on their attractiveness / sexy outfits)
4) Rake: it is 5% / $15 max in 2/5 games, which is higher than Vegas, but not ridiculous (you're only paying more rake on $100+ pots, which you may win 1-2 per hour, so let's say you pay $10 per hour more rake per person than Vegas for free food, since free drinks are the same)
5) Attracting a lot of recreational players, which in turn attracts a lot of regs: sometimes they've 20-25 cash tables running on a weekend night
Could all of the above work in Las Vegas? I don't think so because there are already enough good rooms offering good enough games with lower rakes / reasonable perks (e.g. Encore poker room is 5% / $5 max for 2/5 with $1,500 buy-in, free premium drinks, $1.50/hour food comps, comped parking and enough well-heeled recs that regs love to play there).