Baffled! Cheap private tourneys at FT....

I asked Dakota a few month ago why we don't offer like $1 & $2 tourneys at Full Tilt. The answer was they charge a minimum of $.50 a head, so bad return on investment, and that made a lot of sense of course. So I'm looking in the private tourney tab, and find a several tourneys for $.25, and a couple for $.10 - yes, a dime, plus a $.50 fee.

Now, just some of these are sponsored by a particular member of another forum, who you have to email to get a password. I almost wanted to write the person to ask why this tourney might seem a good idea to anyone. But I figured the only possible way I'd come off would sound like "How stupid is this?" Apparently they are not signing up too quickly. But still - only a high-ranking member of that forum can set these up, right, so what could they be thinking? Or am I missing something?

The bottom example, 50 cents (plus 50 cent fee) tourney seems to be run by FT themselves. The password is 'fulltilt', says so right in the lobby. So how private is that? Again, why would anyone want to play with no $ added or guaranteed, then they could enter a SNG for $1+.25?

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the funny thing is the rake is still larger than the buy in

Well, that's what I'm sayin', in a few cases double, and even 5x the buy-in. Just scratching my head over here. There's gotta be an explanation. Or not.

It's ridiculous and the only reason why we won't do low buy-ins there. I guess some people are crazy enough to pay the rake.

There is: People are Dumb!

Ridiculous indeed. Speaking of low buy-ins, and not sure this is the best spot for this, but here goes...

I noticed there were a lot of private tourneys at Carbon for like $1.10 or $2.20, so good rake. Was thinking this could be fun for the growing interests in Omaha (hint hint ). I decided to tap the 'live chat' and got someone right away. Here's how it went....

So whaddaya think? Nice fill-in for Sunday or Monday evenings maybe.

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There are explanations - but not necessarily sound, financial ones. They are primarily 'social' related games and tourneys. 'Clans' and groups on site 'x' do a lot of these. They do not get huge player fields, but attract those who don't mind spending 50cents to the site to play a truely 'private' game among online friends.

There are also unseen benefits from time to time. Payouts are not limited to the prize pool structure. Bounties, 'special seat' payouts, add-ons from site members, etc can get added to the benefits of playing.

Poker sites and forums are not exempt from ego, power plays and 'acceptance' issues. Some want to see THEIR name as the 'sponsor' or purpose of the game (ego). Those who have the correct site standing to organize private games get THEIR pound of flesh (power), and those who feel that playing in these will get THEM more recognition will also play and pay (acceptance). Tell me you've never known people who would pay 50 cents to 'buy' a friend and a way into being 'included' ..??

Here's a good example. Just posted in our Poker General. It's a $1 buy-in (unl rebuys) with a $1 rake. Nothing 'wrong' with it, and it will get takers. There are those willing to pay fees for fun. We all pay to go to the movies ... nothing wrong with 'pay to play'.

"CRAZY $1 REBUY EVENT! ALL-IN-OR FOLD GAME
Here it is! I set up a private event on FT for this crazy game! You know the rules; shove-in or go home.
I've invited the folks from each of the three poker forums I belong to. No, it's not the OFC but its gonna be fun. Show those folks whose forum has the best player...
Details:
Full Tilt
January 20
8pm est
$1.00 with unlimited rebuys
I've asked FT to take $10 from my acct to add to the prize pool, but that part hasn't appeared yet.
PM me for the password"

Paying a rake 5x the buy-in? Not sure I want that kind of recognition. Just kidding. All I'm saying is why not just make it a buck or 2. If someone has no $ in their acct, they can't play anything. If they have $.60, they probably have $1.50. But yeah, I can even fathom it in a small group of select people. Like if I started a thread here about interest in an Omaha game, and 20 people responded. But you take something like Railbirds or Rounders Radio, and offer NLHE to boot, chances are you won't know even anyone at your table. Maybe it is just an ego thing. The dime one at 1 PM never even got off, no interest. And for the 'community aspect', it was turbo. Nice.

Agreed. The 50 lousy cents is certainly nothing to balk at if it's for fun with people you know. But the past couple days, I've noticed no interest in these, so just seems kinda silly. BTW, that all-in or fold game sounds like fun (while it lasts, eh? lol). I think Jane (pkrplyr4116 or something) posted about the game yesterday.

There are a lot of players who really don't have more than the 60cents they won in a freeroll. They also have no intention of letting it build up. They NEED to pay anything that their 60cents will buy them. Sure, there are better financial options, but that doesn't seem important. A lot don't wade through all the offerings either. They just opt for what they see posted in their repective forum 'specials' blogs.

A while back I was in a 'no play' stud tourney. Betting any hand was not allowed. We actually had about 65 players (or non-players ) It was a blast. We could chat and follow the game, we just couldn't bet. No one violated the rule and it was hilarious. I think I got most of my buy-in back on KO's.

For those who think stud as it is, is like watching paint dry, this would take the cake. I would only hope to be at a table with fun people, preferably a couple that I knew, so we could talk about some forum topics and such. Then again, there's no point in joining something like this if not for fun, so guess it might be a blast. On the other hand, if I'm dealt AAA, I'd be jumping out of my skin. Even with 65 people, I'll bet the game took forever - or at least seemed like it.

usually people play there because there's some type of privately added money that's distributed by the admin of that site, who probably ships the money after the tournament/serious of tournaments ends