Tri-State Poker Tour

Good evening everyone! My name is Scott and I wanted to come in and get some of your valuable opinions on a concept that I am starting in January, 2012. A good friend an I, who are avid cash game and tournament players, are going to start up a regional poker tour covering Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri called the Tri-State Poker Tour. My partner and I want to develop a more affordable poker experience here in the Midwest without having buy-ins and entry fees that are out of the average poker players budget. I know this seems a long way off, but we will need time to contract the tournaments with the casinos, work out the detail and address any concerns with the gaming commissions in each state, and make sure the scheduling does not conflict with other events.

With the Heartland Poker Tour charging $1100 to $1650 and WSOP Circuit Events going $1600 up to $5K, we are aiming at a more affordable level around the $6-700 range for our tournaments. We feel that this puts our Tournaments right around the middle of the pack which would be lower than the Heartland and WSOP circuit events but higher than the $2-300 regular house events that most poker rooms host on occasion.

We are currently looking at enlisting 4 casinos per state (12 total) with each casino hosting 3 tourneys per year or 36 tourneys a year. Each state will also host a State Championship Tournament with each state champion being crowned getting a cash prize plus a WSOP Main Event seat and the privilege to represent their respective state. State championships will rotate around to each casino in the state each year to be fair to all the poker rooms we go to. Similar to the other tours and circuit events, there will be qualifiers the week of the tournament and the will consist of standard, shootout, and bounty style format to add a little variety. We will also have a mystery bounty in each tournament. No one will no who the mystery bounty will be except the dealer at the selected bounty's table. A free entry will be given to the player who collects the bounty which can be used at any tournament we host except the state championships.

Some of the input gathered from the players and poker room managers from all three states that we have spoken to over the past several months have given us some very positive feedback, but we are still looking for more input from those players who frequent these larger buy-in tournaments.

We are also looking into possibility of acquiring virtual poker tables to be able to bring in tournaments to those facilities that do not have a poker room or a large enough poker room to handle the amount of entries we could receive. These require no dealers or chips and can be setup anywhere like a convention room or similar area. This may not happen the first year but with technology expanding faster than you can follow it, nothing is out of reach.

I appreciate any and all input you all may have, positive or negative, or if you have a favorite poker room that you play at that may be interested in having us come in and host an event, please let us know.

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Sounds like a cool idea. Obv. the key is getting entrants. The more creative you can get with ways people can earn/win entries the better.

I've always thought that FTP, Pokerstars, WSOP, WPT, Heartland Poker tour, etc...should have rewards credit cards like every other business has.

It would be sweet to earn points towards tournament entry when swiping your credit card?

Come to Kansas City, and you will more than likely see me there. We have 2 casinos the Kansas City area that have poker rooms. Harrah's (which I believe the people who run the WSOP actually own the Harrah's brand), and seems to be the best out of the two for live poker.

Then there is Ameristar, which I have yet to visit their poker room.

There's also The Argosy, which doesn't have a poker room, and Isle of the Capri, which I think also doesn't have a poker room, but is kind of a POS anyway.

In Spring 2012, we are getting a Hollywood Casino (same people who own the Argosy) on the Kansas side (about 15 minutes from the Missouri border by the Kansas Speedway, Cabela's, Great Wolf Lodge, and The Legends Mall), and Hollywood is suppose to be having a huge poker room, rumored to be the biggest one in the KC area. Last year, they began allowing Kansas to operate casinos outside of Indian reservations. Since you're in the area, maybe something to look into in the future?

Good luck, and keep me updated! I'm interested in seeing what you guys have in store.

I can tell you that Harrah's in KC is not a real big poker room. They hold daily 60/80 man tournaments that take up almost half the room.

I'm gonna guess they only have about 20 poker tables in their room.


EDIT:

Looks like they only have 15 poker tables in their room.

http://www.harrahsnkc.com/casinos/ha...er-detail.html

Just looked up Ameristar, and they also have 15 poker tables.


With that being said.. I know there is a good poker crowd in the Kansas City area. The small tournaments that they have going on ($30-$50 tourneys) are almost always filled, and we would love a tour to come through here.. especially one that would offer smaller buy-ins.

They do have regular $200-$500 tournaments at Harrah's at well. Though, I have never played in those, I heard the turn outs are pretty good. And they have monthly WSOP Main Event satellites for $200 that always fill up.

Awesome.. yep, they're nice tables, meant to seat 10 players. Harrah's KC has a nice atmosphere and friendly staff, too.

A quick check of the Heartland Poker web site would indicate that you can sattelite into their event for amounts ranging from $45-$380, much less than your proposed $6-700.

They are a successfull, established group and it would seem you will be drawing from the same geographical player pool.

I envision an uphill battle for you but good luck.

A. Well, I would hope their satellites are less than my main event buy-in, lol! (sorry for the sarcasm )

B. My satellites will be waaaaay less than $380, plus the heartland doesn't give away a free entry in their main event like I plan on doing.

C. The Heartland was once a small group of people just starting out who love poker, like I do.

D. The Heartland does not come into Iowa, Illinois, or Missouri very often, if at all. They come to Tama once a year and have been to Missouri only once in the past several years, what alternative does that leave for the Midwest poker players for a good inexpensive tournament who do not want to travel that far? Not Much.

I'm not trying to be defensive DREWO, I'm just trying to give the average poker player an alternative. I'm not trying to steal anyone's business. As a matter of fact, I'm trying to go out of my way as to not schedule events at the same time as the Heartland events or WSOP Circuit events because I want to maximize my entries as well.

I have never been to the Heartland Poker Tour (though, I had made 2 scheduled trips to Oklahoma for it, one in October, and one this month, but had to cancel both of them due to my schedule being overwhelmed), but I have seen it on tv and really like it. (With it being poker, of course I'd like it, lol).. just wish they had more events. I had planned on playing the RAZZ games at their tour, which they had 1 for each tour for a $70 entry fee.

With that being said, I see something like the Tri-State Poker Tour only being a good thing, as long as they can get it up and running. The start is the hardest part to get something like this going. And I don't see it taking away from any of the players who play in the Heartland Poker Tour or any other tours.. or take away from the other tours themselves. As long as the events are not set around the same time as another tour in a relatively close area.

These poker tours/circuits are destination events, and people will travel many miles to go to them (I'm planning on hitting the WSOP Circuit in St. Louis in April). So, something I would suggest is just to make sure that the events you plan or not within 2 months of another tour's events in the same area. But, I'm sure you have already planned for that.

Again, much luck to you on this! And can't wait to see what you have planned! Btw, do you have any other sites where one can keep track of your progress and news on this? Website, Facebook, Twitter?

I appreciate the comments. Yes, starting up is always the hard part. Right now we are in the feasibility stage contacting all the available casinos to gauge their interest, gather info and contact information, and getting their input for what will work best for their setup. Again once this is done then scheduling will take place and yes, we will definitely not want to schedule over other tournaments mainly to be professional and courteous to other tours or event organizers. I know once the state championships are over (scheduled a month before the WSOP), we will take that following month off because a lot of players will be out in Vegas playing the WSOP, along with myself.

Again, thanks. I don't believe we'll need too much luck as the casinos are always looking for any way to bring in more people to spend money in their establishment. It's a win/win for any casino because they will always get their cut from the tournament plus the additional cash game and casino play, and with our passion for poker, it's bound to be successful. With regards to Facebook, twitter, and all that, we are probably going to have the website designed before the summer and hopefully, if all goes well, be up and functional right before the WSOP starts this year. Facebook and Twitter accounts will be setup shortly after that.

Sounds good

I would suggest you start a database/mailing list of those interested (myself in KC, for one) - this could help keep down your marketing costs in the future.

Haha.. the odds of all that happening are astronomical. Still.. pretty cool offer.

Already on the list of things to do. When the website is up and running you'll be able to register and e-mails will be sent to all who are registered regarding upcoming tournaments and news. Plus, everyone who registers at the tournament will be entered into the tournament manager and added to the mailing list as well. I'm also going to add the feature to pre-register for any event by paying your entry directly on the website by credit card or PayPal for a small fee (very similar to what they do on pokertickets.com). Oh, by the way, I noticed your favorite player is Dennis Phillips. I actually talked to his marketing people last week about the possibility of having him as our sponsored pro (since he is a Missouri native).

Yeah, it's a very tough task for sure, but definitely a news breaker if it happens! I just wanted to see if it is feasible to do something extra to increase the incentive to play. For all I know, the cost may be astronomical and I may have to compromise for a more realistic award. I may adjust it to where you only need to win the state championship only.

That would be pretty cool. I'm a Dennis Phillips fan, too. Great player with a great attitude!

Maybe consider extending border a few miles - are you aware of new casino opening next year in KC Kansas?

http://www.hollywoodcasinokansas.com/

mer071898,
Where are you guys from?

come to the east cost

My partner and I live in Iowa City, Ia.

Do you mean up north or south? I know there are lots of casinos in Florida (137 the last time I checked) but I don't see a ton unless your in New York, New jersey, or Maine.

north , there are casinos in PA, NJ , DE

If they are enough decent sized poker rooms to support 36-45 tournaments per year, it definitely is worth looking into.

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I wanted to pose another question to everyone. I had a question messaged to me the other day.

Q. Will all the tournaments will use two flights and how do you determine the max amount of entries?

A. I am using two flights, Flight A on Saturday morning for most of the direct buy-in players and will assign Flight B for those players who won their entries through the qualifiers during the week, along with any last minute direct buy-ins, to try and keep both flights as even as possible. We will take the top 10 from each flight and bring them in Sunday after Flight B for the final two tables. I am also going to have a last chance qualifier on Saturday after Flight A for those who want to take one last crack at squeezing in. This is going to be the standard schedule to maximize the entries for each venue. The maximum entries per flight will be the maximum number of players that can be fit in the poker room. If the poker room has 10 tables with the ability to fit 10 players at a table, the maximum entries for each flight is 100 players or 200 players total for the tournament. I don't like to limit the maximum amount of entries, but you have to remember that this is our first year and we don't want to get overwhelmed until we get our feet wet.

I just want to be fair to everyone. Does this seem fair enough for everyone? If anyone has any other suggestions, they will be evaluated before any final decisions are made.

It can still be tri-state.. Kansas, Missouri, Iowa..

The new upcoming casinos in Kansas are going to be regulated by The Kansas Lottery, I believe.

Yeah it could, but to be fair I would like to have an even amount of tournaments per state and Kansas runs a little short on casinos with poker rooms that can handle a large tourney. I could inch up to Minnesota or South Dakota but then you lose some entries because of the drive time and plus you start stepping into HPT territory. Even between Iowa and Missouri, I bet I can still get 24-30 tournaments a year in.

Just a thought - avoid a quantification in the title (TRI-State or BI-State or QUAD-State) so you can add at will. That way you don't have to come up with a new moniker, like "Big 12 minus 2".
Too bad Heartland is already taken. Leaves the ever present Mid-America though

Good point, and I have considered that option as well, I just hate changing logos around .

Actually IMO I think your idea of seperating direct buy ins from qualifiers is a very bad idea. Many tournament regulars may direct buy in to a tournament because they do not want to spend the additional time. Many of those regulars also may view most (not all) qualifiers as dead money through whom they can accumulate chips through.
Its almost like you are keeping the sharks together and the fish seperate to only meet at the final two tables.

Now this is definitely not to say that all whom buy directly into a tournament are sharks, nor are all qualifiers fish. Most regulars like to have a good mix of the amateurs and regulars at their table. They want the opportunity to get involved in hands with people who might not be as comfortable in a bigger buy in. Even though they are still in for the same money as a smaller tournament as a qualifier it can still affect their psyche.

^ Gotta agree with CSuave here.

Make me 3

Iowa has a new casino opening this year Memorial day, I am from South Dakota and actually going to be applying as a dealer there, it is going to be in Larchwood, which is JUST across the SD border, so CLEAR NW corner of Iowa...might be a good place to try to get in.