Opening a cardroom in Texas. Need Feedback on promotions to offer

RegHC23

RegHC23

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Hello everyone,

I am opening a cardroom in Texas. I know that when you see this you are going to think that it is illegal to play poker in the state of texas and that is actually not correct at all. Here is what the law says and i have talked to my lawyer to make sure all is well and he says that it is.

Sec. 47.02. gambling. (a) A person commits an offense if he:
(1) makes a bet on the partial or final result of a game or contest or on the performance of a participant in a game or contest;
(2) makes a bet on the result of any political nomination, appointment, or election or on the degree of success of any nominee, appointee, or candidate; or
(3) plays and bets for money or other thing of value at any game played with cards, dice, balls, or any other gambling device.
(b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the actor engaged in gambling in a private place;
(2) no person received any economic benefit other than personal winnings; and
(3) except for the advantage of skill or luck, the risks of losing and the chances of winning were the same for all participants.

I have made a business and it is ALL IN Sports and Games and it is a private social room. I can host it out of a hotel or basically anywhere because in order to come into play you must pay a fee to become a member of the group. Once that membership fee is paid then the person can come in and play in whatever buy in tournament or cash game with absolutely no rake being taken from the winnings. This is 100% legal and gives the people the opportunity to play poker in a country club style environment.

My question for my fellow cardschat people is what kind of promotions do you think would be awesome to offer the players to continue them to comeback. I want this to be a really good poker room where people are not having to drive to oklahoma to play poker. They can stay in the area and play all the time. I appreciate your feedback and any suggestions that you have,
 
Jillychemung

Jillychemung

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High hand jackpots
Monthly freerolls based on a point system for tournament placement
Hot seat promo
Splash the pot promo

Do not have a BBJ as they tend to not pay out very often especially in lower traffic rooms.

Whatever you choose have it be no more than a monthly promo, you want to have promos that pay out frequently.
 
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Fussy

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I think you are on the right track, there are alot of rooms in Texas, in the area of Dallas I know like 10 different rooms that I go to , some are home games others you can call social club, and others that work on type of business, etc. all private, and confidential places
 
RegHC23

RegHC23

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That is awesome man. I really appreciate the input from both of you guys. It is starting to take shape and i am actually going to be renting out a hotel meeting room to host my game. I think it is a good sound business plan that will allow me to get up some capital that will allow me to get a place that i can do this 5 days a week. if you have any more insight on promotions or pricing to get people in the door let me know. I am all for the advice
 
A2345Razz

A2345Razz

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I can tell you from MY PERSPECTIVE bad beat jackpots appeal mainly to LHE players, so if you are going to have a LHE game going by all means integrate it.

I don't think they have the same appeal to NLH cash game players at all, but integrating a smaller more moderately sized bad beat can be a fun twist on the concept. Oh, and be sure to include everyone at the table getting something; even if it seems small/nominal.

I am not a huge fan of splashing pots, but they can be great if you have an event/opening or too keep a game from breaking up.

I AM A HUGE PROPONENT of freeroll promotions that reward consistent/long play by regulars. You keep games going longer and keep them fuller which keeps casual players happier. It builds loyalty and gives the grinders something to aim for.

Something like a 1000-dollar freeroll monthly based on membership level/play is a great tool to stimulate long/stable play.

Decent free food and coffee sure can help keep players coming around as well....but without a rake, I have no idea what is feasible business-wise, but I would plan on reinvesting a lot of the money into keeping a core clientele for the first little while. I've seen many shortsighted game runners lose out bc they were just plain greedy and didn't want to spend an extra 50 bucks a night when they were pulling in 500 bucks to basically do very little on a thursday night.
 
nitulbhatia

nitulbhatia

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Good luck with your new venture. I hope you achieve your goals and have lots of fun with this idea.
 
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pokervike

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LEAGUE! If you want return business give them a reason to become regular. Maybe try to strike a deal with the hotel on every ten referrals for rooms that you promote your guest staying there they in return offer you one comp room as a giveaway. Put enough fish in the pond and the sharks will find it without too much worry about handouts. Satty's for weekend tourneys also seem to generate a fair amount of action online. Maybe it could generate some early action (pre noon) for you also??? Have some min requirements too! Let the first group of people that run through the door to let co-workers know about it! comp those guys/gals! It will keep them coming back. Winning or losing those people will feel like it's 'their' room and they will carry some pride in it doing well.
 
RegHC23

RegHC23

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Thanks for the help guys.

One of the promotions that I was thinking about do something that the bicycle did on twitch and i saw this at the choctaw casino in oklahoma and they gave out raffle tickets for every hand that they won and then after the hour was up they took all of the raffles and put them in a bin and pulled out a winner and they won the jackpot for that time frame and they did that every hour for about 5 to 6 hours and it really worked well and kept all of the tables full.

I also thought about allowing promotions where the first peop 2 tables to fill up for cash games would be able to get 10 dollars off the daily membership which would take it to 20 dollars..

I think that there are so many promotions that can be done that it would be really cool to do what i am doing.

Once again i appreciate the help and all the love. If you can keep sending more ideas my way that is awesome.

My goal is to have a place that is legal so the 500,000 people in my area are allowed to play poker.It's a great game and i think its a game that can be played literally until the day that you die.
 
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