TLDR: Give feedback to Elements Casino Brantford @
https://www.gcgamingsurvey.com/Feedback/ECB/2.
Below are the suggestions I submitted (also a mini trip report). Beware that the next $200 tournament has an admin fee of 15% plus 5% gratuity, which is an unbeatable
20% rake, especially given the very weird structure of reducing the blind levels to only 20 minutes turbo after the first four levels. :redface: The $225 Bounty and any future $150 (23% rake) are also unbeatable. If you can only play buy-ins <= $225, the much better alternatives are Casino Niagara's $165 (with half the rake at only
11.8%) and $225 Deepstack Turbo. When Toronto Pimp took down both the $165 and $225, he won a big percentage of the buy-ins as not much rake was taken out of his prize pool.
Feel free to disagree with me and give different feedback to Brantford, but like 13CARDS at Casino Niagara, Joey at Brantford said that he welcomes suggestions.
Attn: Joey, poker manager
Thank you for bringing back the poker tournaments...
1) The best tournament was the $350 Bounty, with $309.50 going back to the players and the remaining $40.50 going to the casino, which is 11.6% rake of the $350 buy-in. This is competitive with Casino Niagara. Please schedule more $350 Bounty, $550 Bounty, and $500 Deep Stack.
2) The first tournament (excluding the one-hour extended first break and other breaks) finished quickly with less than six hours of actual play. In the second tournament, I was eliminated before 5 pm at the final table, so there was probably around six hours of actual play. If the casino is willing to let the players play a little longer, what about making the blind levels 30 minutes throughout? An alternative is to switch the 20-minute levels during the re-entry levels, then 30-minute levels after the re-entry period or first break. Another alternative is to at least have 30 minute levels back when it goes down to the final table, when only one dealer is needed.
3) The $200 tournament on October 10 has a 15% admin fee + 5% gratuity for a total of 20% rake. The $225 Bounty also has 15% admin fee + 5% gratuity. To compare, Casino Niagara's $165 tournament has a rake that is almost half as low at 11.8%: $145.50 to players + $4.50 or 3% gratuity + $15 admin fee. With the very first $350 already starting at five tables (one short of the maximum six), please run more of the $350 - $550 buy-ins and less of the $150 - $225 buy-ins, which virtually nobody can beat the rake.
