Fallsview Poker
Hello everyone! I am the Poker Manager/Tournament Director at Fallsview Casino and finally have been able to join your forum. I have browsed the previous posts about the WPT, satellites, and general experiences here at Fallsview and decided to come to the source in order to continue to evolve our room and events. Some good posts, some not so good, that's why I'm here. I believe that we have a very good room, with plenty of room for improvement. 13Cards is one of our strongest employees, obviously loves to debate, and is extremely knowledgeable. I am here to talk poker, tournaments, satellites, listen to concerns, criticism (constructive), and basically listen to ideas. First and foremost, I do play poker (better than 13Cards), but I still have an obligation to run the poker room at Fallsview as a business. Over the course of the last year we have made great improvements and have more planned in the very near future. We will be starting daily tournaments very soon (possibly as early as Monday), and I have the basic structure in place for the 2007 WPT events. Please ensure you introduce yourself if you stop by Fallsview.
Jason March
Congratulations to Popkorn on his WPT performance!
Jason March
Congratulations to Popkorn on his WPT performance!
Comments
What is the structure for the daily tournaments and 2007 WPT? Will it be better than the turbo format of the daily tournaments at other casinos? Will the WPT Canadian Poker Open be held earlier, and when?
Thanks again.
I played the canadian open and it was very well run. Hats off to you and your staff.
I would like to see super satalites for these events. Any chance of that happening.
A suggestion would be similar to the WSOP circuit mega satelites.
Thanks,
Are they any plans to host any other big tournaments other than the WPT events? Possibly some events in conjuction with the CPT?
Congratulations on a well run event and welcome to the forum. It is nice to see management soliciting comments, suggestions, etc. from players in the forums.
cheers,
Neil
when does daily tournment going to start?
i'm in toronto, the earliest i can get there, maybe 7:30 or 8pm, consider the traffic after 5.
if you can post a timetable for daily tournment, i'll be interest to go as mush as possible.
pokerJAH
I do have a criticism for you about your room which I am sure you have heard many times. The music is too loud from the lounge next door. I know you have to try and appease both groups, but this is the perfect solution: Make it a jazz bar, and only have vegas-style lounge performers. Piano, bass, maybe some cool trumpet, and the sweet sounds of Frank Sinatra.
I mean, I like "Pour Some Sugar on Me" as much as the next guy, but unless there are girls taking their clothes off to it, then you've lost me.
Hotel rooms - If you play strictly poker, in a word, no. The casino makes very little money from a poker room, that's why everyone here plays poker.
365 and the music/noise - This has been an issue from day one, but I am happy to report that it will be fixed this year. The 365 Club will be converted to a fine-dining Italian restaurant , but probably not until next fall. Patience.
WPT added events - for the 2007 events I have submitted the following,
- regular satellites to start as early as May/June, same as last year. We had over 8000 people play in last years satellites.
- super-satellites
- a one day $1000 buy-in event, 300 people maximum
- a two day $2000 buy-in event, 300 people maximum
- the WPT Canadian Open will increase to a $4000 buy-in from the $2500 buy-in and will have a cap of 600 people maximum
- the NAPC will remain at a $10,000 buy-in with no cap, I expect it to be the largest event on the WPT in 2007
- More days, which should equal shorter days. The 2006 numbers were way above what everyone expected, including the WPT. I know they were long days, but that is a good problem to have.
Again, this is what I have submitted, I won't know for quite some time what is approved. We are also looking at expanding the tournament room to 45 tables from the 30 that we had this year, but it's not as simple as buying tables and receiving approvals. If we do go to 45 tables, those caps would move to 450 from 300, and to 900 from 600, but I do not want to go to 45 tables if we can't provide quality staff.Daily tournaments - as of right now, I have single table SNG's approved, and am working on getting flexible approvals for multi-table tournaments. Here is tentatively what I am planning to offer:
- Sunday - $200 (180+20) SNG - Noon to Midnight
- Monday - $60 (50+10) SNG - Noon to Midnight
- Tuesday - $60 (50+10) multi, 50 max - 2pm and 9pm
- Wednesday - $100 (90+10) multi, 50 max - 2pm and 9pm
- Thursday - $200 (180+20) multi, 50 max - 2pm and 9pm
- Friday - $500 (460+40) SNG - Noon to Midnight
- Saturday - $1000 (950+50) SNG - Noon to Midnight
This is all tentative. Single table only on week-ends, I can't spare more tables. I will begin the single tables (trying for this Monday) and wait for the approvals for the multi-table tournaments on Tu-We-Th. I will post more on the starting chips/blind levels as I finish them ??? , but for the Fri/Sat SNG's you can expect a lot of play. Friday 2K starting chips 30 minute levels (3-4 hours), and Saturday 2.5K starting chips with 30 minute levels (4-5 hours). The smaller buy-in events will obviously be less play, but I do want them to be fair, I hate Bingo.Other tournaments - I am working on larger tournaments on a regular basis, at least quarterly, but possibly as often as monthly, with buy-ins of $1000 or greater. WPT takes up a lot of time, so these may not happen soon. As for CPT events at Fallsview, that will not happen from the looks of things. The CPT is doing a great job, but we have decided to hitch ourselves to the WPT and intend to continue in that direction.
Please continue with the posts, they're great!
As far as Casino Niagara goes, do you have any responsibility there or is that different management? If different it might be a good idea if their manager tried the same sort of things you are doing, including soliciting suggestions here...
Not comping hotel rooms is bad, but at least your upfront and honest about it.
Keep us informed on what's going on goes a long way in my mind. I haven't played much in fallsview, but if you know anything about turningstone it is the best poker room I've been to locally. (within 4 hours of the falls). The dealers are fast, they keep the game moving and make it enjoyable for everyone.
Before you expand too quickly please make sure the dealers and training are in place. I had a very bad experience at the other casino in NF due to dealer problems.
GL on the changes you've proposed from what I"ve read it's all positive.
200-1000 tournment buy in is too much for me (not money wise, but skillwise) however i did like to go for the 60 dollar tournment. only problem is "it start at working hour"i think if you make it easier for working people, there has to be more player signup.
Omaha - We are actively trying to spread Omaha games, right now we are trying for Thursday nights and hopefully it will catch on, it's a great game.
Pineapple - Compuease is obviously an action junkie! Not approved for play in Ontario at this point. Try our 5-5 NL, it should satisfy your action cravings, it's an insane game for the limit.
Hotel rooms - We have under 400 hotel rooms and a very healthy volume of high limit patrons, it just simply doesn't make business sense to have poker players in those rooms. When this property was built, the Government of Ontario did not want an excessive hotel so that it would hopefully help to spur local construction and business, and that has worked. There are many hotels/motels within a five minute drive that are very reasonable, especially in the off-season - many even offer weekly/monthly rates.
Rebuy/Add-on - I have a personal dislike for these types of tournaments, both as a player and a manager. Unless there is a tremendous demand (there hasn't been to this point) I don't foresee any of these types of events. I would rather try and develop other types of poker through tournaments rather than offer rebuys/add-ons.
Other types of Poker - Down the road, I would like to develop other disciplines of Poker, but at the moment there is simply too much Hold'em demand. Like I said, Thursday nights we are going to offer Omaha (will offer anytime on demand). Seven Card for the most part is appealing to an older crowd which we don't have.
Chuckieland - Mondays and Tuesdays have $60 tournaments available at the times you noted. Your honesty about your skill level is great, that will allow you to improve your game to a profitable game (too many think they have the game mastered immediately and don't try to learn anymore). Keep reading books, forums, learn from other players, and play within your limits until you are comfortable to step up your game.
Seneca - they run a great room, although I am not a fan of their tournament structures, that should give you an idea of how ours will be run.
Turning Stone - Great room, well run. It still amazes me that TS and Foxwoods get the crowds they do for where they are located. The only negative I have for either is the drive, especially in the winter.
Casino Niagara - We are the same company, but they have their own management team in place. I would be happy to pass along things to that side, but I would prefer to pass specific people along to their manager.
Dealers - Every place has issues, but I stand very strongly behind the crew here at Fallsview. We have "incidents" and we have Dealers that are stronger than others, but we have a solid crew here at all levels, and they try hard. We just had Omaha refreshers to ensure that the Dealers are up to standard, and we had training in satellites and tournaments before the WPT. Game pace and personality is what we have been trying to emphasize on a consistent basis. Poker is by far the toughest dealing job in the casino from an abuse standpoint, some of the players simply don't have respect and "snap" on a losing day. Often times the Dealers take the brunt of rampages, they are human, they do make errors - we try to limit errors and continuously try to develop technically weaker ones. We installed automatic shufflers on 12 of our 16 games to increase game pace, at a cost of $30K apiece (yes, each). Every table will have shufflers this year, which does not bring us more money on a session fee game, it was simply done for customer service to increase hands per hour.
Did you say these are WPT events?
please let us know when the program begin, also how to register.
If poker didn't make a casino money in some way they wouldn't offer it.
Jason I'm glad you've looked at Turningstone which is the best run poker room within a reasonable driving distance in my opinion. I live within 70 km of rama yet drive to turning stone for a weekend of poker. I may have to check you guys out and give you another chance.
Redoak - I have submitted for four tournaments for this years WPT, two of which will be taped for television. If approved, the events will be $1000, $2000, $4000, and $10,000 - the last two are taped.
Daily tournaments - looking like it will be next Monday, the 18th.
Redoak - I have submitted for four tournaments for this years WPT, two of which will be taped for television. If approved, the events will be $1000, $2000, $4000, and $10,000 - the last two are taped.
Daily tournaments - looking like it will be next Monday, the 18th.
Sorry if I drooled over the screen
lol, not really, actually I'm at a much lower bankroll than required for the games you normally spread, ie 5/5NL is NOT my game... In fact I prefer some sort of a limit structure and that's why I really like the Pineapple 2/4 limit game at Seneca. Plays sort of like a 3/6 holdem, as far as pot size goes. Thats good news, the Seneca SNG's are a real crap shoot, sorta equivalent to the $90. SNG's for the CPT event. Their bigger tournaments are ok, I played a Pot Limit Omaha $120. buy in one last night and finished 6th. It was pretty good, 20 minute blinds and gradual increases, starting at 25/25, 2000 chips to start. If you can be competative with that structure & buy-in, I'll be happy.
As for the 7 Stud. I am 32 and love 7 Stud. So it's not just an older crowd!
I am looking forward to hearing more from you.
Thank you
Just wondering are these daily Tournaments going to be No Limit???
How many players at a single table???
What will the payout structure be like???
Thanks for any response Jason..
please let me know if daily tournment are happening this monday. and start they start.
i probly won't be able to make it on monday, too last minute, but i'll try. if you can let me know, i'll be there on tuesday for sure.
Welcome to the forums! Great to hear that Fallsview's going to get some more tournaments going! The one thing Fallsview always lacked was big limit games and tournaments, but once they get those, I'll probably be playing there more.