Some advice/suggestions ... Please :)
Hey everyone,
I'm fairly new on this forum, at least in terms of being a registered user ... I've been poking around here for a few years as a guest to look up games around the city, but this is the first time I have registered.
I've played in many spots in and around the GTA, including Rocky's charity tournaments, Roger's place up in Richmond Hill, the old Nutzz club at Spadina and Queen (many years ago now), and of course lots of time at the casino(s) ... I've probably played opposite many of you over this time, but I wouldn't know because we don't use our screen names at these games.
Now, admittedly, I'm not the most sociable person ... When I play, I prefer to observe the play while doing very little talking ... This means, of course, that I haven't made a lot of friends through poker ... I observe because I like to learn from watching, rather than talking.
This has resulted in a small problem for me ... I've been wanting to start up a little home game for awhile now, but I've been getting little to no response on this forum when I post dates/events.
I've got a pretty good setup ... A decent table, a comfortable location in GTA West, lots of free parking, and I've offered free food and beverage. Yet, I still can't seem to generate any interest.
Any advice or suggestions on how I can get some more peeps on this forum interested in coming out? Something I'm missing? Is it a trust issue?
I would appreciate any honest feedback from those who live in the GTA and surrounding area.
Thanks in advance for your help ... Take care
I'm fairly new on this forum, at least in terms of being a registered user ... I've been poking around here for a few years as a guest to look up games around the city, but this is the first time I have registered.
I've played in many spots in and around the GTA, including Rocky's charity tournaments, Roger's place up in Richmond Hill, the old Nutzz club at Spadina and Queen (many years ago now), and of course lots of time at the casino(s) ... I've probably played opposite many of you over this time, but I wouldn't know because we don't use our screen names at these games.
Now, admittedly, I'm not the most sociable person ... When I play, I prefer to observe the play while doing very little talking ... This means, of course, that I haven't made a lot of friends through poker ... I observe because I like to learn from watching, rather than talking.
This has resulted in a small problem for me ... I've been wanting to start up a little home game for awhile now, but I've been getting little to no response on this forum when I post dates/events.
I've got a pretty good setup ... A decent table, a comfortable location in GTA West, lots of free parking, and I've offered free food and beverage. Yet, I still can't seem to generate any interest.
Any advice or suggestions on how I can get some more peeps on this forum interested in coming out? Something I'm missing? Is it a trust issue?
I would appreciate any honest feedback from those who live in the GTA and surrounding area.
Thanks in advance for your help ... Take care
Comments
Have you tried getting out to other posted games and making a point of mentioning your Forum handle? Might help to put a face to a name . . .
as for the rake, i'm more than willing to offer it rake free for awhile, but i would need to recover something if i continue to offer food and beverage ... i'm not looking to make money off this thing, just to have a regular game that i don't have to travel 30 minutes or more to get to ... so taking a small rake would only be to cover costs ... but, as i said above, offering a rake free game for awhile is not a problem.
any other advice you guys have would be much appreciated, and i thank you again for what you've just written ... take care
thanks GTA ... any advice or suggestions on where i would find toronto players to come out? ... if they're not here on this forum, then might they be somewhere else i can contact them?
This is what won't fly around here, too many good games that are unraked. Now some do have a "donation" jar but that is totally optional, and most don't even have that, ie Moose, AJ, OPT ... How much do you think you need to make each time to really cover costs? Drop the food and drink and have everyone bring their own. Maybe have a fridge or cooler with pop/water along with donation jar?
So I've been thinking of going to an underground cash game - and no not because of Grinders
I feel like there's a difference though, has to be right, between a game that rakes and has a dedicated dealer in the box vs one that takes donations and is self dealt.
I want a Toronto game. If I have to drive to Etobicoke that would be ok, much closer than Niagara. For me games in Orangeville and KW aren't worth it, might as well go to Niagara.
Beer is not an incentive for me. Most of the food and drink likely would not interest me.
I have to be careful. I'm the prime breadwinner, can't miss work and especially have anything criminal on my record for a small stakes cash game.
As some clubs would not allow me entrance without knowing someone, I would prefer not to go to a club unless I knew someone...who had gone there. I've seen a review or two of clubs on the forum and appreciate those but it wasn't a fit. Talk about picky.
For me, right now, with work and wife it's busy so still to be continued...
and since you are in the TO area, suggest you contact Pokerjah to find some good area games. He plays a fair number of unndergrounds.
Hey Tdot - I wasn't trying to derail your thread (although I'm good at that) was also posting one potential "customer" profile.
You might want to start a meetup group and invite players from other meetup poker related meetup groups in the GTA.
Personally, I live north of the city and don't really play much 1/2 anymore so its not really a game I would want to check out. Good luck in any case.
no worries about derailing my thread lit ... it's all good, and i really appreciate the insight into a "potential" customer ...
i'll keep posting different events with different structures, and if you've got some time to check it out that would be great ... i've a got a comfortable, safe, and relaxing atmosphere with a pretty good poker setup, so i don't think you'll be disappointed with that end ... now i just have to get a good group of players together and we're all set
hey comp ... thanks for your advice ... it seems you're bang on the money with the food and drink thing ... i thought it was an important piece to attracting players to the game, but from some of the other responses i'm seeing it's not ... if that's the case, then i can drop whatever rake i was thinking of because i won't have any further expenses, except for the occasional equipment upgrade ...
i'm curious about something, and i don't know if you or anyone else here can answer this, but how does a guy like roger (richmond hill/VIP Poker) have such success with a raked game? ... he's got two full tables running every wednesday and saturday night for at least 5 hours per table ... all the advice here, so far, has been no rake because players don't like it, yet roger seems to be doing just fine with it ... again, let me reiterate, i don't care about the rake, i'm just curious as to how roger has been able to attract players to a raked game ... any thoughts?
thanks again comp ... i really appreciate it ... take care
thanks pokerjah for your excellent insight, as always ... you've given me some food for thought, and i will do a bit of research into hosting a satellite to see if it's something i can make work ... in the meantime, i'm going to continue offering different types of events (non-raked) to try and establish a clientele, and i'm looking into a meetup.com site as well ...
take care ... thanks again for the input
Besides, being rake free would be more of an enticement, would it not?
hey milo ... thanks for your input ... i bought the stuff because i'm a diehard poker enthusiast ... love the game ... i wanted to have a nice little setup to look at it (i know, it sounds weird), but also in the hopes of hosting games at my place ... i'm at a point where i'm tired of traveling all over the place to find some decent action, so i thought i would try to host something on my own ...
you're right though ... from what i'm seeing here it is definitely an enticement to keep it rake free.
thanks again ... take care
There oughta be some sort of 12 step program . . .
Second, have you been to his place ? His house is worth Millions but he only takes $2 per hand. Its very clear that its not a business. Only reason I played there was that I was in the area that night with nothing else to do.
You will have to start going to other games for now but go with the intention of networking, meeting other players and let them know you have a monthly / bi-weekly home game and could you get their e-mail address if they are interested. You'll have a good list going in no time.
If you just want a regular game for yourself, don't charge a rake, post it on Meet up and other poker related sites. Start with a regualr once a monthly /weekly type game, on the same night, then as it gets popular, start another night.
your advice confirmed what i have already learned here, and through some quick research ... meetup.com is the place to advertise this kind of game ... looking at some of the groups listed there i can see hundreds of members, whereas here there are a lot of regulars, but not as much action as i would see with a meetup group ... so, the judges decision is final ... i'm going to start a meetup group
thanks for your input dj ... always appreciated ... here, or on meetup.
take care