Woodbine SNGs start on September 9!
The Good:
- Baby steps starting on Monday, September 9 in what will hopefully become MTTs later if forumers include the one-table tournament whenever they sign up for games at Woodbine.
- Same great beatable rake as the other OLG Slots locations, e.g., $75+$5, (only 6%), $220+$10 (only 4%) up to $540+$20 (only 3.6%!). :cool: This is even more beatable than the ~10% rake of online SNGs that I used to play at PartyPoker before it blew itself up.
What Can Be Improved:
- I was told that you can only sign up for an SNG between 8 AM - noon. I hope the employee is wrong and it's actually 8 AM to midnight. Can somebody with the brochure please clarify?
- The payout structure is 70/30, but it's better to have the standard 50/30/20 of online SNGs if you have 10 (or 9, 8, 7) players. Hopefully, Woodbine will be flexible and allow players to have three payouts. Otherwise, have at least $10 cash so we can all pitch in and third place will at least get their money back.
So who's in for a Forumers' SNG Trip To Woodstock the week of September 9?
- Baby steps starting on Monday, September 9 in what will hopefully become MTTs later if forumers include the one-table tournament whenever they sign up for games at Woodbine.
- Same great beatable rake as the other OLG Slots locations, e.g., $75+$5, (only 6%), $220+$10 (only 4%) up to $540+$20 (only 3.6%!). :cool: This is even more beatable than the ~10% rake of online SNGs that I used to play at PartyPoker before it blew itself up.
What Can Be Improved:
- I was told that you can only sign up for an SNG between 8 AM - noon. I hope the employee is wrong and it's actually 8 AM to midnight. Can somebody with the brochure please clarify?
- The payout structure is 70/30, but it's better to have the standard 50/30/20 of online SNGs if you have 10 (or 9, 8, 7) players. Hopefully, Woodbine will be flexible and allow players to have three payouts. Otherwise, have at least $10 cash so we can all pitch in and third place will at least get their money back.
So who's in for a Forumers' SNG Trip To Woodstock the week of September 9?
Comments
Thanks in advance
- increase the SNG hours past noon
- give players the option to have three payouts (like online's 50/30/20).
Even SNG lovers like me would not go to Woodbine between 8 AM - noon just to play a turbo SNG. Next time I go to Woodbine, I'll fill out the form too. Thanks.
Whos going to fallsview this weekend ? Trying to decide where to put my hours in. Long weekend should bring some loose yanks to the falls, but woodbine is way way shorter drive.
Brantford, Mohawk, Western Fair, Georgian Downs & other OLG locations all have long Rules documents that authorize the running of SNGs, but OLG had neglected to ask players what kind of SNGs they would play, so they was rarely enough interest to get a single SNG started. The only SNGs that I have ever seen run was during the Tournament of Champions promotion at Georgian Downs, which is now dead. pkrfce9 and I played them at NIGHT, and we agreed that the SNGs should have three payouts instead of two.
Deal.
I spoke to Mario when I was there Friday night (and ROCKED the 1-2 game, full of non-reg fish
I am usually there on weekends in the mornings and will try playing them (I'll definitely fill out the green form though as well). I feel like on weekend mornings, they should be fairly soft as it's mainly TAG regs who play those times, making a turbo-type STT fairly easy. I'll definitely give a few a shot when I'm there on weekend mornings.
"cheers: :wav: "cheers:"cheers:
There was one 1/2 and one 2/5 tables running in the morning. I was disappointed that Woodbine management decided to make the best-value $75+$5 unavailable, despite it being the first SNG advertised in the brochures.
The following is the priority that I would want to play the SNGs, with the rake shown. I would NOT sign up for the worst-value $90+$10 while signing up for everything else.
1) $75+$5, 6.25%
2) $220+$10, 4.3%
3) $540+$20, 3.6%
4) $140+$10, 6.7%
5) $320+$20, 5.9%
6) Avoid the last-resort $90+$10, 10%.
Instead, players were forced to sign up for next lowest buy-in, which is the worst value $90+$10. This is the only SNG with double-digit rake; all the other SNGs have rake that is 33%-64% lower. Let's say that a Group A of ten players are in the $220+$10, while a Group B of gamblers chose the $90+$10. Both groups would pay the same $100 total rake to the casino, but Group B would only have a prize pool of $900 while Group A would have a prize pool that is 2 1/2 times bigger at $2,200 without paying any more rake! :cool:
However, even "Kim Kardashian" wanted to play an SNG and the first-ever $90+$10 SNG managed to get underway just before the noon deadline. I will drop off the feedback form next time I go to Woodbine with the following suggestions:
1) Make the advertised $75+$5 SNG available for sign-up.
2) Let players sign up for and play the turbo SNG past noon, e.g., ideally anytime there are empty tables anyway.
3) Let players choose if they want the standard 50/30/20 payout instead of Woodbine's 70/30.
4) Have a self-service drink area, just like Georgian Downs, Western Fair, Brantford, Rama and Niagara. Woodbine players complain about getting thirsty and having to hunt down a waiter.
5) Start planning for MTTs. Copy Casino Rama's successful model of having six tournament tables on its least busy day, then it attracts 5-9 cash game tables for the whole day. There are more cash game tables going on tournament Mondays at Rama than there are at Woodbine and Fallsview on Monday to Thursday nights!
By any chance would you know the names/poker handles for the winners of Woodbine's first S&G? Who came in first and second place? "Kim Kardashian" is a regular NL 1-2 player there and I've played with him a handful of times.
fyp
With rake as low as 3.8% - even lower than the online MTT$ I grinded for year$ - I would "throw everything away" and move in with the horsies at Woodbine!
Let's get ready to rumble!...
Three SNGs ran between 11 AM - noon. After that $230 SNG finished, the table became a 5/5 cash game, which included at least one of pokerJAH's favourite players. That day was the first time ever at Woodbine that I saw the number of 2/5 & 5/5 tables exceeding the 1/2 tables!
If enough players have filled out the feedback form to request MTTs, hopefully there is somebody at Woodbine with a little bit of poker IQ who will realize that if 3 single-table tournaments can generate more cash games, then MTTs will generate even more, just like at Casino Rama's sold-out poker room on tournament Mondays.
Not that I dislike the 50/30/20 structure, but why is the 70/30 payout structure worse? As long as you know how to adjust to either structure why would it matter?
With so few games running, it reduces variance, that's all.
Another reason is that a 50/30/20 payout will make more players try out the best-value $220+$10 or 540+$20 instead of the worst-value last-resort $90+$10. After Woodbine pulled a bait-and-switch with the advertised $75+$5, most clueless players are signing up for the $90+$10 with only $900 prize pool when paying the same amount of rake can have a $2,200 prize pool instead or almost 2 1/2 times more money.
The ~10-player MTTs that I played at Georgian Downs and Western Fair had a 50/30/20 payout so there is no reason a 10-player SNG at Woodbine should be different.
I'm a newbie to SNG's/tourneys and was always just a cash game player. I want to give it a go and just want to know how people's success has been so far?
If I play at Woodbine it will be my very first live tournament in the poker circuit.