What 'makes' a Poker Room?

[relaedgc]

Purely on a research basis, I am looking for as much input and detail as I can collate - I gladly appreciate any and all input with regards to the subject at hand.

What I want to know is what 'makes' a Poker Room worth your time? We all know that the poker community is saturated, with stiff competition evident both Online and Live. So what is it that a 'Poker Room' can do to provide the greatest attraction to clientele?

While I anticipate some level of DTD comparison, I want to say on the record that as much as I respect and admire what DTD have done for poker, even if they've made my career a little tougher, there are certain realities to running a casino card room that simply will not be adopted - ultimately they expect us to run the business profitably, and while DTD is fantastic in what they offer, a lot of the things would never fly. I am not a premier decision maker for the company, and I am bound by restrictions that Rob doesn't face because it's ultimately his money and business to do with as he pleases.

So, what are the important aspects? Shall we say on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most important).

The playerbase itself. 'Community' spirit. Fun, banter, etc.
The food/service.
The blind structures and starting stacks.
The guaranteed prize pools.
The quality of the dealing staff.
The quality of the supervision staff.
The advertisement and social media pushing of 'what's on'
The location of the venue.
The 'rules'.
The 'owner' of the club. G/Genting/Gala etc.

I'll gladly accept any and all input. Just curious, mostly.


edit: accidentally edited your post instead of quoted. restored back to how it was.

[gouty]

Consistency in rulings in the the one premises.

I don't mind it on travels, but it pisses me off when in a regular casino/game you can get different rulings from different TDs.

So that would be supervisors I suppose?

But then I do like the piss too sometimes, so good valets is right up there too!

Yep. That's it! A table. 9 punters. Consistent rules. Decent drinks and valets.

End of.

[aaron1867]

Service, which is also pretty much quality if staff, etc.

Without decent staff, you haven't got much, regardless of how good the game could possibly be.

[david3103]

Card room staff, that's TDs, dealers and valets not necessarily in that order
Start tournaments on time, keep to the clock on breaks
Tournament structures that allow some play in later stages
Cash game liquidity. I don't want to sit around for a hour after I bust the tournament waiting for a seat on a cash table
Guarantees / added value are nice but keep it realistic
Consistency in rulings, preferably consistent with the wider poker world

In all things, give the customer a good experience. Keep the chips clean, the felt vacuumed and brushed and the cards new and stiff. Give us dealers who can deal quickly and efficiently valets who will provide food and drink on the same level and Supervisors who smile whilst delivering their tournament.

Whatever you do, avoid allowing the regulars to turn the place into 'their' room.

[theprawnidentity]

The guaranteed prize pools.
The quality of the dealing staff.
The quality of the supervision staff.
The blind structures and starting stacks.
The playerbase itself. 'Community' spirit. Fun, banter, etc.
The 'rules'.
The food/service.
The advertisement and social media pushing of 'what's on'
The location of the venue.
The 'owner' of the club. G/Genting/Gala etc.

[kinboshi]

Make the players the priority.  That's the key.

That means the serious regs, the recs, those who travel for larger events etc.

[theprawnidentity]

You only need to keep the recs happy imo.

[treefella]

Good dealers/staff and free grub. Thats all you need .

 the rest will run its self as your cardroom will be full every night : )

[Chompy]

Structure and buy-in amount. Rest is meh.

[TightEnd]

Structure and buy-in amount. Rest is meh.

for most players, at lowish buy ins anyway, its about "starting chips and buy in amount"

Much as we wish it was about structure, its really not for a lot of recs

[Poker_Monkey]

On a day to day comp it's more about how friendly people are at the cardroom ie. the dealers are friendly and good at there jobs, the regs are up for a bit of banter!

One the bigger games the blinds and starting stack come more in to play

[Chompy]

Structure and buy-in amount. Rest is meh.

for most players, at lowish buy ins anyway, its about "starting chips and buy in amount"

Much as we wish it was about structure, its really not for a lot of recs

Yuh, take your point, but the sqhds will play whether it's 25k chips 15min clock or 15k chips 30min clock. However, there are those that will refuse to play 25k/15mins, so why ever have it?

[THISnTHAT]

quality off staff, dealer/valets etc
structure/buy-in
the rest will take care of it self

[Cf]

The playerbase itself. 'Community' spirit. Fun, banter, etc. Very important
The food/service. Not so bothered
The blind structures and starting stacks. Very important - BUT i'd prefer lower starting stacks and tournaments to be done by midnight. I used to LOVE the DTD tournaments that started at 3,000 chips. Nearly half the field KO'd before the break. None of this 10,000 nonsense. I'd rather not play for hours for no return.
The guaranteed prize pools. Doesn't bother me so much but gets people through the door.
The quality of the dealing staff. Very important
The quality of the supervision staff. Important
The advertisement and social media pushing of 'what's on' Over-rated. Word of mouth is much better.
The location of the venue. People will travel for good games.
The 'rules'. Probably not too important as long as they're applied consistently.
The 'owner' of the club. G/Genting/Gala etc. Doesn't matter

[Ironside]

it has too be a fun card room with banter knowledgable dealing and supervising staff a structure that has some play in it when on final table especially close too and in the money

valets too me are totally unimportant but a good valet service is a bonus