Overlay at the Voodoo - Irish Open Ticket GTD on Wed

Nick V

Erm... I guess I might have been a little crazy in the guarantees at the festival here at the Voodoo next week. With €10k in guarantees over the week this could be a really costly one... I've got 25 main event tickets guaranteed (ie. over €6k) over Mon, Tue and Friday and an Irish Open Ticket available in a €50 rebuy on wednesday.

So beyond the call to boardies to attend the festival if possible I have a more general question for you... are overlays a necessary evil of running poker events? I suppose what I'm asking is: if the Voodoo does end up heavily subsidising these events, will it be good for the club in the long run in terms of PR and attracting attention?

twitch1984

I think it is good from a p.r perpespective because it shows that you are willing to honour your side of the bargain by providing the guarantee.

I played with a group a few years back who needless to say are no longer in operation, mainly because after about 6 months they ran a 50f/o with 5000 guaranteed, they got 20 players(lots of other games on the same day)
they tried to worm out of paying the guarantee by saying it was an estimate but all there posters said guarantee, they paid eventually but the nxt tourney was not a guarantee tourney and nobody but diehard followers turned up (bye bye poker tour)

Basically what im saying is yeah its good pr, proves that if you are called on it you will live up to your word and honour your guarantees

westlife2010

I personally think that gaurantee's dont work, for the clubs, in the recession hit country at the moment. I see small clubs/operators sticking their necks out for little return. I am not a poker event organiser so I am not biased in any way. It leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth when I turn up at an event and see people busting their arses to try and make a (average) living and ending up PAYING MONEY OUT OF THEIR POCKET to spend weeks putting together a game and running it on the night. Again this is a personal thing, but I take no pleasure in seeing a person left with an overlay. We already in this country have some of the best value structured tournaments in the world. Where else would you get €50-€100 game's going on for 10-13 hours with 5-10-20 euro reg fees! Enjoy the fact that tournament organisers are willing to bow to pressure and put in long structured tournaments for small buy ins (and by doing this, shooting themselves in the foot by slowing up the customers getting to the cash tables wr they can make some money)

bohsman

Only reason to have a guarantee is if you know for a fact you have that many players coming. ie guarantee at 100 players knowing that you have 100 tickets sold through must use ticket sattelites and pre regged players, people will play knowing theres 100+ playing and it should snowball from there.

IPR_Iain

Nick, Personally i do not think the voodoo has any trouble getting people through the door. It is a cool place to play.

Gaurentees do have a place in Irish Poker. But the main reason i see them is for mobile tours. The guarentee offers travelling players the gaurentee that if they bother their arse they will get a game with at least a prize pool to play for.

It is nice though in a festival to have a certain gaurentee because you know that there is something to play for regardless

corkie123

GUARANTEES REALLY ARE FOR MAIN EVENT . I THINK U OVER STATED ON TICKETS WITH 5 MON 10 TUE PLUS frid .

BUT U DONT HAVE ANY GUARANTEE ON MAIN EVENT LUCKY U AND IF IT DOES COST YE THEN I DONT THINK IT WILL BE MUCH .

HAVE NEVER PLAYED IN YOUR CLUB SO DONT KNOW WHAT NUMBERS YE GET BUT I THINK 2 TICKETS MONDAY NIGHT AND 5 TICKETS TUESDAY AND frid WOULD HAVE COVERED YE .

BUT BEST OF LUCK WITH IT ANYWAY

72over

corkie123

72over wrote: »

another stupid post u must have nothing to do :rolleyes:

Nick V

It looks like my fears are coming to fruition! Look's like there's going to be an overlay in tonight's Satellite - Only 24 runners so far, late reg until 9:45pm. €55 for an Irish Open Ticket worth €3,500 anyone?

RichardB2

In my opinion there are only two factors
which influence the majority of tournament poker players: PRICE & PRIZE.

The best attended tournaments in Dublin are rarely the best structured,
as Luke Ivory discovered to his cost in the former Merrion.

The Fitz jams them in on Friday night for a €50 scalp with one re-buy
which starts with 3k in chips & 20minute blind levels.
The fact that they generate a €7-10k prize pool regularly is the magnet here.

The Jackpot, which is more directly competes with your target audience,
historically had it’s best attendances and hence biggest prize pools
on Mondays ( €5 unlimited rebuys) & Thursdays (€20 freeze-out).
The fact that players get 2,500 chips on Thursday
but could play an 8k or 10k freeze-out on other nights for €10 extra
hasn’t distracted them from their bargain basement buy-in games.

The Emporium started out great guns,
so much so that some genius decided to double all their buy-ins.
Result: The most centrally located & comfortable room in Dublin is a morgue.

What all this indicates to me is that your average tournament player
is motivated primarily by a cheap shot at a proportionally decent pay-out.
Only something with the words “free” or “added” garner his interest more.
Nice chairs, good dealers, easy access etc are bonuses but no substitute.

The Voodoo has introduced numerous promotional schemes to date.
That’s to be applauded as are your pleasant and affable staff.
Here’s the but …..
The tournament & cash leagues, bonus chips etc all share one common goal,
they divert customers money into promotions designed to benefit the club.
Promote your club by all means but do with with your own money.
I like the concept of “giving something back to the players” but all you’re doing
is giving them back their own money with a bias to the degenerates.

As an example here’s my own experience a fortnight ago.
€20 buy-in, excellent, a cheap night out.
€5 registration fee, hmmm, not a lot but 25% seems a lot when
you’re the only club in Dublin who doesn’t provide finger food at the break.
Though you’re kind enough to remind us that the café ( I like the food btw)
is open should we feel peckish during the 30minute break.
I’m generously offered the opportunity to purchase an additional 500chip
at a cost of €5 which will go into a “free-roll” rather than the prize pool.
Question: how is it a free-roll if I have to pay to enter?
Finally there are two deductions announced from the prize pool,
one for a monthly league and another annual league.
In total more than 1/3 of the money I hand over is not paid out on the night.

Drop the gimmickry and offer plain simple value.
People get put off by constant niggly deductions and charges
and come to distrust glitzy leagues/guarantees that don’t add anything.
They prefer cash to tickets/chips & they prefer bonuses to guarantees.

HelloJellyFish

RichardB2 wrote: »

As an example here’s my own experience a fortnight ago.
€20 buy-in, excellent, a cheap night out.
€5 registration fee, hmmm, not a lot but 25% seems a lot when
you’re the only club in Dublin who doesn’t provide finger food at the break.
Though you’re kind enough to remind us that the café ( I like the food btw)
is open should we feel peckish during the 30minute break.
I’m generously offered the opportunity to purchase an additional 500chip
at a cost of €5 which will go into a “free-roll” rather than the prize pool.
Question: how is it a free-roll if I have to pay to enter?
Finally there are two deductions announced from the prize pool,
one for a monthly league and another annual league.
In total more than 1/3 of the money I hand over is not paid out on the night.

Drop the gimmickry and offer plain simple value.
People get put off by constant niggly deductions and charges
and come to distrust glitzy leagues/guarantees that don’t add anything.
They prefer cash to tickets/chips & they prefer bonuses to guarantees.

I agree with most of what you said, I like the club and people, but have been around less and less as I get better value at other clubs. It is the closest to home and I would love to play there more often.