With the opening of the Sahara (@SAHARALasVegas) poker room approaching at the end of this month (Jan 2020), it seems a perfect opportunity to discuss strategy for poker rooms to optimize their business. It is no secret that poker rooms have closed or downsized at an alarming rate both in Las Vegas and the rest of the country. A slot machine takes less labor and space while returning more profit so why would they even keep poker rooms at all? Let us discuss.
Some examples:
The newest one to open: Almost since it re-re-opened, The Westgate Poker room (@WestgateVegas) has pushed for customers by hosting different events. They made some mistakes (think a circuit event gone wrong), but meh, don’t we all? They have had some success hosting meet-up games. A Thursday afternoon @TheTrooper97 ‘s MUG has been going there for a couple of years now. Soon they will host a meet-up mix game for @Pokerkraut on Friday (1st one is the 17th of this month) . While we have no idea about the details and deals the Westgate strikes with these vloggers, we can tell you that Flynn & Ollie appreciate the extras the Westgate and the vloggers provide for players. There is often food, the staff is helpful and welcoming, and having a ‘common interest’ – the MUG itself – is a draw. It is likely that a visiting tourist poker player would not venture to the Westgate (off strip) to play unless these vlog celebs were there. The Westgate does not charge for parking, it’s easy to get to, and it has a huge sports-book. They have a Twitter account (@WestgateLVPoker) but have not used it in year ~ a mistake. Speaking of location: Convention Center.
Sounds great, right? Then why do we suspect there is often just one table going most (days), or that nights would be deemed ‘slow’ by most strip room standards? When we have been there it’s the same one table of regulars playing, with the occasional conventioneer wandering in, or a rookie wanting to give poker a try while they wait for their sports-book results. If the celeb vlogger loses momentum or enthusiasm for the game, can’t keep it fresh, or does not market it continuously, the meet-up will falter as well.
Several poker rooms have hired celebrity poker names to be ambassadors. The F&O observations lead them to believe these have been minimally effective to draw players to the poker room in question, at least with consistent results. There may be a flurry of activity when the ambassador is first brought on, however it is a quick downhill spiral in subsequent months. @KarinaJett at the MGM and Annette Obrestad at the Venetian were both short lived. Even @BrokeLivingJRB at the Aria recently lost his ambassador title after 8 years. Flynn and Ollie hang at the Aria, yet we never saw what he did there…. Really big names have potential to draw, but what do they get out of it?
What are the successful poker rooms doing to keep business coming in the doors? The Big 3: Aria (@ARIAPoker), Bellagio (@BellagioPoker), and Wynn (@WynnPoker) are the big ones for the serious players. They don’t have promotions, they run higher limit games, and they offer some variety (mix game). They are strict about quality dealers and floor staff, they keep their rooms neat and clean, offer great beverage service, and have food service to the tables. They do not mess about with their poker seriousness.
The Orleans poker room (@OrleansPokerRoom) currently has the corner on the market for Omaha, and low limit local traffic off strip. The room is very popular, runs tons of promotions and affordable tournaments. West-of-the-freeway local grinders have set up residency there. It is a smokey and worn room, you have to fetch your own food (close and cheap), and service-dealer-floor runs the gamut from good to not-good depending on the day.
The Venetian Poker room (@VenetianPoker) is the catchall wide-range everything room on the strip. It has low limit games, promos galore, some higher limit stuff on demand, oodles of tournaments, and tournament series. The locals have a love/hate relationship with this place as the owner of the property is somewhat controversial, however, the room is popular. Service-dealer-floor are consistently good, it is mostly well kept, they have table-side food service. They just downsized by half.
There are several other strip-based rooms that cater to lower limit games, either locals who are grinding hours or tourists. Each room has it’s own personality, some are nicer than others, but none of them are consistently busy. All have various promotions, daily tournaments, most don’t offer table-side service, and the draw of playing regularly at any one of them may be strictly for the locals so they can qualify for free-rolls or comps. Unless there are happy, drunk tourists there, most of these places are not fun.
The most recent one to close: The Stratosphere. They had a semi-decent weekend tournament, not many tables, not a real room (rather icky), and the north end location was not optimal for either strip tourists or locals. Not surprising it didn’t make it, and we are sad all the same. Kinda like a dive bar, the Flynnster likes an occasional foray into lower rent poker rooms. BTW, the staff there was very kind.
What should the Sahara learn from all of this?
Create a following. The popular poker rooms have and use Twitter accounts regularly. Their staff does so as well, to promote the room and keep players informed. Who doesn’t want to meet @TDPaulCampbell of Aria fame? He seems cool.
The good poker rooms use Bravo. There are other software programs available for less $, but if you want people to find you, use Bravo. It is the common denominator.
Keep your schedule current and your website up to date.
Free parking, and advertise the heck outta it. If you can’t, find a way to validate. If you can’t do that, find a way to offset parking fees for players. You need locals and people from everywhere / anywhere. Don’t alienate any of them by making them pay to play.
Give the players something. It does not have to be costly. A soup station like the Peppermill in Reno. Or slightly more in hourly comps than your competitors are giving. Or same day match play or slot play vouchers ~ $5 bucks worth would do ~ after 2 hours of poker play will keep a player on the property longer, especially if they can give them to friends who are travelling with them. Advertise the heck outta whatever you are giving them.
Location (inside) matters: Keep the poker room away from the smokey gaming floor, loud slot machines, and loud music. Put it near the bathrooms, the sports book, and keno. Players want to stay at the tables, so make this easy for them. It should be visible to other casino patrons, and look fun and welcoming from outside.
Food and Beverage: While we love the players who drink alcohol, many poker players don’t imbibe while playing. Lots of them are perfectly fine getting up to get their own coffee or soda. A self-serve station may mean less staff. Don’t get too skimpy on the service though, because great servers keep people coming back. Don’t want to fund someone to do table-side food service? Not a deal-breaker, but please have a close, quick, and cheap food joint for players to grab a to-go bite. (NOT the WSOP hot dog cart!)
Make it fun: Do oddball drawings for oddball stuff every now and then ($5 food comps, promo items, decks of cards). Have a theme night once a month where staff participates enthusiastically and/or you give players $10 food comp for dressing up & playing for 1 hour +. Find a specialty, like a low-limit stud game or pineapple, that the room offers weekly & have chex mix available for those games only, just to make it more exclusive. Bring in vloggers for random MUGs. Chainsaw (@AllenKessler) approve your tournaments. Advertise the heck out of it.
Keep them coming back: A poker room in Las Vegas should work out poker (hotel room) rates to out-of-state players to keep them coming back and on the property. Don’t promo drop, or at least keep it to a buck in order to do something unique for players. Promo drops for serious tourist players are not beneficial (ergo the popularity of the Big 3). The poker room should offer a benefit for locals ~ a punch card for tournament entry has potential. Advertise all of this.
Finally, In Summary
Flynn and Ollie know this a long read, and we really hope that room managers, and specifically the Sahara, try not to scoff out loud at our ideas. You MUST establish yourself as a unique draw. You MUST advertise and keep it entertaining on IG, Twitter, and icky-FB (dumb-book has banned us, so we must be doing something right). Don’t hire @RealJamieGold as your ambassador (shout out to the closed Tropicana poker room). Your staff should be your ambassadors, and if you want a celeb to help do a book signing, a ‘one night only’, or a charity-benefit event so they can self-promote. Get Todd Brunson to play 1/3 with Flynn ~ cause F&O can take him this time around…
Flynn and Ollie will be in Las Vegas on the 29th of this month. We will be watching all of you. Don’t let us down, stock up on the booze.
Fin
Flynn
I am more positive about the Strip low limit places. I spend a majority of my Las Vegas poker time in Bally’s, Mirage, MGM and PH. I have been to several Trooper MUGs and as you mentioned, and would not have ventured to Westgate if not for them.
I believe the rooms would get much more business if the casinos put a bit of time and money into great promos, as you suggested.
Some people have speculated that over the next few years, the number of Las Vegas poker rooms might shrink to the big three, Orleans, and after those, … ? I certainly hope not. Las Vegas casino honchos have already done so much to chase away the low level gamblers with resort fees, parking fees and high prices. I know many people who do not go nearly as often as they used to. It is time for Las Vegas to be more about the players again.
Flynn and Ollie both frequent the mid-low stakes rooms on the strip. Flynn is particularly fond of the Mirage, but mostly due to location (walk-ability). All of these rooms are, for lack of a better word, mundane. They are not pushing to stand out. For critters like us who see potential, the lack of marketing (and then failure) is frustrating.
GL at the tables, sir!