How I grew my bi-weekly cash game (2 Viewers)

[Freeroll]

About 6 months ago, I transitioned from sending out text message invites to a group of people in my contacts list, to making a group on Facebook called ‘Glace Bay Poker’ and adding anyone I could think of that might play or ever be interested in playing.

The group now has over 120 members (I’m sure over half will never play, but that’s fine).

I made the Facebook group for 2 main reasons:
1. So people could add their friends to the group, that might want to play, and
2. So someone who doesn’t even know anyone in the group could search on Facebook, and find the group, and ask to join.

I figured I’d share, since this is the first game (tomorrow), that someone is scheduled to play that just found the group on their own, without being invited by someone else.

Hope this helps anyone that might be looking to grow their game.

 

[Shaggy]

I figured I’d share, since this is the first game (tomorrow), that someone is scheduled to play that just found the group on their own, without being invited by someone else.

That would be my biggest reason not to create a Facebook group. Not interested in having a rando in my house.

 

[Freeroll]

That would be my biggest reason not to create a Facebook group. Not interested in having a rando in my house.

I always have the power to remove anyone from the Facebook group.
I feel like to grow any game, you’d have to recruit relatively unknown players somehow.

 

[Mojo1312]

O.P. made a Facebook group six months ago as a way of recruiting new players to grow his game. Tomorrow will be the first time where an unknown player who learned about the game through Facebook will join the group.

What am I missing?

 

[Freeroll]

O.P. made a Facebook group six months ago as a way of recruiting new players to grow his game. Tomorrow will be the first time where an unknown player who learned about the game through Facebook will join the group.

What am I missing?

The game has grown a lot since making the group, but always through a member adding one of their friends or acquaintances. This is just the first time someone found the group on their own and asked to join, then asked to come to a game.
I’m just happy because that was the reason behind giving the group such a generic name.

 

[idoru99]

I am one of the hosts for a tournament league that has existed for almost 20 years. Recruiting new players is tough - especially new players that fit well within the culture of your current group. We too have a private Facebook group but most of the player who stay with us in the long term are those who have a referral from another member. We have not resorted to only allowing referrals to attend, but it may come to that.

I wish you luck in attracting new players who fit well within your existing group.

 

[Freeroll]

I am one of the hosts for a tournament league that has existed for almost 20 years. Recruiting new players is tough - especially new players that fit well within the culture of your current group. We too have a private Facebook group but most of the player who stay with us in the long term are those who have a referral from another member. We have not resorted to only allowing referrals to attend, but it may come to that.

I wish you luck in attracting new players who fit well within your existing group.

I don’t have the long term experience to argue who is best for long term players, but my initial thought would be that if someone goes out of their way to ask to join a private local poker group, where said someone doesn’t know any of the players, I would think that is at least a good sign that they are enthusiastic about playing poker.

 

[idoru99]

I don’t have the long term experience to argue who is best for long term players, but my initial thought would be that if someone goes out of their way to ask to join a private local poker group, where said someone doesn’t know any of the players, I would think that is at least a good sign that they are enthusiastic about playing poker.

I agree with you 100%. And I really do hope you find some good quality players that fit in well with your game!

 

[warma]

That would be my biggest reason not to create a Facebook group. Not interested in having a rando in my house.

You can also make a secret group so only folks you invite can access it.

 

[Littleluck55]

Out of curiosity, when you say grow your game. Are you talking about trying to get 4,5,6 tables going like a poker room? Or just having trouble filling a table or two every week?

I’ve been lucky that we have a group of about 18 and 10 of us went to grade school together and still play together 30 years after graduation.and the rest we have known for over 15 years through either our work or kid’s sports lives. Very rarely do we have less than 9 playing any given week. We actually break the games into separate groups. My best friend and I run it, and one week we invite all our childhood friends and the next week we invite The other group. If we are short a player or two, we fill in from the other group. We don’t play tournies though, which would encourage a bigger crowd.

As I know and trust everyone in the game, I don’t worry about cheating or stealing.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I am the administrator for “POKER” on FB groups. One of my friends tells me I could probably sell the rights to the name for a small fortune.

 

[Freeroll]

Out of curiosity, when you say grow your game. Are you talking about trying to get 4,5,6 tables going like a poker room? Or just having trouble filling a table or two every week?

I’ve been lucky that we have a group of about 18 and 10 of us went to grade school together and still play together 30 years after graduation.and the rest we have known for over 15 years through either our work or kid’s sports lives. Very rarely do we have less than 9 playing any given week. We actually break the games into separate groups. My best friend and I run it, and one week we invite all our childhood friends and the next week we invite The other group. If we are short a player or two, we fill in from the other group. We don’t play tournies though, which would encourage a bigger crowd.

As I know and trust everyone in the game, I don’t worry about cheating or stealing.

I have 3 tables, but I started the group because, although I had about 30 people on my invite list, some weeks we would only be able to get about 4 players

 

[Hephestia]

That would be my biggest reason not to create a Facebook group. Not interested in having a rando in my house.

I'm with you; I'll stick with friends and neighbors for small stakes home games.

I assume the people trying to bring in significantly more people to the group (including randoms) and grow their games to multi tables are likely hosting poker as a side hustle and raking their games in some way.

 

[Freeroll]

I'm with you; I'll stick with friends and neighbors for small stakes home games.

I assume the people trying to bring in significantly more people to the group (including randoms) and grow their games to multi tables are likely hosting poker as a side hustle and raking their games in some way.

That’s an incorrect assumption in my case

 

[Stufflymcstuff]

It’s quite hard for most people to fill a single table of 5/5nl just with real life friends. I know several people who would consider playing but the chances of 6 of them wanting to play on the same night is slim to nill.

Smaller games are way easier to fill by comparison.

 

[Dugthefish]

I've done the exact same thing as OP. Have had several "randoms" request a seat at my game. Good vetting is a must. Luckily I live in small town Iowa, so most people are easy to track down through friends of friends. The ones that aren't, I usually arrange a meet up at a local tavern with another regular or two to feel them out.

Knock on wood, but I've never had a lemon; most are just new to the area and enjoy playing poker. One of my best friends was a random who found my game through a Craigslist ad 10 years ago lol.

 

[legonick]

About 6 months ago, I transitioned from sending out text message invites to a group of people in my contacts list, to making a group on Facebook called ‘Glace Bay Poker’ and adding anyone I could think of that might play or ever be interested in playing.

The group now has over 120 members (I’m sure over half will never play, but that’s fine).

I made the Facebook group for 2 main reasons:
1. So people could add their friends to the group, that might want to play, and
2. So someone who doesn’t even know anyone in the group could search on Facebook, and find the group, and ask to join.

I figured I’d share, since this is the first game (tomorrow), that someone is scheduled to play that just found the group on their own, without being invited by someone else.

Hope this helps anyone that might be looking to grow their game.

What kind of turnouts do you get? What are you looking to get?

What do you do if 50 people tab in yes for 1 of your games?

 

[Stufflymcstuff]

Send a confirmation text to the 8 or 9 shittiest players, and put a bunch more on the wait list.

 

[grebe]

I have attended a game as a stranger from a fb group. I just started playing live again after a few years break and had no way of finding games, so I just searched facebook. I went to two games this way....one was a raked game that I didnt know was raked until I got there, and another was a small stakes home game amongst a bunch of old time friends.

I didnt get shot or robbed at either game....and I did not shoot or rob anybody, either. Win-win.

 

[legonick]

I have attended a game as a stranger from a fb group. I just started playing live again after a few years break and had no way of finding games, so I just searched facebook. I went to two games this way....one was a raked game that I didnt know was raked until I got there, and another was a small stakes home game amongst a bunch of old time friends.

I didnt get shot or robbed at either game....and I did not shoot or rob anybody, either. Win-win.

So the big question - are you going back? Especially to the friend game? I'd probably steer clear of the raked game especially if you didn't know, but that's just because I'm a n00b and not good enough to play at those stakes probably.

 

[Freeroll]

What kind of turnouts do you get? What are you looking to get?

What do you do if 50 people tab in yes for 1 of your games?

Turnout vary pretty widely from game to game. We had 13 players on Saturday. I haven’t run a multi table game before covid restrictions came around, so I always post how many players we are allowed to have, and the first players that commit to playing until we get to that number (currently 23) is who plays. We usually don’t reach the maximum number of players anyway, but we have twice.

 

[Freeroll]

I have attended a game as a stranger from a fb group. I just started playing live again after a few years break and had no way of finding games, so I just searched facebook. I went to two games this way....one was a raked game that I didnt know was raked until I got there, and another was a small stakes home game amongst a bunch of old time friends.

I didnt get shot or robbed at either game....and I did not shoot or rob anybody, either. Win-win.

This has worked out well in my case also.
The new player drew the opposite table as I did, so I never got the chance to play with him or talk much with him, but the other players that were at his table all said that he seemed like a great guy.
Unfortunately, he lost $160 pretty quickly (in an hour and a half, or so), then left. I’m hoping that didn’t sour him on coming back, but we’ll see.

 

[grebe]

So the big question - are you going back? Especially to the friend game? I'd probably steer clear of the raked game especially if you didn't know, but that's just because I'm a n00b and not good enough to play at those stakes probably.

I would play in either game again. The raked game was actually a better game, and I have come to grips with playing in a raked home game. I mean, I don't plan on telling the government how much income I make in poker, so what do I care if somebody is hosting an illegal game? So long as there isnt a bunch of people doing drugs (weed doesnt count), or being belligerent, I am ok with an underground game.

 

[legonick]

I would play in either game again. The raked game was actually a better game, and I have come to grips with playing in a raked home game. I mean, I don't plan on telling the government how much income I make in poker, so what do I care if somebody is hosting an illegal game? So long as there isnt a bunch of people doing drugs (weed doesnt count), or being belligerent, I am ok with an underground game.

"I would" sounds like you haven't yet though. Was this just recent and they haven't run any additional games yet?

 

[grebe]

"I would" sounds like you haven't yet though. Was this just recent and they haven't run any additional games yet?

I have played in underground games on and off, but we have a semi-legal card room that I was playing at before omicron came thru and shut down my live play (personal decision). I also had a home game tournament I was playing semi regular in where I just got fed up with the BS people were pulling in the name of "this isnt a casino" and I quit. My current options for live:

-card room with several tables running Thursday to Monday 1/2 up to 5/10
-home game at a fellow chipper's house. Great game, good times.
-underground game on Tuesday and Friday daytime that plays 5/10/15/20 limit O/8 and BigO. It's mostly old people and having a dealer is absolutely necessary, as some of them couldn't even shuffle a deck much less deal.
-a couple other underground games that I have invites to that run either 1/1 or 1/2 games.
-a couple smaller home games that I have not pressed for an invite yet since Covid has had me sidelined, but I can easily squeeze myself in to.

I will play in damn near any game as long as it is either a fun group, or a game that I can stand to be around the people and feel like I have an edge. Legality doesnt really bother me, because I find it ludicrous that poker is illegal in the U.S. What really cuts me back from playing as much as I would like is my family life.

 

[LotsOfChips]

I assume the people trying to bring in significantly more people to the group (including randoms) and grow their games to multi tables are likely hosting poker as a side hustle and raking their games in some way.

Umm, no, not necessarily. Lots of reasons why someone might try to bring in players. New to the area and don't know anybody. Limited circle of friends. Existing players aren't very dedicated and trying to get a good solid core group together.

If your game isn't growing, it's dying... You can argue that FB isn't the best way to grow the player pool, but for some people it is.

Sure, maybe some people running illegal games might do what you are suggesting, but it would be pretty stupid (IMO) to post invitations to an illegal game on an open forum like Facebook. Might as well just send an invitation to the local precinct.

 

[Hephestia]

one was a raked game that I didnt know was raked until I got there,

Sure, maybe some people running illegal games might do what you are suggesting, but it would be pretty stupid (IMO) to post invitations to an illegal game on an open forum like Facebook. Might as well just send an invitation to the local precinct.

I can definitely see where you're coming from; but, stupid or not, it's clearly the case. Obviously they aren't advertising a raked game, and you won't know about a rake until you show up as was the case with @grebe, but I think it's more common than you think (maybe not in Canada, but certainly in the states). There are a few games that I've found on FB, that when/if I show up, I will be 0% surprised to learn of a rake.

 

[CrazyEddie]

Might as well just send an invitation to the local precinct.

That's probably the best way to keep your game from getting busted.