New Home Poker Tourney Host From WA State! But I have a problem... (2 Viewers)

[Swisspiss]

Hi everyone,

I just recently had the itch to start running poker home tournaments so I talked to some friends to get the initial thought of playing some home games and the result was pretty positive. I had 7 buddies and my fiancé that all said they would be down to play a casual, $20 tournament. So I bought an inexpensive table, got some free dining chairs from Offer Up, bought 1,000 set of decent chips, and began the process of turning my garage into a poker room / man cave. I had about 4 dump runs to do, a lot of clean up, a lot of organizing things to utilize the space as best as I could. Set up two TV's, one for a tournament manager and one for shows or sports. I don't have cable so I subscribed to ESPN+ to get some sports options. I even bought inexpensive little 1st place trophies, one for each month left in 2022. I created a blind structure, printed out house rules, basic poker etiquette (I have a couple friends that are brand new) I bought a whiskey glass that came with SS whiskey stones with little aces on them and a little white board so I could do a fun "High Hand of the Night" prize.

All in all, I spent about 1,000 dollars over 2 months or so to bring this to life. I love cooking so I made 2 lbs. of candied bacon, 3 lbs. of party meatballs, put out chips and dip, a pickled peppers and things tray, a cheese plate, bought a variety box of small bags of chips and a package of donuts. I filled the garage fridge with water, seltzers, coke, mountain dew and three different varieties of beer. I started letting people know the date of the first tournament about 2 weeks in advance. When the night before poker night came, 3 buddies said they were in, 2 buddies said they were out and the other 2 didn't respond at all. The night of the tournament, only 2 of the 3 showed up. So we had a 4 player tournament. Ugh... It was still a lot of fun but I was pretty disappointed in the turnout.

I sent the invitation for the 2nd tournament which is coming up this Saturday, and I now have 2 buddies tell me to just take them off the group text completely, 2 more that say they aren't coming again and 1 that is not responding. I have the same two that showed up the first time coming again because they said it was super fun and they had a blast. Have any of you guys experienced this? I feel pretty let down after spending so much time, effort and money to make a fun night happen and having everyone just blow me off. What should I do? Scrap the whole thing? 4 player tournaments kind of suck, its short, the money isn't there to make it worthwhile and while I love hosting and don't want to stop but, I also don't want to keep having 1/2 table tournaments. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

* The picture of the poker table is staged btw. My garage was much cleaner on the night of the tourney.
** The picture of the food table was taken after a coupe people grabbed plates so it's not as pretty as it was.

 

[Skagglio]

Not sure what the reason is for your friend's response without knowing them or being there for the 1st night but it certainly looks like you put in all the effort to make it a great night. I think the key is just to expand your invite list. Some people just aren't into poker as much as you or may have other life priorities right now. I have to reach out to 15/20 people to host an 8 person game sometimes but I would continue building your invite list off the two who had a great time and want to come again. Ask them if they have any friends who would also like to play. Play in someone else's game in the area and if you gel with them then you have more people to invite to your own game.

Good luck!

 

[FDLmold]

What Skagglio said. A solid invite list of 15-20 is probably required for an 8 person game.

 

[RiverKingCali]

Hey welcome to the forum,

Nice setup! Sorry to hear about what happened but unfortunately to some ppl poker just isn't a priority. But don't let that deter you from hosting and having fun. Expand your invite list to 20, first come first seated. Best of luck my friend.

 

[ArielVer18]

Hi everyone,

I just recently had the itch to start running poker home tournaments so I talked to some friends to get the initial thought of playing some home games and the result was pretty positive. I had 7 buddies and my fiancé that all said they would be down to play a casual, $20 tournament. So I bought an inexpensive table, got some free dining chairs from Offer Up, bought 1,000 set of decent chips, and began the process of turning my garage into a poker room / man cave. I had about 4 dump runs to do, a lot of clean up, a lot of organizing things to utilize the space as best as I could. Set up two TV's, one for a tournament manager and one for shows or sports. I don't have cable so I subscribed to ESPN+ to get some sports options. I even bought inexpensive little 1st place trophies, one for each month left in 2022. I created a blind structure, printed out house rules, basic poker etiquette (I have a couple friends that are brand new) I bought a whiskey glass that came with SS whiskey stones with little aces on them and a little white board so I could do a fun "High Hand of the Night" prize.

All in all, I spent about 1,000 dollars over 2 months or so to bring this to life. I love cooking so I made 2 lbs. of candied bacon, 3 lbs. of party meatballs, put out chips and dip, a pickled peppers and things tray, a cheese plate, bought a variety box of small bags of chips and a package of donuts. I filled the garage fridge with water, seltzers, coke, mountain dew and three different varieties of beer. I started letting people know the date of the first tournament about 2 weeks in advance. When the night before poker night came, 3 buddies said they were in, 2 buddies said they were out and the other 2 didn't respond at all. The night of the tournament, only 2 of the 3 showed up. So we had a 4 player tournament. Ugh... It was still a lot of fun but I was pretty disappointed in the turnout.

You have a player pool of 7 (excluding yourself and your fiancé). People have busy lives, so you cannot assume all seven will be free and available for a date of your choosing without asking, even if you gave them a two weeks notice. Try asking each of your friends individually to find out which dates work. People are more responsive in a one-on-one chat than a group text.

 

[Swisspiss]

Not sure what the reason is for your friend's response without knowing them or being there for the 1st night but it certainly looks like you put in all the effort to make it a great night. I think the key is just to expand your invite list. Some people just aren't into poker as much as you or may have other life priorities right now. I have to reach out to 15/20 people to host an 8 person game sometimes but I would continue building your invite list off the two who had a great time and want to come again. Ask them if they have any friends who would also like to play. Play in someone else's game in the area and if you gel with them then you have more people to invite to your own game.

Good luck

Thank you for the response. I guess my frustration is that I had 8 people say "yea I'll show up" then only 4 did. When you reach out to your 15 to 20 people and get 8 that say they will come, do 4 ever cancel or just not show up on tourney night? It's like I feel like I'm missing something or doing something wrong.. or didn't do my due diligence.

But I agree with your ideas to expand the invite list and that is definitely something I am working on. I didn't realize that with so many people "willing" to show up that so many actually wouldn't. I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me you'll be here on Saturday at 6pm, I'm calling you at 6:01 wondering where you are at. So, when someone says they will show up, I take that at face value and probably get more frustrated then the average person when they don't. It's also a little disheartening to have two of my friends , (guys I've know 15+ years btw) tell me that they are no longer interested at all and to take them off the poker group text list. Like wtf... you haven't even given it a shot yet.

But, I'm glad to hear that you don't think I did anything wrong and that I just need to expand my poker contacts. That's good to hear and I will work on that next. Thank you again for your response.

 

[Swisspiss]

You have a player pool of 7 (excluding yourself and your fiancé). People have busy lives, so you cannot assume all seven will be free and available for a date of your choosing without asking, even if you gave them a two weeks notice. Try asking each of your friends individually to find out which dates work. People are more responsive in a one-on-one chat than a group text.

That is something I am quickly realizing. I called one of my friends who has not been responding to the group text and asked him about Saturday and he told me he wouldn't be able to come because of work. I'm like, why didn't you say that then on the group text. "I dunno" Lol, it's like he's afraid I'm gonna blow up on him in a group text or something. But that is solid advice, I will try reaching out personally more and save group text just for dates and general tourney info. Thanks for your response.

 

[Swisspiss]

Hey welcome to the forum,

Nice setup! Sorry to hear about what happened but unfortunately to some ppl poker just isn't a priority. But don't let that deter you from hosting and having fun. Expand your invite list to 20, first come first seated. Best of luck my friend.

Hey thanks for the reply! I do enjoy hosting and agree that I need to expand my invite list before I just give up on it. And thank you for the compliment!

 

[glynn]

Yep, it's a function of your list size. A 40% attendance rate is a dream — the problem is that your list is eight-deep if we are counting your fiancé. Attrition is always a factor, so you should always be recruiting.

I now have 2 buddies tell me to just take them off the group text completely

Yeah that would be me, and I love playing poker. Text messaging is supposed to be asynchronous. Group texts opt me unwillingly into a back-and-forth between two or more people who are not me, and the notifications appear between my normal async chats. I would say that this isn't a big deal among a handful of close friends, but at least two of yours were turned off enough to ask you not to include them, and it's certainly not scalable anyway. Find another communication method.

Also, hi Nice cave.

 

[Swisspiss]

Yep, it's a function of your list size. A 40% attendance rate is a dream — the problem is that your list is eight-deep if we are counting your fiancé. Attrition is always a factor, so you should always be recruiting.



Yeah that would be me, and I love playing poker. Text messaging is supposed to be asynchronous. Group texts opt me unwillingly into a back-and-forth between two or more people who are not me, and the notifications appear between my normal async chats. I would say that this isn't a big deal among a handful of close friends, but at least two of yours were turned off enough to ask you not to include them, and it's certainly not scalable anyway. Find another communication method.

Also, hi Nice cave.

Yet another great piece of advice. I didn't even think of the annoyance factor of hearing text notifications with a convo that you're not even part of. I am always part of it. What would you recommend for a group communication that won't get annoying but also has the ability to relay info back and forth? I've tried looking online for like a private event scheduler that you send to people that gives them all the info but doesn't create needless conversations but I haven't found anything.. At least not anything free or geared specifically to weddings. Oh and thanks for the reply and compliment!

 

[Eriks]

You seem like an awesome host, I’d be there! Will echo what others say about expanding the invite list.

. I guess my frustration is that I had 8 people say "yea I'll show up" then only 4 did.

Agree, this i bullshit. If they were no shows that didn’t even bother to communicate, it’s to the black list in my book

 

[Pinesol13]

I second what everyone's already said. You need to grow a large invite list to get a solid regular game going. Don't get discouraged, it's a long, ongoing process.

Personally, I don't get upset by people who don't respond to the invite, or cancel on me, unless it becomes a very regular thing.

I like to use this resource, made by another member, foe my invites: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/resources/invitetracker.98/

Also, I don't mind 4 handed tournaments, I use to have a regular weekly game with 3 friends. We'd play 3-4 tournaments in a night, and it was a blast.

 

[glynn]

For communication, the successful hosts in my area use personal texts or email. If you use email, put your name in the "To:" field and your list is in the "BCC:" field so that replies only go to you.

These private methods have the added benefit of preventing someone from basing their decision on the current RSVPs. As far as they know, a game is happening, and they can either lock a seat or risk missing out.

 

[Swisspiss]

I like to use this resource, made by another member, foe my invites: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/resources/invitetracker.98/

How do I get this? This is pretty much gonna solve my problem but the links look like its just the manual and demo's showing what it can do. Is there a download or something?

Also, sorry for including everyone's messages in my replies. First day here and I am still learning how to reply to things correctly...

 

[natumes]

I have probably a pool of 30 people that I've grown over 2 years to get a consistent full table game going. The first year was rough, it was tough to get 6 people to make it worth running a game, and I think the invite list was 15ish people. Earlier this year I had 15 people show up in 1 night, several never responded until after the game had started, and several "definitely coming" people never showed up. Now I send out a few group texts, I have the A listers that show up frequently and respond quickly, and then I'll fill in with B listers who are less regular in showing up and communication. There's always a B lister that complains about not getting an invite one week or another, but then they don't respond for the next 3 weeks after that. I'm usually filling up with A listers at this point, and will individually text B listers to fill in if needed.

 

[Johnblue]

Thank you for the response. I guess my frustration is that I had 8 people say "yea I'll show up" then only 4 did. When you reach out to your 15 to 20 people and get 8 that say they will come, do 4 ever cancel or just not show up on tourney night? It's like I feel like I'm missing something or doing something wrong.. or didn't do my due diligence.

But I agree with your ideas to expand the invite list and that is definitely something I am working on. I didn't realize that with so many people "willing" to show up that so many actually wouldn't. I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me you'll be here on Saturday at 6pm, I'm calling you at 6:01 wondering where you are at. So, when someone says they will show up, I take that at face value and probably get more frustrated then the average person when they don't. It's also a little disheartening to have two of my friends , (guys I've know 15+ years btw) tell me that they are no longer interested at all and to take them off the poker group text list. Like wtf... you haven't even given it a shot yet.

But, I'm glad to hear that you don't think I did anything wrong and that I just need to expand my poker contacts. That's good to hear and I will work on that next. Thank you again for your response.

You are going to have to expand thatlist to people who reallywant to play. There’s tons of people who want to play a poker game once in a while. there are much fewer who want to play every Thursday, all year long.

they will fluctuate, a guy will come and get the bug and hang around for a couple months and then drift off. if he knows the game is good, and the game is going he will eventually circle back.

Its just going to take persistance on your part, it will be slow going for quite a while.

remember that you dont really have a poker game yet, you just have the idea and the table and chips, after 6 months to a year, you will have a game going, but until then, you just have the theory of the game.

the game is the players, not the paraphanalia. it took alot of thought to build up your room, its going to take that same persistence to build up the players.

A guy out here makes a "flyer", all I get is a text of the flyer, it mentions the food, any promos goodies etc. i know the game is going and i know its going on with or without me, he isnt pushy or expecting an RSVP, but i know that flyer goes out to at least a hundred people for two tables.

he also adds a "bonus 500 chip" for showing up on time/early if its tourney night.

once the game is going, set up a loser table for the overflow and when people bust out early.

There’s an app called “meet up.com” or something I’ve gone to games I found there, one I became a regular at for years.

I shit you not, the second time i played that game, I literally sat down next to Apollo creed. M-fucking Carl Withers.

The only downside about that app is it’s strangers, he really vetted me on the phone, then on social media and found out who I was Before he told me the address.

I must have sent 6 new players to that game, it was a lot of fun.

Apollo Creed.

 

[Mr Winberg]

First off, I salute the work you put in as a host! Great job!

First a question on this:

I guess my frustration is that I had 8 people say "yea I'll show up" then only 4 did.

Was this really the case, though? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but I interpreted it as this was the order: First

I had 7 buddies and my fiancé that all said they would be down to play a casual, $20 tournament.

and then you went through all the work with your setup which took a couple of months, and then you had the tournament. The way I read this, when they said they were down the whole thing was still only an idea. Then when it became a reality, you got this:

I now have 2 buddies tell me to just take them off the group text completely, 2 more that say they aren't coming again and 1 that is not responding.

The thing is that some types of people just respond this way. You present an idea, they are not into it at all but to not be rude they say "f#ckin awesome, I'm down!!". I'm not saying it's a good method of communication, but the reality is that were all different.

I have some very close friends who are exactly like that. Example: We spoke earlier of having a skiing trip in January and they were like "AMAZEBALLS!!!". But to test them (you know, "fool me once...") I followed up with "Ok, but given your response I now feel that this is set in stone. I'll make the non-refundable reservations tomorrow" and they were like "Wooaaahh, slow down! I haven't skied in years! Plus I don't think I have enough vacation days left". I.e., they had no intention whatsoever to join!

I'm just like you:

I'm the kind of guy that if you tell me you'll be here on Saturday at 6pm, I'm calling you at 6:01 wondering where you are at.

but a good percentage of the world isn't! You must accept this fact.

Yep, it's a function of your list size. A 40% attendance rate is a dream — the problem is that your list is eight-deep

Agreed! My percentage is about 20%, and another 20% let me know they aren't coming this time, and the other 60% give no responses. Good thing my list is about 100 persons deep.

Always keep recruiting, if your game isn't growing it's dying! Out of my original 8 I have 2 regulars left, and one of them is me!

 

[Dodger]

Welcome to hosting my fellow PNWer. Such is life as a host - you will always be more invested (financially, mentally, etc, plus your time) than those that just show up to play.

Very few of your players will truly know the amount of work that goes into hosting (unless they try it themselves).

Keep at it.

Your game is just in its infancy. You have some solid advice from the above responses. Most PCFers here are hosts. We have experienced these same pain points.

You have a great setup and a passion for giving your friends and family a fun, entertaining night.

Keep the 4-handed games going. Consistency is key to keep the players you already have. And, the consistency will make it easier to add new players in the future since they will always know that there will be another game, and that these are not just once every few months or so.

You got this!

 

[allforcharity]

Always Be Recruiting. This applies to regular home poker games as well as charity fundraisers.

 

[12thMan]

People are assholes, and your close friends are really big assholes sometimes. Lol I don’t know what it is, but I can send out nine texts about what time the draft is for a fantasy league and the morning of the draft I’ll get a couple texts saying "are we having a draft this year?". Unreal.

But I love em, and I like doing it. So I'll do it again. Same thing applies to your poker night, or any poker night anywhere. Try to roll with it.


I don’t know where you are in Washington, but I’m in Lake Stevens so if you ever have a seat let me know.

 

[grantc54]

You are going to have to expand thatlist to people who reallywant to play. There’s tons of people who want to play a poker game once in a while. there are much fewer who want to play every Thursday, all year long.

This was the biggest thing for me, finding that base of players that REALLY want to play. They will show up unless something major happens.

My initial attempt to build my list was to ask everyone I met if they played poker BUT what worked best was to play other local games and to find the hardcore poker players.

The risk is your casual poker playing friends may not love you bringing in experienced players but at the end of the day do you want a friendly game that may or may not have enough players or a steady game of regulars with a few casual poker playing friends who join in now and then.

Good luck! Keep building your player pool and you'll get there.

Grant

 

[CraigT78]

Keep at it. You seem to have a good setup and spread. Players will come. As others said, always be recruiting. Go to your bar league poker games, email your local VFW and Elk's Lodge, joing a local Facebook group. Building your game takes time. But if you have consistent rules and a comfortable setup, players will return.

Offer a bonus chip for anyone who brings a friend. Email your PTA group. Post in Nextdoor. Spam your neighborhood.

Keep it up, you'll get there.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Welcome! PNW has a good crew in the area.

 

[CraigT78]

Oh, and definitely sign up for any local PCF meetups that might happen. Great place to get local players.

 

[Chiphuntr]

Welcome to the forum!
Nice set you have. There’s lots of great advice here and some I’m going to try myself. Years ago I found it fairly easy to put together a single table, my game was growing, we started a second table sometimes and even a third a few times. We had friends and spouses, ball team players and players from a league that would show up. Life gets busy, divorces happen, friends change. For the few years or so I’ve been trying to get a game going on a more consistent basis and Its been tough. Same as you, people don’t want to commit, or are busy. You will always have people like that. One of my good buddies canceled at the last min because there was only going to be 5 or 6 (can’t remember) he and his wife made 2 players. We had already determined it was going’s to be a small game, we were all good friends getting together to play poker and watch hockey. Very frustrating, because when he pulled the plug, the game died.
I also put out the food, have a poker clock screen, nice table, nice chips, enjoy hosting and trying to create a fun inexpensive evening with a great experience. Not all appreciate that until they host a game. What I’m really saying is if you enjoy it, continue. Expand your player list, go to other games if you can find them, talk to people individually. Eventually it’ll come together.
Enjoy the game.

 

[Highli99]

Don’t give up. Make friends with more upcountry degens. Real degens can’t resist a poker game, but they are unreliable on account of being degens. Once you have a large grouping of degens, which is called “an assembly” by the way, you’ll want to set up some kind of group communication tool. Whatever tool you choose, half of The assembly will refuse to use or prove incapable of using it, on account of them being degens. So you’ll have to use multiple communicable tools in all likelihood up to and including text, calls, evite, telegram, mailed letters (for the elderly degens), faxes, and a multitude of redundant apps like what’s app, telegram, snap chat, Facebook, twitter, Grindr, and the like. Your message is simple. Simply state “degens assemble!” Then wait for seats to fill and start degening.

Easy breezy.

 

[12thMan]

Once you have a large grouping of degens, which is called “an assembly” by the way

I’ve probably typed lol 1000:1 vs actually lol'ing, but for whatever reason this made me laugh each time I read it. No clue why that sentence is so funny to me but it is.


An "assembly" it is for me going forward.

 

[Swisspiss]

Hey thanks everyone for the great advice and tips. I really appreciate it and I am definitely going to utilize as many as I can. This is a great community and I wish I would have found it earlier. I feel a lot better about continuing to run these games once a month and I'm going to try to make twice a month a possibility. I've made the transition to the Invite Tracker Google sheet, now that I figured out how to set it up and use it (mostly).. And I'm going to continue trying to build my player list. You guys and gals are great!

Another thing that I came up with, which may or may not be cool, is name badges for players who show up. I know it sounds kind of corny and unnecessary but I am brand new and brand new people have to try brand new things so that not brand new people don't have to but, can still use the idea if it works for them.

I've created a spreadsheet to enter player names, phones, emails, and also track the number of games attended and number of games won. I then created name badge templates where I can have the player choose any character they want and I will use a B&W photo for there ID picture.(just to save on color ink) Then I can add the player's name so others can say "Hey Matt, are you checking?" and know his name even if they don't already know Matt or just can't remember his name. I added a spot for a nickname if they want, added there member ID which directly corelates to the member list I have on file, and put a "Member Since" spot just for funs. On the back I put a larger version of the logo that I sniped from Google images and a QR code that the player can scan and it will instantly connect their phone to my home wi-fi so I don't have to give people the name and password over and over. These badges only take me about 5 mins to make and print using the template.

The other cool aspect of this is that I will keep all the nametags at my house. This way, I can set the table up with all the chip stacks required for the tournament already in each player spot. When people pay the buy-in, they will receive their badge. When we are a couple minutes from tournament time, I will be able to quickly scan the room for anyone without a badge and remind them that they need to buy-in before the tournament starts. Once the player busts or just decides it's time to go home, I will collect their badge before they leave. This way, it is ready for that player again the next time they show up. I got a 30 pack of lanyards and badge sleeves for like 13 dollars on Amazon.

Obviously this is highly unnecessary when you are running a 4 player tournament. But, in building my player list and eventually getting to the point of hosting 18 players, I can see this coming in handy if not being completely necessary at that point. Just looking into the future. Let me know what you guys think.. Is this cool or is this dumb? Thanks again everyone.

 

[Pinesol13]

Damn! I'll be honest, when i started reading the post and saw "name badges" , I thought yes, that is corny. But those are sweet looking!

 

[Swisspiss]

Damn! I'll be honest, when i started reading the post and saw "name badges" , I thought yes, that is corny. But those are sweet looking!

Hey thanks man. I try to make things that will be useful but I overthink them sometimes. I'm glad to here you think they look cool.