Poker Night Message (text) (1 Viewer)

[Machine]

How do you manage and what do you put into your text message, or do you call all of your players?

I thought this would be a good topic to discuss. After years, I'm starting a new monthly game and about to send out a text message.

Here is my list so far
Date (Start Time)
Menu
Game
Min Buyin
Max Buyin
Payout (tournament)
Request for status (in, out, likely, unlikely)
Health Info (Covid stuff)
Food/drink expectations
Recap of last game

Closer to the game I'll follow up with an address and parking details.


Check out these threads on Managing Invites and priority queues for players - Do you know any other threads that would be on topic?

Added:
Blinds - I missed blinds (thanks @detroitdad)
Joke, degen ref - @TheWhiteJZ
Health Info, payout, food / drink, recap - @legonick

 

[detroitdad]

Date/Time/blinds (cash game), and max buy in, and if its a fixed rotation like "HOE" or if its dealers choice "DC". If I'm limiting it to 7 players I'll also note that.

 

[TheWhiteJZ]

A joke, eg about being a degenerate or ditching our families or wanting to take everyone’s money, to set a fun tone.

Incentive to commit, eg first come first served, or only x seats left

 

[legonick]

"Doors open" time, "start time" (important for tournaments). Some of my buddies like to come early and shoot the shit before the game starts. I enjoy it, so welcome people over early if they want to. Not everyone takes advantage of it, and that's cool.
Buy-in amount.
Tournament stuff: payout, starting stack, rebuys, addons.
COVID-19 stuff (mask required, vaccine required, etc. I do a temperature check at the door, but that's it for now, although haven't had a game since the numbers spiked way up here).
Food/drink available. Invitation to BYO beverage/snacks.
"Please RSVP as soon as possible."
Recap of the last game, including player bust-out order. I jazz this up because I'm a nerd like that and it's fun. No idea if the players appreciate it much.

 

[louBdub]

My small blind input:

Download signal
Use phone note app
Communication is key

 

[Thor99]

Sometimes adding an end time can be nice, so people have an idea what the expectation is and don't hang around till all hrs.

 

[louBdub]

Sometimes adding an end time can be nice, so people have an idea what the expectation is and don't hang around till all hrs.

This is a BIG one…. My last hand is dealt at midnight. No more 2/3/4am games, I’m too old for that shit now

 

[Mr Winberg]

I've actually gone the other way and reduced info from the invites. People don't read if it's too much text. I used to give all kinds of info only to get a bunch of "what's the address" kind of questions which showed that people didn't read. After pruning, I get a lot less of that. In my opinion (and experience), most types of info is sufficient to get when arriving.

Cash
Basically just the time and place and number of chairs (usually 16 spread over 2 tables). Our group knows the stakes, if someone new needs to know prior to the event they can ask me.

I don't have any dibs system or queue for cash, it's first come first served. If no spot is available they can hang out and drink while waiting.
Info like max buy-in etc is available on a flyer on prem.

Tourney

• Time and place
• Number of chairs (usually 24 spread over 3 tables).
• Buy-in (and that it needs to be in cash. People don't use cash in Sweden, so this info is important)
• On-time bonus deadline
• That they can invite friends, but are then responsible for letting me know asap if the friend backs out. This is apparently vital information on an invite because people who don't host don't know any better :-(

Info like tourney structure, type of tourney (e.g. freezout, rebuy, resurrection etc) is available on a flyer on-prem. The flyer is also heavily pruned, just a few bullets. Too much text an it won't get read, IME.

All of the above is the result of hosting about 6 times a year since 2014 and every other week during the boom years of 2004-2008. So a lot, but a lot less than a lot of folks here at PCF.

tl;dr: Reading is hard so less is more

 

[Machine]

I agree, I've reduced the info out so that it's closer to just being a reminder. Date of even, game to be played and a graphic, start time.
New people will typically text back with questions if needed

 

[CraigT78]

This is all I send.

 

[maloviz]

This is all I send.

View attachment 943014

Sunglasses person wants to play some fucking poker. Don't rob them of their 1 hour lmao

 

[Nine_high]

I have a core group in a fb messenger thread, that's how I establish the game (minimum 6). About ten days out seems to be the sweet spot.

Once it's viable I start texting around to other players to fill seats. Usually get another 3-6 week of. Day or two out I send out a roster of all who rogered up so people know who's expected to be there and how many we got, plus serves as a reminder.

Most know the drill, if they are new I'll provide limited details:

Date/time/loc
Game/buyin
Food/drink situation

Morning after I'll often send out a thank you for coming along with any highlights, photos, bad beats, big hands, etc. Maybe it's just for me but I like to think it keeps people who didn't attend intrigued for next time.