Tips to get ¡@#$%&! people to confirm (4 Viewers)

[PapaWheelie]

In the past few months, I've played a number of games with a total of about 30 different people. I'm starting to host at home and I'm trying to get eight people to confirm for my poker night. I don't want to email/text 30 folks and then have to tell 22 that the seats already taken. But I don't want to message one at a time and wait a couple of days for each to reply. How do y'all do it?

 

[4SUMERZ]

In the past few months, I've played a number of games with a total of about 30 different people. I'm starting to host at home and I'm trying to get eight people to confirm for my poker night. I don't want to email/text 30 folks and then have to tell 22 that the seats already taken. But I don't want to message one at a time and wait a couple of days for each to reply. How do y'all do it?

I started my home cash game with 7 of my friends, who are asked 1 week prior, through both text and email. I give them a deadline to respond typically 2 days at 16:00 hrs on that 2nd day. I make note in the correspondence that once the deadline has passed, I go to my spare list of about 6 people. My table sits 8.
All those on that spare list are those that have been made aware from others, or told me that they would like to play, usually friends of friends or golf buddies etc. They are told at that time that I have my regulars, and that they would only get an invite if some regulars can't make it. I ask if they want to be placed on the spare list. It has worked well since 2010. In my case. I have lost some regulars over the years to death, or health issues. Some of my preferred were added as regulars at that point. To date, I have added 3 new people from the spare list, and added a few to the spare list since.
You have 30 compared to my 12-14, so that is a bit more of a challenge starting out.
We all have our favorites that we enjoy their company at a poker table.
You can start with inviting the 7 people that you have a comfort with, and go from there. If you need a spare, pick people that you enjoy their company. Eventually, you will weed your list to a more manageable number.
It's never easy. I happen to nip it early and I have very very fortunate. BtW, all the players play at various home games, so we all get to scratch the poker itch.
The toughest part is coordinating a date that doesn't conflict with another home game.

Good Luck

 

[Josh Kifer]

Rsvp lists.

First 10, they RSVP. Then once I hear back from them, I do the next list. Etc.

Rsvp the day of, never before, as people will cancel with any lead time more than a day-ish.

And .. The more you play, the earlier the RSVP you get and locked spot. Stay on a steady rotation. We did Monday nights because of MNF. But make it something that slips into everyone's schedule.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Can you send me your non invites?

 

[UniLover]

I send out a few invites to top of the list. I wait for them to respond, either yes or no. Then move down the list.

If it's a maybe and I like them, I tell them to show up whenever.

If it's a maybe and I don't like them that much, I tell them seats are full.

 

[TheLegend]

Rsvp lists.

First 10, they RSVP. Then once I hear back from them, I do the next list. Etc.

Rsvp the day of, never before, as people will cancel with any lead time more than a day-ish

This^

 

[doublebooyah85]

During the beginning stages of your game, say the first few weeks or a few months that you run you can try to get the people to secure a date an 5-7 days out.

I would try to run maybe 4 -5 times with booking the game a week out. Once you get into a pattern or a certain day, then just start sending invites out the day before/day of.

Poker isn’t gonna trump many things. Early on it will bc it’s new, but then later on it’s something to do bc you have nothing else going on lol

 

[Huskerchipper]

I have my players broken up into 3 text groups.

 

[LotsOfChips]

I don't want to email/text 30 folks and then have to tell 22 that the seats already taken

Invite everyone, but let them know that it is strictly first come, first served. If they miss out, that is on them, not you.

 

[phys]

The tiered list approach that a few folks mentioned is the way to go. A few things that have worked well in games I've been part of:

The biggest unlock for me was separating "interested" from "confirmed." A lot of flakiness happens because people feel like saying yes to an invite is low-stakes — they're not actually committed. So I started being more explicit: "I need a yes or no by Thursday. If I don't hear from you, I'm going to the next person." Harsh? Maybe. But it sets expectations and people actually respond.

The "first come, first served" approach LotsOfChips mentioned is also clutch once you have enough players to fill the table twice over. People hate missing out. FOMO is real, and it trains your pool to respond quickly.

One thing worth trying if your group has grown past like 15-20 people in rotation: a dedicated signup link or form instead of texting back and forth. We built SuckingOut (suckingout.com) specifically for this kind of thing — you post the game, people click to sign up, and you see a clean list of who's in and who's on the waitlist without a hundred text threads. Makes the whole "who's coming?" thing much less painful. Might be overkill for a tight 8-person game but once your pool gets bigger it saves a lot of headaches.

 

[Nightowl]

I have a facebook group that i'll post upcoming events in with sign up. I usually remind people to not sign up unless they are committing. This works a lot of % of the time, but there is usually still one that will drop, so i'll usually have a backup slot.

 

[SteveEH]

In the past few months, I've played a number of games with a total of about 30 different people. I'm starting to host at home and I'm trying to get eight people to confirm for my poker night. I don't want to email/text 30 folks and then have to tell 22 that the seats already taken. But I don't want to message one at a time and wait a couple of days for each to reply. How do y'all do it?

Are the 30 players you mentioned coming from the lower mainland games? That'd be a challenge to work around the scheduling of existing well established games with the same player pool.

I use the tiered list too, but I'm a fan of putting in the work for individual invites as it keeps it more personal. I'm hosting 6 max though so less players. I also:

- curate the invite groups (I have work, school, and neighbour groups) to ensure everyone at least knows someone other than me, and let them know who else is invited that they'll know.
- I update them when people have confirmed.
- tell them I'll open it up to another group on "X day" and it will fill up, so let me know sooner than later if you want to play.
- do a final confirmation with everyone.

People only cancel when they're sick or there's an unforeseen emergency-like situation. No one flakes.

 

[merkong]

Play shorter. Throw it out there once and who shows, shows.

 

[SteveEH]

Play shorter. Throw it out there once and who shows, shows.

Yes embrace short handed, and mixed games.

 

[CraigT78]

In the past few months, I've played a number of games with a total of about 30 different people. I'm starting to host at home and I'm trying to get eight people to confirm for my poker night. I don't want to email/text 30 folks and then have to tell 22 that the seats already taken. But I don't want to message one at a time and wait a couple of days for each to reply. How do y'all do it?

Sign up genius, I've used it for years. Pre-covid I used to have to manage a wait-list, but post COVID only the true degens remain so I don't usually have two full tables.

 

[nicepokerguy]

I started a group chat on FB or WhatsApp, and it's spontaneous but it works. We ask the day of, if it works out great, if not we try for another day. People get surprises on the day of. It happens.

 

[cpac54]

Invite everyone, but let them know that it is strictly first come, first served. If they miss out, that is on them, not you.

This is how I handle my invites, though I do have a “priority” list that gets invites first for special events (long time regs/people who show up most frequently).