There's been a thread in the Brick and Mortar forum on 2+2 about jackpots with a number of regular players complaining that they're a tax on the system, just a scam for the benefit of the cardroom and should be eliminated. My opposing position (cardroom perspective) is that they're not a profit-center, and they're a legitimate tool to attract new and recreational customers. Regulars forget that their chosen profession requires a steady stream of new or rec players who will come in and make EV- plays because they're having fun and, consequently, fuel the ongoing poker economy. I'm not sure why they don't see that.


In any event, I figured I'd share some excerpts from my responses in the thread...

"...As a owner/operator, I'm very interested in keeping a grinder happy, but I also need to remember that most people come into the card room to have fun, get some good cards and win a few pots. They're not students of the game who discuss hands, strategy or edges on forums. They're at the table because poker's fun and that rush they get when they peek at pocket aces or scoop a pot with chased flush is awesome. Jackpots add to that excitement. It's true with slots and it's true with most poker players who approach the cardroom for entertainment and a maybe, just maybe, a shot at a nice score.

As for the fight over jackpots (Bike vs. DoJ circa 1995) a few years back, the big cardrooms fought it because they knew that recreational customers want them and they felt that they're an important constituency. That's not to say it was an altruistic fight; it wasn't. The cardrooms felt there would be a noticeable falloff in business, and based on my experience and interaction with the majority of our players, I agree with that.

The state's position IIRC was that the jackpots were an illegal lottery and was protecting the CA Lottery's turf. Similarly, if the state pressed to ban alcohol from all casinos, that might be eliminate abusive drinkers, improve the demeanor and health of most players at the table, but the cardrooms would probably fight it. Admittedly, when smoking was banned in CA rooms in 1998, everyone howled in protest, but the impact on business was marginal. Then again, only 17% of Californians smoke. I'm guessing most customers (i.e. a number higher than 17%) would prefer us to fight for their right to party and chase jackpots.

Look at it this way. The baseball purist probably finds all the kids out for bat day kind of annoying, but the future of the game (both for the owners and the pro players) depends on a constant flow of new faces and repeat recreational customers. We BOTH want new customers and the regular "I know there's a 3-bet in front of me, but I have pocket 7s and the jackpot hasn't hit in three weeks. Call." player, right? To me, talk about eliminating jackpots is the equivalent of tapping the tank. Dude...shhhh..."


From a later post in the same thread...

"...If we eliminate the jackpots and, while we're at it, other taxes on the system like advertising and comped food, how do we continue to bring in the players that we both need to survive and make a living? Should we count on the regulars to recruit their friends down to the cardroom to enjoy the camaraderie? Should we count on the WPT or ESPN? Maybe we should hope that the 100,000+ players on 'Stars decide that the "play on the laptop by the pool and generate more hands in two hours than a live player sees in a week" lifestyle is too convenient and anti-social and they'd prefer the challenge of driving down to the cardroom, getting on the list and engaging in the social niceties of live poker?

Jackpots and promotional tools are part of the business of bringing in new customers and keeping recreational players anxious to sit and stay at tables. In some markets, like Vegas, you can count on a continual stream of tourists--unless, of course, the economy sours and people are less-inclined to part with discretionary dollars. In other smaller or local markets, we can't just fire up a Cirque du Soleil show or a few white tigers and hope the husbands will waddle into the poker room. Therefore, we advertise and come up with promotions, jackpots and other things to stimulate traffic and butts in seats...

Complaining about jackpots is akin to Derek Jeter beefing about answering the same inane post-game questions or signing autographs for some kid he'll never see again. Or Tiger Woods refusing to play the pro-am because he makes his money on the weekend. They don't because they know that without the sponsors and the fans, their paydays wouldn't be what they are. Similarly, without the new or recreational players, how profitable do you think your games will be?

If you don't think promotions or advertising matter, ask yourself how good the live games were before the WPT, PartyPoker or guys like Moneymaker winning the WSOP? Ask yourself how good the games would be if there weren't new players getting in, chasing, making mistakes. What you only want good players who understand the game, read books published by 2+2 and play solid poker?

Put differently, jackpots are like your girlfriend's makeup. It may seem like a waste of time and a fraud on the purity of the sport, but I'm not sure you'd like the look of the game without it. Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, once said, "In the factory make cosmetics; in the drugstore, we sell hope." Embrace the hope. It's why the new and/or recreational player comes in and blindly takes the seat to your right."


Anyway, thought you might be interested on the perspective from the other side of the felt.

Edmond

Bond & Girl headed off to Macau today leaving Club One, our hostess staff and my liver struggling to recover. We enjoyed their visit, of course, but even just hanging out with them was like being a new Army recruit stationed at Abu Ghraib circa 2003. The book says you’re supposed to follow direct orders, but this wasn’t exactly in the Be All You Can Be brochure and the constant presence of the digital camera is really unsettling. Even the most dimwitted grunt would know that grainy footage will be really awkward to explain under oath. In any event, Bond & Girl are gone now—off to some other live event in some exotic land—and we’re here trying to contain the resultant liability and erase any and all digital evidence before the process servers arrive.

Under advice of counsel, I can’t relate all the events of the 5 days past, but I can reference the tamer events including a viewing of The Dark Knight at the local IMAX theater—ten thumbs up from the five viewers in our party; a trip to the Sequoia National Forest; which Bond summed up thus, "Those are some big @#$%^& trees." and several shameful drinking/karaoke sessions in our full bar. In one of the gigs, Bond and I took a run at the song Kokomo, a former #1 Beach Boys hit, a tune that we thought would be improved with our own harmonics and a three syllable spin on Fresno. Fortunately for 2R readers, this “event” has been uploaded to YouTube by our capable staff and available for easy viewing below.

Fresono!



In and of itself, that mauling of one of VH1’s 40 Most Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs should prove that we at Club One are in our own little world of surrealism. Once he’s safe in a country with no extradition treaty, I’m sure Bond will be happy to share other more lurid and twisted events that will hammer all doubt from your mind. Until then, I offer the following footage of a Club One customer attempting to place a blackjack bet with an ounce or two of a local cash crop, caught on our own surveillance cameras.

Betting with weed



No, I kid you not.

Edmond

”Lake, they showed!”

True to their word, Bond18 and BondGirl landed at the Fresno/Yosemite International Airport for their scheduled visit to Club One Casino. I wasn’t sure they’d make it out after the heady combo of Bond’s win in the Bellagio $3k and Watts’ $15k Bellagio Cup triumph. In my experience, after a big score, poker players and appointments are a poor match. A good rule of thumb is if you have the player in your car moving at highway speeds, you’re in good shape. Other than that, you should manage your expectations.

I was therefore congratulating myself, when shortly after 6p, I was at the wheel of the Club One minivan headed toward downtown Fresno with Bond, BGirl and their gear packed in back. The ride was uneventful other than the shame of the van itself and my sketchy driving.

The sporty Club One van



”Oh. Cool.”

After checking them in at the hotel, I took Bond to get his hair cut at a local place I knew around the corner in building under renovation. He showed no open concern en route, but I’m sure he thought I was taking him to some meth head’s place for some quick razor work. When the automatic doors opened to reveal local uber-stylist George Garcia’s chic, minimalist Loft salon, I could tell he was somewhat relieved to see something other than a squatter with a pair of rusty scissors.

I picked him up, newly shorn, 30 minutes later, loaded BondGirl and Su, our player relations rep (aka BlackWidow), into the van and headed to dinner at MaRoo, a local Korean and Japanese restaurant for some barbecue beef, sushi and sake. The food and drink was apparently to their liking and we headed back to the casino.

After a brief tour (“That’s the bar. That’s the poker room.”), Bond and I took seats in our 2/5 NL game which was characterized by multiple in the dark shoves. I thought for sure this game would make a great first impression, but once we sat down it turned weak-tight nitfest, wobbled for a few orbits and fell apart. Fortunately, there were enough players on our 15/30 waiting list to build another table from the stragglers.

For you NL players who scoff at limit, take it from an insider—you should dabble in these games, especially if they’re sporting a full kill. Our 15/30 full kill is a predictable, heavy action game characterized by ill-timed bluffs, missed value bets and horrible full kill hand selection. I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that pretty much standard throughout California. If you’re ever in our room, you should shove your ego aside and take a seat. It’s a proven bankroll builder.

Cue the Asian women drinking

We played a few rounds of min-bet, finishing up slightly, and headed into the bar to check on BondGirl’s whereabouts. At MaRoo, I thought I heard Bond & Girl suggest that she was a bit of a lightweight. I either misheard them or they calibrate to some sort of Aussie scale. From eyewitness reports and security footage, once in our bar, BondGirl demanded a round of lewd shots and challenged our hostess staff to keep pace.

BondGirl. Oh my.



By the time Bond and I found them, she, Su and LakeofFire’s wife were engaged full on bar warfare and shrieked another profane order to our bartender. A true professional, he responded by serving them another array of lurid drinks and added them to my open tab. BondGirl then proceeded to go through them like Evian and leave Su and Lake’s girl on the verge of blacking out.

Heads up!



We attempted to restore order, but there’s only so much two guys can do when faced with an entire bar of crazies amped up on Fuzzy Navels, Buttery Nipples, BlowJobs, Cowboy Cocksuckers and the like. I ordered a Jack Daniels and made a silent plea that last call would arrive before Fresno PD. It did and the evening ended without any urgent calls to 911 or defense counsel.

Bond brokers the peace



Tournament players, there’s a bounty on them youngsters!”

Saturday started on a tame note. I took B&G to local day spa and Pangea, a fusion food spot in a high end mall nearby. After an afternoon of relaxing, B&G volunteered to “donk it up” in our $55 buy-in nightly and show off his Bellagio bracelet to the locals.

Nice hardware



For a live room, our tournament structure is pretty good. We start guys with 100BB and run 15-minute levels. Both B&G are hugely +EV to our typical field, so I tossed a $50 bounty on each of their heads to eliminate any fold equity they might have. For added fun, I threw some Bud Light Party Cruise girls at him to see if I could spark BondGirl into marking her territory.

"What's your M?"



Although BG ran ahead of Bond for more of the event, she was finally taken out by a former Mrs. California who’s also a Club One tournament regular. In the hottie v. hottie flip, BondGirl came up just short and headed back to the bar to repair her ego with our hostesses.

"Thanks for the bounty, Edmond"



For his part, Bond final-tabled but was bounced out in 10th when his 8 BB EP pre-flop shove with JJ was insta-called by KQs. Q on the flop and Bond was out with $103 to show for his $55 buy-ins and four hours of donkamentia. We had reservations at a couple of nice restaurants, but he ran just late enough where we’d never make closing time so it was back to our restaurant for steak and some Cakebread cabernet.

Fight Night

At dinner, I asked him point blank if Fresno was the least glamorous spot on his Around the World in 90 days tour, a jaunt that included Venice, Paris, Vegas, Barcelona and Istanbul. “No, I’d say Milwaukee was worse.” What? That city is known for beer, has several pro sports franchises and a statue of Fonzie under construction. I consider this a huge victory.

Bond spent a little time chatting with local UFC Fighter and Club One favorite son, Jason “LiveWire” Von Flue and his girlfriend who showed up in the bar for the Anderson Silva demolition of James Irwin. Our bar crowd was clearly disappointed at the 61-second fight. Fortunately, the multiple replays of various UFC knockouts extended the beat-down and satisfied the crowd’s bloodlust.

"Girls, I can kick your butts."



”And there’s no tenderness, like before, in your fingertips.”

As with most evenings at Club One, once the alcohol takes full effect, someone drags out our karaoke setup. This evening would prove no different and Bond was clearly anxious to work the mike.

One reader asked for a video of Bond singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” –the Grail of all Rick Roll videos. Bah, not in the playlist. We do have nice video footage of a duet of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” (on which we scored 98) and Blue Suede Shoes (on which he scored 95 solo). There’s also a nice vid of us singing Kokomo substituting Fresno for Kokomo. Ship the MTV music award to Club One Casino, attn: me.

Guess which one of us knows the lyrics



Not the man I used to be

I got up this morning and staggered to the bathroom. A word of advice. Over the age of 40, don’t attempt to run a casino 18 hours a day and drink the other 6. Early in my career, I bounce of bed like I’d just slid into second base with the game-winning double. Now every morning feels like I’m struggling off the field with heat exhaustion.

While I spent the morning in the gym alternating between the treadmill and the men’s room, Bond spent the day in my office multi-tabling, writing and listening to hip hop. The rest of my day was spent writing and cleaning up things before I heading back to LA in the morning. I’ll pick up dry-cleaning, run a few errands and return by 10:30 to see The Dark Knight on Imax with Bond & Co. and hope nothing felonious happens before a scheduled visit from regulators on Tuesday.

Edmond

Yesterday I was chatting with Bond18 on AIM and confirmed that he and BondGirl will, in fact, make the trek to Fresno to visit this weekend. We've no specific plans for the travelers, but we'll do our best to refresh them with amenities and Club One hospitality (aka cheap liquor and hotties). We've identified a good Korean restaurant, doubled our weekly liquor order and upped our liability coverage. I think we're ready.

In and of itself Bond's trip should yield a noteworthy post, but I'm even more encouraged by a message I received on my voicemail this a.m. In the small cardroom world, an overnight voicemail could be staff seeking guidance on fixing an overworked piece of HVAC equipment, directions for making a proper mojito or counsel on posting bail for an overzealous employee. Today, it was a message which sounded like an Asian man being savagely tortured.

I listened carefully for clues to the source, but after a minute and a half of disturbing howls and shrieks, the message abruptly cut off with an Asian woman's voice, "Hello? Hello? Oh my god! Oh my god!" and the caller then hung up. Any other casino exec would immediately notify either the FBI to advise of this kidnapping plot, but I quickly realized that, in truth, our new karaoke equipment has arrived and was being "tested" by our capable staff. I made a mental note to provide keypad lock training for our hostesses and tripled the liquor order.

This weekend obviously has the potential to comp up vs. the prior period. I'll keep you posted.

Edmond

Every good cardroom should have its own tournament series, yes? Hence the First Annual Central Valley Poker Championships held Aug 3 through Aug 9. This week-long series will offer deep stacks, generous level times, relentless attention from the best player relations staff in the surrounding 200-mile area, good food, strong drink, shelter from the hot August sun and the insightful companionship of yours truly. If someone's willing to pay $2.1 million for lunch with Warren Buffet, why wouldn't you put this on the calendar? With buy-ins from $100 to $500, we're practically giving these tournaments away!

CVPC Schedule - PDF

Edmond
Club One Casino