Let me take an admittedly off-the-wall crack at this (one has to take risks to get ahead in your career...) by first proposing an analogous problem in a different business context, so you all stop thinking about poker for a second.
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A leading research firm makes gazillions of dollars by providing hundreds of bright 22-24 year old graduates from leading universities on 24-hour call to law firms with trials in session. These law firms specialize in personal property cases defending Fortune 100 companies. The cost of the cadre of young talent is a rounding error to the Fortune 100 company; what is important is their ability to jump to action immediately when called upon and produce results which will help the law firm win the case. The rest of the on-call time is their own to hang out, but they have to stay within ten minutes of the office when on call.
How should the research firm keep that cadre filled with the best and brightest and most creative/inquisitive, and not methheads who want to play World of Worlock all day and then not be useful when they are needed?
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In case you can't figure it out:
- Fortune 100 company = whale who wants to play poker every once in a while
- Law firm = Pit Games division
- Research firm = Poker room
- best and brightest = local 30-60 players
- methheads = nitty 30-60 players worried about a $2 swing in time charges or playing shorthanded.
So, the issues are:
1. How to keep the game stocked, but
2. When the whale shows up, make sure that there is enough action to bemuse the whale for an hour or two and then send him on his way back to the pit. Poker becomes like dinner - a necessary evil, but one where a high quality (as defined by the whale) is of utmost importance.
Why 30-60? Because if they spread 10-20NL nomax, the whale might lose his money to one of the locals, and that just won't do. At 30-60, the whale losing 50BB ($3k) in two hours is enough of a loss for the casino not to freak out, if it means he showed up in the first place and didn't go down the street.
Thinking about the analogy, the easy answer to #1 is simple: pay them. That's what you're all focusing on, either rakeback or jackpots or whatever. But think about #2: how to make the game fun for the whale?
Action. The whale wants action. He doesn't want to chop. He wants to see flops and turns and rivers. There's usually a showdown at a full blackjack table, right?
So, how do you encourage a mindset that the 30-60 game is LAGgy as can be at all times (since you never know when the whale will walk in), but doesn't affect any of the other games? Reducing rake and all that cost savings stuff... do you think the whale cares about the time charge? No, you want the 30-60 players who know they can beat the game even with a strong charge. The player who is certain that he's a better post-flop player than the rest of the 30-60 locals.
My crazy idea (I'm sure the rest of you will have better ones) is have the pit games division pay into a "grinder bonus" pool (e.g. take it from the dealer rack, not the pot) every time a particular event associated with laggy play occurs. Distribute the bonus pool in some manner to the X players who accumulate the most 30-60 time charges that month, with time charges during "slow" periods counting triple. Make the drop amount enough so that the players who keep the game going at all hours get a majority of their time charges back... but only if the game is laggy 24x7 all month!
Now, what's the LAGgy event that will make the game fun for the whale (e.g. winning the case)? I play 2-4 limit, what do I know?? But, how's this for a start:
- (ETA
There is a raise pre-flop
- 3 players see the flop
- The flop is not checked around
- There is a showdown, and
- The winning hand is trip 9s or less.