Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

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I find it offensive that you would come here asking for advice. I worked at the Stratosphere until they closed the poker room on March 1, 2001. They cheated me out of earned vacation time and refused to return my calls. When they reopened the room they chose to go with a known thief as the manager and now they want advice. If they really want advice on how to improve their poker room I can work out a consulting fee with them.

Randy Refeld

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I can vouch for Randy (sorry, I forgot you used to work there), he is very capable of providing the consulting work you need. As I alluded to in the PM I think your taking the wrong approach with your "focus on tournament profits" philosophy due to empirical results. Your data is skewed because the room is improperly run, place a competent person like Randy in charge of rethinking management, marketing and policy of the room from top to bottom and you will see results that exceed your data projections.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

add a 400-800 level and skip the 500-1000 and go directly to a 6-12

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

TT, i am not just looking at how the tourney is run. there's ALOT of work that needs to be done.

they dont have any tracking system so they dont even know who their players are. majority of people who play here are guests and without any tracking, there s no databse mktg which means no mass mail outs or anything.

they dont have a sophisticated comp system. there game spread is weak.

tourney-wise, most of their players are again tourists who stay at the casino b/c of the structure. tourist who hop casinos looking for tournies often opt for larger fields with bigger payouts and probably most importantly, good structure.

so that s why i posted the structure to get some feedback.

ALOT needs to be done. i saw this post as an opportunity to get feedback...you guys have provided alot of good feedback for the V.

i appreciate all the feedback and apologize to randy if he feels offended.

i am not a poker genius...as an analyst i look at different parts of the gaming business and now i m taking a look at the poker room and sports book.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

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17%

[censored] that.

i'd never play it.

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Then don't. Most daily tournament under $100 buy-in in Las Vegas have 20% or even more juice.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

i really appreciate any help. the thing is that i d like to see the poker room do more business than bring in 17% of a $60 buy in. They have 6-7 tables and average 40 players so you can easily do the math. Take out labor expenses, drinks, and they're not making anything.

When a tourney is not running, you'll see 1 table of 1/2NL and maybe a 2/4LHE game running.

i know it may seem odd that i am posting for feedback on this site. who knows..i could get in trouble with my job but i think this is prob 1 of hte best things i can do -- get advice from some real poker players.

if they want to continue contributing 1-2% of total gaming revenue for the casino and only attract tourists staying at the casinos to play in their tournies and play cash games, then i wouldnt need to do anything

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

When a tourney is not running, you'll see 1 table of 1/2NL and maybe a 2/4 lhe game running.

do these players wear fanny pack and put sunglasses on? o dear god tell me they do

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

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i am not a poker genius...as an analyst i look at different parts of the gaming business and now i m taking a look at the poker room and sports book.

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Many years ago before I became who I am today I used to be in the music business. Back then I sued to say the best producer is the guy who delegates authority the best. In other words he brings in the best musicians he can, and trusts their opinions in areas he is weakest. Now that I am a big wig business executive (cough cough) I still believe the best managers are those who learn to delegate authority well.

It sounds like there is an authority delegation problem at your company, your not delegating the topics you dont understand to an expert. You see we kind of don't like suits without poker backgrounds around here, unless they are willing to delegate and learn from those around them who are more qualified. For example in a recent thread I railed on the management from the Venetian - I suggested a poker room director with a sales and marketing/management background with an assistant manager who is highly experienced with poker rules and operations. Sounds like you need the poker rules and operations/marketing equivalent to your bean counting... and nobody here at 2+2 should give you too much support unless that occurs.

tough love... sorry.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

I play the Strat quite often when I have low rolling friends with me.

First and foremost, turn the 3 tables in the middle of the room, 180 degrees, the dealers can not see the tournament clock, and this leads to much confusion. Alternatively, run the clock on a plasma that all dealers can see.
The blind structure could do with some tweaking.
Also I have seen the tourney capped at 40, with everybody else as an alternate. You often seem to have 2 floors and a cashier working, I know sometimes one of the floors jumps in as relief in a ring game, perhaps you could use one of the dead tables to make the tourney start with 50 entrants, then as people bust out, try to get another ring game going !! Maybe with some sort of reduced rake promotion for the first hour.

For your ring games, you need to start displaying the high hand 'jackpots' on the plasmas, as you used to in the old room. However as you have no rail, so to speak of, it will not attract many players.

I have heard rumours that the poker room would be moved into the high limit slots area, this would be a great move, and IMO the easiest way for the room to get busier. As it stands, you cant build your tourney into a competitor for the Sahara and the like, as there numbers will always run bigger than your due to your physical constraints !!

Oh and finally, the loose canon that floors the day shift (Dec-Feb), needs addressing ASAP, she has p1ssed off so many of your customers, but I am sure you knew this.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

If you were to put the poker room in the same place as the topless pool and raised the price of admission so the poker room was getting a share I guarentee you would never have an open seat.

Re: Stratosphere Poker Room - Suggestions and Improvements
 

It took 23 posts by other than the OP for someone just to give the guy a little advice. NEVADAKAZ, thank you for helping the guy out without playing GOD or trying to stand on a pedistal like so many people ( cough cough ) try to do on here.

Jesus, he just wanted a few ideas. He wasnt asking for someone to come in and manage the room. I thought this was a forum to ask questions and hopefully receive good advice.

Why is everything in the forum centered around buying Mason's books or hiring TT to consult? I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth....

Thank you once again NEVADAKAZ for helping the guy out.

If you guys dont hear from me it is because TT suspended me from this forum. He does that when people dont agree with what he says...

Tommy