Being leased a table for $1500 a month....

[juanyorba]

As I am from Montana, and dealt/managed a poker room for a couple years I think I could help. First of all, yes this situation with the bar owners is legal. What isn't legal however is $ for bonus hands ( your 7-2 idea, cracked aces, bad beat, jackpot hand ect.).

When considering whether or not to do it, be sure to remember that you will be putting in a lot more time than 40 hr/week. Even when don't have a game, you will have to be there for a few hours to wait and see if someone shows up. Not hard work, but still a commitment. Hopefully you get games that go till close (I assume 2am unless you are in Butte, Bozeman, Missoula, Anaconda), that is where you really make your money (it is hard to cover costs when you only have a game for 3 hours).

You will need to hire another person or go partners with someone. Can't run drinks/cash people out/sell chips while you are dealing. While this cuts down on your profit, it is necessary.

I would suggest some promotions to get people in the door. Run a free roll for 70 in free chips to the winner and 30 for second. Or give $120 for $100 to the first 5 people that show up (this one works pretty well). Make sure that you post a "suggested 1 hour of play min.", can't make them legally, but get good people in there and they will follow it. I would suggest buying only the first drink or maybe 2 for each player. Drunks can eat into your profit margin pretty quick if you buy all of them.

Run this spread game for a little while and see what the customers like. Maybe 1 night a week of NL, or a night of dealers choice. Just listen to your clientele.

Estimate 20-30 hands per hour with good dealers, but with a full table your average rake is going to be around $2.5-3. Thats anywhere from 50-90 an hour, but if you get a good PL or NL game started, it can only go up. You can cover $1500 + your promotions in a week if you have 3 or 4 good 8 hour games. Plus tips you can make a lot of money.

Consistency is the key. Don't be discouraged by slow results. Summer is the slow time for poker in MT. Too much stuff to do outside, once winter rolls around though, you can get your hands on some $$$$. GL

[Wesker1982]

The reason the bar owner is doing it is because he doesn't know much about poker and how to run a game and doesn't want to deal with it, but still wants the $1500 a month. I suppose he could just hire dealers and take the rake, but I'm not going to suggest that [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Are you positive the money for bonus hands is illegal? The guy who ran the table before me gave away free drinks for winning with 9-2 for a couple of years. I also mentioned money or drinks for bonus hands to the owner and he was fine with it, he might not know the law though. What I would really like to do is advertise $100 or something to anyone who hits a royal flush using both pocket cards, I know it would attract tons of players but I wouldn't have to pay it out very often.

Thanks for the replies, you guys made me a little less nervous about the whole thing, I have never had a $1500 monthly bill after all.

[Wesker1982]

Also, I do get to test it out for couple of weeks, but I don't want to judge the whole situation on the 2 weeks because as stated, poker isn't nearly as popular in the summer as it is in the winter.

As for as an attorney goes, I have one for an uncle, I am sure he will give me some free advice.

[juanyorba]

I am 100% positive that the $ for bonus hands is illegal. You may be able to get away with it though, because I was in Helena (home of gambling control), I couldn't do it. I know of a game in Butte that ran for years with no $300 pot cap without a problem but thats Butte. However I am not sure about drinks for bonus hands, a free drink for high hand every hour or something like that would be fun. If you are a liscensed dealer you should have been given the State Handbook with all the rules. It should tell you everything you need to know, if you don't have it, contact the department of justice.