Harrahs Rake Increase

[Abe]

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harrahs is the laughing stock of the poker world



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Woot, woot ! Put that statement in their comment box.

[bav]

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I was told that IP was going to $5 max on no limit games. This was from a floor person at Harrah's.

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I've found you can't completely believe what any particular Harrah's property employees say is going on at others. Part of the reason the rake increase was done at Harrah's was because they were told others besides Bally's were already doing it. "Oh, gee...we're behind...gotta raise that rake!" Only no, they were #2. And they still today have problems with various poker management honestly believing "Bellagio and those guys are already doing $5--I called them and verified this". Well...dunno who you talked to but no, they aren't doing it. Maybe if you'd get off your plump rump and actually go VISIT another poker room you might learn a thing or two ferreal.

[Stoopidskunk]

I.P. Is still $4. Dont expect a change. I Play at the I.P. everyday. I was playing a 2-4 HOE game on thursday and friday. It was awsome. They got some really cool promotions.They are tring to get a regular Omaha game going. The Day floor was teliing me that they are gonna offer a Omaha Bad Beat starting at 10,000 if they get the game rolling. Any quads beaten. Most Omaha Jackpots are Quad Jacks Beaten. We will see.

[psandman]

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I was told that IP was going to $5 max on no limit games. This was from a floor person at Harrah's.

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I've found you can't completely believe what any particular Harrah's property employees say is going on at others. Part of the reason the rake increase was done at Harrah's was because they were told others besides Bally's were already doing it. "Oh, gee...we're behind...gotta raise that rake!" Only no, they were #2. And they still today have problems with various poker management honestly believing "Bellagio and those guys are already doing $5--I called them and verified this". Well...dunno who you talked to but no, they aren't doing it. Maybe if you'd get off your plump rump and actually go VISIT another poker room you might learn a thing or two ferreal.

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That may be true but there seems to be some relationship between the Harrah's, Flamingo, and IP rooms as though centralized decisions are being made. I believe The Flamingo (O'Shea's) and Harrah's share a manager and he seems to be involved at IP even if he technically isn't the manager.

[Jimbo]

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Imagine you went to a bar that you normally enjoyed. Only today, drink prices were jacked up, and the place was dead. You went back a few more times to see if things changed, but everything was still expensive and not much fun. Pretty safe to say you'd quit going to that bar, right? It's likely that if enough people felt the same way, that bar would go out of business.


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Imagine that this same bar is located in a hotel that caters to traveling businessmen. Do you care that the drinks cost $1 more than your bar at home? No, you expect to pay more because it is a very nice hotel with hot women wandering around the area. Do you care that the locals go elsewhere? Not at all, after all, you will be gone in two days. Besides you have more in common with the fellow business patrons than the rude locals anyway. In fact you might even prefer to pay extra for the better environment and tell all your fellow business friends they should stay at this same hotel when they visit as well.

Pretty soon this bar is so crowded they raise the prices even more, all the better, now only well heeled people will be hanging out with you, better company = more value.


Jimbo

[fatshark]

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I'm just suggesting that there can be negative feedback loops that can relatively quickly erode the number of patrons at any card room. It's not hard to see how this happens either. If the rake is raised, most of the regulars and astute tourists will find other places to play. If, over the course of a month for example, the number of players at a card room drops by a third, that will have a pretty large impact on that room's reputation, or 'feel' if you will.

Imagine you went to a bar that you normally enjoyed. Only today, drink prices were jacked up, and the place was dead. You went back a few more times to see if things changed, but everything was still expensive and not much fun. Pretty safe to say you'd quit going to that bar, right? It's likely that if enough people felt the same way, that bar would go out of business.

Card rooms are subject to the same market forces as the above bar example. The only reason defunct card rooms hang on longer than they should is that there is a significant overhead to renovating a poker room into another raft of slot machines.

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The only problem with this is that many tourists which the casino are going to target after increasing the rake do not notice the rake at all. I have heard hundreds of times: If the casino isn't playing in the hand, how do they make money on it? Then someone will say, haven't you noticed the dealer taking chips out of the pot and droping them down the retractor? Ummm......no but now I see what you're talking about, and then continue to play without another mention of it. They usually don't even ask how much. The ones that do ask will usually say that they are saving money by playing poker, as many would drop much more on Table games/Slots/Clubbing and such.