Hey, Poker Playas!
So one of the most favorite strategies poker rooms used is making big guarantees and low buy-ins.
There is one good side to it which it makes it affordable for some people to join and hopefully win some big money.
Is it effective? yes!
After all how many players play in casinos and bet on the lottery.
But bear in mind. there is also a logical and bad side to it which can ruin a player’s skills.
Here is a deeper look.
The true cost
Normally a 1 million poker tournament would cost around 5,000 PHP and with a registration fee of 500 PHP.
The reason for that is the organizer needs to get only 200 players to cover the cost. of the tournament.
Normally the fee is the only income the poker room can earn and PAGCOR actually has a percentage of the fee. Hence there is the 1% and stuff.
Taking that into consideration. The hose can stand to earn based on 200 players times the fee which is equal to 100,000.
Which would cover the dealers and the floors for their services for the duration. of the tournament. so it is not that much.
You also have to deal with the PAGCOR fees.
Big guarantees and low buy-ins
To make a low buy-in tournament and big guarantee. Let’s assume the buy-in is lowered to half which is 2,500.
You need. to have double the number of players. to make up for it.
The higher the guarantee and the lower the buy-in. the bigger the number of players you would need just to cover the guarantee. of course, countries like the Philippines have a good number of players so A million guaranteed tournament with no competition is safe with PHP 5,000 is doable and safe.
Now when the buy-in is lowered. there is a need to make up the numbers. That is when poker houses actually do some crazy things in order to make up the cost. Some houses stake players, while some houses try to induce players to be more aggressive so they can buy in once again.
and how to induce it? by making the structure as quick as possible.
Medling with good strcutures
The structure is the favorite target of most poker houses.
The biggest Tournament and the gold standard is the WSOP. In the main event, you start with 40k chips and 2 hours per level. Imagine playing 100/100 for 2 hours.
And yes, Like this year WSOP Day1A started with 4,000+ people and 3,000+ survived or more or less 75% of the field.
Counting WSOP this year when you can join day2D. More than 60-75% survived till registration closes.
Meanwhile, a normal tournament in the Philippines would have more or less 40-65% of the field out by the time the registration closes. the exact opposite.
If you are in a poker room and you are trying to catch the numbers to make sure you do not overlay. you simply can not leave things to chance.
70% surviving means less re-entry. you want 70% of the field out so they would re-enter. and to make sure players get busted out. Making the structure as fast pace as possible is the logical choice.
Sad to say, when a poker company decides to implement a big guarantee and low buy-in strategy. They want you out so that you re-enter.
The price to pay is the future
If you want to play poker that would change your life. It will always be the big tournament.
But winning a small tournament or a turbo tournament and then start believing you can be a champion at a WSOP is farfetched.
It’s like the MVP in basketball of a small barangay believing that he can start playing for the NBA.
The game is different.
Poker is not a luck game. Hence playing with good structures will help you play better. It helps you develop your skills.
But it is still up to the player to understand.
