Frankly, all of this yakety-yak is sorta killing that feel-good vibe.
Bergs might be right; a reasonable and mostly-unnoticed per-hand rake may be necessary to create the atmosphere wanted, which is not currently legal in Texas.
My perspective is that The Lodge has made postpay their norm.
To compete in the market you need to meet or exceed your competitions service.
Post-pay is the least disruptive to games and requires less staff to handle.
Players can pay the next time they return to the club, allowing them time to calm down after a beat.
I appreciate all the effort everyone is devoting to help, but it feels like we're over complicating procedures.
Not to mention, members of PCF are more aware of their winrates, recreational players don't process it the way all of you do.
Would I prefer to be able to rake pots? Sure, it's less noticed and more profitable.
But given the framework we have now, I think post-pay is going to be the best path forward.
You can still offer special rates for certain games/limits, or during certain days/hours to make them more attractive.
I'd rather make less per table, but have more games running, then the opposite.
When people check Poker Atlas they need to see games running.
Poker House has tried implementing high hands, bbj, flush frenzy, etc and they still struggle with 1-2 games per day.
They got a gift since The Lodge was closed July 4th and then on the 5th they shut down for the guy who passed. They had 5-10 tables going those days, cash and tourney
Then Saturday, The Lodge was open and Poker House was back to 1-2 games.
I don't want to offer all these gimicks. I want to offer better value in tougher financial times, better service and a friendlier vibe.
Will we still get misregs? Of course. But local advertising and outreach, and games structured to not give additional edges to the grinders, will go a long way towards combating this