Replace Bad Beat Jackpots with . . .

[Lew Moorhouse]

I have written an essay (a magazine-length article) discussing why I feel bad-beat jackpots are bad for poker. The piece also proposes an alternate promotion which is a totally new concept, and argues why it would be good for poker.

Due to length considerations, I am not posting it here. To get a copy, please E-mail me at:

lmoorhouse@yahoo.com

This may be of interest to card room principals, and others.

Lewis Moorhouse

[meep_42]

sign up for your free email spam here?

-d

[DONTUSETHIS]

Bad beat jackpots are good for poker. It encourages chasing and when they hit that "one outer" you get paid too. What is bad about that? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[DONTUSETHIS]

Bad beat jackpots are good for poker. It encourages chasing and when they hit that "one outer" you get paid too. What is bad about that? /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Lew Moorhouse]

This is a serious proposal in the interest of most everybody, IMHO.

Lew

[Lew Moorhouse]

May I have your E-mail address, please, and I will let you tell me what you think about my idea.

lmoorhouse@yahoo.com

Lew

[thirddan]

a

[Lew Moorhouse]

(why bad beats are difficult)

I've heard players say that they have never even been in a card room when a jackpot hit. Let's face it; hitting a bad beat jackpot is difficult. I ran 100 million deals using Wilson Software's Turbo Texas Hold'Em using an "average lineup" of player profiles. Using as a qualifier any aces full or better beaten by any higher hand (both cards in both hands must play), a jackpot hits about one in every 37,500 deals. If your dealers are getting out 25 hands per hour, and you play four hours a day, 365 days a year, you are going to get a piece of the jackpot about once a year. Eight out of ten times, you will not be the cracker or the crackee, and you'll only get a table (or room) share. Many rooms have a much tougher qualifier.

(why bad beats are bad)

A lot of jackpot money does not stay in poker. Assuming a 25/50/25 jackpot split, then 75 percent of the total jackpot is always subject to IRS attention at a rate of 15 percent (minimum). Even though there is no withholding, 11.25 percent (0.75 x 0.15) of the total distribution is effectively gone forever. If the jackpot is large, or if the table has only a few players, then 15 percent of the total is gone.

After the forms are filled out, and the players are paid, and the dealer is toked, what happens to the rest of the money? Most of it goes out the door, never to return to poker. The big winners may buy a boat, make a few mortgage payments, or knock down their credit cards. If they go to another casino and play 20/40, that doesn't help your room or its players any. If the winner gambles away his proceeds at the pit or the sports book, the money stays in the casino, but it doesn't stay in the poker room.

(here is something easier)

Think about a high hand giveaway. Nothing new about that... many rooms have them. Think about a fixed payoff of $599 for the high hand. Most such promotions have variable payoffs depending on the hand, and the average payoff is much less than $599. High-hand giveaways sometimes use a scribble board that is refreshed with each subsequent higher hand. A player gets his name up on the board, and then has to come back the next day for his money, only to learn that he got bumped from the list after he left. Not a happy camper. In a jackpot game, the qualifier normally remains the same from day to day while the payoff changes. My suggestion is for the payoff to remain constant while the "or better" qualifier fluctuates. Only one player has to make a hand.

(rules)

There are ten possible straight flushes, from an ace-high (Royal) to a five-high. And there are thirteen possible quads, each with twelve possible kickers. These constitute the top 166 hands.

Note, in Hold'Em, at least one card in the pocket must play. If the qualifier is "four sevens, five-kicker" then:

7 7 7 7 9 with A 4 is OK

7 7 7 7 9 with 2 3 is not OK



(how to make the payoff constant)

Back up the $599 prize with nine additional $599 prizes. (These are in the background, not visible to the players, and are there for the purpose of smoothing out the variance.) The "or better" qualifier will be different for each popular game the room spreads.

Each day, at whatever time the high-hand drop is counted, an adjustment would be made to the qualifiers, as follows:

If the $599 prize and nine full backups are fully
supported (you have $5990 total), then the winning
high-hand drops by one position.

If there are more than nine full backups, then the
winning high-hand drops by 10 positions for each extra
$599 that you have.

If there are less than nine full backups, then the
winning high-hand rises by 10 positions for each $599
that you are short.

(funding)

Rake the smallest chip/coin in play from every pot, as long as there are at least four chips/coins in the pot and two players. Note how easy this is on the dealers.



(how to keep the money!)

Now you have frequent winners, but $599 is still a tempting amount to walk out with if you pay it off in cash. How to keep it around? Print up some [business card sized] cards something like:


20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20

20.......CASINO'S NAME...........20

20.........Poker Room..............20

20 _______________________ 20

20 _______________________ 20

20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19


The winning player's name goes on one line. The other line is for the shift supervisor's signature and a serial number. These are like a prepaid phone card. You're going to punch out a number each time a player gets twenty bucks in buy-in. Right under the camera, of course.

But what's to keep a player from getting six racks of chips and cashing them in? You're going to have minted some one-dollar, no-cash-value chips. These chips can only be bet. And, they can only be lost! If a player wins a $30 pot into which he put $10 of these chips, he gets them back. If another player wins, then the dealers will treat them as they would paper money, changing them to white in the pot, and subsequently disposing of them when getting a fill.
Additionally, the dealers can dispose of anywhere from $50 to $100 per hour of them in the drop(s). If a player uses one or more of these chips as a toke, the dealers should be allowed to change them out of the box. Players will
likely only purchase these on as "as needed" basis, so the room won't need many.

(concerns)

I see two minor downsides to this idea... If a non-regular (tourist?) hits and wants to run, there may be some bitterness if he is unable to hawk his $599 card (or the chips) to someone. Personally, I wouldn't care; I'd buy a rack from the tourist assuming I had the money. I don't really think it's a serious problem given that what you are doing here is trying to build loyalty among regular players. The second downside comes about when more than one player is
contesting a pot with these chips; at showdown, the dealer must calculate how many funny chips the non-winner(s) put in and change them to white before pushing the pot. This is not terribly complex and I have to think it won't happen frequently.



(editorial)

This promotion can be launched cheaply. Start with a Royal Flush as the high-hand. Keep raking and the qualifier will drop. The only investments will be the chips and chip racks, the cards, a punch, and some signage.

I believe this will create action. Here, the player's goal is to make a hand that he has almost certainly made before. The low rake may keep players around a bit longer. The funny money chips may be played more loosely. And players, broke but with a live card in their wallet, will come in when they otherwise wouldn't have. In any case, this money isn't just going to stay in the building; it's going to stay in the poker room. Note that every time a dollar is raked, it effectively stays in your poker room's action... FOREVER!

Respectfully submitted,
Lew Moorhouse

lmoorhouse@yahoo.com
702.477.0100

Lew is a low limit recreational player
living in Las Vegas. He has been a Beta
tester for Wilson Software since 1994.