Increased action due to Paradise promotion

smd · #1 04-01-2003, 11:14 AM

I play low (.5/1 and 1/2) Holdem on Paradise. I have noticed a huge increase in the number of players due to the WSOP promotion. So far, it appears more people are seeing the flop. The tables have been more aggressive than usual (at least for the 2 days I have played).

I am assuming that people are loosening up a little in order to try to win more pots (and more points). My question is -- Why? Isn't this promotion essentially a free $100 buy-in to a tournament? It seems to me that loosening up in order to have a chance at a seat could easily cost you more than $100, even at the low-limit tables.

yct · #2 04-01-2003, 04:13 PM

Increase of action and looser play will result in increase of rake money because pots will be bigger. Looks like Paradise is pretty clever in setting up this promotion and should make some money along with promoting their site...

GrannyMae · #3 04-01-2003, 08:36 PM

i'm not a big fan of this promo. i love paradise, but i think this promotion causes and encourages BAD PLAY.

i will be happy when it is over, and i will not attempt to win a seat through this. however, i think that there is money to be made because of it. extremely disciplined play should pay off. being a participant in the promo as opposed to taking advantage of those who are participating seems like a bad idea.

i'll be there trying to exploit those huge players seeing the flop %, but i will tighten my game down so much, that i won't earn many points. my goal during promo sessions is to score a few big pots, not to be part of the "any 2 card" frenzy.

therefore, i encourage everone who wants to make top 100 for a session to play any and all 2 cards dealt.

woohoo

Wildbill · #4 04-01-2003, 08:47 PM

Hard to say if this is really positive in the long run for them because all these promos seem to lead to a big play dropoff once a promo is gone. Further if I ran a cardroom last thing I would do is something to encourage temporary wild play. If the players I am getting are by nature wild, that would be fine, but encouraging regulars to loosen up means a lot more players going broke and a good manager of any gambling operation knows the worst possible thing you can do is make you regulars go broke. You bleed them off slowly so they replenish their funds over time and also believe they can win sometimes. This style of play encouraged is the opposite of what you want to do for an established place like Paradise.

yct · #5 04-01-2003, 09:06 PM

If the players I am getting are by nature wild, that would be fine, but encouraging regulars to loosen up means a lot more players going broke and a good manager of any gambling operation knows the worst possible thing you can do is make you regulars go broke.

I agree with that the card room wants people to lose slowly, so they can collect their rake over time, but I don't think this promotion will make the regulars go broke. First of all the promotion only runs for a month. Secondly, if one can qualify as a regular on Paradise, I think his/her game is already "stable", because I sure do not see many loose and weak regulars on Paradise. So I think the promotion should benefit paradise more than doing harm...

Wildbill · #6 04-02-2003, 12:51 AM

You would be surprised. I am a good buddy of a guy that was a room manager in Vegas and he said once those jackpots get high people start doing things you couldn't believe, things like guys that are somewhat rocks playing 22 for 3 bets and then calling 2 bets with nothing on the flop, hoping for the miracle 2 and 2 on the end. As the jackpot grows you see this same guy who usually would stick to one buy-in win or lose buying 3 or 4 racks and coming in many days. After it hits, these players can take weeks off, or even in worse case go chase the jackpot elsewhere as they have gotten jackpot addicted. While most don't do that, it only takes losing a handful of regulars and the games take longer to go and break up earlier. While Paradise obviously isn't that dependent on them, it does happen. If this was a new or struggling cardroom I could see it being wise just to get some market share, but protecting your market share with such a promotion just doesn't seem so wise. Of course they have the most money to do it so right or wrong it probably isn't going to affect them much. Still its just something that borders on being waste, if I am running the site that is.

RollaJ · #7 04-02-2003, 10:21 AM

To tell you the truth Sunday afternoon blew my mind, there were 8-10, 25-50 cent NLHE games going at the same time, with no names I recognized..... [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

eMarkM · #8 04-02-2003, 11:01 AM

You nailed it, Granny. But not sure why you wouldn't like the promo. That's why I love this promotion and most of PPs promotions. Not because I'll win, I won't. First, you gotta play the whole 18 hour block to have any chance, let alone how loose (and lucky) you'll have to play to just get a spot in the tourney (and I suck at NL tourneys, anyways).

The promos are great for the reasons you state. Just taking advantage of people playing to get the prize is reward enough for me. I want my made hand against the yahoos trying to earn points drawing to backdoor crap, just like the yahoos who play 9h7h for two bets hoping to get some miracle str8 flush during the Valentine's Day promotion. Keep the promos coming PP.