Talk me out of it

[stupidsucker]

All of what I am about to say is very hypothetical, but still not entirely out of the question.

I have run this idea past some people, and most laugh. Perhaps I dont understand the issue, or perhaps I am just too much of a dreamer.

Cutting to the chase.

Given the funding comes through(This is the big if)
I want to start my own poker site.

Many of us have been very unhappy with the support of the sites we have offered to us now. So many have tried, but every site that has a good player base falls short of my expectations. Those of us that play reguarly sink in tons of tons of tons of $$$rake$$$ into them and in return we get nothing. I have heard horror storys from players like Daliman that cant get a refund on a game after sinkning in thousands upon thousands of $$into their rake.

In short.... I plan to seriously create and market a new poker site that will rival the monopoly.

Main factors I will change is.

1)VIP customer support(Anyone spending X$$/rake/XX or anyone pissed off.

2)Built in rake back bonus

3)A steps program that is worth it

4) Lower rake in general

5) Eventualy very very big tables


Before anyone scoffs and points out how big of a prodject this is spare me that detail. I am not planing on throwing it into cyberspace tomorrow. Right now its a glimmer in my head and relying on some big ifs already, but you have to have a plan right?... just in case.

My questions are.

Is there room for another poker site?
Does a newcommer have the chance to take over as a/the main provider?
Would you leave your current provider if a new provider offered up just as many players with better support and lower rake?


Sorry if it sounds crazy, but I am a dreamer. Just wondering....

Have fun with it or bring me down to earth, but be serious.

[TheUsher]

I'll try not to be negative at all, and ooooo just imagine if a bunch of 2+2'ers started it. It would be like, *perfect*. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Sounds like climbing up Mount Everest but hey, it could be done if you're really dedicated and have an almost unlimited supply of capital with a big stomach for losses.

[mackthefork]

The trouble with new poker sites seems to be, you need players to get players, Catch 22!

All your ideas sound good, but my first and only point is likely to be the biggest hurdle, this would probably make the loss making period so long that all but the deepest of pockets would fail.

Having said that I wish you good luck if you try it.

[ QUOTE ]
but you have to have a plan right?.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep

Regards Mack

[microbet]

My guesses.

6 person-years to get the project get ready to launch with very good people.

Advertising/marketing expenses could vary wildly depending on how much cheap labor intensive marketing is done, but $100k easy.

There are legal issues. I don't know the current status, but I did see something a long time ago where the operators of a site couldn't even come the US without getting arrested.

[Voltron87]

Couple points...

1. I would have to wonder if the market is saturated.

2. The things you should improve are no doubt better support and "housekeeping".

3. Lowering the rake is not going to help you. Only the hardcore players analyze their rake and to 90% of them care more about the quality of play than the rake. Lowering rake is not going to bring in many more players.

3. If I were you I would look at other recently started sites and see how they did. If they didn't do a bad job and flopped, that is something to take into account.

4. You would have to do several things to succeed, most importantly bring in tons of bad players. This requires a huge ad campaign and slick software and presentation. Treat them right, offer good 24 7 american based support and they will stay. Add in good rakeback and the pros will follow.

[The Student]

I have debated this issue with a friend of mine for the past couple of years too. It seems like there are so many crappy sites out there, how hard would it really be to create a good one? Well, the roadblock that my friend and I eventually hit was startup $. You need an enormous BR to start something like this. Obviously you'll need the equipment (servers and such) as well as huge advertising campaigns to bring in the players, but let's say you do have enough startup $ to make a go of it.

Then you face a second problem in the business plan - you're talking about a top rate customer service team, one that will need to expand as your player base grows. Unfortunately, all that customer service is going to get pretty expensive. There are ways to cut costs, such as buying a call center in India (as per Party/Empire), but then you lose the quality of customer service that you offer. The top-notch customer service, along with the lower rake, sounds great to me as a player, but I'm just not sure how you can make this work as the CFO.

Hate to rain on the parade, but you asked me to talk you out of it. These would be my first concerns.

ts-

[stupidsucker]

[ QUOTE ]
The trouble with new poker sites seems to be, you need players to get players, Catch 22!

All your ideas sound good, but my first and only point is likely to be the biggest hurdle, this would probably make the loss making period so long that all but the deepest of pockets would fail.

Having said that I wish you good luck if you try it.

[ QUOTE ]
but you have to have a plan right?.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep

Regards Mack

[/ QUOTE ]

I have given this a ton of thought..

My solutions range in a few ideas.

A) A beta stage that will be rl money played but with zero rake.
B)I wanted to start out by offereing a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE bonus, but one that paid over time. This would attract everyone. All the bonus whores would come, fish see ig big free bonus $$, and it will always be in their account luring them back to deposit. 2+2ers will come if enough fish are there. plus they will come because I will be putting some posters on my think tank team.
C)Good marketing is important to get players in fast. I plan to honestly make this invitation only at first. I plan to have different skins and they will be marketed differently, but never even remotly hide the fact that we are still the same poker site.

[microbet]

IF party is making a huge ROI, THEN there is room in the market.

[Phoenix1010]

Wow. Good luck if you actually decide to go through with it. I'm sure you know the obvious point, that it will take a ridiculously large time and money investment, not to mention luck, to pan out. The losses you'll take while trying to build a player base through propping and bonus incentives will be a tough hurdle to climb. The player base is really what makes any one site worth playing at in the end though, and it takes one to grow one. The established sites have such a huge head start that I really don't think a new site can crack into the business successfully unless they have one of three things, or some combination:

A truly new and exciting innovation that revolutionizes the way online poker is played (I predict that whoever introduces video poker will snag a nice corner of the market);

An incredible gimmick that will get the average poker player's attention (like sponsorship from a well-known pro);

Or some really really kick ass player incentives (ie bonuses, your rakeback idea sounds nifty, but may not be enough to carry the site to success).

I wish you the best in this endeavor, should choose to pursue it.

-Phoenix

[stupidsucker]

money isnt an issue.

I know this may sound corny, but I am playing in the wsop this year, and I have geven thought to exactly what would I do with th money if I won. I would want a plan. Sure its far fetched, but its a lot better odds then wnning the lottery.

Anyways... money isnt an issue. This will only happen if I have a few milion I can sink into it for fun. Its a dreamers post of what if.

So what if?

Is it really such a bad idea?

I honestly dont want to use the money to bankroll myself for the tour. Its not the life I want, and thats if I could even beat it.