Random question about entry fees

Posted 7 years ago

I decided to post this in the "Live Casino Poker", but this question/thought applies to online poker as well. I'd like your opinion on this.

Alright... Every poker tournament, live or online, has it's entry fee - money not going into the prize pool but rather used to cover the expenses of the casino (salaries, advertising, electricity, food). The casino also needs to have a profit, of course. Let's assume that the same casino (or online operator) is about to host the following tournaments in the next two days. Also assume that both of the tournaments have the same or identical structure and will be done within the same day.

Tournament #1 - Buy-In = 55$ (50$ + 5$)
Tournament #2 - Buy-In = 550$ (500$ + 50$)

Almost every time, tournament #1 will have greater attendance. Let's say that 200 players enter tournament #1, and 80 players enter tournament #2. In the first day (tournament #1) the casino will have to use more staff for more time, use more tables (reducing the number of tables available for cash games aka rake) and feed more people. Of course there could be other expenses that I'm missing. Bottom line, the expenses of the casino during the first day will be greater than the one's of the second. When at the same time...

Income from the first tournament: 5$ * 200 players = 1,000$
Income from the second tournament: 50$ * 80 players = 4,000$

In both cases, the entry fee is 10% but, in the second tournament, it is quadruple despite the players being less than the half! When at the same time, the expenses are lower... Plus that the difference between an entry fee of 5$ versus 10$ won't have much of an effect to players' bankroll, when an entry fee of 50$ versus 20$ will have a bigger one. The higher (buy-in) we go, the greater this effect will be.

Doesn't it make more sense that the higher the buy-in the lower the percentage of the entry fee? Isn't it better for the poker players willing to move up and for the poker ecosystem in general? (The exact same question applies to online poker)
Jon-PokerVIP

Last Post 7 years ago by

Jon-PokerVIP

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Posted 7 years ago
Erm

Interesting post! I think 10% is just generally always going to be something generic and the casinos probs don't look at it to much. Plus they probs don't care about players moving up as there are enough to play in all events.

Also a very big point of all of these events is to get players in the casino so they spend

- Rake
- cash game rake
- hit the pit
- buy food
- buy drink

Also your point can lead onto things like

- why don't they just use electronic tables?