The FTP relaunch suggested plans have started to be revealed by pokerQ4 and will do so over this next Full Tilt Poker Week. The first bit of FTP poker news is that they are considering an opening week salvo of $1 Million Added to their poker tournaments. Here is the pokerQ4 Consultancy analysis of this #FTPrelaunch gambit.
$1 Million Added Positives
Added money is universally perceived of as being better value by both experienced and novice players alike because, unlike guaranteed tournaments, added money is tangible extra value in the prize pool regardless of how many players enter.
As with any added money tournament, the value from a poker room’s point of view is the draw of the big added money amount and the ability it gives you to cut through the marketing noise and clutter of others rooms, with a headline figure in a hugely competitive market place. And $1 million added will do just that, allowing Full Tilt to retain and win back its old players, and acquire new players, all in one fell swoop.
$1 million added is undoubtedly an extraordinary figure and a bold strategy on Full Tilt’s part, however, there are a numbers of incremental benefits in running a tournament like this which mean your actual liability is much less than that of the headline $1 million guaranteed, in fact, done properly, it can be a profit making exercise.
FTP $1 Million Added benefits?
Firstly, the poker room will earn a fee for every entry into the tournament. Assuming the buy-in to the $500,000 added will be $200+$16 and let’s conservatively say the tournament attracts 30,000 entrants; that’s $480,000 in tournament fees – essentially a break even proposition before any incremental revenues are even considered.
Cash Tabling in on $1 Million Added
Obviously, having 30,000 players online means that you can expect a huge uplift in cash game revenues, upwards of 30% if the event is a big enough draw, so the benefits to a site that was traditionally a cash game room could be very big indeed. Typically, and in my experience from 7 years of working in the online poker industry, an online poker room will earn an average of $15-$17 in rake per player, per day, from online cash games. So, if only half of the players playing the $500,000 have a dabble on the cash game tables, then that’s circa $250,000 in attributable cash game rake right there.
$1,000,000 other extra reasons
- FTP Player Points earned from the added money tournaments and satellites help to lock the players back into being a loyal Full Tilt Poker player.
- Satellites – these earn a poker room a bigger share of your bankroll as instead of buying in direct for $16 the site can get a lot more in fees from each player who qualifies, and even more for those who do not manage to qualify but give it a good few attempts
- Mop Up Satellites – the satellites for the $1 Million in Added tournaments will be used to mop up players micro bankrolls and Player Points. FTP players may not want to grind away with these but using them up, investing them, in satellites where you could perhaps win a seat into and your share of a nightly $50,000 Added or the $1 Million Added may be very attractive.
$1 Million Negatives?
- Not enough Added money? Given the above calculations is the $500K Added tournament bold enough? Making the $500,000 back doesn’t look such a stretch when you factor in the fees for the event itself and the satellites. What bigger statement could they make than to offer a $1 Million Added tournament at the same time as Pokerstars run the Sunday Million?
- Initial outlay and cost – firstly the cost of $1 Million in Added money tournaments to the company that owns and relaunches the new Full Tilt Poker. It is money up front and further outlay, it is like making a poker bet, once that money goes over the line it is no longer yours to hastily pull back. But the potential risk and cost will very likely outweigh the loss in player liquidity and the sites liability if everyone instantly withdraws their bankrolls the moment FTP relaunches.
Full Tilt relaunch tournaments $1 Million risk or no risk?
- No player loyalty – massive Added money tournaments and promotions do not generate player loyalty. Especially in the strange case of the new FTP where players may see it as an opportunity to get some extra money morally ‘owed’ to them for the whole Full Tilt Fiasco. Players may just win the money and then instantly withdraw with a shouted “Fuck YOU too!” when they click on that withdraw button.
- Unearned giveaway – the extra money giveaway is an unearned giveaway. As long as you have the cash in your bankroll or can satellite your way in then players will have had to do nothing to earn their piece of the money pie.
Click on the link for all pokerQ4′s posts on the Full Tilt Poker relaunch or follow @pokerQ4news on Twitter and watch out for #FTPrelaunch
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