What Is Poker League Franchise?
Poker League Franchise is the blueprint for bar poker league owners who want to improve their existing live poker leagues or create a pub poker league from scratch. Here we share everything we did, and are currently doing, to run our successful and profitable pub poker league franchise in Georgia (USA) called the Atlanta Poker Club.
Through all the ups and downs over the past 16 years we have learned what it takes to make a bar poker league successful and profitable. We have learned what to do and what not to do. In the process we've developed unique and dynamic poker league products and services. They make any pub poker league run like a well oiled machine.
How Does A Free Poker League Make Money?
Since most pub poker leagues are free to play, people wonder how they make money.
- Free poker leagues make money by charging a venue (bars, pubs, restaurants) to host a poker league event at their location. Usually on a given day and time for an agreed upon rate and period of time.
- The poker league company provides all the equipment and labor to run a quality poker game, along with the league structure, player points system, stats administration and prizes.
- The venue provides the space for the poker tournament, tables for the table tops to sit on, chairs for all of the players, wait staff, and prizes. The players purchase food and drinks from the venue, which provides revenue to cover and exceed their costs of doing business that night.
When done correctly the poker league benefits, the venue benefits, and the players benefit.
How Do You Start A Pub Poker League?
When we started our pub or bar poker league back in 2004, we were the first in Georgia and one of only a few in the country. We were using our own casino and home poker tournament knowledge to put our pub poker league together.
- What is a pub poker league?
Today we've made it much easier to learn everything you need to know to create a successful, profitable bar poker league. You'll either need to know each step or hire people who do. Here are the steps:
- Learn How To Play Poker - You need to know how to play poker first, specifically Texas Hold'em, before starting your league. You'll need to know all the rules and adjust any specific rules to fit your league that may differ from TD Association Rules or Roberts Rules of Poker. See our free Texas Hold'em course created for pub poker league players.
- Learn How To Deal Poker - This is the basic starting point for a poker game first, then a poker league. If you don't know how to deal like a professional poker dealer or have people you can hire that do, you won't have any credibility. Serious poker players want to play in a game where they don't have to worry about if the game is being dealt properly. If you don't know how to deal, then try our #1 selling Poker Dealer School and training course, Dealer Training.
- Learn How To Host A Poker Tournament - Once you learn to deal poker, you need to know how to run poker tournaments. It's just as important to have great Tournament Directors to keep the flow of the game going, just like dealers, only at the tournament level, with more responsibilities, down to the last player. Our #1 selling training course to become a professionally trained Tournament Director, Director Training, is another best bet.
- Find Venues to Host your Poker League Events - If you're a pro at dealing and directing poker, then your next step is to create your poker league and find venues that will pay you to host events. Find venues that have great food, drinks and customer service that already have clientele on some nights of the week, but need a boost on slower nights. It's a great way to get into the venue, and if your game thrives, you can expand to other nights at the same venue.
- Hire Your Staff - You'll need competent poker dealers and tournament directors for your league to succeed. It should be part of your Poker League Business Plan. We started our poker league with a staff of a few. With the founders (and some of our friends) manning the ship as the dealers and directors. We now have a staff of paid tournament directors and volunteer poker dealers. They make things run smoothly. You'll find most all of your staff at your events. You'd also be served to hire an office director that manages the league staff, paperwork, payments, etc.
- Attract Poker Players to your Poker League - Start your Poker League Marketing efforts at the venue. If people already frequent the venue, then if they also play poker, they should be an easy sell to your league. Post banners throughout the venue. Use Table Tents to market to the venue customers while at their table. Expand your marketing efforts from there.
- Manage your Poker League & Tournament Information - When you run one or several poker tournaments and keep track of the results, you will soon find yourself buried in paperwork. To relieve yourself the pain of managing your poker league with excel, use our Free Poker League Software service. Includes Poker Leaderboards that display on any website. It's great whether you manage the information and money yourself or you hire someone to do it for you.
