PokerStars held its first live event in the U.S. in six years in conjunction with its New Jersey partner Resorts casino.
Though the event drew lower attendance than expected and some tournaments were cancelled, officials for PokerStars said they were happy with the initial event at Resorts.
Overall I’m very happy with how it turned out,” PokerStars Department Head of Live Poker Operations Neil Johnson told PokerNews.com. “As a first step into the waters.”
Johnson said the company made important strides in working with New Jersey gaming regulators and also with Resorts in hosting the event.
“Any time you go to a new venue, you’ve got the little wrinkles to work out and how you move stuff around in the venue spaces and everything and that went fantastic,” he said. “The room looks gorgeous. The skills-based room was turned over in a day from the on-live stuff. Basically all that stuff worked fantastic. Logistically, those things were great and I have tons of confidence for when we come back, that it’s just boom, it’s plug and play and we’re a go.”
Johnson, however, did acknowledge that the company made mistakes in marketing the event, which contributed to the low turnout. The event, for example, was only announced two months ago.
“On the challenges side, I would say our unfamiliarity with the market after six years and the best ways to market to this region is something we need to address,” Johnson said. “We definitely found the flaws in the ways we would traditionally market an event.
“We’re a very, very digital company now; everything’s in the app, it’s all online and we’ve moved away from traditional marketing,” he said. “Even when we were here previously with the NAPT, we still didn’t market to this region. We went to Mohegan Sun, which is close, but it’s still wasn’t the Tri-State area, AC, Pennsylvania, Maryland, that kind of stuff.”
Johnson told PokerNews the experience in Atlantic City taught PokerStars several lessons about tournament buy-ins and guarantees. For example, successful Main Events in Atlantic City usually carry a a$3,500 buy-in, unlike in Europe where $5,000 and up is the norm.
“We had never been here before, so the question is, what are you going to risk? We really wanted to get out here and get the message out that we are committed to this market,” Johnson said. “Obviously I would have loved to have higher numbers and we certainly projected higher numbers for all of the events but we’re cracking into a market where the people who loved PokerStars five years ago absolutely know who we are and they knew we were coming.”
The company now plans to regroup and will probably announce a new tournament at Resorts during the PokerStars Championship Bahamas event.
“When I look back on it, it’s like, this was a lot of fun, which was kind of the point,” Johnson said. “I mean, the point is probably actually to make money and I acknowledge that. Everybody wants that. But for me, the fun element of this was really great. I’m actually walking out of here with a lot of great memories and thinking we just come back and build more.
“That’s the next step,” he said. “I think it’s a challenge, and I have a lot of meetings with the Resorts guys this week, but it’s a challenge that everybody is looking forward to. We got it. We know what works, we know what we can do, now we just go out and get bodies.”
