How To Start Your Own Poker Room

I've been involved with the poker/gambling industry for about 7 years now and have done everything from dealing, pit boss, completely manage a poker room and having my very own game. The number one thing I can tell anyone is that it's a highly competitive industry that can make or break you in a hurry.

For those out there that are interested in having their very own poker game the first thing you need to do is find out if it's legal for people to play poker where you want to open your poker room. I'm located in Montana & both poker and keno/video poker are legal here with the proper licensing.

Once you've found out where you want and can locate your poker room you need to go about getting the correct permits & licensing. Just because they say it's legal in the state doesn't mean you can just setup a poker table and get to it. You need to find out about all the licensing it's going to take and make sure you take the correct actions to get everything legal.

After you've got your location and made everything legal you're going to need some good poker dealers. Having good help is essential, the poker industry is a service industry and the way to keeping your players happy starts with your employees. Finding good help is actually not as hard as it sounds, it's keeping it that's the hard part.

When searching for good poker dealers you should start at other poker rooms. Go in and play poker for a little while (don't be an asshole by openly advertising that you're going to be opening a poker game down the street) and scout out some good help. Many poker dealers only a have a few shifts and are many times looking to pick up another shift or two. Give them your number or get theirs and call them when they aren't working and ask them if they are looking to pick up some extra work.

Another great thing about having good dealers working for you is that many times they bring players with them to wherever they are dealing. Don't rely on dealers to fill up your poker game but you should also make sure you take good care of any dealers that are constantly bringing in players to play in your poker game.

You are going to need some supplies I almost forgot about that. Most good poker tables run between a little under $1k to beyond $5k. You want to make sure you have a decent sized poker table so all your players fit comfortably and you don't want it to be some flimsy piece of plywood with some felt over it.

After you have the table you want you're going to need to get some poker chips and plastic playing cards. You can either visit or call a gambling supply store to purchase these or you can order them online.

Once you have all your supplies, your legal and you have some decent help the only thing left is for you to get some players into your card room and get the cards in the air. Make sure you let all your friends & family know you opened a poker room and tell them to tell your friends. Don't forget to put up fliers around town and purchase some advertising to help you get the word out about your new poker game. It's a highly competitive industry but you can make a decent amount of money if you do a good job.