At the Golden Acorn tourney tonight - they had only about 30 players- so ended up wildcarding 5 players to the final table - as they could only put two players there through play - doesn't look like their move to Tuesday evenings will pay off - though a couple of players said that at one time they held tourneys on Thursday evenings - and - they drew very well - of course that was when they were paying $10,000 for a $10 entry, not $2,500 for a $25 entry. It looks as if Golden Acorn is doing everything wrong - steadily reducing the prize pool - while raising the entry fees - and moving to a week night from a weekend - their market isn't local - it is San Diego and El Centro - both of which are a one hour drive from Campo - if they are running tournaments - they need to understand that higher entry fees and smaller prize pools and moving to a weekday evening isn't the way to increase attendance - I realize that they are trying to put on tourneys and not lose too much money doing it - but - they are making this tourney not worth going to - at least for anyone who has to drive any distance - and that is most of their players
Viejas blind sided them with a tourney last night. Unfortunately even tho the pay was less at Viejas its much closer to SD and a superior casino to GA.
Golden Acorn/Viejas I noticed that - but - I understand that their first $2,500 tourney - which was held on a Saturday - with no Viejas competition - did't draw much better - I think this casino is about through offering tournaments - don't know where they can go from here - they have changed days, dropped prize pools, and raised buy-ins - next step is to drop tournaments entirely - They can't seem to find a balance that works for them and attracts many players.
Actually it looks like the Viejas 1200$ required suited BJs to play. So it probably didnt draw from GA as you observed. Too bad. Maybe GA should go to a 1200$ weekly. Or maybe they should just close the casino and leave the gas station opened lol.
a casino without a market Golden Acorn's problem is that they don't really have a market - to get there from San Diego - you have to drive past Viejas and Seycuan, both of which are much larger and fancier than GA - and - Viejas has an outlet mall - - if you want to travel that much distance/time form San Diego - you have Rincon, Pauma, Valley View, Pechanga, etc. right there and all are bigger and nicer - - we have two casinos in Yuma - so no one is really going to travel 2 hours to get to a smaller casino then we have right here - so - their market is actually El Centro, Brawly, Calexico - which is not exactly a major metro area - When Quechan tribe opens up their new casino just west of Yuma on the interstate - it will become the closest casino to El Centro area - closer than GA - and will be bigger and nicer - several restuarants, hotel, golf course, pool, etc - so - only question is - where will their market come from then? - and what about La Posta - which is even smaller and yukkier than GA and about 1 mile further off the freeway - on other side from GA? - doomed casinos I think - not all Indian casinos make money - and these two will probably fold someday - GA and La Posta (La Posta is slots only) - very likely BJ tournaments will disappear - or become very small 'locals only' tourneys - with prize pools under $1,000 -
