Home : Blogs : Linda Sanderson : Linda's Blog

Poker Run Open House

Royal Flush Who doesn't like to play a little game of chance? Have you ever played Poker in conjunction with going to an open house? Coldwell Banker Solano Pacific has decided to put a new twist on this year's Open House Extravanganza May 6th, 2007. We are doing a Poker Run! Open houses traditionally help us advertise our clients homes to the public, and allow Realtors to market themselves at the same time. With this new twist our open house extravaganza promises to be a sure bet for someone. Check our web site for the official rules.

The Poker Run is for the public, ages 18 and older, and not open to employees of Coldwell Banker. The way it works is each time someone visits an open house on May 6th from 1 to 4 p.m. they will draw a playing card. Each open house will have a special deck of labeled cards for that specific home. At the end of the day, whoever has the best 5 card poker hand will win a prize. Prizes will be $250 for first place, $100 for second place, and $50 for the third place winner. Players will be entered at the last open house you tour, entries are given to that agent inside of a sealed envelope. Envelopes will be labeled with the contestants name and address on the outside. Winners will be selected on May 7th, and notified by telephone or mail.

This is probably not the first time this idea has been used, but it's new to me, and I think it sounds like a lot of fun! What do you think? Are you feeling LUCKY? Let me know if you have any tips or pointers for me. Thanks...

Posted by Linda Sanderson on 04/23/2007 10:34 PM

Comments (40)

poker, open house, vallejo, benicia, marketing, advertising, winner

This post has been included in California Information Solano County, CA Information
Post is included in group: Realtors®

40 Comments on Poker Run Open House

APR

2007

Great idea Linda, hope this brings you lots of "Players"! :-) Looks like you're "ALL IN' for this one. Hope all is well. Me

Interesting. Nobody has ever done it here, that I can recall. I don't really know how to play poker. I must be the only person. I see it is all the rage on TV.

Chris - It is a lot of fun. We grew up playing it as kids. I can share the line up of which hand beats the other if you like. I think it is discovering a resurgence in the last few years, especially since it's all over TV.

Brad - Hi, it's good to hear from you. How do you see all this stuff? Yes I'm going to have fun playing this one. Do you think anyone will call my bluff?

I subscribe to your posts. :-) As far as your bluff...put your game face on!!!! Enjoy your day!

Okay, now there's another one I need to know about. How do you subscribe to someone's posts? Is that anything like big brother? Ha Ha And for the game, I'm ready, just tell them all to "bring it on!"

Linda, I just heard about this type of visitation-motivation idea today at the North Solano Realtor meeting. $10 dollar buy gets your home that is being previewed on the "Poker Run". Collect your cards by going to the homes on the Poker run and come back next week to see who has the best hand and win the pot. 7 Realtors did it last week and the winner got $70. I also heard that each of the houses on the poker run had an average of 20 visits. I wish I had known about it today I could have used the traffic.

Everyone loves to play!

Moe - Thanks for sharing the idea about the buy in poker run. I think that's a great way to promote to our fellow realtors. It sure sounds like the idea was a hit with everyone. I haven't attended the north county board meetings for a bit so I hadn't heard about that twist. I LIKE IT! Yes, we do enjoy having fun. How are things on the Contra Costa side?

APR

2007

I'll attend Contra Costa meeting next Tuesday and let you know.

Thanks Moe, I appreciate the feedback.

MAY

2007

Hi Linda, I forgot to answer your question above. To subscribe to another members blog, go to their profile, click on "My Blog", and above their photo will be a button that reads "Subscribe To Blog". Just click on the link and they will now show up on your blog page. When you click on the word "Blogs" next to groups at the top of your screen, it will take you to the subscribed blogs and "Featured Posts" page. Sorry for the delay in my response time. :-)

MAY

2007

Thanks a lot Brad. I think I've got it now. Was so good to see Debbie last night. It was a good time. Glad you were able to make it. Why don't you take a day off now?

OCT

2007

Hey! I enjoyed reading your Blog about open houses. Thanks for posting it!

Don Bradbury

Glad you enjoyed the post Don. It really was a great event, and now our board does a take off of this occasionally for the realtors when we tour our new listings. It's a great way to keep things FUN! Thanks for commenting......

APR

2008

Tis original for the real estate game.

Bob

APR

2008

Looks like this post was brought back to life thanks to Bob Cosby. Funny how that works. A blog post can lay dormant for months or even years and then BAM! 6 months later, it's up and active again. Just like a Volcano, the lava flows once again! Hope all is well Linda, just wanted to stop by and say hi! :-)

APR

2008

Hi Bob - I'm so glad you stopped by to comment. Yes, it was a great idea, and we had a lot of fun putting it together. I'm doing a bit more of a traditional open house this weekend. Just offering food.

Brad I think these posts are like cats with alll of those many lives. Yes, all is well on my end. Hope the same for you and the family. Have a great weekend! :-)

APR

2008

I enjoyed reading your post. Thanx

MAY

2008

Vicky I'm so glad you enjoyed the post. The event was a huge success. We had three different winners, and was so much fun for us all to participate. Thanks for stopping by to say hi.

MAY

2008

I'm back into the open house game. I just think its a smart way to go with the gas prices so high and as I'm sitting here, I'd thought I'd write a few words. I did bring the poker run up to my broker and think we'll have one pretty soon. Anything that could help we are trying.

MAY

2008

Good Luck to you Bob. I'm with you, i always find open houses are the best way to find new clients. Once in awhile we get lucky enough to actually sell the house we hold open. What a bonus! let me know how it goes............

MAY

2008

Strange, I thought raffles/promos for cash prizes were illegal in every U.S. state unless specifically authorized by the state. Did you get special permission?

MAY

2008

Jay - I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you. You know I didn't ask about special permission at all. This was done by the entire office, sponsored by our broker. Based on that I didn't think there would be anything illegal about a game like this. Our board sells 50/50 raffle tickets each year to benefit various charities. All of the money adds up and the winner gets half,with the other half going to the charity chosen for that year. I never thought about the legality of that either. Just seems like a great idea. What makes you think it's illegal?

MAY

2008

Hi Linda,

All U.S. states have very tight regulation when it comes to games with cash prizes, whether they are casinos, card games, scratch tickets, horse racing, raffles, etc.). I've been a professional card player for a number of years, and have some experience in states getting involved in these matters on occasion.

It's great that half goes to charity, but I really have to suggest you run your idea by the local government before you run it again, just to make sure it's legal. Better to ask and make sure, rather than have the law come after you claiming you're running some sort of gambling operation. As far as I know, most states won't allow people to give cash prizes, though it might depend on the state, and on the situation.

Please check and make sure though for safety's sake (and don't tell them you've already done this before!). I know you have good intentions, and I'd really like to be wrong! : )

Jay - Thank you so much for your sound advise. I really do appreciate it. I will be sure to pass the information along to our board members and any other interested parties.

I'm curious - What's it like being a professional card player? Can you make a living at it?

MAY

2008

Even a good idea for a brokers open.

JUN

2008

What a cool thing for caravan too! Glad to hear it was a success.

JUN

2008

Interesting, How succesful have you been with this type of marketing lately??

JUN

2008

Pedro - This was a successful open house campaign. It's not something we do all of the time, but it puts an exciting spin on an old faithful marketing method. Open houses have traditionally been my favorite and best resource of finding new buyer clients. Good luck to you.

JUL

2008

I prefer FSBO sites, but not real estate agency. Agents take commissions and it is cheaper that money to sell your property at FSBO site. I saw many sites, but I think Fizber was the best. There are many services that can help sellers and buyers like real estate forms at http://www.fizber.com/real-estate-forms.htm for sellers or http://schools.fizber.com/ for buyers.

AUG

2008

AUG

2008

Wake it up again......How can I sell this to the local board. They are all against giving money for open houses?????

AUG

2008

I guess I will ask since it doesn't look like anybody else has - this looks like fun, however have you found that it brings in more Buyers, or just more fun-seekers looking for a way to divert themselves?

Folks?

Bob - Thanks for waking up my site again.............It certainly worked.

I think this must be looked at along the lines of winning a raffle, or a door prize. It's not something anyone has to buy into, or put out an investment on. It's merely a lucky opportunity for someone to win a prize. If the board is against a monetary prize, you could do the same thing but make the prize a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, or something along those lines.

Good luck to you Bob!

Beth - I didn't find any buyers with this particular open house, but I sure had a lot of fun holding the house open. It's always interesting to see what a new idea will bring. I still think it's a great idea for a special occasion, but not something to do every weekend. I think the serious buyers were amused, but that wasn't their purpose for being there. Others came just for the opportunity of winning a prize.

Well, I guess one never knows when those opportunists could turn into Buyers...or know someone who is. And in the meantime it sounds like it wasn't boring and WAS memorable. Food for thought, thanks.

NOV

2008

DEC

2008

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?