A method by one or more computing devices functioning as a ticket master for a website that has a virtual waiting room, wherein the ticket master is communicatively coupled to a plurality of proxies controlling access to the website. When the ticket master is in a relaxed mode (as opposed to a pressure mode), the method includes pre-allocating a number of tickets to the plurality of proxies for a first upcoming time period and setting a queue head for the first upcoming time period to a ticket number of a last ticket created, wherein the number of tickets that are pre-allocated for the first upcoming time period is greater than a target number of users allowed to enter the website during the first upcoming time period but less than a predefined maximum sudden spike number.