Sat. February 3rd poker @ Dirt's

[Darren Dirt]

Hi folks. Sounds like I will have the first weekend in Groundhog Month free and I would like to have a NLH tourney for anyone interested.


Just to make it more fun, I'm thinking of adding a couple of things to the mix:


#1. Depending on the # of players, the payouts will be more than just "winner takes all".

>If only 3-4 partake it will be 1st=70% and 2nd=30%.
>If 5-8 play then 1st=60% 2nd=25% 3rd=15%.
>If more than 8 are interested (!) I guess we'd have 2 tables at the start, and the top 4 will be 1st=50% 2nd=30% 3rd=15% 4th=5%.
(Yes, I know that usually at a tourney or whatever with 3-6 players you would only have payouts for the top 2, but I want to encourage folks to feel they "have a chance at making it in the money" and rebuys and the add-on (see #2 below) will thus encourage risk-taking and make it more fun I hope.)


#2. The above might sound unnecessary (after all, real men enjoy "winner takes all" don't they? ) but as I just hinted, I want to allow for rebuys during the first 3 blind levels (prolly the first 45-60 mins).

And at the end of blind level 3, there will be the option to do a single add-on (giving you an additional # of chips equal to the starting amount).

All of this $ will be put into the prize pool, which will be dished out in the amounts listed above, minus the "bonus prize" (see #3) and the cost of pizza and a few 2L of Coke or Sprite or whatever we choose to order.


#3. And just to make it even MORE interesting (i.e. more risk-taking and seeing of showdowns) there will be a "bonus" prize awarded to the person who shows down* the highest hand (probably will be a full house, but quads aren't unheard of so keep chasing with that set! ) The bonus prize will be $1.00 x the # of buyins, rebuys, and add-ons.


- - -


So in summary, as an example, let's say it's 6 players with a $10.00 buyin (since we want to allow for and encourage rebuys and add-ons, $20 might be a bit too steep).

Let's say you guys are totally dominating and only I, Darren Dirt, take stupid chances and bust out twice before blind level 4, so I rebuy each time. At the end of the rebuy period, Dirt and 2 others decide to pay an extra $10 and take the add-on. The rest think they're skilled enough to make it I.T.M. without the add-on (fools! all of you!).


So that would mean the # of buy-ins and rebuys and add-ons = 6+2+3 = 11. So the "bonus prize" for the best hand of the night is $11.00.

And the total prize pool would be $60 + $20 + $30 = $110.00, minus the pizza (let's say $30) and minus the bonus prize ($11) = $69.00.

So the $69.00 payout (just a coincidence in the math, really!) would be divided up 60% 25% 15% ($41.40 for 1st, $17.25 for 2nd, and $10.35 for 3rd).


The above is just an example -- I am presuming there would be more than just 2 rebuys the way some of us play and also the add-on is a no-brainer even if you're a chip leader since everyone else will probably be taking it... So the prize pool would likely be more like around $150.00 total, paying out maybe $60 or $70 to 1st place, with a probable investment of $20 for most of us.




So there ya go, the usual lengthy essay from the pen of Darren Dirt.

Any thoughts on my "plan"? It's a week from this Saturday night, not Friday night cuz I might have my kids on Friday -- but at least this time I have given you guys a dozen days' notice.


BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!


- - -

*just to clarify, to "show" down means at the river you and your opponent eventually get to the point of calling and showing both your hands. So a "take down" before the flop, or at the flop/turn/river, where all your opponents fold, does *not* qualify as a potential "best hand" for the bonus prize. So hopefully when your pocket sevens flop A77 your opponent(s) will hold an Ace (or two! Top boat haha that would be a sweet victory eh!) and stay in the action to a showdown.

[Ustauk]

I think  we have D&D scheduled for that day.  We could maybe move it to Friday, depending on what everyones schedules are.

[Darren Dirt]

I plan on having Poker night maybe every 2nd month, so that Saturday would be ideal (otherwise it would have to be at least 2 weeks after that) so if the D&D folks are okay and interested, I appreciate the inconvenience you might go through...

[Mr. Analog]

Ok, you had a lot of stuff there that after a while I just stopped reading.

If you want to make it so that everyone (or most everyone) comes home with something have a side pot per hand with a $1 dollar buy in and make it so that once you are out of chips, you're done. Easy peasy.

Friday would also be more condusive for me as well.

[Darren Dirt]

Yeah, sorry for the lengthy verbiage, I thought I would just "put out there" how I plan to structure things, and explain why I thought some changes would be necessary. Wanted to make sure any potential participants "know what they're getting into", so to speak.


I guess mainly I want to discourage that feeling of "it's all luck when it's down to 2 so I'll probably never win so what's the point in playing for actual money" that some occasionally might have experienced in the past.

The rebuy/addon IMHO would help reduce the chance of someone "sitting out" because of a bad beat early on (hence the rebuy cutoff after blind level 3) and the "bonus prize" adds an element of "luck" into the mix, methinks.

Your "side pot" idea might be a little too much to keep track of, compared to having a % of the pool awarded to the top X finishers. But then again I might not get what you're suggesting. :-\



Also, re. Saturday: I have the kids almost every Friday night, unforunately -- it's a kinda trade-off with having every second weekend free... But I thought a week and a half notice would help offset the Friday preference for most.

[Melbosa]

Sorry won't be back in town by then.

[Mr. Analog]

What I'm saying is scrap free buy in, scrap the total pot and make every hand a buck to play. That's really easy to to take care of and people will play a bit more um cautiously than usual. The beauty of it is that if you lose your chips early you still have money and if you are one of the last players you can increase the side pot if you want but either way, if you win enough games you'll have more money than when you started.

Simple and easy.

Look at it this way if you bring $20 that puts you in 20 hands for sure, if we have 5 players that means the pot per hand is $5. I dunno about you but if I exhaust my chip stack in 10 games but won one or two I'm not doing too bad. Players with $$$ stay in during the mid-game and as they get kicked out only the last couple will remain. This way I think also rewards skill and not luck because to come out with more than you walked in with requires that you win more games, heck you might even lose the last couple of games to bad luck but if the side bets don't get out of control you still walk out with $$$.

[HandsomeDevil]

I'd be down for either Friday or Saturday.

I like your structure ideas. Might I suggest a bounty system? Each player puts up a $5 bounty. When said player is knocked out they have to endure the humiliation of handing over their 5 bucks to their executioner. If you had rebuys, this would only go into play after the rebuy period was over.

[Mr. Analog]

I'd be down for either Friday or Saturday.

I like your structure ideas. Might I suggest a bounty system? Each player puts up a $5 bounty. When said player is knocked out they have to endure the humiliation of handing over their 5 bucks to their executioner. If you had rebuys, this would only go into play after the rebuy period was over.

That's a hell of an idea!

[Bixby]

FYI:

On poker nights, we have everyone throw a toonie in a cup and then randomly put a bounty on ONE players head. Whoever takes out that player gets the toonies.

[Darren Dirt]

Thx for all the suggestions, folks.

Maybe I'm being too ambitious by including rebuys and add-ons to the mix, since we're lucky to get more than 5 folks all free on the same night.

So my plan is this:

$20.00 buyin per person, with only a single half-price rebuy for half the starting chips possible, which is no longer available once the "3rd place" finisher busts out and decides to not rebuy (i.e. once it's headsup, neither of the Final Two can rebuy.) $10.00 of the total pool will be put aside for the "high hand bonus prize", and...

FYI:

On poker nights, we have everyone throw a toonie in a cup and then randomly put a bounty on ONE players head. Whoever takes out that player gets the toonies.

...there will be a double bounty -- $10.00 each on 2 players* -- who will be selected via high-card random drawing BEFORE the game begins.

1st and 2nd place get 70% and 30% of that remaining pool (so it's not entirely down to luck in the end).


How does that sound? Simpler, yet different enough? If so, post here on a scale of 1 to 10 your chance of joining us.

Thanks!


- - -

* for those who need some example numbers:

Say 6 participate, total of $120.00 in the pool. If no rebuys, that means $10.00 for the high hand prize and $20.00 for the 2 bounties, leaves $90.00 in the pool minus ?$? for pizza and pop.

[Lazybones]

All these bounty and special rules make my head hurt.

What happened to, show up with $20, everyone eats pizza, and the winner walks away with a smile?

[Bixby]

*Tangent Alert*

Playing Hold'em tonight in a $20 Freeze Out with 72 players. Wish me luck, I need some spare cash so I can drive to Edmonton in April
Our Regular series game is tomorrw night, with any luck I can score big in both events then fly to Edmonton instead of driving.

*End of Tangent*

[Ustauk]

If we can reschedule D&D for the 2nd, I can probably make it, and my girlfriend said she'd like to try a game.  I don't mind the bounty thing. In place of the high hand bonus prize, may I suggest  that the 2nd place finisher either get $10 or their money back?  This would reward skill rather then luck. 

[Darren Dirt]

*Tangent Alert*

Playing Hold'em tonight in a $20 Freeze Out with 72 players. Wish me luck, I need some spare cash so I can drive to Edmonton in April
Our Regular series game is tomorrw night, with any luck I can score big in both events then fly to Edmonton instead of driving.

*End of Tangent*

$1440 total prize pool, I'm guessing that means first place gets maybe $400-600 and the next couple spots get around $100-200? Hope all the fish are at your starting table, but remember in those first few hands to fold those Cowboys or Ladies when your preflop raise is quickly re-raised all-in by that typical early-stage maniac donkey with the A4o who ALWAYS rivers his Ace! <-- seen this happen *many* a time, sadly.




PS:

If we can reschedule D&D for the 2nd, I can probably make it, and my girlfriend said she'd like to try a game.  I don't mind the bounty thing. In place of the high hand bonus prize, may I suggest  that the 2nd place finisher either get $10 or their money back?  This would reward skill rather then luck. 

I changed it above, I like the bounty idea (might get "personal" vendetta-like, who knows...) but also I agree 2nd place deserves "something". Now it's 30% vs. 70% for the winner.