December 16, 2008 by bill.buckley.

I was wondering what are the rules at most casinos for when a person is elgible to rebuy.  At a local charity game the rebuy amount was set to anything below the starting amount.  One player prior to a hand had substantially more than the the rebuy amount but during the hand had bet an amount that would put him below the rebuy amount (he remained in the hand).  He then called over the rebuy person and did a rebuy since the amount he had in front of him at this point was less then the rebuy amount (he did not use the rebuy during this hand).  That person also won the hand so depite the fact that he started the hand with more than the rebuy amount and he had more than the rebuy amount after the hand he also got to keep the rebuy that he had gotten giving him a substantial lead.  When the Tournment director was called to rule on this he said it was perfectly acceptable.  In later talks with the TD when questioned wether this was done at casinos he said of course and he has done it before.  This is new to me, I always thought that at most casinos you have to have started a hand (or ended a hand) with less than or equal to the rebuy amount before being eligible for a rebuy and that you could not use your chips in play to reduce your pot to amount that would allow you to rebuy in the middle of a hand.   I know an organizaiton can do what they want in terms of how to determine rebuys (and understand the charity is trying to get as many rebuys to help make money for a good cause) but am just wondering what the most accepted practice was in regards to when a person can rebuy I don’t ever remeber being at a casino where they allowed rebuys to be done his way (of course there are lots of casinos in the world) and I only rarely enter rebuy tournaments. 

Posted in Buy-Ins and Re-Buys, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Registration, Buy-Ins, & Awards, Money & Chips, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management | Print | 1 Comment »

November 1, 2008 by remoh.

You are a tournament Director in a 10 table poker room who is holding a 200 person major poker tournament with two Day 1 flights. However due to less than maximum registrations you end up with 150 entrants of which 100 wish to play Day 1A (eg Fri) and only 50 wishing to play Day 1B (eg Sat).

Do you do anything to cater for the imbalance such as possibly reducing the length of both Day1’s  by 1 blind level (60 minute levels) to ensure enough players from Day1B make it to Day 2? 

Do you do nothing? and let the tournament run its course…….for Day 1B at the end of the day from 50 players you may only have 10 left….

Im up for any suggestions or what may have been done in the past…..This is the first time we have run multi Day1 flights in a tournament due to popularity of the game.

TA     Remoh 

Posted in Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Buy-Ins and Re-Buys, Tournament Personnel, Equipment, & Venues, Registration, Buy-Ins, & Awards, Buttons & Blinds, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management | Print | 4 Comments »

September 14, 2008 by Sonny.

   I am having a problem locating a rule, in either favor on a chip stacking issue. First, does it say anywhere, that chips MUST be stacked? If so, does each stack have to contain the same color chips? How many chips in a stack? How many chips can there be max in a stack etc? Here is the issue. I have a player in my league, who insists on keeping her chips in a lump. At some points, there is at least 100-150 chips in a pile in front of her, nothing stacked. And of course, she is superstitious. Other players complain that they cannot get an accurate count. I know she does not have to give an accurate count, but she must have all her chips visible. I do force her to have the largest denomination chips on top of the stack, in plain sight. Anytime she makes a bet, she always declares the amount, and gathers the bet and puts it in neatly, in a stack, but she will not stack her chips. When she goes all in, she will stack them, to enable us to count correctly. If she wins a pot, she just lumps them again in front. I cannot find any clear rules, other than her largest denom chips must be visible, and that is being satisfied. Any help here?

Posted in Chip Counts of Pot & Opponents Stacks, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Money & Chips | Print | 2 Comments »

May 19, 2008 by frenchflush.

I know you will think: “what a big mess” but this situation really happened in a big club (used to host the WPT): the “Aviation Club de France” and during the “Grand Prix de Paris” (link here : http://www.aviationclubdefrance.com/home_uk.html).

OK to make it simple: after a Break they close a table … player A (with 25000) find a ticket sending him to a new place with 50000 … A just seats & start playing … he plays 4 hands during wich he eliminate player X (famous) wich had let’s say 40000 … player A have now 90000 … then player B is coming back (late but it’s his right) from the break and claim for this seat (in fact the organisators really made a mistake with the ticket of A: he should never have been moved to this 50000 place wich really was the place of B) … the three players (together with X) call for the floor (poor man lol) … after half an hour of decisions:   PLAYER X IS DECLARED ELIMINATED (I agree) - PLAYERS A&B ARE SENT TO THEIR ORIGINAL SEATS (25000 & 50000) but on TV nobody understood what became the 40000 of benefits … we understood it was divided between A & B (???) … On my opinion: I WOULD HAVE RETIRED THE 40000 FROM THE TOURNAMENT (X would be eliminated but A could’nt get profit from a move made with another one’s stack!)!

Any idea?

GG

Posted in Incorrect Pot Awards, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Collusion, Cheating, Etc., Chip Counts of Pot & Opponents Stacks, Chaos: Sloppy Mgmt of Tables & Tournament, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Color-Ups & Chip Races, Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties, Registration, Buy-Ins, & Awards, Empty Seats, Penalties, Clocks, Ejected Players, Money & Chips | Print | 3 Comments »

March 26, 2008 by Deadman.

Hello all,

I have seen a number of posts that ask questions about best methods to handle late arrivals and managing prize pools in regards to on-time attendance, and no-shows. Sometimes these questions are regarding official casino and card room policies, but many times these pertain to home run or private run tournaments (bar leagues, etc). My expertise (if I could call it that) lies in the latter.

As someone who has run home games of one sort or another for 15 years and has been running a successful and consistent monthly tournament for over 4 years (without missing a single month), I thought I would offer a standard we came up with for this that has been wildly successful over the last year or so. It has also relieved a lot of headaches from the lack of method or less developed methods we had used in the past.

1. Although we do have an RSVP list, we do not use a pre-registration method that collects entry fees prior. In the home / private game world, this is not always a trusted method by the players who certainly prefer to pay fees on the day of the game.

2. We switched from a punishment method affecting late arrivals, to a reward method affecting on-time players. This has proven to be a huge success and rarely do we have stragglers anymore (details to follow).

3. We did our best to make most all situations “black-and-white”. This is important in home / private game play where newcomers, guests, and others may feel slighted by special treatment of the regulars, “inner circle”, etc (whether it exists or not).

4. For late arrivals entered, we draw a seat, place chips at the table and blind them as the rounds come. This guarantees everyone is aware of the “place” in the game, their entry in the prize pool, and the accuracy of their chip loss for late arrival.

5. No one is seated without entry into the prize pool (late arrival details to follow). This eliminates the situation of holding a seat for a player, only to find they are a no-show and the prize pool is down one entry fee.

So, how do we do it? Below is our standard rules that have so far managed to accomplish the goals and results above. I hope they are helpful and provide some new ideas to those out there that run regular games and tournaments.

—————–

All players who have ARRIVED (not valid for Call-ins), signed in, PAID their entry fee, and drawn their seating card by 4:45pm will start with $3,000 of no-value tournament chips  (a 25% “on-time bonus” of $600 as a reward for punctuality), and the tournament will start as promptly as possible at or after 5:00pm. 

CALL-IN LATE ARRIVAL PROCEDURE:

In order to be a guaranteed entry and have a seat in the tournament, you must be in attendance and have received your chips.  For anyone running late, we have set up the following CALL-IN procedure.  This will be the CLOSEST and ONLY way that you may have a seat, without being in attendance by the time of the first hand. The first hand will be dealt as close to the 5:00pm start time as tournament directors determine feasible.  If a player has not yet arrived, but wishes to be entered and seated in the tournament, he/she must understand and agree to the following: 

1.  Player must have someone in attendance that is willing and able to cover his/her entrance fee in cash.  This can be any individual, but the entrance fee will not be covered by the “house”.  Player is accepting the responsibility of payment of debt to the individual that covered his/her entrance, regardless of any circumstance or whether the player ever made it to the tournament at all, or in time to play a hand.  This is to be handled between the player and said individual as a personal debt.  The “house” accepts no responsibility or liability to this debt. 

2.  Player must call in to make arrangements at least 10 minutes prior to first hand being dealt. 

3.  Player must be willing to be blinded and folded appropriately until his/her arrival. 

4.  The “house” reserves the right to decline seating for players not in attendance for any number of reasons (e.g. it would require adding another table to the game, already have too many call-in entries, tournament has enough players, etc.). 

5.  Entry and Seating Stipulations:

Being on the reservation list does not guarantee a call-in seat.  Reserved seats are “up for grabs” and are no longer reserved for any player not in attendance by 4:45pm.

Players in attendance (reserved or otherwise) will be seated with priority over call-ins.

A call-in seat is not guaranteed.  Player may lose the seat, for any number of reasons, prior to the first hand being dealt.  Player will not owe any entrance fee in this circumstance and cash will be returned to the individual that covered any such fee. 

6.  Once the first hand is dealt, all call-in seats are guaranteed for life of chip stack and/or tournament. 

Please do note that these rules and the tournament starting time may be STRICTLY followed.  We can offer no breaks for friends, as most of us are friends.

——————

 I hope someone finds this helpful. Questions or comments are welcome.

-Deadman

Posted in Late Registration, Missing Players Etc, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Registration, Buy-Ins, & Awards, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management, Seating & Moving Players | Print | No Comments »

February 19, 2008 by Nina C.

I’m putting together a Holdem, Stud and Omaha 8 or better tourn for about 32 ppl. Only omaha will be 8 or better. I would like to structure it as pot limit. Can anyone out there direct me to any source where I could find a good structure for this evernt?

Posted in H.O.R.S.E. Variations, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Etiquette, Behavior, Play Procedures & Penalties, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management | Print | 1 Comment »

February 7, 2008 by Spessartine.

A few quick questions for those of you who probably know better than I, and hopefully you can help me out.

1. Up until the WSOP rules were brought to our attention last year, my bar league always played that No-Limit meant there was no maximum on bets/raises, and no limit to the number of raises allowed. The WSOP 2007 rule set we have has a rule (that the head honchos brought in after a lot of player griping), where a player who has already acted cannot reraise an all-in that doesn’t make a minimum raise. I’ve been fighting this tooth and nail ever since, so I’m a little biased, but I am curious too. Does anyone know where this rule comes from? It sounds suspiciously like a Limit rule to me, that people are accidentally applying to NL play. Is this rule enforced in NL games at the WSOP? What’s the basis for it?

2. I recently had to toss a player from a tournament who got rowdy (while drunk) when he realized that we shorten the blinds at our final table (30 minute blinds until the final table, and then 15 minute blinds). This rule predates me, and has a very necessary basis in finishing the tournament before the bar has to lock the doors for the night. The player claimed that this is absolutely unheard of and a gross misconduct on our part. Any thoughts? ** I realize that we could probably accomplish the same thing with constant 20 minute blinds, but this is one of the few things that I don’t get to decide. Also, it should be noted that the blind schedule and timing is posted with our rules for all to see, and I always mention it if some one asks about the blind schedule.**

Posted in All-In Bets; Re-Opening Betting, Side-Pots, Split Pots, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Limit, No-Limit, Pot Limit | Print | 5 Comments »

December 30, 2007 by Mayhem_VI.

  I’ve run a couple H.O.R.S.E. Tourneys and participated in a couple of live games.  The issue always comes up regarding the placement of the button, and I have a simple solution.  Keep moving the button through the Razz, Stud and Stud/8 games and keep dealing to the left of the button.  After the last hand of Stud/8, the button gets moved, and the two players to the immediate left post the small and big blinds respectively.  It doesn’t matter who got knocked out of the tournament, who got moved to another table, or who left (or came into) the live game.

  Now, every time I’ve made this suggestion, it gets rejected immediately, and I don’t know why.   Finally, Roland Waters at the Wildhorse PRU suggested that I come here.  I think I’m getting him convinced, but he says when he brings it up with others in the TDA (again) they shake their head and change the subject.  As a system, it has worked like a charm in my tournaments and after watching closely and getting feedback from my players, I still don’t see a downside.  Personally, I like a button in Stud tournaments anyway as it takes away any advantage/disadvantge to the players sitting on either side of the dealer (I, myself, have a pathological hatred for the seat to the dealers right, and this system clears that right up). 

  Anyway, I would like some feedback on this.  And do me a favor please.  At least give it a try or a simulation before you tell me how full of crap I am.  Thanx.

Posted in Lowball & Razz, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Official Rules & Guidelines, General, H.O.R.S.E. Variations, Buttons & Blinds, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management, Omaha, Other Games, 5 and 7-Card Stud, Texas Holdem | Print | 3 Comments »

November 15, 2007 by onedoubleo.

I run a weekly tournament in my university un its Poker Society. However with time constraints between the venue and university lecture times we have a very harsh blind system that is generally double blinds at 20min intervals. I looked into holding it somewhere where time costraints wouldnt be a problem but couldn’t find any where that is feesible.

The blinds in this system can work well but 50% of the time are far too steep by the time we hit the 4th level. Has anyone got tips on methods to improve this?

Posted in Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Buttons & Blinds, Tournament Directors, Event Structure & Management, Texas Holdem | Print | 2 Comments »

November 8, 2007 by frenchflush.

Well, to make a conclusion on the counting (unpleasant situations I experienced with my dealers as TD with very unsportmanlike players):

A bets 13575 (counted & annouced by the dealer) … his stack is around 100000

B raises all-in at 47325 (counted & annouced by the dealer) …

A wants the dealer to tell him the difference he has to pay to call BEFORE taking his decision !?!

IMPORTANT:

1- In one hand the organisators of this finale table wanted the stacks to be very big for the show (pictures & vidéos) so there where a lots of chips around (even the short stacks) making the counting hard for everybody. 

2- But in the other hand the player A (and some others) where really not nice: critisizing everything & my poor dealers & asking quite everytime for the differences of amounts BEFORE taking his decisions! His main argument was the during the EPT (european poker tournament) the dealers did ALLWAYS give the 3 amounts: the first bet, the raise & the difference (still not sure they really did it)!

SO: does my dealers are definitively OBLIGED TO ALLWAYS COUNT THIS DIFFERENCE BEFORE THE PLAYER’S DECISION (imagine the waste of time?) ???

GG

Posted in Official Rules & Guidelines, General, Start Chips, Blind Raising Structure, Tourney Timing, Showdowns & Pot Awarding, Money & Chips | Print | 3 Comments »