My live poker project…

For about a month or two now, a friend and I have been working on holding regular, live poker tournaments to support a local charitable cause. I envisioned that we would quickly become known as having the best run local games in the area. Additionally, I pictured being able to price it high enough to be gone with any potential riff raff, yet at the same time attract enough players to make it a sizable event. I think we have on our hands EXACTLY what I envisioned.

This weekend marked the inaugural tournament (while we have all these visions, we still do not know what the hell we’re calling it). We had about one-third the number of players we expected; however, we weren’t necessarily expecting a full house for our opening week. From a timing standpoint, we managed to start just about on time (15 minutes late by choice). The tournament still finished exactly on time.

Perhaps best of all was the reaction from the players who participated. Everyone, with no exception, walked away telling us that we put on what was by far THE BEST poker tournament they have ever played. Honestly though, we did nothing that “shouldn’t be done” in every poker tournament. We just made sure that we had the bases covered. We provided a nice poker tabletop and a new deck of cards. Some instrumental jazz played in the background for mood music. We invested in a decent set of poker chips, with denominations on them.

Our blind structure is very logical, as it deliberately progresses and allows for play in the first hour, without the threat of immediate short stacking. Everything was spelled out. A set of rules were on display for everyone to read. We had a nice blind clock, so everyone knew where we stood with respect to the blinds. Said another way, we were organized. Its ironic how one can create such an experience for people just by simply focusing on the things we are supposed to do.

I am confident that next week’s game we will be more than half way to our goal of the number of players we are targeting, and I would not be surprised if in 4 weeks, we are taking our show on the road, in addition to hosting our “weekly games.”

So, I guess I should speak of the actual tournament results, considering I mentioned the whole set-up. Long story short, SuperDonk emerged victorious. Well, actually, there was a three way split, but he had the most chips when they split the prize money.

I had just mentioned a day or two earlier that I have not really had any SuperDonk stories for the poker blog for quite a while. There have been several SuperDonk stories, none of which were poker related “enough” to be included here, is what I am saying. Honestly though, he played nearly perfect poker. From our count, he only lost one showdown all day long, and the pot was relatively small. He was doing a fine job of betting for value and not going too far in his hands. He “done good.”

I have a long day ahead of me today, and on very little sleep. On the agenda today is more work for CheckRayz’ July schedule, working off another poker reload bonus, and soccer. Strategy post most likely on the horizon tomorrow.

Mike