Standard Rules will apply there'll be no series this year. Just tournaments that payout 100% of buy-ins.
Every tournament will be held on Saturday's at 5:00. The only game that will be played is No Limit Texas Hold Em. After the buy in ($50.00), you will receive $200.00 worth of tournament chips. You will start with $300.00 in tournament chips for the final. There will be 16 tournaments total. The first 14 are regular tournaments with a $50.00 buy in and the final tournament has a $200.00 buy in. $10.00 will be subtracted from the initial $200.00 for each of the 14 regular tournaments you play. The Tournament of Champions tournament will be free to anyone who wins a regular season tournament or the final tournament.
Blinds (or Forced bets)
The player to the left of the button is first to receive a card and is required to post a small blind ($1). The player to the left of the small blind is required to post the big blind ($2). The blinds are live bets and have the option of checking, calling, raising or folding when the betting action comes back around to their position. The player to the left of the big blind starts the betting. The big blind is a forced bet so the player to the left must call the $2, raise or fold. After the flop and after each subsequent betting round, the first active player left of the button is first to act. You can’t skip paying the big blind because the big blind on the previous hand was knocked out. If this happens you still post the big blind and there is no small blind for the hand.
To keep the game moving quicker the small blind, & big blind will increase by $1 & $2 respectively every 20 minutes. Tentatively, see the blind table below for the blind increases. Also, when the small blind gets to $10 all the white chips will be cashed in rounded to the nearest $5. Once at the final table the small blind and big blind will go up every 15 minutes, regardless of what the blind table states. Chips will be colored up on an as needed basis to reduce the total number of chips at the table. The big blind caps at 5% of the total chips in play. If $9,000 of chips are in play, then the big blind caps at $450. The blinds will raise every 15 minutes when the final table begins play regardless of what the blind table calls for.
Seating
Seating will be completely random by drawing cards for your seat assignment. If there are 30 people then Ace - 10 of spades will be one table with the Ace being the first dealer, Ace - 10 of hearts will be another table and so on. The tables will be kept balanced. If table 1 has 8 people and table 2 has just eliminated a player to leave 6 people then a person from table 1 will go to table 2 after a 5 minute period in case another person is knocked out right away. The person that moves will be the person on table 1 that is sitting in the seat that was eliminated at table 2. The seat number is determined in relation to the current dealer at the start of the hand. For example, the person in the 4th seat at table 2 is eliminated, then the person in the 4th seat at table 1 takes his chips and moves to the 4th seat at table 2. If we have more then 2 tables, then the priority to move is table 1 goes to table 2, 2 to 3, and 3 to 1. The order is only needed if two tables are tied with the most people. For example, table 1 and 2 have 10 people left and table 3 has 8, then the person from table 2 will go to table 3.
We will merge from 5 tables (if we have that many) to 4 tables when there are 36 people left. We will merge to 3 tables when there are 27 people left. We will merge to 2 tables when there are 18 people left and we will merge to 1 table when there are 9 people left. Whenever we merge tables we break down one table and those people will fill in empty seats on the remaining tables by drawing for seat assignments and the blinds stay where they are at and the timer for increasing the blinds is paused. Everyone will re-draw for your seat at the final table. This is a good time to use the restroom, etc..
Rules for Betting & Penalties
This is no limit poker so you can bet any amount of money you have in front of you at any time. If you do bet then it is subject to the current minimum (big blind). However, you can not be bet out of a pot. If someone bets $20 and all you have is $10 you can say "all in" and you are in the pot until the showdown. If you were to win the pot the person that bet the $20 gets $10 back. You can’t win more then you bet from any one player. However, if you lose when you’re "all in" you are out of the game. There is no limit to the amount of times a hand can be raised. There is no cap in NL Holdem. There must be a full raise in order for there to be another raise. Ex: Player A bets 400, Player B calls & Player C raises all-in for 200 more. Players A & B can only call the additional 200 since there was not a full raise(400). They may bet again after another card is flipped. You can’t look at somebody else’s cards at the end if you didn’t pay to see them. However, if they show somebody else their cards then you have a right to see them too. There is a 1 minute time limit on your decision if it becomes necessary. Anyone sitting at the table can ask for the time to begin. If you are not at the table when it is time for your hand to act, then your hand is dead (you fold). Also, once you fold your hand and it is in the muck, you can’t touch it. No grabbing your cards and showing another player what you would have had while action is still going on. No telling another player what you would have had while action is still going on either. If you do either of these things you could be assessed with a warning or a penalty. First time offenders will be assessed a warning. After that, you'll be given a penalty. Penalties include having to sit out for 15 or 30 minutes while you post blinds and fold. A penalty after that will be disqualification from the tournament and your chips will be removed from the game. We highly doubt that this rule will be needed, but you never know.
Dealer
The deal moves clockwise after a hand has been completed to the next active player. The dealer must offer a cut to the player to the right. If that player doesn’t want to cut the next player can and so on.
Rulings
Any rulings that need to be made will be made by the rules committee (J. Daniels, C. Sweeney and J. Warack). Everyone is invited and encouraged to offer their opinion on any issue, but the final decision will have to be agreed upon by the rules committee.
Winners
The winner is the person who gets all the chips. There is no cashing out and leaving. You play until your chips are gone or you have everybody’s chips. If you do not have enough cash to post your blind then you are all in that hand. There is no agreeing to split the prize. That’s not fair to the other people. It could affect the outcome of the points championship. The winner from each of the first 14 tournaments and the Final will win an entry into the tournament of champions. No person can win more than one entry. There may be less than 14 entrants for the tournament of champions if there are multiple winners. Any player who wins more than one tournament will get an additional $50.00 in tournament chips for each extra tournament they win for the tournament of champions. Examples: A player who wins 2 tournaments will start with $250.00 in the tournament of champions. A player who wins 3 tournaments will start with $300.00 in the tournament of champions.
Payouts
The pay table will be determined before we start each week.
$10.00 of each players entry fee for the first 14 weeks will go towards their buy-in for the final tournament. $5.00 of each players entry fee for the first 14 weeks will go towards the points championship and the tournament of champions. The total amount of money gathered will be split 50/50 for the points championship and the tournament of champions. You must play in 7 of the first 14 tournaments to buy into the final tournament or you will be assessed a fee of $10.00 per tournament less than 7 that you played. Example: Player A has played in 5 regular tournaments. $10.00 x 5 = $50.00. $200.00 - $50.00 = $150.00. $150.00 + $20.00(7-5=2)= $170.00 to buy into the final tournament. There is no tournament requirement for the points championship or the tournament of champions. Players can't buy seats from other players for the final. If you owe $150.00 to get into the final and your brother owes $70.00. You can't buy his seat if he doesn't intend to play. Exceptions may be made in case of extreme emergencies. First prize for the final tournament is a buy in to a $1500.00, 2007 World Series of Poker event and at least $2,000 for airfare and spending cash. You must play in the World Series of Poker event or sell it to someone else who will play. The weekly payout will be determined each week based on the number of people playing, but we will use this as a general guide: 1st=35%, 2nd=20%, 3rd=15%, 4th=10%, 5th=5%, 6th=5%, 7th=5% & 8th=5%
Points
The final 8 players each week will be awarded points. Points awarded will be 1st=15, 2nd=10, 3rd=7, 4th=5, 5th=4, 6th=3,7th=2, 8th=1.
You can accumulate points during the first 14 tournaments only. The final tournament doesn't award any points. The points championship will be awarded after the 14 regular season tournaments are finsihed.
The points championship payouts will be as follows: 1st=40%, 2nd=25%, 3rd=20%, 4th=10% & 5th=5%
Final Rule
These are the rules. Be sure to read them before the tournaments start.
