Miller’s Texas Hold’em Poker League

Poker league will start in January of 2009. First tournament will be at my house, 1007 Winslow Street in Carrollton. Other locations are possible for the rest of the year. You can bring anyone you want to play in the league. Extra people can be used as subs if need be and can play for the monthly pot. I should have a list of possible subs to hand out at the first tournament. Subs can play for someone at any time. The tournament game play is going to act like a regular tournament. Everyone who plays owes $10 and all leaguers owe their dues for that month. Extras will not change league player rankings when it comes to positioning year end results. If an extra wins and a leaguer gets 2nd then the leaguer will get year end points as if he was 1st. Extras will be able to win money if they get 1st -4th place. An extra however is not able to participate in the bad beat part of the game (explained later).

 Game play is regular no limit Texas hold’em. You will receive $7500 in chips. 10-$50, 10-$100, 6-$250, 5-$500, and 2-$1000 chips. If playing on multiple tables players will be divided evenly across tables by selected cards. Each table will correspond with a suit. You sit in the numerical order of your card and dealer is the person with the ace. Small blind is the immediate left of the dealer and the big blind is to the small blind’s immediate left. This is absolute. If someone who was going to be a blind in the next hand goes out in the previous hand then blinds remain the same. It is just unlucky for who gets stuck with the big blind and possible lucky for who gets the small. I know this is not the “world series” rule but this should keep from any confusion. If at the start of the hand you are one of the two people to the left of the dealer you will be a blind.

Table arrangements will be based off how many people show to play. If possible, there should never be more than 8 people at a table and never less than 4. Three people are the absolute minimum until final table. If a table gets to three, all tables must play out the current hand and then stop. If possible the small table will be divided up into the other tables but if there are not 3 seats available all tables will have to be rearranged to accommodate. We will draw cards again and like before tables will be matched up by suit and seating will be in numerical order. The Ace will again become the dealer.

 Blinds start out 50-50 left of the dealer. Blinds goes up every 15 minutes and caps off at 500 and 1000 until the final two. Once we are down to two people blinds will be 1000 and 2000. Blinds will rise every 15 minutes and are designated to specific times. If we start late we still start blinds at their corresponding time. If we start early we do not change the binds the designated time for them to go up. At 9:00, which should be after five raises of the blinds, there will be an ante for everyone at the table, even those who are putting up big blinds. This is to keep the game at a pace that should allow the game to end before midnight. Blinds might be adjusted throughout the year to either slow the game down or speed the game up. Ideally we would like to start the tournament at 7:30 and be at the final table between 10:00 and 10:15. How long the final table takes is not of concern because the monthly money payout will paid to people at this table and it is up to them how long they want to drag the game out. The complete blind chart is below. It includes 5 minute smoke breaks every hour. At these times blinds will remain the same when you return from break as they were when you left.

If you are going to be late, whether you are a leaguer or an extra, we can hold your position by blinding you out until you arrive. No matter what you will owe the monthly game fee of $10 dollars. A sub can’t act in your place if you want to play when you arrive. If you do not arrive at all, you will receive last place points.

• There will be a $10.00 buy in for the monthly game for anyone who participates
• League dues will be $120.00 (Comes down to $10.00 a month) At least $15 dollars must be put down a month for the end of the year contest, and the total amount due must be paid by no later than August 31st. This will keep people honest and the league worth while.
• If a sub at any time wishes to join the league they can but will have to take a last place for the months that they miss and will be subject to the entire 120 dollar fee to be paid before the due date. If they decide to join after a tournament because they did well in the tournament, they will still receive last place points for that tournament. It would be unfair to those already in the league to not proceed this way.
• If at any point you wish to leave the league, you forfeit the amount already paid. You can sell your seat to someone outside the league and they will keep your points. If someone drops out without replacement, everyone that is ranked behind the departing player will move receive the points of the person in front of them (e.g.: If 16th place out of 20 drops out, 17th will get 16th points, 18th will get 17th, 19th will get 18th, and 20th will get 19th ‘s points).  I will try to get someone to take on the last place position. If position can’t be filled the end of the year kitty will go down.  If people drop out because they are losing it ruins the league for everyone. Please only join if you intend to stay and try your hardest if you leave to find a replacement.

• We will be doing kills this week. At the beginning of every tournament we will draw names out of a hat and whoever takes these people out of the game will get 1 kill. The number of people drawn will be how many tables we start with and will be no less than 3 people. If someone is drawn and they win that week, they will receive 2 kill for surviving. There will be a payout at the end of the year for whoever has the most kills.

• There will be a bad beat payout for the weekly tournaments. The bad beat should be rather uncommon. If anyone loses with 4 of a kind or better, it will be considered a bad beat. Whether it is by straight flush or by higher 4 of a kind. If this happens more than once in a tournament, the highest hand that was beat wins. If the highest is the same they split. The money will be 5% of the pot and there will not be a 4th place payout that month.
• There will be a heads up tournament in January of 2010. Heads up is 1 on 1. I will try to have dealers available. If not, when games are done the losers can deal for others and the winners can deal the game they are waiting for to finish. Until I get an official count of how many will be in the league I can’t say how many will be able to make the tournament. We will do one of three setups. We will do a 16 person tournament with 1st seed playing 16th seed etc., a 12 person tournament with top 4 seeds getting byes, or an 8 person tournament. It will be bracket setup and the winner of the tournament will get the pot. There is no fee for this tournament. The pot is from a percentage of the end of year kitty.
• End of Year winner will be based of a points system. Least amount of points wins. E.G.  
  • 1st place will receive 1 point.
  • 2nd place will receive 2 points
  • Etc

• A no show and no sub will receive last place. If more than one person is subject to this they will share the lowest available position left.
  • EG: If 10 people are in the field and only 8 people show, the two no shows will receive 9th place and subsequently 9 points
• End of the year breakdown
• 1st place will receive 65% of the kitty   
• 2nd place will receive 10% of the kitty
• 3rd place will receive 5% of the kitty
• 4th place will receive 5% as well
• 5% will go to whoever has the most kills throughout the season
• An additional 5% will go to whoever wins the most tournaments throughout the year. If there is a tie, players will split the money evenly.
• 5% will act as the pot for the heads up tournament in January of 2010.
• Monthly Game breakdown
• 1st place will receive 75% of the pot
• 2nd place will receive 15 % of the pot
• 3rd place will receive 5% of the pot
• 4th place will receive 5% of the pot
• Bad beat receives 4th place money

• Days of the tournaments will be based of my schedule and Brannon Carnes schedule. We can work between two weekends a month each month. The exact day will be whichever suits the majority best and will be decided by the players the month before. It will either be when I am working weekend days and he is off or when he is working weekend days and I am off.

• January 16th of 2010 will be the heads up tournament for the teams eligible. Until I get an official count of how many will be in the league I can’t say how many will be able to make the tournament. We will do one of three setups. We will do 16 teams with 1st seed playing 16th seed etc., a 12 team tournament with top 4 seeds getting byes, or an 8 team tournament. It will be bracket setup and the winner of the tournament will get the pot. There is no fee for this tournament. The pot is from a percentage of the end of year kitty. There will be no subs for this tournament. If you can not make it whatever your seed is will be taken by the seed below you. We will try to fill the last place position with the next in line in the rankings. If it can’t be filled a bye will be implemented.

Blind Chart