DISCLAIMER: I know there's lots of you who just glance at the blog, and probably most of you don't even bother to read it except to scroll down to the bottom of the post to see who won. Well, you might want to actually read this one. There's big shake ups afoot here - and it's all good, but I really want to avoid "What? I didn't know about that!" at our next game. It's a bit annoying. Love you!
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It's been a long dry couple of months down at the old garage around back. From Feb 12 through April there wasn't a single game! And after that, there's been one satellite and one Saturday tournament.
Well my friends, starting this week that's all about to change.
CASH GAMES
This Friday night we are having our first cash game of the year. It will likely be just No Limit Hold-Em, as I can't get enough players on short notice when I do mixed games. Still, a cash game is always a great time in the garage, lower stakes than the card rooms and always more social. I know after Friday I will be inclined to have more cash games in the future.
My tentative plan is to have one every month - I have said this before and failed to produce, but this time I'm really going to try. We will see.
STEP 1 SATTY
Next week, we will have a Friday night Step 1 Satellite / SNG combo, that is, players can choose to play for a WSOP seat or just take the cash.
As it stands with the current line up of 9 players, the cash prizes will be $300 for first and $240 for 2nd. Nothing for third.
There will be special bonuses and incentives to play for the seat. Because I seem to have an extra $100 in the TOC fund, not sure where it came from but it belongs to the players - I have decided to use $60 of it as a tool to get more people on board with the WSOP seat.
1) Players playing for the seat are eligible for a $60 last longer bet that will be paid to which ever seat hunter lasts the longest. If they don't cash, they will get their buy in back. If they do cash, it will to towards the seat. If a seat hunter wins the $300 top prize, it will pass to the next seat hunter. If a seat hunter wins $240, then the extra $60 will be applied to that amount for the full $300 step 2 price.
2) All players playing for the Step 2 seat, regardless of when they bust, are also eligible for a raffle for one $300 seat to Step 2 if I should happen to take down first or second place in this Step 1 tourney.
I have decided it is well within my best interests, both as a good host and as someone who wants to play for a $1500 seat to Vegas, to give back to the hearty souls who dare to dream and take a shot at the World Series of Poker.
Make no mistake - I will be playing as hard as I can to win, as I always do, and I expect all other players, regardless of what they are trying to win (a seat or cash) to play just as hard against all players including me. This is a matter of honor, but it doesn't make much sense to soft play me for what will likely be a 1 in 4 or more chance of getting randomly chosen, IF I take it down and that's a BIG IF. Better just to play hard and go for it.
MONTHLY SATURDAY NIGHT TOURNAMENTS
The weekend of the 14th is my kids birthday, so obviously no tournament.
The following weekend it is game on for our usual Saturday night 7pm multi-table madness.
There will be no monthly Saturday night tournament in June. Too much going on over the weekends, I'm going to Vegas twice, plus there's family goings on that have priority. BUT I do have some Friday nights open for single table tournaments and a cash game. See below for specifics.
As for the monthly Saturday tournament in general - I alluded to it last year in the blog, but I really feel it's time for a change in this game. The thing is, it is exponentially more work for me as a host to do a multi-table; I always want to make sure that things are just right, from the food to the tables and chips, and so on. Typically when I do a Saturday night tournament, it means I need to get going by 2pm at the very latest to make it all run smoothly.
In contrast, to set up a single table, even for a tournament, is really a snap. I have my wife get a couple of snack items during the week, pop the table open, put out chips which don't even need counting and grab my iPad. Done.
So the upshot is - the Saturday multi-table is not going away, but the plan is to do it every other month.
July will be our 2nd Annual Main Event, which means an higher buy in and 30K in chips. The date again will coincide with the start of the real Main Event in Vegas - Saturday, July 9. We will get going at 4pm, to make more time for a deeper structure and more chippies. Last year the event went till 1am and was just perfect, with a big prize on top for the winner (yeah that would be me, chopped three ways for $600 apiece!) and a nice bracelet to go with it.
As with last year the buy in will be $80. Last year I thought people would balk at a higher price point, but actually - it was our biggest tournament of the year by far. 26 players! I think the response was so great because it felt like a special occasion, and frankly the bigger prize pool didn't hurt. This year I will also allow re-entries before the break, or you may surrender your stack at the break for a full barrel.
As for people's budgets, in 2015 we didn't even skip a month - and people didn't seem to mind. This year we are taking a break in June, so really, it's no difference between paying for two tournaments and one tournament, right?
Anyways, I'd like to carry that idea forward for future monthly Saturday nights with $60 buy ins instead of $40. Since it will now be bi-monthly, I think this will help ease the cost sting, as the budget for a Saturday night tournament player will actually go down if you think about it.
I would also like to allow re-entries before the break if you are felted or you may surrender your stack at the break for a fresh barrel. This will put an end to the re-entry drama nonsense once and for all, and also goose the prize pool a bit - without putting too much pressure on players who prefer to fire one bullet.
EDIT: After pondering this some more, I've decided I'm not changing anything regarding Saturday tournaments on the fly - rather, I will implement changes in 2017. So they will all still be $40 and once a month and no re-entries except for a once a year mulligan. June still looks unlikely, but I will try my best to get it in.
SNG (Single table tournaments)
So with a lot less Saturday night tournaments, there will likely be a lot more $60 Friday night single table tournaments. I am aiming for two a month minimum.
As always the first round of invites will be for long time PSP regulars, with the evite going out on Saturday mornings. If the table doesn't fill by Monday, the evite will be opened up to everyone else. I have the feeling the first few SNGs will indeed fill quickly - but after we have them more regularly, there will be plenty of chances for everyone to get in on the action.
Our next SNG will be Friday, May 27 at 8pm. This will be a fun warm up for those of us playing in Step 2, which is the next day.
Step 2 WSOP Satellite
The big one is Saturday, May 28 at 1pm. $300 entry for a shot at a minimum of one $1000 seat in the WSOP. More than likely we will have enough players for a $1500 seat, and maybe even two!
Very excited about this bigger stake and fewer shareholders approach. I am hopeful that this Friday nights Step 1 will get more than the 4 players who are playing for a seat, after they hear about the extra incentives.
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This could change, but this is what is on tap for the next two months.
Expect most months to look like this for the rest of 2016.
JUNE
June 2-5 World Series of Poker Colossus II.
I will be playing in this event, firing two and maybe three bullets. Hope you can come along!
Friday June 10, 8pm - PSP SNG - $60
Friday June 17, 8pm - PSP SNG - $60
(There's a chance if I have great results on June 2-5 that I might be returning to the WSOP this weekend. Also, if I win a seat, this will be the weekend I go to represent PSP!)
Friday June 24, 8pm - PSP CASH GAME - $50 Buy-In
JULY
Friday July 1, 8pm - PSP SNG - $60
Saturday July 9, - 4pm - PSP MAIN EVENT - $80
Friday July 15, - 8pm - PSP SNG - $60
On vacation July 22
Friday August 5, 8pm - PSP CASH GAME - $50 Buy-In
So there it is - I am VERY excited to be doing a lot less work and playing a lot more poker.
Oh and one other thing...
T.O.C.
As you might have figured out, I will only have 7 champions (players who win the bi-montly Saturday tournaments) this year to put in the Tournament of Champions. And I'd really like to fill those other seats... So....
I will be tracking who cashes in the PSP SNG's from now on...
The three players who with the most money will get the remaining seats. We've had two SNGs so far this year, I will be including those results as well if I can. I will be texting all of you who participated to find out who cashed. I know I cashed in the first one for $120.
That's all for now! Looking very much forward to the rest of 2016, the year of the Avalanche!
