[compost kid]

So after a YEAR of studying the issue, the lotteries commission here has finally
made it legal for non-profit organizations to run Texas Hold'em tournaments for charity. I belong to a couple of organizations that want to do this, and I will be the tournament director for their events, (63 person with re-buys)

I called Lotteries today to get some clarification on some points and I am still stunned at some of the answers I received.

1. You are not allowed to use antes. No reason as to why not, but they are not allowed.

2. Re-buys are allowed. Unless, of course, you have no chips left, then you are eliminated and cannot re-buy. If you have even a single chip left, you can re-buy up to 3 times.

Other nuggets....
If there is a split pot, the odd chips shall go to the dealer, who will remove it from play

The dealer button must start with the player to the left of the dealer ( WTF?)

Helpful hint...each big blind is usually about twice as big at the previous big blind.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH

These are the same people who during the pilot project came up with the rule that any player who did not have enough chips to cover his/her blind is eliminated.

Also, when I complained during the pilot project about antes not being allowed, one of the head guys told me that a better idea than antes would be to have the blinds double every time a player got eliminated late in the tournament.

How much money did we pay these people in the past year?

[TheMightyJim2k]

are they going to send regulatory people out to monitor these events? Otherwise I would just "ignorantly" ignore a lot of those rules. As long as you are running a fair and non-shady tournament I seriously doubt someone is going to turn you in for allowing rebuys if you bust or high-carding for the button.

[Nexttime]

Wow. Are they going to raid your game if someone string bets?

[Ruxpinnah]

FOR REAL ???!?!? That's awesome ! Where can I get more detailed information about this ? Last year I was supposed to be involved in running Texas Holdem tournaments for charity but bowed out because of the legal ramifications here in Canada. So it's all good now ? Please LMK. Thanks.

Rux

Originally Posted by compost kid

So after a YEAR of studying the issue, the lotteries commission here has finally
made it legal for non-profit organizations to run Texas Hold'em tournaments for charity....

[smoore]

As far as the rebuy nightmare... a bounty chip is still "a single chip", right?

[w16227]

Originally Posted by smoore

As far as the rebuy nightmare... a bounty chip is still "a single chip", right?

bounty, smounty - get/make rebuy chips. They do not play - and can be used to track how many rebuys a player receives. If possible, have them buy the chip up front (refund is not used).

KID - no matter what they tell you on the phone, get a copy of the written regulations. The people on the phone may not have any clue. Yea, they will probably not "raid" you to check for infractions, but you should still make sure that there are no serious voliations.

[smoore]

Yeah, I like the no refund rebuy chips idea. Gotta buy them NOW, can buy up to three.

CYA for someone managing to rebuy 5 times.

[compost kid]

I have a copy of the rules. I just find it frustrating that after a year of"study", they come out with some of these off the wall rules. I mean, don't most large tournament use antes. I can see having no antes if you wish, but why dis-allow antes.

As for the re-buys, we have re-buy chips. I don't understand the logic of allowing re-buys, but only if you have at least one chip left. I mean, isn't the idea of having re-buys to allow someone back in who has busted out. A player might drive an hour to play, suffer a terrible beat in the first 5 minutes and be done. Meanwhile, the guy beside you takes the same beat, has the winner outstacked by $5, and is allowed to re-buy. Where is the logic here?

There are generally accepted rules for poker, why not just adopt them instead of making some up as you go.

[compost kid]

Originally Posted by Ruxpinnah

FOR REAL ???!?!? That's awesome ! Where can I get more detailed information about this ? Last year I was supposed to be involved in running Texas Holdem tournaments for charity but bowed out because of the legal ramifications here in Canada. So it's all good now ? Please LMK. Thanks.

Rux

This is the Manitoba Gaming Commission I am referring to, not sure if this helps you.

[smoore]

So you have to have money that plays in order to rebuy? Oh well, no loophole then.

Also, you'd have to have refunds for people that come through the rebuy period with them if they were purchased in advance.