[VARoadstter]

We have a core group of people here where I work who want to spend a day each week playing a poker game together during lunch. They asked me to come up with an idea for how it could work so here is what I suggested:

On week 1, each person gets 5000 chips. Keep a running total of the number of times each person gets 5000 chips.
If someone busts out, they can get another 5000 chips and we add one to their total number of times having received 5000 chips.
Blinds are fixed at 25/50 and do not increase.
At the end of the hour, just record how much each person has in chips.
Week 2 and following, give everyone their total accumulated chips back.
As people bust out, they can get another 5000 chips and we add one to their total just like in week 1.
At the end of 6 weeks, we hold a tourney (at my house in the evening). All players that have received chips MUST pay a buyin of $10 for each time they received 5000 chips in the weekly game. If someone can’t make the tourney, they are still liable to provide the buyin.
Everyone receives their total accumulated chips from all 6 weeks of play.
We play a holdem tournament with the following blind structure:
25/50
50/100
100/200
150/200
250/500
350/700
500/1000
750/1500
1000/2000
1500/3000
2500/5000
4000/8000
6500/13000
10000/20000
We pay the top 2 players 66% and 33% of the total buyins.

What do you guys think of this idea? Naturally, it provides a tremendous advantage to the better players (which is fine with me, naturally) and it runs in a manner similar to an extended rebuy tourney. We are expecting between 6-10 players for this event. Most would play every week or miss only once.

[hod]

The only thing I was thinking, aren't guys who have had several 'rebuys' or reloads not just going to give the final game, where they have to pay the most, a miss?

[Matthew]

Not a bad idea. How many players?

On the blind structure - you've got a 350/700 and a 750/1500 round - do you want to keep the T25s in play that long?

25/50
50/100
100/200
150/200 ---> color up 25's
250/500 --- change to 200/400
350/700 --- change either 300/600 or 400/800 or add both
500/1000
750/1500 --- change to 700/1400 or 800/1600 or add both----> color up the T100's
1000/2000
1500/3000
2500/5000 ----> continue to go up be 500's --- won't last much longer than here
4000/8000
6500/13000
10000/20000

[ontheuptick]

Wow, what I would give to have 6-10 guys to play cards with at lunch EVERY day. That's fantastic.

The only problem I seeing is if you have guys who aren't "serious" about cards playing with serious players (presumably, yourself), they could get way down and get discouraged and that format may not last more than 1 or two rounds through. If everyone is near the same level, then it looks fantastic.

[jdunford]

I don't know. Seems very complicated:
- having to keep track of odd chips in and odd chips out from week to week;
- having to count out different starting stacks for each player each week;
- having to worry about people being sick or away on a given day;
- having to worry about people not being able to make the final tournament (or them having to worry, since the buy-in is forced whether they play or not);
- having to worry about somebody not wanting to play the final tournament because he/she is so far in the hole, and refusing to pay...

Why not just play a cash game at lunch? That's pretty much equivalent to what you've proposed (i.e. blinds are fixed, and better players profit directly). If you don't want to have to deal with handling the money (buying in; cashing out) each week, you could just keep track of a tab for each player, and everybody settles up at the end of 6 weeks. That way, the chip stacks start the same each week (or for whatever people want to buy in for). It simplifies things.

And if you want to have a tournament at the end of 6 weeks, then people can (of course) use their winnings to buy into the tournament, but everyone starts on even ground, and if someone can't make it or decides they don't want to afterall, it's no big deal - they obviously wouldn't have to pay a fee.

[jmc]

Wow... really?

Are you not collecting money at work because you might get into trouble? Not sure how this really makes a difference considering that they owe you the money later anyways.

So after 6 weeks of grinding it out, only two players get paid out of 6~10? What do you expect the final pot to be, anywhere from 30~50 buyins?

I'd set the date for the "finals" well in advance so that someone playing in the lunchtime game isn't suddenly surprised to find out that he's busy on the day you've got the finals scheduled, and that he owes $50 on his useless 25k chipstack.

Personally I'd increase the number of spots that paid out at the final game to encourage more action at the lunchtime games. A decent strategy for a good player might be this: buy in at the end of week 6 and go to the tourny with a 5k stack -- blinds start relatively small anyways, and only 2 spots are paid.

Let's see what ICM says:
7 player final table. Let's say all your opponents have exactly the same chip stack and they all bought in once per week. They have 6x5=30k in chips, you have 5k in chips. Pot is 6*6+1 = $370. Payouts are $125 and $245.
ICM calculates your equity as $10.54, and each of your opponents at $59.91. They paid $60, you paid $10 -- not much of an edge, but it's still an edge.

Why is this?
Because in a tournament situation, chips don't have a 1:1 cash value anymore. You must finish in the top two spots, or you get nothing. Therefore, as long as you have ANY chips, you still have a chance to make money. This chance gives you equity, and takes equity away from your opponents.

The blinds start relatively small compared to a 5k chip stack, so you have some time to play conservatively if the bigger stacks want to try to "bully" you. Sure, someone could decide to take a slightly -ev situation to try and bust your small stack, but you're going to have to get lucky at some point in a tournament anyways.

[VARoadstter]

Originally Posted by jmc

Wow... really?

Are you not collecting money at work because you might get into trouble? Not sure how this really makes a difference considering that they owe you the money later anyways.

Basically, yes. I want to make sure that as far as the office is concerned, we're just pushing chips around with no monentary value. That's the reason for the "creative" idea.

Thinking about it more, there's just too many issues to really make that idea work so we have simplified things considerably. We're probably just going to go without a tournament at the end. We'll have no rebuys during a given lunch period. From week to week you start with just the 5000 chipstack. At the end of six weeks we add up the cumulative totals and the top 2 are paid 67% and 33%.

[jdunford]

Originally Posted by VARoadstter

Thinking about it more, there's just too many issues to really make that idea work so we have simplified things considerably. We're probably just going to go without a tournament at the end. We'll have no rebuys during a given lunch period. From week to week you start with just the 5000 chipstack. At the end of six weeks we add up the cumulative totals and the top 2 are paid 67% and 33%.

That sounds a lot simpler.

Sounds fun! Keep us up-to-date. I'd love to hear how it pans out in the end.

[guinness]

Theres 5 guys at work who want to do the same thing on Wednesdays. I think you're setup is complicated as mentioned before. What I had in mind was an aggressive enough blind schedule to get it over in under an hour. Theres a place that sells Guinness pints for $2 down the road so because we're all drinkers the buyin is $2 to be consumed after work.

Whatever you decide, it should start and finish within the hour, with no chip tally carry over. This also allows newcomers in the future to not feel like they're "late" in the game. Just construct and destruct that way if something comes up where the game has to be postponed or eliminated, theres nothing left to manage.

[dad604]

Why not a low stakes cash game. That way you can quite when lunch break is over.