WSOP 2012

OK…since I received minimal response from playing for play money in my last post, I went back to the drawing board and started to think about a slightly new direction that our online club could go.  And then it dawned on me…WSOP baby!!!  WSOP!!!

What poker player doesn’t want to go to the World Series of Poker?  58 sweet events that culminate in the grand-daddy of them all…the Main Event.  Thousands of poker players descend on the Rio in Vegas starting in May through mid-July chasing the dream…and in 2012…it could be you!

How is this possible, you may ask???  Well…here is what I was thinking…we play for play money online and collect points based on how we finish and the person who earns the most points at the end of the season gets to go to Vegas and play in a WSOP event.  You may be thinking “winner takes all???  No thanks”…but here is the beauty of it…whatever the GPN-WSOP-Bound player wins, everyone gets a piece of it!  Sweet, right?  Here are more (proposed) detail...

1.  Buy-in: ~$100-$200 depending on how many players we get (goal is to have a minimum prize pool of at least $1600 and at least 8 players).

2.  Game: no limit hold’em play money game on poker stars through the Home Game option.  $2000 chips and 10-minute blinds.

3.  When: Tuesday night starting at 8:pm.

4.  Frequency: every Tuesday night.  For this year, the season will start on August 2^nd, 2011 and run through May 1^st, 2012.  That is a total of 40 weeks.

5.  Points: points will be awarded the same way as before except only the top 20 games will be used to calculate total points.

6.  WSOP: the person who earns the most points will have their choice of a $1000 WSOP tournament (the extra $600 can be used for flight and accommodations). 

7.  WSOP Winnings: any money earned playing the WSOP tourney shall be divided as follows: the player keeps 45%, every player in the GPN Online league (who paid the buy-in per #1 above) gets 45% divided equally, and 10% is returned to the league prize pool for future events.

I can get into more details once I know there is enough interest.  If you are interested, please respond to the comment section of this blog so that everybody can see your response/intention.  Others may decide to join once they see there is enough interest.  The bare minimum number of players we need would be 8 (@$200 each buy-in); the more players we get, the more the buy-in can drop.

Many of the items listed above are negotiable…so if you’d like to see something different or in addition to what is listed, then please leave your comments on the blog.

Let's keep playing online!!!

I had a brain fart the other morning while getting ready for work…I was thinking of a way for us to keep playing online on Thursdays…then it came to me…PLAY MONEY.  Hear me out…I was thinking that at our monthly live game, those who are interested would ante up $20 for the next 3-4 weeks of games (the weeks between the live games)…we play for play money and everyone will earn points the same as before and the total prize pool will be split to the top 3 point-earning-paying-players as 50%, 30% and 20%.  If we were to get more than 9 players to “ante up”, then the top 4 will get paid…more than 18, then top 5, etc (I would follow the same payout structure that PS uses for their SNGs).  We could make the points count per the best 3 games (the best 3 out of 3 when there are only 3 weeks between the live game and the best 3 out of 4 when there are for weeks between the live game), or use the entire time period (something those interested could comment on). 

For people who don’t want to pay but want to play (or are too far away to pay), then they can still play, and they will still earn points towards the quarterly and yearly TLBs…they just can’t earn any money.  For those who are far away and want to play for money, we can work something out (just email me and we can discuss options).  I’ll have a separate “Monthly Prize Pool Leader Board” or something that will be just for the people who paid.  When I get to the monthly live tourney, I’ll pay out the prizes.  What do you think?  It sort of is a way around “the system” …besides, it is almost better, because if you win, you actually will get cash in your hand. 

I checked on PS in the Home Game section and we can set up play money games.  If you are interested, please let me know in the comments section…also let me know a good date and time that would work with you on testing it out as I thought of testing it out by setting up a home game tomorrow (Sunday) for 2pm’ish just to see if it works…if not tomorrow, sometime soon (just let me know preferred time frame…even if I can only test it out against 1 of you…I just want to be sure that we can do this before our live game on Thursday the 16^th).

Some good news for US players

Billy asked me to post the following...

http://www.pocketfives.com/articles/deal-struck-return-pokerstars-full-tilt-poker-player-funds-586402/

To me this just proves that this government shut down was all a play to get Stars and Tilt and AP, AND UB to shut down their U.S. Operations, not to charge them with crimes, guranteed the plea bargain will be we will dismiss all charges if you leave the U.S. and never let a US player depost or play again.  But this is good news for alot of us at least we will see our cash! however be careful because  the fbi is monitoring all the withdrawls, take out too much and you better pay your taxes!

I have been doing alot of reading about how legalizing online poker is going to be done by the government but not left to sites like Stars and Tilt, ect.....they are going to govern it by state and the states lottery comission will open the online poker site, make sure the money is taxed, and then eventually to increase play and field sizes they will intertwine it state to state just like the megamillions has like 5 states or whatever involved, so in essence we will only be able to play poker against, Mich, Ohio, Indiana ect ect. 

Jenifer please post this in GPN Blog, Steve, and Roger please forward to anyone else I dont have email for.

Billy

Poker Stars Play Suspended for US Players

Hello All,

Below is something that Billy has put together.  I am posting here for your info (and per his request).  For now, our online league will be put on hold until we can figure out what to do.  Feel free to leave questions and comments on the blog.

Well I thought since i have been online for 2 days reading and reading and reading and researching I would let you guys know of my findings.  Im sure by now most of you know Stars, Tilt, and UB have been shut down by the feds.  I have done a ton of research and reading on weather or not our bankrolls will be safe or not, their is mixed reviews about 60-70 percent of the whose who of online poker say the money is safe and cannot be touched by the government.  Of course their are alot of people that say no that it could be seized and not given back.

For those of you needing to feed an addiction I have done alot of reading about what poker sites are still operating and most people are switching to Bodog, and Carbon Poker, along with a few people switching to Cake Poker.  After much research I think I would probably go with Bodog If i were going to jump ship due to the fact that bodog is a sportsbetting site with poker and they usually dont have issues with depositing or withdrawing money and news from online players currently is that their are no issues at the moment doing that.  (however bodog does not offer person to person money transfers )

of course you can also still go on STARS and play for PLAY MONEY lol

As of right now neither stars or tilt is allowing cash outs, or transfers due to high volume of traffic and requests (they say).

alot of people are reporting checks they get from stars getting deposited and the funds becoming availible and then the funds getting ripped back out of their accounts.

All in All if you love online poker their are some things you can do, the easiest being supporting the PPA (poker players alliance) I have been a member and donated a little money here and their to them for years.  They are the authority really for the government to deal with when it comes to all aspects of poker.  Kind of like the NRA of poker.

If anybody has any questions go ahead and shoot me an e mail.

if you would like to do any reading or research yourself I would suggest becoming a member of www.pocketfives.com<http://www.pocketfives.com> and reading their forums, as well as <http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/> http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com these 2 sites are the authorities on the poker world.

Jenifer Please post this e mail on the GPN ONLINE BLOG SPOT.  Thanks!

Take care and see everyone on the LIVE felt on Thursday.

Billy

Congratulations to badbilly429 for winning Y1.11 Q2.2

Badbilly429 won AGAIN tonight!  he is on a roll!  Tonight we had 8 people show up with 2 of them being new players...

absea98 = Gary L. and is Mike N's friend (from Mike's Tuesday night online league)

The Punk75 = Jason T. and is also Mike N's friend (also from the Tuesday night league)

The results are in the table below and the quarterly and yearly TLB are updated on side of blog.

Don't forget to let me know if you are interested in the optional quarterly fee.  So far I have heard that 3 people (including myself) are interested...you have a couple of weeks to decide.

Also...next week there is NO online game as we play GPN Live!  (good news, I will be able to make it next week, so you can pay me the optional quarterly fee then if you want).

Proposed OPTIONAL Quarterly Fee

The proposed optional quarterly fee is $20.  People who are interested send me the cash via poker stars...and depending on how many people participate, the top TLB person (or people) at the end of the quarter get a cash reward.  It would depend on the number of people that opt in as follows:

4 people or less = first place takes all

7-5 people = 70% for 1st and 30% for 2nd

12-8 people = 50% for 1st, 30% for 2nd and 20% for 3rd

18-13 people = 40% for 1st, 30% for 2nd, 20% for 3rd and 10% for 4th

Opting in would have to be done before the start of the May 5th tourney; however any new player who joins the league after May 5th is free to opt in any time during the quarter as long as they do so prior to their 2nd game in the league.  If you are interested, I will need to know your intentions and received the $20 before the start of the May 5th tourney.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment section of this blog (or email me).

Congratulations to badbilly429 for winning Q2.1

That is 2 wins in a row for badbilly429!  good job!  Tonight we had a small group again...WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!?!?!?!...it isn't even that warm out yet!  c'mon people!  If you think you are going to be 30+ minutes late you can pre-register (like on Wednesday) and then just sit out...even 40 minutes in, the blinds are only 30/60 and we start with 2000 chips.  Something to think about if the 8pm start time is a little too early for you.  Anyhow, the results from tonight's game is in the table below and the NEW quarterly TLB table is on the side of the blog...as well as, the yearly TLB.

Finally, in talking with badbilly and crabbyjoe, it sounds like there is some interest in the proposed optional quarterly fee/buy-in (click here for more info).  We are going with $20 as the optional fee/buy-in...if you are interested, let me know and then send me $20 on pokerstars (I will likely not be at the next GPN Live event).  I will need to know your intentions and received the $20 before the end of April.