T.H.E. Katt's Poker Club

T.H.E. Katt's NL Hold’em Poker Tournament
Updated 2/13/07

BASICS
· Your word will hold your spot in a tournament. Reserving a spot for the tournament and not showing up, or giving more than 24 hour notice that you cannot make it without finding somebody to take your spot in the tournament, is very disrespectful to myself and all of the other players. Emergencies do come up so if you do this 2 times in a 4 month period, you will be required to prepay to play for the next 4 months and will be off of the active invitation list.
· $60 entry fee prepaid will hold your place in the tournament. We will have 2 tournaments per month.
· Please show up to the tournament no later than 5:30.
· Money will be taken out of the total prize fund to cover facilities rental (if applicable), water, ice and snacks. I will bring the water and ice and coolers for your use. For all other beverages, please bring your own.
· $5 per person of the $60 ticket will be put into the tournament of champions fund (TOC). The TOC information is provided on separate sheet.
· The entry fee for the tournament director will be absorbed by the prize fund so long as there are at least 25 people at the start of the tournament.
· $5 per person of the $60 ticket will be put into the Bounty fund (Early Knock Out of Top Ten).
· If a player ranked in the top 10 for points in 2007 plays in the tournament and gets knocked out within the first 15 people knocked out, a $100 on the spot cash prize is awarded to the person knocking them out from our EKOTT fund. As the year goes on, the amount paid or the length of time to knock the people out may be adjusted to better suit the amount collected. At the end of the 2007 tournament year, if there is a surplus or deficit in the EKOTC fund, it will be transferred to the TOC fund.
· 52 people maximum for the tournament.
· The final table will be 9 players.
· Seating is random and determined by a computer program.
· All players will start off with a 1500 value chip stack.
· The tournament will begin seating at 5:30pm and we will start sharply at 6pm.
· Tardy players: You will lose 150 chips for every 5 minutes that you are late rounding down (e.g. if you arrive at 5:04 - you will lose no chips, 5:11 – you will lose 300 chips); exception – a prepaid spot will only be blinded.
· The penalty is steep because for the enjoyment of all players, punctuality is a necessity.
· Our location may change monthly. Please pay close attention to the location on your invitation as it may change.
· Breaks will be 10-15 minutes (besides the dinner break, if applicable, which is 30 minutes) and will be taken when a table is removed from play.
· A table will be removed from play when the total number of players drops to 44-40, 32, 24, 16 and 9.
· All players when they have arrived and paid will receive a poker sized cut card with their name on it. The name card will be used in conjunction with acrylic chip racks to store your chips during breaks and transport them to new tables. We do not want chips in people’s pockets! New table assignments will be determined randomly.
· 1 formal color change will take place during the tournament. It will be when we are down to the final 2 tables. For odd amounts of color, we will round to the nearest value (1 and 2 chips will round down to 0 while 3 and 4 chips will round up). Any individual color change will be accomodated upon request.
· Best hands, worst beats, and the terminator will be kept track of during the tournament. Best hand and worst beat will receive $30. The terminator is the individual who knocks out the most people during the tourney and will receive $60. You cannot play the board. Quads: One of the 4 of a kind cards must be in your hand.
· All players will receive points based on where they finish. Our points’ race for the player of the year will be the focus of 2007. You must play in at least 8 separate months to qualify for the player of the year. We will take your best 8 tournament's scores from 8 different months and your other 2 best scores (could be 2 more different months or 2 scores from months you played in both tournaments) to calculate your total. All other scores will become zeros.
· Points will also be used to determine the wild card entries into the TOC.
T.H.E. Katt's NL Hold’em Poker Tournament
Updated 1/31/07
TECHNICALITIES
· The cards speak for themselves.
· The dealer button will always start the night at the number 1 position on each table.
· If a table gets to be 3 players less than the largest table, (for example one table has 5 players and another table has 8) then the person sitting in the same seat number, at the larger table, as the person who just got eliminated on the smaller table will move over to the smaller table from and take the same seat number. When down to 2 tables, a 2 player discrepancy will warrant a movement. No player will be moved 2 times in 1 round. When down to 10 players on 2 tables, hands will be played hand for hand until one person is knocked out. Players who moved to the new table cannot start in the dealer position or the small or big blind position. They must wait until the button passes to play.
· No string bets - placing a bet in front of you without stating how much the total bet will be and then reaching for more chips to bet with.
· If you say raise or reraise and you do not put enough chips in for the minimum raise/reraise (the big blind/amount equal to the previous raise), you will be asked to put in the amount that would bring your bet to the minimum raise amount only. On the contrary, if you did not say raise or reraise and you did not put out the amount of chips for the minimum raise but you did put out more chips than a call, you will be asked to take the extra chips back and can only call the bet.
· If you call a bet by putting your chips into play or say that you are calling but do not put enough chips out (perhaps you didn’t realize that the blinds have increased), you will need to put the correct amount of chips into play for the call or forfeit the chips that you threw into the pot and fold. If there has been no action behind you yet, you may correct your error and fold with no penalty.
· No splashing the pot; keep all bets in front of you so that the dealer can verify which players remain in the pot. All chips will be put into the pot after verifying that the pot is clean. Dealer needs to gather chips into pot.
· If a card or both cards are shown to one player involved at the table, they must be shown to all players at the table at the conclusion of the hand.
· If you fold the hand, you must muck your cards.
· Keep your cards in front of you, on the table at all times. Perhaps place a marker of some sort on top of your cards to protect them. Keep them in front of your chips so all players can see that you are still in the hand. Keep your larger denomination chips in plain sight as well.
· The person who was called must show their hand first. Moving clockwise around the table, players may show their cards or muck them if they have lost. A player does not have to show their cards if they have lost the hand. Note: To get credit for the worst beat, a hand must be showed. The best hand does not need to be called to the river. The best hand can bet players out of the pot and then turn over the cards to show all at the table.
· Time: If a player at the table calls time on another player because they are taking too long to make a decision, the dealer will state that the player in question has 30 seconds to act and will watch the timer. If a decision is not made after the 30 seconds, the dealer will ask the player act immediately or will force the player to fold.
· Smack and trash talking is fun, but keep it fun. Any abusive berating of other players will result in banishment from our tournaments.
· Once a player has been eliminated, they may not sit at the table any longer unless all players agree for them to be a designated dealer. Eliminated players are welcome to sit in the lounge area, play a game on an open table, or stand and watch but cannot be sitting at a live table to help avoid misdeals.
· The dealer should deal to chip stacks. If a person is not at their seat when everyone has been dealt 2 hole cards, fold their hand immediately. Do not call people over to the table when it is their turn if they are not there. This will help keep the game moving quickly.
· Smokers: Please try to smoke during the breaks only as you will not be told it is your turn when you have cards. Don’t bother standing at the doorway watching because we will fold your hand if you are not there.
· No rabbit camera – if the hand has been won by somebody, get that deck to the next shuffler.
· Dealer should lay the community cards out in a nice row on top of the table, not the mucked cards, for all to see with ease just like on TV or at the casinos. There is no need to put your own uniqueness into our game.
· Small blind should be shuffling the unused deck as they will be the dealer the next hand and the dealer should keep the cut card when the hand is over while giving the big blind the next deck to be shuffled. Cards should be cut towards the dealer onto the cut card by the person to the right of the dealer. Please do not insert the cut card into the deck instead of cutting.
· A misdeal occurs if the 1st or 2nd card dealt, or more than one card dealt, is turned over by accident by the dealer when dealing hole cards or if the last button hole card is turned up. If one is turned over, skip that player to continue dealing hole cards and give what would have been the burn card to the player as their 2nd hole card. The card turned up will be the first burn card and should be turned over after all have had a chance to see it.
· All other Texas NL Hold'em rules will be in effect.
· All discrepancies or issues arising during the tournament will be resolved by me and me alone in as fair a manner as I see fit.
T.H.E. Katt's NL Hold’em Poker Tournament
Updated 1/31/07
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
· Points will be earned in every tournament that you play. The structure is a formula starting with 100 points for first place, 90 to second, 85 to third decreasing by 3 points per place until 9th. A 2 point decrease until such place that a single point decrease will have the last place finisher, of the original starting number of players, taking 1 point. Exception: all players knocked out while there are wait list players to take their seat will only receive 1 point.
· $2.375 per buy-in from all tournaments will be placed into the TOC pot.
· $1.5 per buy-in will be put into the Player of the Year fund.
· $.125 per buy-in will be put into the best hand and worst beat of the year pots.
· $.125 per buy-in will be put into the solo terminator of the year pot, the highest one game terminator
· $.25 per buy-in will be put into the ultimate terminator pot, the total number of players knocked out for the year.
· $.50 per buy-in will be put into the bracelet fund. Our player of the year will win a gold bracelet with engraving that they will be proud to wear marking their achievement at our tournaments.
· The TOC will be held on the last Saturday in January of the following year (1/26/08).
· The TOC satellite will be held earlier in the day on the same day as the TOC.
· There will be 1.25 seats available at the TOC for every tournament played during the year. For example, 24 tournaments – 30 seats. For every multiple tournament winner, one available seat will go empty. For example, 21 tournament winners and 3 repeat winners (24 tourneys) would have 27 filled seats and 3 empty seats.
· All 1st place finishers of the tournaments have a seat at the TOC.
· The remaining 6 seats will be filled by a TOC satellite tournament.
· You cannot purchase your way into this event, you can only win your way in.
· Only the top 3 places will cash – 1st = 55%, 2nd = 30%, 3rd = 15% (for example, if we have 24 full tournaments during the year, there will be about $3000 in the pot – 1st = $1650, 2nd = $900 and 3rd = $450)
· Tables will start with up to 9 players and a designated dealer. Final table will have 9 players and a designated dealer.
· Tables will be removed when we are down to 23-21, 16-14, and 9 players.
· There will not be more than a 1 player discrepancy at the tables. If one table is down to 5 and another has 7, a player will move from the table of 7 as per the basics and technicalities of our tournament.
· All players will start with 1500 value in chips with one exception: If a player finishes in 1st or 2nd in more than one tournament, they will start with a larger stack. Each first place finish is worth 1500 chips while each second place finish is worth 750 chips. For example - 2 first place finishes will start you off with 3000 chips. 1 first place finish and 1 second place finish will start you off with 2250 in chips.
· A player that has been banished from our tournaments because of their inappropriate behavior will forfeit their right to play in the TOC or the satellite to the TOC.
· A player that has not been invited back to play in our tournaments because of multiple flaking or inactivity, will be invited to play in their respective final tournament.
· An earned seat may not be transferred to another player. If you are unable to play, the seat will go empty.
· There will be no bonuses for best hand, worst beat or the terminator in the TOC.
· Prior to the TOC, there will be a satellite tournament for the seats not occupied by the 1st place finishers at the TOC. For example, if there are 30 seats available, there would be 6 seats to play for.
· The satellite tournament will have 1.25 seats available for every tournament played during the year.
· All 2nd place finishers of the tournaments have a seat at the satellite.
· The satellite tournament will be run according to the same rules as above for the TOC.
· The satellite tournament will end when the number players remaining equal the number of seats available for the TOC.
· Chip totals will not be carried over.
· All players will start with 1500 value in chips unless a player is a multiple 2nd place finisher. Each 2nd place finish will be worth 1500 chips. For example, 2 second place finishes equals 3000 chips.
· As for the TOC, available seats will go empty for multiple 2nd place finishers or people who do not claim their rightful seat.
· The remaining 6 seats not filled by the 2nd place finishers for the satellite will be available for the top 6 point leaders whom have not finished in 1st or 2nd during the year.
· All persons who have earned a right to play in the satellite or the TOC are the only ones invited to play. If someone who has earned a seat chooses to not play or cannot play, their seat will remain unfilled.
· All other rules covered in the BASICS and TECHNICALLITIES will be in effect.

Hello and welcome to my blog. I am Ted Katt and I have a passion for hosting poker tournaments. There is a large group of us that play 2 times per month in our $60 buy-in tournament and it is a friendly environment with no jackasses (or should I say RETURN jackasses). We allow our players to bring guests through the month of May and starting with that first tournament in June, if you haven't played in our club, you will have to wait until 2008. Players bringing guests will receive $5 off of their buy in for that tournament if I don't already have the guest in my poker database. This is to encourage new people to come and experience our club while they will still have time to win our player of the year which is the emphasis of our club.
Our tournament pays 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 with a maximum of 9 places being paid. We feature a best hand of the night for $30 and a worst beat of the night also for $30. We have a terminator bonus as well which will pay $60 to the player knocking out the most opponents during the night. We also have a bounty on all players that are in the top 10 for points for the year. The bounty is currently at $100 per person but the catch is that you must knock them out within the first 15 players eliminated. We have pizza delivered at 6:30 and supply water and snacks. Unless you are fine with water it is a BYOB situation.
Money is also set aside for the best hand of the year, worst beat of the year, single day terminator of the year, cumulative terminator of the year, our TOC (tournament of champions), and our bracelet and player of the year. Our player of the year is the emphasis of our club as they will win about $1500 and a gold bracelet. Points are earned every tournament based on where you finish. We will only be taking the top 10 scores that an individual has, removing all other scores so that there is a slightly even playing field (granted - more tournaments means more chances to have better scores but what are you going to do - it is still possible for someone who only plays in 10 tournaments to have a better score than someone who plays in 24 because we only use 10 scores). The other requirements are that you have to play in at least 8 separate months and have 10 total appearances. This is why we don't let newcomers play after May, because they will not be eligible and we want to make sure that all players in the race for player of the year can play in as many tournaments as they want. We will take your best 8 different month's scores and then your remaining best 2 other scores. My guess is that it will take a score of 750 to take it all down by the end of the year. Winners get 100, 2nd gets 90, 3rd gets 85 on down to last place which gets 1 point.
We also have a TOC in 01/08 for all of the tournament champions, 2nd place finishers and the top 6 point leaders that were neither a champion or a runner up. They will play for a pot of about $2300 is my guess. Top 3 will be splitting that money. If you are not a member of our club but would like to be, go ahead and post onto this blog and I will get back to you.

T.H.E. Katt's Poker Club

Saturday, February 3, 2007

Upcoming dates

Friday, February 2, 2007

Rules of play

TOC Standings

Link to our evite invitation site

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Results for our tournaments

Poker tournaments in Concord, CA

About Me

Blog Archive