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PyroWar
01-24-2007, 12:48 PM
You may have seen the APA Pool League that routinely meets at local Blacksburg bars to participate in points events. How about a poker league?


When I lived in Johnson City, TN for several months I would participate in their league (www.tennesseepokerleague.com) which consisted of several hundred players within TN. The league would usually host one game per night in the Johnson City/Bristol area at several different bars.

The league owned its own equipment, which it paid for in dues. Dues were paid at the beginning of each league game. Cost was $5 per game, but there was no immediate monetary prize. Over the course of several months, each player's points were totalled and the top several players won an all-expenses paid trip to the World Series of Poker which included the buy-in into the event.

In addition, the league would have a free-roll once a week at a local bar with a similar prize structure that we had at Sharkey's or Screamers.

Every other month the league would make a road-trip to Knoxville or another central city in TN to compete in tournaments for a chance to win an entry to the WSOP as well.

The league play was very structured, to prepare people for casino play. There was a dealer per table, who was paid a small amount for their time with league dues. All poker etiquite was upheld including no smoking at tables, no cell phones at tables, no excessive profanity, no string betting, etc. All dealers were required to take a 'dealers training session' through an experienced dealer in the league.

What does everyone think of such a league? Would you participate? Would we have trouble various local bars hosting such an event provided that we supplied our own equipment and dealers?

Jeff

Nima
01-24-2007, 12:55 PM
I hosted such tournaments before (at Shesha Cafe and another bar (i dont remember the name)). It wasn't anything close to organized as the one you are talking about (no WSOP prizes or anything)...

I gave t-shirts and poker chips and other gift type prizes at the end of each game (and gift certificates sometimes).

But in Virginia, you can not charge players ANYTHING. It has to be free for it to be legal. I made money from a percentage of the sale at the bar/food.

I just gave away all my poker equipment (bunch of poker table tops, over couple thousand poker chips, and more).

PyroWar
01-24-2007, 03:55 PM
hmm...well, I'll do some more research and see if there would be a way of collecting funds for equipment.

Do you know of any other poker tables for sale? We're looking for a few cheap ones for our growing homegame as well.

Jeff

Nima
01-24-2007, 09:07 PM
Just buy them from walmart/target. they are $30 or so. Pretty cheap these days...

Don't get yourself in trouble though. I talked to couple attorneys and am pretty sure about the fact that you can't charge for anything. If you do, they can give you very hard time for running a gambling game and charging. (even the bar can't have a cover charge when the poker game is running. So imagine the rest)