UCD Poker

Theresalwaysone

Well Lads,
Im in Ucd and this year our pokersoc took quite the tumble. If it wasnt it being badly run, it was the chips being stolen, if it wasnt the lack of numbers, it was the complete arrogance of the better players that ruined it.

Also the complete lack of accounts to show the UCD Admin didnt help our cause.

Anyway if anyone here is in UCD and plays in the pokersoc, regularly, intermittently or as a recreational player could you please post here and let me know who you are as I am trying to get a different Pokersoc set up next year.

I realise this is completely irrelevant to all the pro's and high stakes players on this site but any help would be much appreciated. Every other college has a society and I believe DIT's is a very fine establishment, as is DCU's.

Ours is/was a joke.

Finally the point of this post was to let people who it may apply to know what exactly happened and why our pokersoc ended. I realise there may be no one from UCD using this site but I thought Id give it a try.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

ditpoker

i think ucd (or ucdvo) have a load of our poker chips... but anyway.

i think our poker tournaments work because people know what they're getting before we start. we start at 4pm and will end by 8pm (we have to be out by 9.pm so we aim to be done by 8 and have 30mins or more to work with if needed). Our structures allowed a good bit of play, 2k buy in, 2500 rebuy 3000 top up, all 5euro, we played 15min blinds the whole way through. and if we have 30 runners, we'll pay top 9... FINAL TABLE ALWAYS GETS PAID! we're playing for fun, we're playing for a 5er, if 30 people spend 15 each prize pool is 450, we could pay top 3 something like 300,100,50, but if you pay top 9, all those players will come back, and it is just for fun so u want players coming back. we'd pay 150,100,80,50,30,20,15,10,5... if you play for 4 hours and spend 15 and win 150, you wont complain, and if you finish 9th and get 5er back (10 loss) you still "cashed" and will much more likely come back than if you finish 6 off the money in 9th. KEEP IT FUN!

if you say you will start at 4, START AT 4!!! do reg from 3.30, start at 4!!

and don't.... DONT... DONT... DONT TAKE MONEY FROM THE PRIZEPOOL!.. i've heard so many stories about UCD poker soc, 80+ runners, all spending easily 15 on average, prizepool should be 1200+ if not much more, and prize money of 600 being paid out.

Theresalwaysone

Yes I have heard the same stories. I dont know how true they are but there is no smoke without fire.

I agree with the final table, the fun part, etc etc etc all of the above.

BUT

I am not on the committee and have no influence. That is why I am here tryint to get UCD players together to start an new SOC.

I think UCDVO may also have our chips now that I think about it.

ditpoker

Theresalwaysone wrote:

Yes I have heard the same stories. I dont know how true they are but there is no smoke without fire.

I agree with the final table, the fun part, etc etc etc all of the above.

BUT

I am not on the committee and have no influence. That is why I am here tryint to get UCD players together to start an new SOC.

I think UCDVO may also have our chips now that I think about it.

just start a UCD Hold'Em Soc and be a rival soc, think you need like 20 people to sign a form saying they want a soc. i think the society fella in ucd (richard something?) will probably give you some rubbish about how there already is a poker soc, but Q-Soc, B&L, C&E are effectively all the same anyway, so why not have 2 poker socs, competition is good.

Theresalwaysone

Yeah makes sense... Will see what I can do. Although we cant exactly resrict it to hold em. Then again its not like the name of the soc restricts us anyway.

I'll get on the case. Cheers Jeff.

Mellor

Theresalwaysone wrote:

Yeah makes sense... Will see what I can do. Although we cant exactly resrict it to hold em. Then again its not like the name of the soc restricts us anyway.

I'll get on the case. Cheers Jeff.

Not meaning to sound rude. But are you ever, ever going to play anything other than hold'em based poker tourneys. The answers is no. You might get a few players up for a side game of one of the 'ORSE games, but you will not be running one, or at least you shouldn't in a student based self deal game.

As jeff said, extended payouts are good. This was one of the reasons why I stopped going to the college games this year, alot couldn't organise a decent payout, and was very top heavy.

Theresalwaysone

OK, I agree with you Mellor, are you in UCD?

The extended payouts issue will be dealt with if we get a society started. Apparently though Richard Butler has a major problem with "illegal gambling on campus".

He's a tough cookie and is meant to think he is respnsible for everything that moves in UCD.

However... I will try my hardest.

DITPOKER, what were the stipulations of your poker soc being allowed happen?
Legality of it?
Payouts? we were told to give vouchers and pay at end of the year. ( a JOKE)

gerry87

Where would you plan on holding it? If you could get a better place and better tables that would be a big improvement. I dont think you have to worry about legalities since it's a tournament, cash games are different afaik.

I'm not sure monday was the best day to have it, I kept forgetting about it and only remembering halfway through the week, that could just be me tho. There were pretty much no posters or advertising most weeks, nobody knew about it.

Other non holdem tourneys could be interesting, if you could get interest. You could have a week of different tourneys each day, a UCDSOP

Goodluck2me

be careful here though, as its easy to say you`ll set up a better one but you need to buy chips (enough for manybe 100 players) cards, shoes, cloths (which are VERY EXPENSIVE), thne market it and sell it, appoint all sorts of treasurers, secretaries, provides accounts on a weekly basis. its not quite as easy as you might think.

Goodluck2me

gerry87 wrote:

Where would you plan on holding it? If you could get a better place and better tables that would be a big improvement.

Astra Hall is free so it has to be held there really.

I dont think you have to worry about legalities since it's a tournament, cash games are different afaik.

REbuys are actually illegal unless they are for 2p or something...but i doubt the cops would be raiding anytime soon.

I'm not sure monday was the best day to have it, I kept forgetting about it and only remembering halfway through the week, that could just be me tho. There were pretty much no posters or advertising most weeks, nobody knew about it.

Yeah i actually think that a Wed night is the best day to have it, as most sports training is on tues/thurs and fri is off limits for obvious reasons, and everyone liek me forgot about it on mondays.

Other non holdem tourneys could be interesting, if you could get interest. You could have a week of different tourneys each day, a UCDSOP

doubt this would work

shoutman

You will be surprised the amount of support you will get off various poker sites, I reccommend sending an email to every single poker skin on the internet, the amount of little bits and bobs that they will send you is unbelivable and you might even by asked by some for them to sponser the society which would help a lot with costs etc.

tribulus

The main reason I never played them was what I'd heard of several people and had it confirmed by a couple of mates who played the tournaments regularly.

Money being taken from the prizepool. My friend (who posts here occasionally) won/cashed several times and it was glaringly obvious from his share of the prizepool compared to the amount of runners that money was being skimmed off the top. This was even with conservative prizepool estimates, assuming there were only a few rebuys etc.

Mates or people known to the organizers gave a nod and a wink and got more chips supposedly when rebuying or topping up.

The above can't be proved obviously but the mere mention of these things was enough to put me off. There was zero transparency. Compare that to the few times I've been to a DIT Aungier St. Tournament and it's the polar opposite, everything was above board, the prizepool and payouts always announced, blind increases etc.

As for improving the soc, more advertising of events would be good and actually turning up to organise events that you scheduled would be nice too!

Best of luck with it.

Chucky the tree

DIT ones were great fun, definitly showed the way things should be done.

Theresalwaysone

Well Lads,

Afaik RichardButler wants nothing to do with "illegal gambling on campus" and he is the societies officer. It might be very hard to get around him.

I have people working on the Society Proposal, a letter to the Vp for students to help with this, on e-mailing poker companies etc etc etc.

Our major problem is the deadline for new societies has passed although I hope since Pokersoc was already a society we might be ok for this.


I have heard all the same rumours that all of you have. I am in first year and was only a player this year although from the start i was hearing these things. Nevertheless I am working very hard on trying to change the whole thing around.

Regarding advertisment, accounts, all that jazz that goodlucktome was talking about, They will all be sorted if and when we get the actual society sorted.

Also I agree with Wednesday tourneys, and if not the astra hall I would hold them upstairs in the Forum bar. Leaves more time to play (closes at half 11) and nice atmosphere. Although suggestions will always be welcome if the society is up and running.

ditpoker

re illegal mumbo jumbo...
if you are a private members club (i.e. all players MUST be members, then you're mostly grand). Advertise it as a rebuy but if richard butler ever asks your limiting it to 3 rebuys, i.e. max spend 20 quid, i.e you're paying 20 quid for your entertainment within a private members function. if it is limitless rebuys technically some mug could spend 500+ and then complain about how he was allowed to gambool!

first tournament or 3 put up posters, "UCD Poker, €5 rebuy, 4pm in such and such a place..." then get everyone's emails, as they join, 2 days before every game fire off an email to everyone, by the 3rd one u wont need posters.

And don't cream money off the top... remember that you've set up the soc to play cards, not to make money. if you want to make money you gotta win!

Mellor

Contact poker stars, they do a college pack that they send to colleges to get their societies started

semibluff

Besta luck with this, about time the biggest college in ireland had a decent poker soc. What about finding out when the current pokersoc hold their meetings - their AGM and then flood the room with friends and get yourself and your friends ellected.
That would solve the problem of having to get richie butler to ok it for you.
I can agree with Joe that if you were to buy quality cloth for tables it would cost ALOT, and decent chips wouldnt be far off too. Just a new turn over of staff/members in the current soc is the best way i recommend doing it.
Getting direct sponsorship off a poker sote might be in breach of college rules - but def get in touch with them and see how many free be's they will send you (you'l be surprised how many sets of cards and magazines you will receive - and maybe the odd spot prize)

Posters can be printed in many places for free on campus - just try and find out from whom (post grads etc)

good luck with this.

Donal

Glowingmind

Theresalwaysone wrote:

Well Lads,

Afaik RichardButler wants nothing to do with "illegal gambling on campus" and he is the societies officer. It might be very hard to get around him.

I have people working on the Society Proposal, a letter to the Vp for students to help with this, on e-mailing poker companies etc etc etc.

Our major problem is the deadline for new societies has passed although I hope since Pokersoc was already a society we might be ok for this.
.

Jeebus, is he still doing that? One of my least pleasant experiences in UCD was dealing with him.

Best of luck with getting it together.

bigslick

hey guys, ive played in this society for 3 years now (the duration of my degree) and for the first 2 years was happy enough with it.

but this year i agree it all went to nothing. terrible organisation of tournaments. for example tournaments being advertised and then no one from the society showing up.

in fact many a time we had to organise games ourselves.

i have now finished my degree in ucd but am still looking to see this society resurrect. if there is any way i can help out (funding, advertising etc) just let me know.

Theresalwaysone

Big Slick- who are you? Ruairi by any chance?

bigslick

ah Theresalwaysone u have uncovered my hidden identity.

Theresalwaysone

bigslick wrote:

ah Theresalwaysone u have uncovered my hidden identity.

Well it wudn have taken long with lines like that.....sigh.....

Well apparently Pokersoc are looking for people to run it next year. They ( the commitee) are being very secretive and uncooperative about everything.

I dont know what the story is with Auditors, Secretaries etc etc....

bigslick

well i have to keep up my facade dont I?

yeah ive tried to talk to them and have got nothing at all. very quiet bout it. most think its going down the drain and so dont really care anymore.

yeah i have no idea about the Auditors or Secretaries etc etc. id like to find out thou.

Theresalwaysone

As would I? I wud put myself forward for Auditor definately and possibly secretary but I would rather have a position with influence.

We've discussed the idea's to death me and Fennell (tommygunn) and jammer (Slash/ed). So we've no shortage of ambition. Its jus the problem of gettin into a position to implement these ideas.

The usual tho, Advertisement and marketing, Tournament and Cash game schedules, game structures etc etc etc.....

BMcG05

Before I start, let me just state categorically that I am not the auditor, nor do I hold any committee post.

Your main issue is that the handover form has not been recieved by Richard Butler, and the deadline has now passed. This creates obvious complications, and although Butler can be a difficult man, with some reassurances and apologies he'd probably let it slide. This being the case, asking him for money for chips is suicide. You have to come up with another way to get chips i.e. contact the online sites.

The other idea proposed of setting up a new society simply wold not work. Butler doesnt like PokerSoc and gambling in general.

As for everyone tryin to figure out the law, here it is: UCD will not let any cash be exchanged either on the night of play or at the end of the year. As is in the constitution, other methods of payments (ie vouchers) can be given out at the end of the year only. This rule was ignored two years ago, and ever since.

So heres how I see it, the next person who posts on this site looking for the auditorship and has a good plan, will be made auditor. It is then up to him to contact Butler.

My advice, don't blame the previous committee to much when talking to Butler. State that there was an AGM and you were elected, only the outgoing auditor said he was going to hand in the sheet and never did. Don't ask Butler for any financial assistance, and if he inquires into the payout scheme, say that you will follow any laws already in place (i.e. lie). Oh, also, never EVER tell him that there are cash games. He barely understands tourneys whereby he thinks the max anyone can realistically lose is 20e.

With a little effort I can probably have the pokersoc.com website handed over.

All interested parties PM me and I can try help you further
GL

Theresalwaysone

I have jus PMed you BMcG

HiCloy

I was never too impressed with how it was run when I was there (until a year ago), but there's a decent crowd of poker players in UCD and lots of enthusiastic beginners for value so I would encourage you to try it

I think you can't run cash games in UCD - altho a lowlife could get around this by playing cash games and just keeping the cash out of sight

DeVore

Talk to shortstack (mike .at. antesup.com) or me (tom .at. antesup.com) and we will talk to you about what you need. Sounds like you have a good idea of how to run a fair soc, we wouldnt tolerate rumours of skimmed pots and crooked games. DIT have worked with us before and will give you the skinny on us too.

DeV.

DeVore

ps: tournaments are utterly legal in this country, private members club or no, provided you take only one reg fee per 24 hours.

DeV.

Theresalwaysone

BMcG05 wrote:

So heres how I see it, the next person who posts on this site looking for the auditorship and has a good plan, will be made auditor. It is then up to him to contact Butler.

Ok so heres how I plan to do this.

Problems with last Pokersoc:
Lack of numbers attending Tournaments (20 out of 20k is pitiful)
No Advertisement or Marketing
Non-showing at Events
Terrible structures ( granted time-constraints influence this)
Rumoured i.e skimming of Prizepool, Giving more chips to Soc friends and members.

My Next Year Ideas:
The Fundamentals:
Have an auditor.
He appoints a team to help him ( I already know people (boardsies) that are well up for this)
Secretary is voted in
Other posts i.e PRO Accounts Officer( essential as Butler wants to see accounts) etc are also Voted in.

Dates and Venues
I have had many suggestions to change the weekly date to Wednesday. This I believe is a good idea. I am although in favour of holding it on wednesday and other days. ( this is what the auditors team is for, it will ensure someone is free to run monday tournaments and wednesday tournaments if wanted)

The Venue has been under much dispute also, I would personally have it in the forum bar if possible, (allows for more play as half 11 closing time), The Astra hall is also going to waste and this could be used if Numbers rise and more spce is required. I do not want to play in the student centre, it is too noisy and hinders players.



Game Structure:
As well as the usual Re-buy tourneys, we need to diversify the types of games that are out there.
Freezeouts
Scalps Tournaments
InterVarsity Tourneys(w/Scalps on well known members i.r Auditors of each soc, winner of each colleges previous Tourney etc etc)
Sattellites ( to Student poker championship, Fitz end of month, smaller dublin tourney too)
MAIN EVENTS 1 per semester
Players League
Occasional Charity event ( give a bit back and keep Butler happy)

I also believe there is a small Omaha contingent out there and I also know many people who want to learn so these can be accomodated too ( all it takes is another table)

Marketing
This is one place where I think last years soc were both good and terrible. They took everyones e-mail address at the beginning and were sending emails to all of these people. It worked and the first few tourneys pulled big numbers.

I am going to get my team to do the same, although we will do poster advertising and the likes as well as e-mail.
I believe the crowd are there to have a huge pokersoc, Biggest college in country and growth of poker is phenominal, and hopefully rival the traditionally better Socs in DCU and DIT. UCC also have a brilliant soc.

Prizepool
Obviously as I dont know the financial need of this society as the outgoing commitee are keeping very quiet about it.
I do however promise to keep everything above board.
We may need to take a small% from prizepool to cover costs for chips and rental of certain venues ( I am not 100% sure though)
I am hoping the €2 registration fee at freshers week will cover these costs.

Again I must impose that I do not want the auditorship to make money, I want it to run a successful poker soc and stop being the biggest college with the worst soc. I WILL KEEP EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE PRIZEPOOL ABOVE BOARD.



OK well thats all for now, I will add more as I have time.
Thanks Lads

bigslick

you have my vote for auditor man. all those plans sound exactly what the society needs to improve dramatically. Im willing to put myself forward as part of the team that will help rebuild the society