Limerick Tournament - Russells

kenaman

This is my first time posting to boards and last night was my first time at a public tournament, I want to hear opinions of anyone who was there or anyone else. My issues were as follows :

I asked one of the tournament directors what kind of chips he was using pointing out how easy it would be to bring a pocketful of identical chips. He assured me that his were special and from America. Turns out that they were just your bog standard chip that anyone could pick up on the 'net.

Initial buy-ins was €20 for 2500 in chips and there were unlimited before the break which devalued your chips enough, but then at the break there was an optional €20 for 5000 in chips. This made no sense to me at all. You would be an idiot not to take it, but it does not reward anyone who had accumulated chips, instead anyone willing to pay can get a foothold in the game again. I had played tight and taken my initial 2500 to 49000 - almost double. Then guys at my table were buying the 5000 and were on an equal footing. My point is that the first half of the night was almost irrelevant after the break. I spoke to the organiser againa and he said that some people like freeze-outs and some people like unlimited buyins. When I pointed out that one buy-in pre-break and an optional topup at the break for those who had not yet bought in would be fairer he said that he wanted to encourage people to put money into the prize fund!!!!!

There were no chip races for the odd chips when the blinds moved up instead 50 was changed for 100 and 100 for 500 etc. So if you were sitting with 4 * 100 and the blinds were about to go up, just throw in the 300 regardless as you will get 500 whether or not you have 1 chip or 4!

Anyway the next gripe I am not so sure about, but I felt that the blinds were getting too big too fast after the break. Basically having injected so much money with the 5000 re-buys it had to be forced out more quickly.

I know these guys are mentioned in the Nevada Smyths discussions but I just felt like having a rant. Oh yeah with the blinds about to hit 2000/4000 I had 8000 left and had to go with AJs and lost to 10s. All my good work down the drain in a coin toss!!

Sin e Ken

roryc

that tournament sounds like it was run terribly. I dont even know where to start on how bad it sounds. The usual 'get as much money into the prize fund and then rush it after the break' so it ends up a total crapshoot. UCD are famous for them....

I'd be interested in hearing about how 'well informed' the tournament director was to the rules of poker. Usually in these shambolic affairs they are clueless to any difficult poker queries asked of them. The infamous UCD hand comes to mind where two players went head to head. One player had Aces, the other had SUITED FIVES!!! The tournament director was going to allow it......

I know there's probably not much choice in Limerick but I would stay away from these, or at least offer to help them out with tournament planning. Maybe Nicky can help, I think he's from 'down that way'

NickyOD

Hi Ken.

Glad to see another Limerick poster pointing the problems down here. These are the Fuktards known as "Aces High Promotions" and have been running tourneys for a few months now in Nevadas and Schooners. I didn't know they were in Russells too. Poker is a pathetic disgrace in Limerick. It's nowhere near good enough and I'm sure you found like me that 99% of the idiots who go to these events regularly, see no problem with the structure and are basically brainless poker idiots. The organisers also don't have a clue of the proper rules and they rape the prizepool for 30%. I asked them to contact me so I could point out some of the rules that were being brokien and offer some advice on improving their tournaments but of course they didn't bother. The fact that guy thought his chips were "special" speaks volumes about how beyond ****ing stupid they are.

I have a mailing list of some Limerick players who have posted here and on poker.ie. Send me a PM if you'd like to get on it. There will be properly run tournaments happening in Limerick soon.

Regards.

N.

jem

kenaman wrote:

I asked one of the tournament directors what kind of chips he was using pointing out how easy it would be to bring a pocketful of identical chips. He assured me that his were special and from America. Turns out that they were just your bog standard chip that anyone could pick up on the 'net.

quite normal, of course others at the table would /should notice. When we rean out charity tourney we gave everyone a bag and at the break all chios had to be left on the table in the bag to limit the chances of this happening, also the bag was to be used when moving table so you couldnt put your chips in your pocket and bring out a few more.
Other than these there is very little you can do other than geting your name printed on the chips which costs money.

kenaman wrote:

Initial buy-ins was €20 for 2500 in chips and there were unlimited before the break which devalued your chips enough, but then at the break there was an optional €20 for 5000 in chips. This made no sense to me at all. You would be an idiot not to take it, but it does not reward anyone who had accumulated chips, instead anyone willing to pay can get a foothold in the game again. I had played tight and taken my initial 2500 to 49000 - almost double. Then guys at my table were buying the 5000 and were on an equal footing. My point is that the first half of the night was almost irrelevant after the break. I spoke to the organiser againa and he said that some people like freeze-outs and some people like unlimited buyins. When I pointed out that one buy-in pre-break and an optional topup at the break for those who had not yet bought in would be fairer he said that he wanted to encourage people to put money into the prize fund!!!!!

This is quite normal from teh tourneys that I have been at. Of course you could have topped up yourself and have 9900. In saying that I agree that the top up in many tourneys is far too big. I had the argument here that the rebuy should be less chips not more. Most on this site argued that because the blinds have gone up the chips have less value. I still disagree and feel that with 2000 chip for initial the rebuy should get a max of 1500 chips this would IMHO lead to tighter play and less all in feasts.

kenaman wrote:

There were no chip races for the odd chips when the blinds moved up instead 50 was changed for 100 and 100 for 500 etc. So if you were sitting with 4 * 100 and the blinds were about to go up, just throw in the 300 regardless as you will get 500 whether or not you have 1 chip or 4!

this is quite common at tourneys in fact the only one that I was at that there was a chip race was the UCD tourney, when we ran iour tourney we didn't have one either as it took far too much time, and doesn't realy matter in the greather scheme to things as it is only 1 chip.( I know chip and chair etc)

kenaman wrote:

Anyway the next gripe I am not so sure about, but I felt that the blinds were getting too big too fast after the break. Basically having injected so much money with the 5000 re-buys it had to be forced out more quickly.

That is the big problem with tourneys where there is a time limit. If i was to guess the blinds went up every 15 min with large jumps for example 250/500 to 500/1000 to 1000/2000. This type of thing is what kills most tourneys IMHO.We had 20 min increases and reasonable increases. But we didnt have to be out at any given time and didnt finish until after 4.00am.

Sin e Ken[/QUOTE]

kenaman

I should have known from reading what Nikcy said about Nevada's that it would be s***, but I was curious to play and see how I rated in the real world, unfortunatley this was anything but the real world.

I am going to stick to my own home game or properly run tournaments if available. I am not that serious about poker but have read a couple of books (the Harrington on HoldEm's Vol I and II) and think I am at least competent. Though I really need to re-read them.

Also I am aware of the fact that I did get knocked out just inside the top half and I am not in a position to have a go at the standard of play but one guy at my table went way in after the flop with J9o and caught 7, 9 at the end to add to the 10 from the flop for a back-door straight. He got lucky and fair play but had ne been knocked out he knew he could get twice the value for a buyin at the break €20 for 5000 chips. Another guy turned over his 2's after winning a pot to show "y'know I had a pair"!!! Anyway I dont want to have a go at the players, but the game should be organised in a way that rewards good play and teaches the people who are just out for fun that they will have to improve to win!! I would be interested in tournaments at some stage, sound for the invite, but like yourself will not play this kind of **** again.

NickyOD

roryc wrote:

I'd be interested in hearing about how 'well informed' the tournament director was to the rules of poker.

Well informed? I asked him what his experience was and he said he's played on the internet for a couple of years which to be honest I didn't believe because he was clueless about the absolute basics. When he asked me my experience (whcih is limited) his reply was "Jaysus that's very saereos alltugeddur boy!" I had a standup argument with them on one play where I bet 700 and a player then threw in a 1000 chip and said nothing. That's a call right? Well apparrantly in the land limerick poker fuktards that is a raise to 1000. When I told him that even if it was a raise that he had to make it 1400 his replay was "Ah, sure that's limit poker your talkin' about boy"..... I gave up.

kenaman

NickyOD wrote:

he said he's played on the internet for a couple of years

Was this the guys with the beard and glasses? He was bragging about what good value his laptop was - 50 Euro - Dos based.... cheapskate!!

NickyOD

kenaman wrote:

Was this the guys with the beard and glasses? He was bragging about what good value his laptop was - 50 Euro - Dos based.... cheapskate!!

Yes same idiot. The other guy, "Ger" I think, is also completely clueless. This is the guy who tried to explain to me that "there are 3 differents sets of rules". Reall? Wow that's interesting!!! :rolleyes: I asked him to email me what rules he was using and where it says that a raise can be less than twice the bet. That was the last I saw or heard of them and it was a few months back. Obviously there are still plenty of people handing over their €45-€80 (or in one all-in-every-hand-moron's case €200) a week to play at their games. What a joke.

aidankk

NickyOD wrote:

Hi Ken.

The organisers also don't have a clue of the proper rules and they rape the prizepool for 30%.



thats nothing there is a crowd going around kilkenny and carlow who take at least 60%, and get between 100 and 200 at the tourneys.... its on again tonight in hotel kilkenny....

Duff Man Jr.

Went in last week but it was called off. So i didn't go in last night as i thought with the leaving cert results and the Ireland match it'd be off again. A friend who wasn't playing but was in the pub told me it was on. Was a bit pissed off but not anymore. Might still give it a look next week just to play in a "proper" live torney.

Nicky, i'll PM you my address if you don't mind adding me to your list.

NickyOD

Duff Man Jr. wrote:

Nicky, i'll PM you my address if you don't mind adding me to your list.

Send me your email address.

Baldie

I've seen these two guys in Erics Bar before in July. Egits is all they are!
I usually play poker at home with a few friends. Im handy enough now, not brilliant, but handy. Never went into a tournament though. I was watching the two guys setting up and I was talking to them about the rules. I wasn't impressed at all.

Hey Nicky, can I get on the mailing list?

NickyOD

Baldie wrote:

I've seen these two guys in Erics Bar before in July. Egits is all they are!
I usually play poker at home with a few friends. Im handy enough now, not brilliant, but handy. Never went into a tournament though. I was watching the two guys setting up and I was talking to them about the rules. I wasn't impressed at all.

Hey Nicky, can I get on the mailing list?

Yeah just PM me.

BTW. if anyone will allow me to play in their home game please let me know. I'm looking to set up a game in my apartment sometime soon too.

BigDragon

Ehhhhhhhhh.......I was there.

Not playing mind, but drinking dirty great big pints of guinness!

I work in Limerick once a month and a guy I work with stays with his girlfriend who lives just around the corner from Russells and we go there alot. It is the 2nd time I've been there and seen that game. The guys I know are well aware of my poker exploits and always have a dig at me for "itching to sit in the game". However, they don't get it when I say that I'd rather slash my eyeballs out with a rusty BIC razor than play/pay in that game.

Badly run, bad players, bad blinds etc, etc, etc. Also it is run as a fundraiser for Enable Ireland in Limerick, where I sometimes work. I doubt it very much if they see much of that dosh. The next time i'm there I'm going to ask them how much they get from this cowboy!

The funniest part is listening to all the 'poker chat' at the break outside having a cig! Funny as f***. I also took the long way around to the jacks to have a gawk.

My humble opinion - STAY AWAY!

kenaman

BigDragon wrote:

Also it is run as a fundraiser for Enable Ireland in Limerick........next time i'm there I'm going to ask them how much they get from this cowboy!

145 Euro going to Enable Ireland about 10% of the pot...they normally 'donate' to 'Share a Dream' but Russells is in some way associated with Enable Ireland.

BigDragon wrote:

My humble opinion - STAY AWAY!

Oh Yeah!

NickyOD

When I won the first one of these that I played I worked out I'd have to do the same atleast every 4 tourneys with minimum of 35 players just to break even. Not one player who plays these over a long period is making a profit.

Pokerevents

I can confirm the South Court Hotel will host a weekly 50 plus 15 with 1 re-buy only. 100% of prizepool will be paid out with a full chip count posted at final table to confirm all the players money goes into prizepool. November will be bring a full weekend poker festival to the same venue, with a 350plus35 freezeout that will feed the Irish poker finals 1000 3 day freezeout in City West Jan 6 7 8.
Tuesday 6th and evry Tuesday there after with registration @ 19.00 and cards dealt @ 20.00. Tournament director and croupiers at every table including branded chips will be standard at these weekly events. This will be heavily advertised as the part of the Irish Poker Championship and all info will be posted on pokerevents.ie from the end of next week.

Duff Man Jr.

Sounds great but is +€15 a bit much??

Hope you mean the South Court in Limerick?

kenaman

Sounds promising, any more details?

dingle

Pokerevents, is this starting Tuesday 6th of September ? Not exactly clear from the mail. Sounds good, though a €15 admin fee does seems a bit steep. Though I guess from the mails re the Russell event it probarly works out better.

Hitman Actual

Duff Man Jr. wrote:

Sounds great but is +€15 a bit much??

Hope you mean the South Court in Limerick?

dingle wrote:

Sounds good, though a €15 admin fee does seems a bit steep.

In fairness to Pokerevents, this was the subject of a heated debate on here a while back. At the time, some of the prize money was used to cover expenses, which a lot of people didn't like. Instead, a fixed reg fee was introduced to cover costs. Using the fixed reg fee means that the prize structure is transparent to everyone playing. It's a bit higher than the casinos, but I assume Pokerevents expenses are much different. AFAIK, the 50+15 games are run at a loss.

BTW, I'm not affiliated with Pokerevents! It just seems that Fintan cant win here!

jem

I feel that it is great that there will be a decent tourney run in Limerick.
I would have only 1 reservation and that in effect it will cost €115 to play which is a little steep.(you have to assume that you will rebuy) Is there a top up as well or is it a choice of rebuy or top up?
I have no problem as such with redg fee.

BYTW I hope u lot will come to our charity event in roscrea next January 75% pay out+ 25% to scouts, redg fee €5 for expenses.
the other one we ran paid out €7730+ spot prizes on the night with first geting €2300 down to €100 for 18th place.

ZZR1100

Duff Man Jr. wrote:

Sounds great but is +€15 a bit much??

Hope you mean the South Court in Limerick?

This was done to cover the costs as every1 was complaining last year about taking money out of the prizepool to cover the costs.This is much better IMHO..Any plans to have any tourneys in the smaller towns fintan or is it cork .dublin galway this year again.the 3 day 1000 sounds great but wont every1 be broke in january:)

Lplate

lenny_leonard wrote:

BTW, I'm not affiliated with Pokerevents! It just seems that Fintan cant win here!

Well said. Have a think about it people. You're paying 15 euro to play in a very well organised and professionally run event - which, judging from this thread and others before it, hasn't happened before in Limerick. Pokerevents (to which I also have no affiliation) will presumably have to make profits to keep going and 15*x players is low imo unless x is going to be around 3 figures+ every week. I hope it's successful.

Lplate

ZZR1100 wrote:

the 3 day 1000 sounds great but wont every1 be broke in january:)

You broke???????? Yea right !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Duff Man Jr.

Pokerevents wrote:

Tournament director and croupiers at every table including branded chips will be standard at these weekly events.

Stupid question, this means a dealer at every table, yes???

Pokerevents

Irish Poker Championship is not due to launch untill next week. You've got it here on boards before the official website even.

Weekly satellites
Galway(starting august 31st ) Sligo clarion hotel (sept 1) Dublin red cow (sept 5) Limerick south court hotel (starting sept 6th), athlone(sept 8th)
Poker Event Schedule for Irish Poker Championship

Super Satellites

Event location Date Buy-in Prizepool

Galway Open Westwood Hotel Galway Oct 21/22 €350 + €35 €55,000

Leinster Cup City West Hotel Dublin Oct 28/29 €350 + €35 €80,000

Athlone Open Shamrock Lodge Hotel Athlone Nov 4/5/6 €350 + €35 €50,000

Ulster Cup Slieve Russell Hotel Cavan Nov 12/13 €350 + €35 €60,000

Limerick Open South Court Hotel Limerick Nov 18/29 €350 + €35 €70,000

Sligo Open Clarion Hotel Sligo Nov 25/26/27 €350 + €35 €60,000

Winter FreezeOut Westwood Hotel Galway Dec 21/22 €300 + €30 €50,000

Irish Poker Championship

Location City West Hotel Dublin

Event Date Buy-in Prizepool

Main Event Jan 6/7/8 €1000 + €100 €500,000
€500 FreezeOut Jan 7th €500 + €50 €100,000
€250 FreezeOut Jan 8th €250 + €25 €75,000

Director & assistant at every event. Professional Croupiers dealing at every table. 100% of prizepool paid out with chip count at every event to confirm number of player and rebuys. Top up chips will be marked to give exact figure, this information will be posted on the night and immediately on website. Blind structure and tournament rules available in advance on line and hardcopy on the night. Final table of all super sats and finals televised and also broadcast live on the internet. Player points awarded for the official Irish poker league with top players qualifing for the official Irish poker team.
Food and refreshments served at all events f.o.c to players. pokerevents.ie will have full listings and information from next week.

Duff Man Jr.

Pokerevents, you should make a new thread just for this.

dingle

This is probably a silly question but does the fact that the weekly tourneys are satellites mean prizes are seats to the big championship or are there cash prizes.

NickyOD

I'm really looking forward to it. I think the €15 reg is fine considering €100 for every player who takes the rebuy will go into the prizepool. As long as the rebuys are well co-ordinated (i.e. players name taken, and info on total number of rebuys bought clearly available) then it should a very good tournament.