The game will be dealt with live cards (from my computer room), and players will get PMs with their hole cards. All table action will take place in this thread, with a non-playing judge (me), rectifying the betting and actions taken. When the action falls on a new player, as soon as I notice, I'll be sending out a PM to the player on the clock (and they'll have 24-hours from the time of that PM to take action before their action is declared as a check or a fold).
I'll detail the structure of the game (in this post) a bit later. But I want to solicit entries now. Only the first ten need apply. Folks who sign up but do not participate in a timely manner will be ineligible for future Online Octopus Overlords pOOker events.
There will be a hiatus in mid-April while I am out of the country.
Game Play
- You to be able to read (but not reply to) PMs. You'll receive your hole cards via PMs.
- All community cards and betting action will be posted in this thread.
- Betting actions are to be posted unambiguously in this thread. The judge's rule is final on ambiguous action. If it is unclear what the action is to you, wait for the judge's recap post before taking action. RULE MODIFIED HERE
- Out of turn actions are not binding if caught before cards are revealed.
- Illegal raises (non-all-in raises for an amount less than the previous action) will be ruled to be a minimum allowable raises, and any betting action which has taken place afterwards will be redone. The illegal raise cannot be retracted.
- There will be a minimum of 24-hours from the judge's recap to the next player taking action. The judge will PM a player when they are "on the clock." RULE MODIFIED HERE
- Players are encouraged to take betting actions more quickly (including prior to receiving a PM from the judge if the action to them is unambiguous) in order to speed up the game.
- A player may hand over control of their hands to another player who meets the requirements, either temporarily or in a permanent fashion. This is the only reason to PM the judge (barring technical difficulties with the gameplay itself).
- If a player knows they will be "away," they can post in the thread as such, and while they are gone they will be folded/checked as appropriate. A player may come "back" at any time and if they have live cards, they will be allowed in the current hand. Back declarations must be made in the thread.
- A player timing out twice consecutively will be placed away.
- If a player is away during heads-up play, it is the player-who-is-present's decision to wait for their return or to claim victory.
- A player wishing to fold out of turn may contact the judge (via PM) to expidite the play. If the judge notices that player's action has arrived prior to the actual player, the judge will declare a fold and play will then continue to the next active player. Players are encouraged to keep checking the thread in the case where they may notice their action prior to the judge. Again, play may continue to take place if the actions after the most recent judge's summary are unambiguous -- the judge will catch up with the play when he next checks the thread.
- Hole cards mucked will not be revealed by the judge (either during the game or afterwards) unless a player gives permission.
- All card randomization will be done with a physical deck in the judge's home -- no non-random selection of cards will be made in the interest of "making things more interesting."
- The judge will reveal all hands still participating at the showdown.
- When a hand is being played heads-up, a player may ask the judge to muck their cards "face up," for all to see.
- No prizes, just bragging rights (which admittedly are HUGE).
A legal raise must be of the amount greater than the bet or raise to the current player. A player can go all-in for less than the legal raise, in which case his action does not open the betting for reraises. By way of examples:
- The player acting after the blinds (1/2) raises by 4 to six. A player wishing to reraise must raise the bet by a minimum of 4 additional chips (so his minimum raise, then, would be to 10 chips).
- Post flop there are three players remaining. The first player checks. The second player bets 8 chips. The third player calls for 8 chips. The first player now goes all-in for his remaining 15 chips. Neither of the remaining players may raise at this point -- their options are to call for 15 total or to fold (and forfeit the 8 chips they've put into the pot).
Etiquette A few deviations from standard poker.
- Feel free to involve any outside resources at your fingertips prior to making your decisions. These resources include other poker players (not in the game), poker software, poker forums, etc. Off-thread collaboration with players involved in the game is NOT PERMITTED
- In-thread discussion of the play thus far is encouraged (and especially so for prior hands). The only text which is not permissible in the thread are quotes from PMs sent out by the judge. Players may lie about their hands, tell the truth about their holdings, or any number of misdirections. These comments are legal (and very counter to the things permissible in a live game).
- Each player begins with 200 chips.
- Each blind level will last exactly ten hands (as ten participants began the game -- there are ten hands per level even after players are eliminated)
- The blind levels will progress as follows (there are no antes):
Level 1: 1/2
Level 2: 2/4
Level 3: 5/10
Level 4: 10/20
Level 5: 20/40
Level 6: 50/100
Level 7: 100/200
Level 8: 200/400
Seat 01 - Pyperkub
Seat 02 - CSL
Seat 03 - RunningMn9
Seat 04 - itaiyo
Seat 05 - godhugh
Seat 06 - hentzau
Seat 07 - LordMortis
Seat 08 - Austin
Seat 09 - Animus
Seat 10 - Ralph-Wiggum
Tournament summary to date
HAND01 itaiyo (+19 chips), RunningMn9 (-6), hentzau (-6), Animus (-6), CSL (-1).
HAND02 Ralph-Wiggum (+235), Pyperkub (-134), CSL (-64), itaiyo (-12), godhugh (-12), hentzau (-12), RunningMn9 (-1).
HAND03 Pyperkub (+15), Ralph-Wiggum (-10), godhugh (-2), Animus (-2), itaiyo (-1).
HAND04 Animus (+385), CSL (-135, out), hentzau (-100), itaiyo (-90), godhugh (-50), Pyperkub (-10).
HAND05 Pyperkub (+92), Animus (-71), itaiyo (-18), LordMortis (-2), hentzau (-1).
HAND06 LordMortis (+62), Animus (-20), RunningMn9 (-20), hentzau (-20), Austin (-2).
HAND07 hentzau (+78), Ralph-Wiggum (-61), Animus (-8), godhugh (-8), Austin (-1).
HAND08 Animus (+42), godhugh (-36), Ralph-Wiggum (-6).
HAND09 Austin (+223), LordMortis (-197), Pyperkub (-25), Ralph-Wiggum (-1).
HAND10 itaiyo (+3), RunningMn9 (-2), Pyperkub (-1).
HAND11 Pyperkub (+75), LordMortis (-63, out), RunningMn9 (-4), itaiyo (-4), Austin (-4).
HAND12 godhugh (+104), Ralph-Wiggum (-92), itaiyo (-12).
HAND13 Pyperkub (+3), itaiyo (+3), hentzau (-4), godhugh (-2).
HAND14 Pyperkub (+134), godhugh (-104), Animus (-24), Austin (-4), hentzau (-2).
HAND15 itaiyo (+46), Pyperkub (-40), Animus (-4), Austin (-2).
HAND16 Ralph-Wiggum (+123), hentzau (-59), Austin (-29), Pyperkub (-29), itaiyo (-4), Animus (-2).
HAND17 RunningMn9 (+47), Pyperkub (-45), Ralph-Wiggum (-2).
HAND18 itaiyo (+181), Pyperkub (-79), hentzau (-74, out), RunningMn9 (-24), Ralph-Wiggum (-4).
HAND19 Austin (+96), godhugh (-90, out), itaiyo (-4), RunningMn9 (-2).
HAND20 Pyperkub (+158), Austin (-156), itaiyo (-2).
HAND21 Austin (+170), itaiyo (-150), Pyperkub (-10), Animus (-10).
HAND22 Austin (+319), Pyperkub (-304, out), Ralph-Wiggum (-10), Animus (-5).
HAND23 RunningMn9 (+5), Ralph-Wiggum (-5).
HAND24 Austin (+348), RunningMn9 (-193, out), itaiyo (-155, out).
HAND25 Austin (+35), Ralph-Wiggum (-35).
HAND26 Austin (+10), Animus (-10).
HAND27 Animus (+40), Austin (-30), Ralph-Wiggum (-10).
HAND28 Ralph-Wiggum (+327), Animus (-322), Austin (-5).
HAND29 Austin (+20), Ralph-Wiggum (-10), Animus (-10).
HAND30 Animus (+178), Austin (-173), Ralph-Wiggum (-5).
HAND31 Austin (+40), Animus (-40).
HAND32 Ralph-Wiggum (+10), Animus (-10).
HAND33 Ralph-Wiggum (+40), Austin (-40).
HAND34 Ralph-Wiggum (+30), Animus (-20), Austin (-10).
HAND35 Austin (+130), Ralph-Wiggum (-120), Animus (-10).
You should run another one
I plan on running another one of these once we get back from our trip and we've worked our way through the first level (10 hands) of this guy. Likely I'll let folks sign up for a full week to ensure that everyone who wants in can get in, as a multi-table tournament (MTT) would likely last the better part of a year (even if I did use a hyper aggressive blind structure, which would be my intent). Unless someone else looks at this thread and says "I could do that" (in which case I want to be at the top of the list of participants!), the best thing you could do would be to note interest in this thread, and to kibbitz along with the game at hand (paying attention to the etiquette section, above). Nothing breeds interest like more interest, and for something like this, I'm pretty sure it's "the more the merrier." I've gone as far as generating the blind structure for the MTT game already -- pretty much I want to be sure there aren't any pitfalls with the rules above before setting up for something much more long term. Discussion for improvements.
So comment away!
Note: Inspiration source
~Neal
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