Delaware Valley Poker Club/Series II

The Series II of the Delaware Valley Poker Club (DVPC) is a friendly group of poker players who wish to compete against each other in low-stakes poker tournaments online, in casinos, and in live home games. Participants each contribute $100 to a "Jackpot Fund" which will be rewarded to the best-performing DVPC player after a series of tournament opportunities. That winning player will use that jackpot to buy into larger-stakes poker tournament(s), and the winnings (if any) will be distributed on a pro-rated basis of terms back to the entire Club membership.

Members

Series roster in place:

DVPC ...Series II... FINAL RESULTS

PLAYER	NICKNAME	HOME	POINTS
Bobby Zetusky	zed500	Ridley Township, PA	114.07
Paul Morrow	shep1005	Blue Bell, PA	104.24
Gregory Kohs	thekohser	West Chester, PA	97.25
Bill Myers	Bungalow PSU	Upper Gwynedd, PA	83.24
Michael Wagner	mortylick	Blue Bell, PA	81.91
Sean Scalley	beavis610	Blue Bell, PA	80.32
Mike Gargano	Cowpoke Mike	Philadelphia, PA	77.19

We extend an open invitation for future rounds of DVPC Series action to any poker-loving friends who may want to climb on.

Format

Series II players will agree to participate in at least five (5) matches but no more than ten (10) matches. Players must compete in at least two different formats out of (a) online, (b) live in-home, and (c) live in-casino. We will schedule the following twelve (12) poker opportunities:

Calendar of events

• Online (PokerStars) – 6 tournaments available:

July 6, Sunday evening, 8:00 PM, $12 turbo sit-n-go (180-seat)

shep1005 finished in 9th place.

July 15, Tuesday evening, 7:00 PM, $4 standard sit-n-go (180-seat)

zed500 finished in 29th place.

July 23, Wednesday evening, 7:30 PM, $2 turbo sit-n-go (180-seat)

mortylick finished in 6th place, with six DVPC entrants finishing in the top 25% of the field.

August 5, Tuesday evening, 9:00 PM, $12 turbo sit-n-go (180-seat)

zed500 finished in 16th place.

August 19, Tuesday evening, 8:30 PM, $4 standard sit-n-go (180-seat)

beavis610 finished in 59th place.

August 27, Wednesday evening, 7:00 PM, $11 standard scheduled (2,700+ seat)

thekohser finished in 258th place.

• Live In-Home – 4 tournaments available:

July 11, Friday evening, 7:30 PM, $40 buy-in, at the Kohs residence

shep1005 finished in 1st place, coming back from 100 chips (out of starting stack of 1500)!

July 26, Saturday evening, 7:30 PM, $40 buy-in, at the Morrow residence

Bungalow PSU finished in 2nd place, out of 10 players, amidst succulent pork ribs.

August 16, Saturday evening, 7:30 PM, $40 buy-in, at the Myers residence

mortylick finished in 2nd place, out of an amazingly large 22-person field.

September 12, Friday evening, 7:00 PM, $40 buy-in, at the Wagner residence

beavis610 finished in 1st place, but zed500 clinched the Series with 4th place.

• Live In-Casino – 2 tournaments available:

July 31, Thursday evening, 7:00 PM, $65 buy-in, Showboat

zed500 finished in 6th place out of a field of 78, earning $188 payout.

September 4, Thursday evening, 7:00 PM, $65 buy-in, Showboat

zed500 finished in 35th place out of a field of 70.

Points system

The Series II of the DVPC will incorporate some modifications over the Series I scoring system, which players felt too strongly awarded points for large, low-stakes online tournaments, as well as left other players feeling "hopeless" when one player scored a very high finish in one large tournament (and going on to win the Series). Therefore, points for each tournament finish will be assessed as in Series I; however, in Series II, live in-casino points will be multiplied by 1.5, and live in-home points will be multiplied by 2.0.

Ranking of players will be managed in a new way. Series II player performances will be sorted from highest to lowest, for each player. Then both the highest and the lowest point totals (the outliers) will be discarded, leaving behind the "middle" scores for each player, which will then be averaged together. To reward dedication to the Club and frequency of play, after results are averaged, a 10-point bonus will be awarded for every match beyond five (5) that the player participated in.

There will be no need to "declare" your participation in any matches this Series -– if you are seated in a tournament, you are declaring it by default. If a player reaches ten (10) seated matches, he may continue to play for fun and profit in the 11th and/or 12th matches, but these will not be tallied for performance points or bonus points.

Example: Suppose a player, Chip Staxalot, participates in eight different tournaments, earning scores of 375, 250, 150, 50, 50, 50, 50, and 20. The scores of 375 (the highest) and 20 (the lowest) are rejected. The average of 250 + 150 + 50 + 50 + 50 + 50 is then taken, which equals 600 / 6, or an average of 100. Then, the average of 100 is boosted by a bonus of 30 points, because Chip participated in eight tournaments (three beyond the required five). Chip earns a final Series score of 130.

The Beeg Weenah

The Series II top finisher will take jackpot prize money (plus a reasonable travel stipend) to attend a Borgata $300 + $40 Friday Noon or Saturday 11:00 AM tournament, plus a Taj Mahal $175 + $25 Friday 7:15 PM tournament. Winnings would be divested per our terms.

The Trophy

The Commissioner reserves the right to set aside less than $100 to fund the creation of a permanent engraved trophy for the DVPC, with the previous Series winner retaining possession of the trophy until it is wrested from him by a new Beeg Weenah. One agenda item for the Series II participants is to name this trophy. Any suggestions?

Costs

Those on a tighter budget will be able to fulfill this Series with less than $165 out-of-pocket (about $60 for five tournaments, plus the $100 Jackpot contribution). Those who opt for the pricier selections and play in ten tournaments could potentially expend about $475. You keep what you win in each selected tournament, and everybody is contributing the same $100 to the Jackpot Fund. The $100 may be paid in installments -- $50 before July 21, 2008, and the remaining $50 before August 22, 2008. These payments will be coordinated and saved by Gregory Kohs.

Players who do not currently have an online poker account may contact Gregory Kohs for more information on getting one started and funding it.

Communications

Club communications will be handled by e-mail.

During online tournaments, we have a teleconference "bridge" set up, for the equivalent of multi-way calling. This will allow for Club-related dialogue while the tournaments are underway. Players at the same table will be asked not to discuss their hole cards, just as would be standard etiquette in a live game. We're competing against each other, so there's no incentive to collude, anyway.

There is a useful primer of tournament tips that you may read prior to playing.

Scoring

Each player will report their place of finish and (if possible) proof of such, such as an image screen shot of an online lobby window or facsimile of a casino payout receipt. Image screen shots may be executed with Windows by pressing the combination of Alt-Print Screen to capture only the current active window. By default, Windows does not save the screenshot to an image file; rather, the user must paste the clipboard image into a separate imaging program (such as Paint, IrfanView, etc.) to save it permanently. Apple computer users should go to this page to learn how to use PokerStars on a Mac.

Spreadsheet

Gregory Kohs tallies in a spreadsheet the DVPC payment history and Series rankings using a formula similar to PokerStars' player points formula:

Points = \(10\cdot\sqrt{\frac{n}{k}}\cdot(1 + \log(b + 0.25))\)
Where:
\[n\!\] is the number of entrants
\[k\!\] is the place of finish (k = 1 for the first-place finisher, and so on)
\[b\!\] is the buy-in amount (average including re-buys and re-loads) in dollars (excluding any administrative fee).

Terms of Payout

Whatever money the Jackpot Fund winner is able to win back in the high-stakes buy-in tournament(s), the process of declaring that income and taxation is that player's decision and responsibility. For tournament winnings up to two times (2x) the buy-in, the Jackpot player would be entitled to keep all of those winnings. The amount between two times and ten times buy-in (2x-10x) would be split 70/30 -- 70% to the Jackpot player, and the other 30% split evenly between all the other Series participants. Anything over ten times buy-in (10x+) would be split 50/50 -- 50% to the Jackpot player, and the other 50% split evenly between all the other Series participants.

This way, all DVPC participants stand a chance of making back original stakes (and then some), while the Jackpot winner will earn much more than any of the rest of us, even with taxation considered. Is this really any different than trusting your money with a mutual fund manager? I say not.

Outcome

Bobby Zetusky took the $640 jackpot and entered a $500 Saturday U.S. Poker Open tournament at the Trump Taj Mahal on September 20, 2008. There were 299 entrants, with the top 27 getting paid out, but Bob fell just a bit short, getting knocked out in 29th place. Bob gives the play-by-play himself:

I battled a short stack the 2nd half of the tourney, which I played for 11 hours. I would have received around $1450 if I made the money. The final hand: Blinds were $1000/$2000 with a $300 Ante, eight players at my table. My stack was $5400 (I could not get a hand -- I got 9-4 offsuit so many times, I think if I ever get that hand again I'll go nuts).

I was in the Big Blind for $2000 + $300 ante -- I put my remaining $3100 on my cards indicating I have to call with any 2 cards. Last time I did this, I got a walk.

Folds around to the button, who was also short -- somewhere around 14000. I played with this guy most of the night. Solid player but does make moves. He pushes all in. Small blind thinks for a couple of minutes and folds.

There's $2400 in antes, $3000 in blinds, plus $5100 from the button, totaling $10500 in the pot. So I have to pay $3100 to win $13600. I have to play any 2 cards here, so I figure if I look at my cards I might end up folding (that would be horrible) so I just throw in my remaining chips without looking at my cards.

Button shows 3-3. I flip over A-2 spades. Some hope.

Flop brings a 3, and he turns another 3. Dreaded quads!!

I am very disappointed in my finish. I think my play was average at best, and I missed some opportunities to make moves. It was a good and fun experience, and I had some dead-on reads (too bad I wasn't in most of the hands).

Bobby, you may have been disappointed, but the Club is noticing that we're finishing higher and higher in the Beeg Weenah tournament, every time. Next time is assuredly a lock on the money cut.

Previous Outcome(s)

• Series I - Bill Myers took the $1375 Jackpot and headed two times to Atlantic City to participate in $500 + $60 tournaments. In his first bid, his pocket QQ was cracked by an inferior hand, and he went out 29th out of 61 players, no payout. In his second bid, the scheduled $500 tourney at the Borgata was cancelled, forcing Bill to play in a $200 + $30 at Trump Taj Mahal. Bill exited early. Per the Commissioner's recommendation, he played $5 slots to try to make up a big payout for the Club, but to no avail. About $150 remains in his Fund, and Bill will try to play a $100 tournament sometime soon, but the Club is considering the jackpot "expended". Time for Series II and better luck. (...read more about Series I.)