Some big points that were covered. This time it’s a single series, but we’ll have some one off tournaments to try out some new things. We’ll also be bringing back the Full Tilt online tournaments. We’ve added a 6th event, a 3rd place series prize, and upped the player cap from 30 to 40. All that means that we had to make some changes to the point system, proxy rule, and pay out percentages for each tournament. Give the changes a read , and as always if there are any questions, just ask any of us.

Without further introduction, here is the Change Summary for the next EMHD series:

EMHD 2010-11 Summary of Changes

1. We are having ONE (1) series consisting of SIX (6) tournaments starting in December and finishing in mid-April.  The tournaments will be more spread out (basically one a month) with March being the only multi-event month.  Our decision was based simply on the spotty attendance during the fall months during the previous series and general tournaments.  The added event will be a $100+15 Single Buy
   • The Dates are as Follows:
     • Event 1: December 4th, 2010 , Re-Buy/Add-On
     • Event 2: January 17th, 2011 Single-Buy (Monday, MLK Day)
     • Event 3: February 12th, 2011 Single-Buy
     • Event 4: March 12th, 2011 Re-Buy/Add-On
     • Event 5: March 26th, 2011 Single Buy
     • Event 6: April 16th, 2011 Deep Stack
   • We are hosting two (2) “Sorta-Circuit” tournaments during which we will experiment with different formats and structures. There will be no EMHD withholding
     • Event S1: August 7th, 2010 (Probable Deep Stack with new Re-Buy blind schedule)
       
     • Event S2: October 2nd, 2010
   • Each player will receive 25 Participation points for playing in these events
     
2. We are adding $450 to prize pool and paying THREE (3) places. This will allow more of the field to be in contention for prize money later in the series:
   • 1st Place: $1600
   • 2nd Place: $800
   • 3rd Place: $300
     
3. We have cut the gap in equity between the Re-Buy/Add-On and Single Buy formats. Currently, the Re-Buy/Add-On tournaments hold more value in the overall points race than the Single Buy tournaments.  This will continue to be the case regardless!  However, to cut the gap, we have reduced the EMHD withholding for each buy-in after the first ten in Re-Buy tournaments from $10 to $8
   • This will reduce the factor but will not in any way make them even. With the reduction in withholding of course, the prize pool for those events will increase, but may decrease the potential for added money in the later tournaments.
     
4. We have made changes to the Proxy Rule. We will now allow TWO (2) proxies per series but with specific eligibility requirements (see below). The inclusion of Participation Points breeds the use of proxies.  However, this is not a bad thing as it spurs participation, introduces new players to the series and compels players to make an effort to be at all of the tournaments.
   • A proxy CANNOT have any previous participation points in the current series
   • If you have used a proxy during the designated series, your second proxy CANNOT be the same person.
     
5. Participation Points adjustment…after much deliberation, our goal was to make these points beneficial while not excessively penalizing a player for missing just one event. We feel we have come up with a fair solution that, most importantly, is easy to figure out for the not-as-mathematically-inclined player.
   • Each player will receive Participation Points based on the Buy-In Amount for each event played:
     • Single Buy: 100 points
     • Re-Buy/Add-On: 135 points (this number was determined based on the average buy-in amounts per player per re-buy event for the first three (3) series)
     • Deep Stack: 120 points
       
   • Players that participate in All Six (6) will also receive One per-cent (1%) of the total Event Points (not including kill points) in play for that series. e.g. using the figures from EMHD 2010 B, there were 16369 points in play so the players playing in all 5 events would have each received an additional 164 points
     
6. We have increased the maximum participation from 30 to 40 players (hard cap)
7. The Point System has also been altered to reflect the new player maximums and projected participation. Our informal polling has been nearly unanimous in that our players prefer to pay more places for less money than vice versa
   • The Bubble Player will now get a Percentage of the Event Points versus half the final place paid. This will be fewer points than before, but that is unavoidable.
     • These are ADDED ON points, not taken out of the actual event points
     • The main reason for this is that in the Re-Buy format, we are only adding 60 points per buy-in so at the cutoff to the next payout level , we were distributing the same amount of points to more players hence making it more than just a ‘mathematical anomaly’ that they were getting less points for finishing in the same place.
   • Point Percentages
     • 9-19 players: 3 places (50/30/20) Bubble: 5%
     • 20-32 players: 4 places (48/28/19/5) Bubble: 3%
     • 33-40 players: 5 places (47/27/18/5/3) Bubble: 2%
       
8. We have included Antes in Re-Buy/Add-On Blind Schedule. The two re-buy tournaments during the last series averaged 27.5 players and lasted on average 6 hrs, 31 minutes. With our intentions to increase the size of the fields, by including the antes, we hope to reduce the time by 30-45 minutes.
9. We will resume the online ‘Sorta Satellites” on Full Tilt. John Hurst is taking over the organization of these tournaments.
10. Rule Book/Procedures Manual language that has changed or been added (Proxy Rule included):
    • Half Kill: Should a player be eliminated by two players with the same holdings, those two players will split the kill points; 12.5 points for each player.
    • Wait List/Seat Forfeiture Procedures: The 40 players is a HARD limit!
      • The Tournament Director, or his/her designee, will activate the “Notify of Reply” feature and enter “40” in the “Maximum Amount of People Who Can Attend” text box on the Evite. This will create the max player count and create a time stamp for each reply.
      • This time stamp is the tie breaker for who will receive the final seats and the remaining players will be notified by the Tournament Director that they are on the wait list and may show up but are not guaranteed a seat.
      • A “No Show” time of FIVE (5) minutes prior to the designated starting time will be designated as determined by the TD.
      • At that point a player will be deemed a “no show” and forfeit their seat. Players on the wait list will be given their seats based on the time stamp on the time stamp of their Evite reply.
        • Should a player call the TD and/or any staff member prior to that 5-Minute deadline, informing them of their status to participate, they will NOT forfeit their seat.

    • Specific penalties for DELAYING a hand (not posting antes). Should a player intentionally delay the start of a hand by not posting an ante or blind, for the first offense, the player will be given a warning by the Tournament Director. For the second offense, the player will be penalized _TBD (before the start of the next series)_. For the third offense, the player will be disqualified and his chips removed from play.

Giblet

Congratulations Tony & Megan !

Giblet

Not a lot of shtick in this one. Chris and Dawn (well Dawn anyway) brought the newest member of the The Crew into the world on April 19th. Aside from great parents this young man’s got a couple of signs pointing towards a bright future.

• Born April 19th, 4:08 pm. (There’s no significance that I know of to 4/19, but 40 and 8 for a Dad that’s a Caps fan … and the Caps got a playoff win that night)
• 7 lbs, 11 oz – I believe Series B Champ Lesley said it best … “A Vegas Baby !”
• You’ll see in the pictures, the boy’s got fashion sense.

I’m all out of ramblings … With no further adieu, here’s some pictures of Chris, Dawn, and Stephanos … (you’ll get large versions if you click on them)

The Happy Family

Tos and Nos

Looking Sharp

Happy Birthday, Elliot !

The EMHD series was her toy. She started the B series with a chopped win with Alan G. , picked up a nice high place in Event 3, and capped off her point gathering with an outright win of the Re-Buy event that was Event 4. All those points staked her to such a gigantic lead in the series that the final event was little more than a formality. There were 2 people that could possibly catch her at the start of the event, and both Alan G. and Brian P. would have had to win outright and eliminate half the field to make it happen. When those conditions became impossible, Lesley was presented her first place check and it seemed only fitting that although she exited event B-5 early, she picked up the check shortly after winning a sit and go tournament started by other early finishers.

Most Hail John V. !

The logjam for second place kept the fifth event in the series full of drama. While Lesley R. ran away and hid from the field, a whole lot of us that had found money and points in the previous events started the day dreaming of raking in enough pots to add $750 to any potential winnings. Truth be told, most of the field had to win the tournament out right to place second, and that wasn’t gonna be easy.

The final ten people alive had Brian P., Alan G., Canadian Shawn, Justin F., Wisconsin Geoff, and John V. all within striking distance of the 2nd place series prize. Alan G. overtook Brian P. for second place once the cards hit the felt due to participation points, and after Brian busted in 10th place, Alan G. could breath a little bit, but as he went out in 6th place he got to sweat out a final table that had 4 of the last 5 players ready to overtake him with an outright win. Canadian Shawn left in 5th after another deep run (and a hell of a series might I add) and Mike Senter left in 4th.  Wisconsin Geoff was Alan G.’s only hope in the final 3. It looked like things might go his way as John V. shoved with K 8 off suit and Wisconsin Geoff called with K 10. However on this day it would be John V. delivering the bad beat … a stark contrast to how earlier tournaments had gone for him near the end. That staked John V. to a chip lead at the table and shortly he would eliminate a game Justin F. to take a commanding chip lead heading into heads up.

The heads up didn’t last long. While I don’t remember the hand exactly, Wisconsin Geoff’s chips had to get into the middle , the blinds and antes were too high, and John V.’s chip lead was too large to dilly dally. John V. called and after the cards came out, was the winner of event B-5. The outright win propelled him into 2nd place overall and he was handed the check for $750 as a nice bonus to the $1805 B-5 prize.

I’d like to echo Chris’s words of thanks to end this post. I believe the attendance figures will bear it out, but this was easily the best of the EMHD series yet. I know there have only been 3 of them, but I think we’ve got something special going on here, or at the very least something pretty damned fun.  Some of that has to do with the dealers being good at what they do (which would be dealing and in some cases drinking Coors Light),  some more of it has to do with the location that Harry and Lee G. procured for us. I for one know it was a relief not to sit in the corner EVERY DAMNED time. While thanks should definitely be offered to all of those groups, the biggest share of the thanks goes to the players. It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun without you.

Here’s how the good players finished:

1. John V. (JVB) – 1704 (1579 Event Points + 5 Kills)
2. Wisconsin Geoff – 982 (907 Event Points + 3 Kill)
3. Justin F. – 705 (605 Event Points + 4 Kills)
4. Mike S. – 319 (269 Event Points + 2 Kills)
5. Canadian Shawn – 234 (134 Event Points + 4 Kills)

Congratulations to everybody … especially JVB. He’s been one of the most consistent players in the B series and he finally broke through for the win in the event with the biggest pay out.

The overriding premise for planning the EMHD 2010 Series B was to promote and stimulate participation.  The initial change of waiving the EMHD withholding once we reached our stated goal of $2250 for the EMHD prize money was unanimously agreed upon by the staff.  We in turn discussed what to do with the remaining money and decided to add it to the prize pool of The Deep Stack event.   The first two Deep Stack events were lackluster draws (13 and 19 respectively) so we were simply looking for a carrot to stimulate that participation and secure a big field, or at least a field commensurate with the previous tournaments of that series.  Judging from the evite responses during the first 48-hours of its release, 27 players, the plan seems to working quite well.

Well it’s been a while since Saturday, but to say we’ve all been busy checking, double checking, and triple checking everything about EMHD B-4 would be a lie.  I was too forgetful to take note of the points awarded on Saturday, so I for one appreciate your patience.

Event B-4 was a pretty large re-buy tournament, 29 players and 60 total buys. This number was well short of the record and the action was not nearly as fast and loose as often happens in re-buy tournaments … we played well through past the first break before we were able to get into 2 tables.  Looking at the numbers it seems that there were actually more Add-Ons at the break than Re-Buys prior to the break. I’ve been saying all along this field is getting tougher, I’d like to believe this is further indication of me being right … if for no other reason than I so very much enjoy being right. I’ve rambled enough … onto the results:

Congratulations to the winners !

1. Lesley R. – 1692

2. Brian P. – 972

3.  Dan H. – 648

4. Canadian Shawn – 288

5.  John V.B. – 144

If anybody remembers the hope I said that Brian P. brought to the masses in the results for EMHD B-3 (look down, the time for postings on this blog has been cut short of late) you can kiss it good bye. Apparently taking that as a challenge Lesley R. decided to make it all but a formality for the last event by adding an outright win to her chopped win and a 2nd place this series.

Fortunately there’s a pool of people fighting for the second place prize that should bring enough drama to Event B-5 that it’ll be worth watching. OH ! And I almost forgot … we hit our prize money pay out for the series prizes … there will be no EMHD series money taken out, and we went over by 480 dollars so EMHD Event B-5 will have a little overlay to it.

Event B-5 takes place on Saturday, April 3rd … registration opens at 10:15 am and the cards hit the table at 11:00am. I’ll see you there.

Event B-3 was played this past Saturday. I wasn’t there to observe, so I don’t have too many details to share here. I do however have Chris’s spreadsheet to look at and here’s how it shook down:

Congratulations to the winners !

1. Brian P. – 1087

2. Lesley R. – 617

3.  Alan G. – 478

4. Faith L. – 168

5.  Canadian Shawn – 159

I know what you’re thinking … why do you just throw the same damned names up there and rearrange them so it looks good ?! I can assure you, it’s not like that at all. The repeats in the list are playing some good poker and deserve repeated mention. Lesley R. , Alan G., Faith L., and the Useless Ass Staff’s own Canadian Shawn are starting to make it look easy to get points. But before we all bow our heads in despair I present to you Brian P. ! A first time winner who reminds us in the immortal words of California’s governor “If it bleeds, we can kill it”. Congratulations, Brian.

Hope and points aplenty in EMHD B4 coming up at noon on March 20th. Show up at 11:15 to register.

The contenders will be dropped down to 3 or so by the end of the EMHD B series, and with any luck he’ll have his new hand at the deep stack event.

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