Poker Tournaments

Adam D asked:


If I’m playing in a televised poker tournament do I have to show my cards to the “pocket cam”?

Could I block it with my hand or some kind of item?

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Pokerlifeguide asked:


Almost every poker player has run into a cheater at one time or another. Cheaters usually have little or no skill at the game, but are very good at manipulating the cards to their advantage, and at giving themselves unfair advantages over honest players. Where honest players spend their time learning all they can about the game, cheaters spend their time honing their cheating skills, and looking for new cheats to learn. They make minimal effort to advance their game in honest ways.

The method that is easiest for the cheater is collusion. It is very hard to catch a player in the cheat of collusion, and it is next to impossible to prove. Collusion occurs when two or more poker players will secretly work together at the same poker table. They usually plan to merge and split their winnings once the game is over, thereby often enabling them to double their winnings. There is little skill necessary on the part of the cheater to be able to pull this off. Collusion does pose a large threat to the other players at the table.

Players that are in collusion may do several different things to help one another during the game. They may get together beforehand and decide that one of them will distract the other players at the table, so that the other, who will probably be the next dealer, may stack the deck in their favor.

When players are acting together in collusion, one player may flash their hand so that the other player can see it. This lets the other player know what cards that player has, so that they can help them in anyway possible to win the hand.

Occasionally, the players in collusion may speak a different language than the other players at the table. They will use this to their advantage, as they can discuss the game without the other players becoming too suspicious of their actions. This may also be used as a method of distraction, getting the other players to lose focus on their games, in turn giving the players in collusion farther advantage.

Sometimes, players that are in collusion will have signals they secretly give one another during the game. Other players most likely will not recognize the signals for what they are. They may use signals to let the other player know how strong their hand is, or they may also use signals when placing bets.

Sandwiching occurs when the only players left at the table are the two that are in collusion, and one presumably honest player. It is to the benefit of the cheaters to bet back and forth with one another, which will force the other player to see their bets or fold. Cheaters will use this to make their pot bigger, so that they will have more earnings to split at the end of the game. If the colluders place maximum bets, the other player will usually be bullied out of the game.



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R Mongoose asked:


Home poker tournaments are becoming more and more popular. By knowing how to deal with certain circumstances your tournaments will run more smoothly, and be more fun for everyone. This article deals with removing low value chips from the tables by means of a chip race.

When a poker tournament begins, each player usually starts with a healthy stack of chips that are the lowest denomination. After all, you’ll need them to pay the blinds, and probably for all of the betting during the first few blind levels.

But, as time passes and the blinds increase, these smaller chips eventually are more bothersome than helpful. With blinds at $75 and $150, putting up fifteen $10 chips to pay a big blind is not convenient.

So, once a chip value is no longer needed to pay any of the remaining blinds on the schedule, those chips are removed from play. When possible, they are cashed in at face value for a higher denomination chip. But, someone is bound to have the odd chip or two, and that brings us to the question of how to remove those odd chips from play as well.

The first way to deal with this situation is to ignore it. It won’t go away, but those leftover $10 chips will only be put into play when a player is going all-in. At that time you can sort out any situations as they occur. Eventually one player will gather enough of the small chips to cash them in.

Or, you can race off the smallest chips of the smallest value. A chip race begins with the player in the dealer’s position. For each odd chip they have, they receive one card, face up. So, if the dealer has three odd chips, he will receive three cards face up.

This continues around the table until all the players have given their odd chips in exchange for cards.

At that point, the collected chips are totalled and a pile of the same value is made using the next higher chip denomination. So, if $100 worth of $10 was collected, $100 of the next highest chip value (perhaps $25’s) would be set aside to award in the race.

If the numbers do not match, they are rounded up. So, if $120 worth of $10 chips were collected, $125 worth of $25 chips would be awarded in the race.

Now, the awarding of the chips. The player with the highest card receives one chip. Then the player with the second highest card. And so on. Each player may only receive one chip, so once a player is awarded a chip in the race, all of his cards are taken from him.

It is important to note that a chip race cannot eliminate anyone from a tournament. If a player has only one small chip left when the race begins, that chip is traded in for a card as usual. Should he lose in the chip race, and additional chip of the new value is given to him so that he may keep his place in the tournament.

Chip races can be fun and interesting, or bothersome, depending upon the situation. In our local tournaments we simply leave the odd chips on the tables until the final table is formed.

At that point we race off all the unused colors.

Handle things in a way that works for you when hosting a tournament. Still, should someone ask about chp races, now you know the ins and outs of the process.



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