Poker Fundraising Advice
One-time Pokerati contributor (and my hunting coach) Nick in Dallas writes in with a request for some charity theatrical poker tourney assistance:
Hey Dan,
So some friends and I are going to throw a poker tournament in February here in Dallas as a fundraiser for a theater production company that we started this fall (www.UpstartTheater.com). Blue Mesa Grill is going to host the games (free appetizers and happy-hour-priced drinks) and we are going to have a $20 per player donation buyin with rebuys. I was wondering if you had any advice/suggestions:
— How often should we up the blinds so that a game starting around 3 on a Sunday will be over by 8 or 9 at the latest?
— Do you know any poker company/group willing to lend/donate us enough chips and cards for 100 people or so?
— Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in donating a prize?
— Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in financially sponsoring the event (we’re tax deductible) in exchange for publicity on our event fliers, website, and performance playbills?
— Do you know ways to publicize this to the Dallas poker-playing community?
— Anything else you think would be helpful?thanks a lot,
Nick
Nick, as always, good to hear from you. One of these days you will find purpose in your life and ditch the restaurant-service/medical-technology career combo, as well as your passion for the arts and philanthropy, to discover your true calling as a poker blogger. Either that, or you are clearly nothing without Markus and Andy.
In the meantime, click below for answers to your questions:
— How often should we up the blinds so that a game starting around 3 on a Sunday will be over by 8 or 9 at the latest?
You probably want 20-minute blinds. That gives you roughly 15 levels to work with. Generally, the best tournaments start off slow to give everyone play, pick up some blind pressure in the middle, and then slow down to bring skill back into when the money counts. But this will be a charity tournament, so you’ll want to facilitate rebuys. Don’t start with an insultingly low stack, but maybe like 3,000 or 3,600 with blinds starting at 25/50. Also, in addition to rebuys, be sure to offer an “add-on” … meaning anyone, no matter what their chip-stack, can pay an extra $20 for another initial buy-in’s worth of chips at the end of the rebuy period, which probably should come at the end of the 4th level.
(You know, I used to actually have different blind structures for different events posted on this site. But i can’t for the life of me find them … kinda like your posts from back in 2005!)
— Do you know any poker company/group willing to lend/donate us enough chips and cards for 100 people or so?
Sadly, I do not. The poker biz is full of greedy bastards, and most are hurting for money moreso than back in ’06. At the same time, you may find some group that used to throw big events but no longer does that has a bunch of extra poker gear lying around. (If any Pokeratizens can help on this, speak up!) I also recommend contacting karridy – at – gmail dot com for tables.
— Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in donating a prize?
Sadler & Carter have helped out with some prizes in the past. And they always had good gear. Bluff Magazine has donated subscriptions … that’s always a nice throw-in … top 3 get subscriptions to Bluff or something like that. And, of course, you could always hit up The Lodge for lapdance coupons.
— Do you know any poker company/group that would be interested in financially sponsoring the event (we’re tax deductible) in exchange for publicity on our event fliers, website, and performance playbills?
Ha ha, too funny. You said “financially sponsoring”! You know, it occurs to me that this isn’t a charity event — it’s just a fundraiser for the arts. (How are you tax-deductible?) That makes it more difficult to get help, because while poker players love to say they’re helping a good cause, few of them have read any Samuel Beckett.
However, there’s always an interest by those in the poker biz to reach poker players. And with that in mind, I would try hitting up Choctaw in Oklahoma for flyer sponsorship. WinStar’s good, too, but I suspect you’re too small for them to give you the time of day.
— Do you know ways to publicize this to the Dallas poker-playing community?
Yes, you should send an email to danm – at – pokerati dot com. If you get lucky, he may actually answer it. You also should probably take out a big ad on Pokerati. In the alternative, the guys over at BigStack.com (formerly Weston Poker) are nice dudes always looking for some good low-stakes action.
— Anything else you think would be helpful?
Good luck! I look forward to seeing coverage of the event on YouTube … and I’m sure everyone playing would too.
Oh, also, pack heat in case the Dallas Poker Bandits show up. I’ll vouch that you’re a good shot!
edbucks says:
January 9th, 2009 at 4:36pm
Hey Dan, I thought I sneak in for a bit after getting thrown out of Pokerati last year…hehe
The problem with starting at 3000 or 3600 is that people will never run out of chips enough to have a good number of rebuys. I say 1500 is a good number. Rebuys anytime under 1000 at $20 for 1500, addons are $20 for $1500 and $30 for 3000. Oh, make sure you double the blinds every 20 mins after break or else you will play until midnite.
100 people? that’s 10 tables, you gonna need 10 dealers, I don’t think I be a happy camper if the cards are passed around with no dealer. Your cost is about $100 per dealer. Don’t forget tables/chips rentals.
What are the prizes again? If the prize suck, I’m not gonna rebuy. Every player is going to allot a budget for the game versus the top prize, from $20-$100. So it better be a good one, like a plasma TV. Need 2nd and 3rd prizes too.
Good luck. Watch out for the PO-PO and PO-BA (poker bandits)
DanM says:
January 9th, 2009 at 4:49pm
Dude, I think you’re thinking way too big here. Let’s compromise on the chips — 2,000. You can’t call a preflop raise there without committing 10 percent of your stack.
But the difference is you are talking about getting the hardcore poker players out there. But this strikes me more as the kind of thing a bunch of non-poker players will wanna be playing, just for fun. (Again, not many theater folks in poker.)
In this instance, not only will stacks be less protected, but I’ve thrown corporate charity events of this sort, and people like the lack of professional dealers — makes them more comfortable. And with terrible blind structures and token prizes at best, they still rebuy and rebuy … because they are having fun around the action. They pay $20 more because they want to keep playing.
The tournament I describe above works better in an uber-fast-paced, three-hour event. But it seems like Nick is going for a combo … Good fun times, but in the end rewarding to the skillful players.
I agree prizes do make a big difference then. And he doesn’t say if anything is being pulled out of the buy-in for a prize.
Karridy says:
January 10th, 2009 at 8:49am
A Couple Tips:
The tournament will typically end as soon as the Big + Small = 10% of chips in play.
Ex: With 3,000 to start and 100 players, the tournament will end when the blinds are 10/20k. Knowing that, you can set your structure for a timely ending, assuming you can reasonably estimate your attendance.
In Charity events, Prized make ALL the difference.
I have helped advertise several events in the area and 90% of the time the often vast differences in attendance can be directly attributed to quality of goods for grabs. It’s important to understand who you want playing and how your revenues are generated. But if you want to make the most from re-buys on an event with a $150+ buy-in, you’ll not only need a pretty kick-ass prize, but it will have to Guaranteed (Not always easy) AND it will have to be attractive to semi-serious poker players, because outside of those close to the benefited charity, these guys will spend the most in re-buys and come totally prepared to do so. This means not only with enough cash, but sans-wife to pull him away after 1st or second bust out.
The most successfull prizes are typically a WSOP entry of some sort. Here in Dallas, you could now get away with giving the top 2 or 3 a Winstar River entry, etc.
David Alexander says:
January 11th, 2009 at 8:43pm
I attended a so called charity tourney a few years ago…. we grabbed a bunch of players… and headed out.
It was crazy, about 25 poker players from around Dallas… and probably 30 or so folks that had never played…
They would stay in till the river, not knowing whether they had anything or not…
The prizes were like a Free Ac service check up…
They had sold table sponsorships on these tables for some outrageous amount and not even half the money was in the prize pool.. (yes, poker players add that kinda stuff up)
So, self dealing, cheap ass paper cards, round metal tables and metal chairs, commercial chips other could walk in with from off the street..
And then all we heard was….
Oh, it doesnt matter… It’s for charity… the charity was a softball team…. Puulease… that’s not charity…
That’s fundraising….
Huge difference…. I wouldnt go back to another one
of those again in my life… unless the prizes were huge
and you knew it was organized….
Because a fundraiser ain’t charity…. not the same thing….
Occasionally I have a home tourney… that’s 3 times as organized as that one was complete with dealers and all… and all the money is in pot…