Rogers House, Ottawa Poker Tournaments

Hello everyone. Over the next couple of months I am going to be organizing what I hope will be a fairly large poker event in Ottawa. I will be having 10 300 player tournaments. $30.00 buy-in to each tournament (you do not have to play at each event.)

I am in talks with Eurolinx to have them pay out the top 10 of each event, but regardless the top 4 players will advance to the final event held on the 11th month. This event will start off with 40 players and the winner will win a seat at the world series of poker main event ($10,000.00).

Proceeds will be going to Rogers’s house, and there will be some excellent silent auction prizes at each tournament including a custom made poker table made by myself. The silent auctions are there to help raise more money.

This event is going to be one of the larger tournaments in Ottawa, and I hope that it will be successful enough to continue holding them.

One major thing that I want is to have every player sitting at an actual poker table. I am the owner of Jenkins Poker Supplies (facebook group is up and running now.) As a poker player I have never been a fan of playing large tournaments around banquet tables. With 30 tables needed though this is a rather large expense. What I am offering is a form of advertising for businesses, musicians, anyone that needs something advertised. For $500.00 a table will be made with your company’s logo on the centre of it. As the 10 main tournaments are being played your logo will be seen by 300 people per month. I will also be putting all table sponsors logos in all pamphlets as well as on the website. You will be able to leave any gifts or coupons for all of the players if you wanted to attract more immediate business.

If you or perhaps your bosses may be interested in sponsoring a table for this event please send me an email. Jenkins.Poker@gmail.com.

I will keep you all posted on tournament dates as well as registration.

Thank you,
Scott Jenkins

Jenkins Poker Supplies

Comments

  • $90,000 in buy-ins, final prize is $10k.... talk about a rake. I hope the individual tournament payouts make up a large portion of the difference.
  • There are alot of expenses that come with hosting a tournament like this. Getting the chips made on its own is expensive, I would never use a standard poker chip for an event like this. There is also having to rent the banquet hall 11 times. Hiring help.

    The purpose of the tournament is to raise money for charity. This is a charity event....but one that actually has a great final prize. Seat at the world series of poker for potentially only $30.00. Cant argue with that.

    Again....Charity event. And hoping that Eurolinx will jump on board for paying out the top 10 from each tournament.

    Thank you for putting the math out there though. This should show people the full extent of the tournament and make them feel good about the size of the donation towards a great cause.
  • Why make custom chips for a charity event?
    All the players I know could care less if there are fancy custom chips and would rather have more cash.
  • I'm not trying to argue about the structure as well, as I think that this is a great cause. But why not up the buy-in and offer 1 WSOP seat per tourney.

    For example, if the Buy-in is $100, then your entry fees total $30,000. Offer 1 10k prize and you are left with $20k in profit, less the expenses to run the tourney. Over 10 tourneys you can raise $200k in profit, less expenses for Charity.

    If the prize is a 10k entry to WSOP, I'm sure you can fill 300 seats per month. Maybe someone like the Senators can help with expenses (or offer the Scotiabank place to run the events) as they are a big partner of Roger's House here in Ottawa.

    Great cause and I hope it is successful.
  • Why make custom chips for a charity event?
    All the players I know could care less if there are fancy custom chips and would rather have more cash.

    I have to agree with this too... though it is nice to have custom chips... this money spent would be better off going to charity... though, you could do something like raffle the chips off at the end with the proceeds from those sales being donated or something like that to help cover the costs a little more.

    Either way, good luck with the tourney!
  • sounds like a sham to me; lots of expenses yes, most of the money raised, probably not.
  • Why make custom chips for a charity event?
    All the players I know could care less if there are fancy custom chips and would rather have more cash.

    I would think it's for security reasons. What's to stop someone from bringing in their own chips that look just like all the other sets out there and increasing their stack? Custom chips will stop this from happening.
  • hmmm, poker games have been getting shut down left right and center in the past 6 months. I don't think the charity thing makes it any less ilegal. How do we know this tournament series isn't going to get shut down after the first one or two have been played?
  • Thank you for your support everyone.

    - "whats makes a charity event any more legal" Through the city you are able to obtain lottery licenses which allow you to host such events as the ones taking place.

    - "why the custom chips" For the exact reason that someone on here mentioned. It is a security measure. With 10 tournaments taking place it wont take someone long to put two and two together as to when we chip up...and what the highest value chip it. The next month that person suddenly starts breaking out a few chips here and there and brings them into rotation. It isnt worth it to play with standard chips. I would hope that no one would attempt this...but just to be on the safe side sometimes its better to cover all angles. If you were playing heads up in the final tournament and lost how pissed would you be if you found out the other guy had brought in chips...or any of the final 40 people.

    - "why not just do 10 $100 tournaments?" While I do like the fact that it would allow for 10 people to go to the WSOP instead of just one...I am having a hard time convincing myself that 300 people will come regularly at $30.00. On a poker level if I was playing in the tournament I would much rather play with people willing to put in $100, because in all fairness it is more then likely going to be better poker. On a charity level though I just want to make it affordable and provide a good final prize. The biggest thing with this tournament is the consistency over the 10 month period. One person may play in all 10 tournaments at $30.00/event, but would never even consider playing in one of the $100 tournaments. Or the tournament proves to be successful for one month, but then all the players who came out the first month stop coming out. Now I would be left with having to attract many new people and have them interested in $100 buy in tournament...much easier to do with a $30.00 buy in. I completely get what you are saying, but this is just set up to keep the same people coming back and be able to easily fill the 100+ people who dont return the following month. The structure isnt set up to be a huge prize lot where a bunch of people place in the money. That is what the WSOP prize is for. Many satellite tournaments leave you having to play against alot of people in the final round. Once you place within the top 4...you are 39 people away from the WSOP. Thats not a bad set up. The tournament is not about the "today" prize...it is about what could come of it in the end.

    Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions everyone.

    Scott Jenkins
  • I don't think you really need custom chips for a $30 tournament on the basis someone might try to cheat. If a player is going to go to this much trouble, they would likely try to copy chips in a 5/10, etc. cash game that occur at any of a number of clubs on any given night.
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