Poker tournaments can be a great way to earn money, especially if you are part of an organization. If you are looking for a cool fundraiser and you are a poker player, then you should consider trying to put together a poker tournament. The first step you will need to take is to make sure that you are legally allowed to have poker tournaments. Since the game is gambling, you may not be able to do it everywhere. In other places, you can plan the tourney, but you will have to pay for a permit to do so. Check with your local business office to ask.
If you have the okay to begin, then it is time to start planning. First you will need to begin procuring enough poker tables and chairs. In most competitive play, you cannot have more than 8 people on one table. You will need to get together with your planning committee to decide how many people you will permit per table and to determine the rules. What will happen when one table ends, for example? Will you consolidate throughout the tourney, or will you wait until each table has only one player remaining.
Once you have begun getting the tables, chips, and other pieces you will need to host a good tournament, then you will have to work on getting people to your tournament. Your first step there will be to go to the people you know who play. Poker players tend to know others who play the game as well, especially if there are not a lot of players in your area. You should ask people if they would be interested. Know how much the entry fee is and how much the payout will be before you begin to play.
In most cases, the sponsoring group will try to come up with a guaranteed pot. For example, you may say that the pot is $500 for first place if you are in a fairly small area. The buy-in then could be set at $10 so that each person pays $10 to play for the chance to win $500. Obviously your group would not begin making any money until at least 50 people have joined, but that is part of the risk of the fundraiser. You would need to think about how many people you think you could get before you get started.
The key to getting people to your poker tournament is to do a great job of marketing your game. Think about places where people who play poker may spend their time. Ask if you can advertise in bars and other similar locations. You may be permitted to put flyers elsewhere, especially if others see your cause as a worthy one. Do not skip over general-interest areas, such as grocery stores, because you may be able to catch people who enjoy the game but do not play regularly.
Also try to get advertisements in the newspaper if you can. Some areas do not advertise gambling, so you need to make sure you will get the okay for the ad before you plan it. You also can raffle off free buy-ins at events to get others interested and have sign-up booths everywhere you can.
As the tournament approaches, begin to put together the pieces of the event. Get volunteers signed up and ready to go. Train your dealers. You need to have every dealer use the same techniques and know the rules well so that you do not have any problems during the tournament. If you are a poker nut, then this part will be exciting. Quiz the dealers to make sure that they know what to do in weird situations.
The night of the event will be filled with fun and excitement. Even people who may have been reluctant will be excited if you set the stage for an awesome tournament. Though you will not be able to play since you are one of the organizers, you should have fun wandering around and seeing everyone else play. Watching others and examining their playing styles is part of the fun of playing poker, and you will get a kick out of trying to figure the players out even if you are not at the table.
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