Thursday, October 29, 2009

Season 5 - Early Registration Bonus

As we have done in past seasons, there will be a bonus for early registration.

Anyone registering by midnight on Friday, November 6 will receive 5 bonus league points. The $15 PokerStars transfer to "potnets (Severna Park)" must be received by the deadline to get the bonus - no exceptions.

We are hoping for a big turnout for this season! Last season, HiRoller88 was able to turn his free Week 7 Sunday Million ticket into a several hundred dollar cash win - this season it could be you! Register today!

Season 5 Rules and Details

Updated 10/29/2009

Tournaments for Season 5 will be NL Holdem.

The league details for Season 5 (this post will be kept up to date with the latest information):

The league will have a $15 league fee which will go completely towards the league prize pool.

All league fees and payouts will be processed via PokerStars transfers. To pay a league fee initiate a funds transfer to player "potnets" (will show city as Severna Park). Please take care to ensure the transfer is going to the right place. Other payment methods can be accommodated but PS transfer is strongly preferred.

All players in the weekly tournament will earn points, with significantly more points going to the higher finishing places. Points accumulate over the season to determine a champion at the end with the most points. The lowest score for each player over the 10-week season will be dropped, to accommodate late-joining players and people missing an occasional tournament.

LEAGUE FEES MUST BE CURRENT BEFORE EACH TOURNAMENT STARTS IN ORDER TO EARN POINTS IN THAT TOURNAMENT. NO EXCEPTIONS.


A league "season" will consist of ten weekly tournaments followed by a championship tournament.

League format:
A weekly private tournament on PokerStars for $5+.50
Tournaments for Season 5 will be NL Holdem
Tournaments will be Tuesday nights at 9pm EST starting November 10, 2009
Tournament password will be made available on the league blog prior to the tournament
Every registered league member who plays will get league points, with points ramping up the higher you place

Bounty: For Season 5 there will be a 5 point bounty (no cash) on the winner of the previous week. In the event of consecutive wins the winner gets the bounty. The bounty will be added to the points earned during the tournament. The week 1 bounty is the Season 4 Champion. If the league has extra money (via PokerStars signups or from donations, for example) in the future, we will return to cash bounty payouts.

Additional Prizes:
PokerStars has generously agreed to continue supporting our league in Season 4, with the same bonus prizes as last season:

League points leader after Week 3: Entry in the Sunday Million Tournament on PokerStars
League points leader after Week 7: Entry in the Sunday Million Tournament on PokerStars
Final Top 3 finishers: Custom PokerStars shirts

Thanks PokerStars!

When determining the points leaders for Weeks 3 and 7, the following will apply:
Week 3 leader: Will NOT reflect the lowest score dropped
Week 7 leader: Will reflect the lowest score dropped

At the end of the season, the Top 9 players in league points will play a Championship Tourney, which will also add to the points total. This will be a $10+1 NL Holdem tournament. In addition to the regular scoring, this tournament will also offer bonus points as follows:

The bounties and bonus points for the Championship Tourney are as follows:

Bounties
There will be a league points bounty (no cash bounty) on everyone in the Championship, but it will be a weighted bounty based on the leaderboard going into the tourney, as follows:

PlaceBounty
1)9 pts
2)8 pts
3)7 pts
4)6 pts
5)5 pts
6)4 pts
7)3 pts
8)
9)
2 pts
1 pt


Bonus points
There will be additional bonus points for finishing in the money in the Championship, as follows:
PlaceBonus
1)20 pts
2)10 pts
3)5 pts

The season ends after the championship tournament, with the league prize pool distributed over the top 3 point leaders for the season. The number of payouts may be adjusted depending on how many people are in the league.

Two league policies to be aware of:

1) Sitting out - Any player that registers for a tourney but doesn't actually play any hands (i.e. sits out until blinded off) will receive last place points for that tourney. It is OK (and even encouraged) to register to get 5 points for a tourney you can't attend, but it isn't fair to get more points than an active player in that case. You must actually play at least one hand in a tourney to be eligible for more than last place points.

2) Non-league players - Non-league players are welcome to play in any regular league tournaments. This only increases the weekly prize pool, and league points are only awarded to active league players. No league points will be awarded retroactively should a player later join the league. Non-league players are not eligible to win a cash bounty (if any). Of course, anyone playing in these tournaments is welcome and encouraged to join the league!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Season 5 Coming Up!

Season 5 of the MD DonkFest Poker League will kick off on Tuesday, November 10. The league seasons alternate between Mixed Games and all NL Holdem - Season 5 will be all NL Holdem.

The league is only $15 to join, and all of the money goes into the prize pool. Watch this space for all of the details, including the early registration bonus.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Season 4 Champion: HiRoller88

Congratulations to our Season 4 Champion: HiRoller88! Not only did he win in convincing fashion, he was able to cash in the Sunday Million event using the entry he won in Week 7. Hopefully he will submit a writeup of his experience there.

Due to circumstances involving an alternate filling in for what then became a last minute sign-in we had 9 people for our 8-person "single-table" Championship HORSE tournament. This will likely result in a rule about signing up earlier for the Championship... stay tuned.

TwoDuxx2 and thetoycave both made a good run at overtaking HiRoller88's point lead, but were unable to outlast the Championship Tournament winner, TeamGetBig. TwoDuxx2 was second and thetoycave came in third.

For the overall league standings, HiRoller88 was first and received $125, TwoDuxx2 was second for $75, and thetoycave third for $50. The top 3 will also be receiving custom PokerStars shirts. Thanks to everyone who played this Season!

The results:



The final standings:

HiRoller88(1) 180.61
TwoDuxx2(1) 158.43
thetoycave(1) 152.32
TeamGetBig(3) 150.16
potnets(1) 142.04
COLUMBIADC(1) 126.18
ravensfutbal(1) 125.48
ScottyBallin(1) 106.27
xICEPICKx 104.04
ki steelers 96.69
goateedude 94.97
rusdog13 92.52
EJ89 89.62
EHonda500Mob(1) 88.42
LaxStarr1995 51.67
DarkRattler 21.59
jack10offsut 21.49
Biggfella 15.00

Season 5 will be NL Holdem, and we are hoping for a big turnout. If you know anyone who would like to join us, please encourage them to do so - all are welcome!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Championship Tomorrow

The Championship Tournament is tomorrow. We still need TeamGetBig and ScottyBallin to register for the tournament - please register soon to ensure there are no issues. Also, if you can't make the tournament for any reason please let me know ASAP so an alternate can play.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Season 4 Championship

It's Championship Week, and congratulations to the Top 8 players that will be competing Tuesday: HiRoller88, potnets, ravensfutbal, thetoycave, COLUMBIADC, TwoDuxx2, ScottyBallin and TeamGetBig. Here are the tournament details:

Format: HORSE
Buy-in: $10+$1
Date: Oct 13, 2009
Time: 9pm EST
Tourney ID: 201608737
Tourney Name: MD DonkFest S4CH
Tourney Password: emailed to participants

Please register early to avoid any last-minute problems!

NOTE: Due to the way PokerStars currently runs private tournaments we are unable to disable late registration or limit the players to 8. Because of this, the tournament will start on two tables until the late registration period ends. I tried to get this changed but could not; PokerStars has said they will consider adding this feature in the future.

In addition to the regular scoring there will be bonus points for the top 3 tournament winners, along with a weighted bounty system.

Bonus points
There will be additional bonus points for finishing in the money in the Championship Tournament, as follows:

Place Bonus
1) 20 pts
2) 10 pts
3) 5 pts

Bounties
There will be a bounty on everyone in the Championship, but it will be a weighted bounty based on the leaderboard going into the tourney, as follows (modified slightly to keep some consistency with the 9-person tournaments):

Place Bounty
1)HiRoller88
2)potnets
9 pts
8 pts
3)ravensfutbal 7 pts
4)thetoycave 6 pts
5)COLUMBIADC 5 pts
6)TwoDuxx2 4 pts
7)ScottyBallin 3 pts
8)TeamGetBig 2 pts

The tournament winner will keep his own bounty. There are a lot of points up for grabs in this tournament!

Payout
The league prize pool for Season 4 is $250. Three places will be paid based on overall league points for the season, as follows:

1st place - $125.00
2nd place - $75.00
3rd place - $50.00

In addition, the top 3 finishers will receive a custom PokerStars shirt, generously donated by PokerStars.

Good luck everyone!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Season 4, By The Numbers

Number of league members: 18
Average weekly attendance: 15
Most 1st place finishes: 2 (TeamGetBig)
Most cashes: 6 (HiRoller88)
Best average finish: 4.8 (HiRoller88)
Most bounties: 2 (TeamGetBig, Ehonda500Mob, ravensfutbal)
Weeks where 1st place also won the bounty: 6

Other notes:
TeamGetBig made the Top 8 despite missing 4 tournaments
Everyone in the Top 8 had at least one tournament win
HiRoller88's 41 point lead is the largest end of season lead to date
For the second season in a row someone has dropped out of the Top 8/9 by not playing Week 10

Week 10 Results

The final regular week of Season 4 was Limit Stud H/L, and 13 players showed up hoping to secure a spot in next week's Championship Tournament. For the first time ever the bounty was split, with Ehonda500Mob and rusdog13 going high-low to take out ravensfutbal. Ehonda500Mob built up a huge chip lead, but was worn down by the cruelty that is Stud H/L and settled for third. HiRoller88 continued an impressive cashing record by taking second, and potnets was a very improbable winner having been at the bottom for much of the tournament.

Despite there being a sizable "Top 8 bubble" the Top 8 was unchanged by this tournament, except for the positioning within it.

One notable Top Eighter is TeamGetBig, who held on to a spot despite missing four out of ten tournaments. Two wins didn't hurt!

The results:



The final Top 8 (lowest score for the season dropped):

HiRoller88(1) 171.19
potnets(1) 132.04
ravensfutbal(1) 120.48
thetoycave(1) 119.00
COLUMBIADC(1) 115.93
TwoDuxx2(1) 113.22
ScottyBallin(1) 100.66
TeamGetBig(2) 99.16

Congrats to the Top 8, and a big thanks to all that played this season. Season 5 will be all NL Holdem, and it would be great to have a big turnout. If you know others who might like to play, spread the word!

Details on next week's Championship Tournament will be sent out (and posted) shortly.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Game Day!

Week 10 tonight, Stud H/L. Last chance to get into the Top 8 for the Championship!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Week 9 Results

Week 9 was PL Triple Draw 2-7. For the sixth time this season, the bounty winner went on to take down the tourney. In this case, the bounty was thetoycave, who came in third. thetoycave was knocked out by ravensfutbal, who then bested HiRoller88 for the win. HiRoller88 continues to find the league to be profitable, with a league-leading 5 cashes and a healthy points lead.

The Results:



Updated Top 8 (lowest score for the season dropped):

HiRoller88(1) 150.69
thetoycave(1) 113.59
ravensfutbal(1) 112.73
COLUMBIADC(1) 107.30
TwoDuxx2(1) 102.10
potnets 100.98
TeamGetBig(2) 99.16
ScottyBallin(1) 95.09

On the "Top 8 Bubble":

xICEPICKx 92.70
ki steelers 91.69
goateedude 88.57
rusdog13 82.80
EJ89 82.60
EHonda500Mob(1) 72.60

Next week is Week 10, and the last chance to move into the Top 8 for a spot in the Championship Tournament. The format for Week 10 is Stud H/L. Good luck everyone!