Poker Elimination Challenge Designed on and before March 6, 2006 by: Christine Korza Jenny Korza Alex Korza Charles Jones Michelle Richey Please do not duplicate without permission from Poker Nation Buy-in: Pre-determined. Collected up-front and becomes the grand prize for the winner. The prize and buy-in are not integral to the game and can be anything. Number of players: 8 to 10 for one table Items needed: - Poker chips for betting (you’ll need enough to have starting chips for your maximum number of players) - Playing cards. Recommend 2 different-colored decks so the next dealer can shuffle ahead of time to get more hands played in the time allotted. - A video camera with a remote control and a tripod. - A private room away from the main game for the camera. Set up the camera on a tripod (or other stable surface) pointing to a chair where players will sit to cast their votes. Game play: 1) Randomly draw seating (either by drawing cards numbered A-10 or computer program) at the beginning of each Main Round. All players should sit at the table. The player in seat 1 is the opening dealer. 2) Establish a low blind rate. This rate shouldn’t change during play, but should instead remain constant throughout the tournament. 3) Play multiple hands of No-limit Texas Hold’em in standard “ring game” style. Play for the time limit specified in the Time Limits section. Effort should be made not to let the players see the time remaining as it will influence game play. When time runs out, players finish the current hand. 4) If a player runs out of chips during this round of play, they will receive 1 vote against them from the house. It is possible and acceptable for more than one player to receive this penalty. 5) The player with the most chips when time runs out has earned an immunity for the current round of voting. Players may not vote for the immune player. 6) Each player should take turns entering the private room and casting their vote. Using a video camera with a remote works best so the player can press Record when they’re seated. To cast a vote, look at the camera and say “I know I’m a better poker player than”, followed by the name of the player they wish to vote for. Players may not vote for the immune player, but the immune player still casts a vote. Players may wish to enhance this process by saying anything else they’d like to the camera (perhaps explaining their vote or apologizing for it), but they should keep their vote to a maximum time limit and they should end their “speech” with the required phrase so their vote is clear. 7) The tape of the votes should be played for all players and the votes counted. Do not forget to give an extra vote from the house against all players who ran out of chips in the playing round. 8) The player with the highest number of votes becomes the chosen player. He must select, between the players who voted for him, who he wants to go heads-up against. The previously immune player is not exempt from being challenged by the chosen player to defend his vote. 9) The chosen player and his selected opponent must now play heads-up to determine which player stays in the game and which is eliminated. Both players receive their starting chips. To speed this along, other players should assist in shuffling and dealing. Play progresses as stated in the Time Limits section. Play progresses until one player has all of the chips. The other player is eliminated from the tournament. Example: The players are Bob, Steve, Jim, Paul, Mary, Alice, Tom, and Frank. These 8 players play the “ring game”. Mary and Jim run out of chips and get one vote apiece. Bob is chip leader and gets an immunity for the voting. All 8 players go into the private room and cast votes. - Bob votes for Mary - Steve votes for Mary - Jim votes for Mary - Paul votes for Tom - Mary votes for Alice - Alice votes for Mary - Tom votes for Steve - Frank votes for Steve Mary received four votes from players and one from the house. Tom received one vote. Alice received one vote. Steve received two votes. Jim received one vote from the house. Mary is the chosen player and must select between Bob, Steve, Jim, and Alice to go heads-up against. (Even though Bob was immune from voting, he’s NOT immune from having to defend his vote in heads-up if the chosen player wants to challenge him) Mary selects Alice and they play heads-up. Ten minutes into the game, Alice gets a pocket pair of Kings against Mary’s pocket 9’s. They both go all-in with Alice as chip leader. Alice catches another King on the flop, while Mary does not improve her hand. Mary is eliminated from the game. 10) This process is repeated in exactly the same way (except for the Time Limits below) until 3 players remain. With 3 players, the “playing round” still occurs, and the chip leader is immune. However, instead of voting, the other two players must play heads-up against each other until one player has all the chips. The loser finishes in 3rd place. 11) The winner of this heads-up match goes against the previous chip leader to decide who is the “First Place” winner of the game. Once again, this heads-up round has NO time limit. The winner is the player who wins all the chips from his opponent. The other player is considered the 2nd place winner. Time Limits: | players remaining | Main Round | Heads-up play | | 10 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 9 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 8 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 7 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 6 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 5 | 30 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 4 | 20 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | 3 | 20 | Blind increase at 5 min, 10 min | | TOTALS | 3:40 | ??? | Variation: If a video camera is not available, players may cast their votes on slips of paper or index cards and reveal them in turn to cast votes. |
