2026 Busted River Poker Pals
The Busted River Poker Pals will be comprised of approximately 36 players and approved guests who will compete in 12 monthly tournaments throughout 2026.
The club will play one tournament per month at a location to be determined. We are looking for members to host tournaments as our most used venue will soon be unavailable to us.
There will be 11 regular season tournaments and an end of the season club championship tournament.
Each tournament will cost $40 with $25 going to that month’s tournament prize pool, $5 going to the bounty pot and $10 going to the end of the season club championship finale. There will also be an optional $5 high hand pot available.
The “bounty pot” mentioned in the point above was instituted for the 2023 season and will remain for 2026. Each player will receive a $5 bounty for each player they eliminate from a tournament. As long as we have enough change collected during registration, the bounties will be paid out each night. If enough change was not collected, the bounties will be paid out prior to the next tournament. Unlike the optional high hand pot, the bounties are part of the $40 entry fee for each tournament. No bonus points will be awarded as part of the bounty pot.
The “high hand pot” mentioned above will be 100% optional. It will be paid out monthly to the participating player who has the highest winning hand of that month’s tournament. The winning hand must contain at least 1 of the winning player’s hole cards. A hand becomes official once the flop is on the board. No bonus points will be awarded as part of the high hand pot.
Players are responsible for the $10 going toward the end of the year club championship for all 11 regular season events even if they are not in attendance for all 11. Over the last 4 years, several players have simply paid their $110 for the year in advance to get it out of the way and not have to worry about owing or paying back dues in case they miss a tournament. Players who pay their annual $110 in advance will receive and additional $2,500 in starting chips for each tournament.
A player’s $10 from all 11 events ($110) must be paid in order to compete in the December club championship tournament and to be eligible for the club the following year.
Please try to not pay your entry fee in bills larger than $20’s. When several players pay in large bills, it sometimes becomes difficult to make change or to break down the payouts properly. $5 bills are appreciated as they make it much easier to ensure that bounties can be paid the night of the tournament.
Please be respectful of the hosts and other club members and let someone know if you will be unable to make a tournament. Several informational reminder emails are sent out in advance of each month’s game reminding players of the date, time and location of each event, so you will have plenty of opportunities to plan ahead to attend or let us know that you plan to miss a month.
In the event of a “No-Call-No-Show” for a tournament, an absent player will have 25 points deducted from his/her season total for the 1st instance, 50 points for the 2nd instance and be removed from the club for the 3rd instance.
Guests are allowed to play in regular season tournaments with prior approval from either Doug Dible or Dave Meager as long as that night’s tournament is not expected to have the full allotment of 38 players. Guest players will pay the standard $40 with $10 going into the end of the season prize fund. Guests are also eligible for the optional $5 high hand pot.
Players may pay the $25 entry fee for a tournament they miss and will receive last place points for that month’s tournament. This money must be paid prior to the 1st hand being dealt of the tournament the player is going to miss. This entry will count as being present. Members who attend or pay the entry fee for all 11 regular season events will receive $5,000 in bonus chips for the December club championship event.
Club members can not use a “pinch hitter” as sub for them in the event that they are going to miss a tournament.
The 11 regular season tournaments will begin at 6:00 PM and follow the format and blind structure used in all tournaments from last year with each player beginning with $20,000 in chips. Players registered by 5:40 PM will receive an additional $2,500 in starting chips. Blind rounds will once again last 20 minutes each. Seating for regular season tournaments will be determined by a blind draw.
Regular season events will pay out the top 1-5 finishers per event depending on the number of players in attendance.
Each regular season tournament’s prize pool will be based on $25 per player by the number of players participating in that night’s game.
27-38 players will pay out the top 5. The winner will receive 40% of the prize pool, 2nd gets 25%, 3rd gets 20%, 4th 10% and 5th 5% (basically your entry fee back).
21-26 players will pay out the top 4. The winner will earn 45% of the pot, 2nd gets 25%, 3rd will receive 20% and 4th takes 10%.
16-20 players will pay out the top 3 with 1st place winning 50%, 2nd place earning 30% and 3rd place getting 20% of the prize pool.
15 or less players will pay out the top 2 finishers with 1st place taking 65% and 2nd place walking away with 35% of the prize money.
Players will also accumulate points each tournament based on their order of finish to determine both a regular season champion and the amount of starting chips each player will have for the end of the season championship event.
Each player will use their points earned from their 10 best regular season tournament finishes. (Everyone gets a mulligan in case of being absent or having a poor finish in 1 event).
Any player who plays in or pays the entry fee for all 11 regular season tournaments will receive $5,000 bonus chips in the December tournament.
The final event of the year will be held in December and will be the “McCarthy Cup” Club Championship Tournament.
The same blind structure will be used for the season finale as was used for the regular season.
Each player will receive 100 chips for every point they amassed from their 10 best finishes during the regular season as his/her starting chips for the championship tournament.
No entry fee will be collected the night of the club championship, but there will be a $5 per person bounty pot and an optional $5 high hand pot.
The prize pool will consist of the $10 collected from each member and approved guest for each of the 11 regular season tournaments.
The championship prize pool should have $4,180 (38 members at $10 per tournament for 11 tournaments) plus the $10 collected from any guests who participate during any of the January through November tournaments.
Approximately $100 will be taken out for engravement on our trophy which will have a plate with name of each month’s winner engraved on it.
The regular season champion (the player with the most points accrued throughout the season) will receive $100 from the prize pool.
From time to time, we will purchase new playing cards and make repairs to the tabletops as they are needed. The cost of these cards and materials for table repairs will also come out of the December prize fund.
The remaining prize money will be paid out to the top 5 finishers in the championship event with 1st place winning 40%, 2nd place receiving 25%, 3rd place earning 20%, 4th getting 10% and 5th with 5%.
Seating for the December tournament will be predetermined based on where each player placed during the regular season with the top 4 points earners sitting in the #1 seat at their table and being the dealer in the 1st hand.
All tournaments will be played using casino poker etiquette.
The tournaments will begin at 6:00 PM. A late arriving player may have his/her chips blinded off until the end of the 1st 20-minute blind level. At the conclusion of the 1st blind level (approximately 6:20 PM), all blind chips will be removed from the tables. No player may enter the tournament after 6:20 PM.
All verbal actions must be carried out. An example is if a person says they “call” without realizing someone had previously raised the pot, they must then call or if a person says they “fold” without realizing they are in one of the blind positions, their hand is dead.
Do not act out of turn.
Any hand folded face down for any reason will be considered a dead hand.
Do not “splash” the pot with chips and keep your bet in front of you until action for that betting round is over.
Please avoid “table talk” regarding a hand or what a player should do while the hand is being played. What you say could influence what another player does creating an unfair advantage to another player.
As players are eliminated from a tournament, tables will be broken down to fill remaining tables with 8 players.
The final table will be started once the field is narrowed down to 9 players.
The “short break” following the 6th blind round ($700-$1,400) will be the greater of 15 minutes or when all prize money is counted and verified and all of the red $100 chips have been colored up and removed from play. Any player not ready to resume play at that time will be blinded in until he/she returns to the his/her seat at the table.
This section may be amended and/or updated as is deemed necessary.
Doug Dible will once again be the president and treasurer of the club.
Doug will oversee and assist in collecting entry fees for each tournament, will be part of determining the payouts for each event and will hold the money for the end of the season club championship.
Doug will be in charge of purchasing the trophy, getting it updated with name plates for each month’s champions and for providing cards and chips for each event.
Doug will also act as the director for each tournament.
Dave Meager will act as the scorekeeper, secretary, statistician and assistant tournament director for the club.
Dave will handle all paperwork for the club and collect entry fees each month.
Please let Dave know when you are eliminated from a tournament, so the points awarded and standings can be kept accurate and to collect any bounty money you earned during the event.
Dave will track updated points and standings and email them out to all members after each month’s tournament. These cumulative points and standings will be used to determine a regular season champion and each player’s starting stack and seating assignment for the December championship event.
Dave will also keep a payment record of where each player is on the $10 per month club dues which are used to purchase the championship trophy and fund the December tournament.
Doug and Dave will reconcile the payment sheet and the money collected each month to make sure all club money is accounted for.
The club is also looking for people to host our monthly tournaments. In the past, we have held games at various venues including the homes of a few club members and the warehouse of a local business but are always looking for more. Please let either Doug or Dave know if you are interested in hosting games in the future.
A lot of time and effort go into running the tournaments.
A few hours go into preparing all of the chips and setting up tables and chairs, so please be courteous and let either Doug or Dave know with as much advanced notice as you can if you will not be attending a game.
The venues need to be cleaned up following the tournaments. Any help that you can offer as far as breaking down tables, putting away chairs, assisting with coloring up the chips to remove smaller and add larger denominations as the blinds increase and cleaning up trash as you are eliminated from the games is much appreciated.