I am meeting next week with a long retired TD of a successful bar-league.

From what I gather, there is currently a successful monday night game at Pub A, a dwindling tuesday night game at pub B, and a small but successful game thursday at pub C.

Pub B was a great large game 5-6 years ago when the now-retired TD ran it, there was lots of young people, entertainment, points, etc... the current TD caters to the older people that drink water, rulings, etc... they have outdated dirty gross chips, tables, etc. too. She's just not that into it.

I own a business, and so does a poker friend of mine. She proposed the idea to me last night at our bi-weekly cash game that we could pretty easily start our own league, and judging by the way the current ones are managed, it should and could be very successful.

My thoughts are to find a pub that would do a wednesday night game (one that doesn't do wing nights or at least has enough room for 3-4 tables in addition to normal patrons), and wait until I can get into the tuesday night slot at Pub B. I think we could turn that back into a 30+ player game, instead of a 18-25 person game.. using social media and networking through the poker community here.

Just like a business, I would like to create a brand, not just a guy hosting a game, I am a member of PCF and would get cheap ceramic or cheap plastic custom logo'd chips, either used decks from the local casino, or buy bulk Copags or something online when they go on a big sale. I would build my own folding table toppers with a bit of a rail to aid in dealing, since this is all a self-dealt game. (Unless I could get dealers too, but that ain't likely).

Rewards would be a GC to the pub for 1st, as well as a points system that goes through a season to a final table with cash prizes paid for by our league.

What do you guys think is the more important aspects when you attend a bar-league game?

One thing I like at the thursday game at Pub C is they do a top-up at the beginning for how much you spent last week, as well as a top-up at first break for how much you spent so far... definitely gets people eating and drinking, which the pub loves.

Any input is appreciated!!

(This is in BC, Canada, so we are allowed free to play, with prizes given)

Bar leagues , like you propose, used to be everywhere and almost everyday in most decent sized cities. They have become fairly rare these days around here as have charity games. Many, many folks just gave up poker after the new wore off, and the ones who did not have mostly gone into home games or just frequent casinos. Maybe there is interest enough in your area for something like this , but here it would likely not be that easy to start up something. BUT, good luck , it could work out I guess.

This outfit is based in my area. You might get some ideas from them. They have a point system that goes across all venues, I think. I could see the benefit of a system that awarded prizes for both. I'm not sure if they do that.

I was aware of them, but I've never played in a bar league, so I can't help with details.

http://www.worldtavernpoker.com/

if it is free to play, where does the money come from?

WTP is a decent enough outfit. I've played with them a time or two when I've had to come up to RTP to go to my main office. Their tables and equipment leave a bit to be desired, but their ranking system and prices are generally well done.

Interstate Poker Club here in Atlanta does a good job. They're not as active they once were, but they still manage at least 2-3 games every night of the week spread out around the city. This year they redid their system and how chips are awarded. I haven't played much since they did that since I've mostly moved away from bar poker.

From what you're talking about, it could be a decent side thing. The big thing is going to be keeping it fair, not playing favorites, and working out a way to actually fund your end of season stuff (most leagues do it by offering VIP membership and the like to provide the funds for such things).

Money comes from the Pub owner, just like hiring a band, he hires a poker league to come in and bring with it many people that will buy food/drinks in exchange for a nice place to play. Essentially I need to supply the bar with both more people and people that are willing to buy food/drinks, not the water with a lemon old people. The $$$ the pub pays goes towards the end of season prizes, as well as compensating the TD for hosting and supplying all the tables/chips/etc.

A well-run one will have a website with updated statistics the night of or the day after the tournament so people can be kept up to date with their standings. They currently don't do that anywhere around here as far as I know.

I own my own business from 7-5pm mon-fri, so this would be a purely extra-curricular activity that is a decent part-time gig doing something I enjoy (running tournaments & poker games)

We have a really good league here in MN. I haven't played in a couple years because I got married and had a kid so I can't fit it into the schedule often enough to keep up in the points, but I do know that they are still adding bars occasionally.

They've also partnered with one of the local card rooms and got them to both have a weekly freeroll that counts towards the bar league points and host their year end tournaments where they bring the multiple bars together.

At the end of the year their "state" tournament champion wins a bracelet and trip to LV with entry into either a $1k or $1.5k WSOP event. They automatically qualify each bars champ for that tournament, and have "regional" tournaments for the other locations top point earners where they qualify to round out the field. I think you're also incented to play at multiple locations by getting bonus chips in the large tournaments if you won or qualified at multiple bars.

I like that top off idea, but when something similar was tried here it was deemed illegal because it was considered a buy-in. They do offer bonus chips for other things though like being on time and sharing or retweeting status's from Facebook and Twitter. I don't remember if being the champion at your bar got you anything special other than qualifying for the big tournament, but that would've been nice. Some of the bars did special things like high hand in the first hour or first pocket aces gets a free drink too which was fun.

Really when I was going it was something cheap to do on a Monday night. I got to meet a lot of cool people in a new town and ended up with a few new home games to go to on top of the bar games. What really made the games good were having a good TD and the other players. Everything else was a bonus.

http://sfpokertour.com/