After you go to either CCG or RCG a couple of times, you begin to recognize the charity workers. It tends to be the same charity for the same venue's. Also the tournament organizers (CCG) may help with cash-in and cash-out at busy times (right before the start of a tournament).

It was a wild & crazy day of poker at RCG's American Legion event held in Carol Stream this week. After getting knocked out of the early bird tourney after a couple of hours, I headed over to the 1-2 cash games. This by far was the most maniac table I've ever played. It was fun!! Here's the various "characters" I can recall at the table during 5 hours of play.
"Bent Lamb"(looks like Ben)- It seems like the last 4 times I've played 1-2 this young guy is always at my table. He is definitely the catalyst for action. A Durrr style and will go through $200 buy-ins like candy. He reraises with a wide range and if you blink then a big bet is coming at you. Example: Early position raise to $12 with 3 callers, next.. "Bent" says All-in ($200+), no callers, turns over 7-2h. When I left he had a $900 stack. I've had very few confrontations with him. To be honest he usually stays out of pots I'm involved in (?).
Gritty Granny - In her late 60s with the bifocals midnose, this feisty lady was the lone female at the table. She'd crack you up with her chatter and mannerisms. She was at the table before I sat down, and had a $600 stack. Granny was protecting the hell out of the nine green $25 chips on top. I said. "So the red chips are your effective stack?" She didn't know what the Hell I was referring to, but then pointed to my "Stickman" shirt with 3 sticks roasting hot dogs and said "Watch out"! The slogan on the shirt says, "It's all fun & games until somebody loses a wiener".
IronMan - A 50 year old (he told us so) supervisor in the iron works industry who obviously could gamble a little dough. Tough player, big chatter. Limped a lot a called big raises. Wide range. Very friendly guy who liked himself a lot. $500 stack.
Greasy - Loose with Greasy Hair. Didn't say much but definitely fit with the cast of characters. Up & down like a Yo-Yo.
Gabby Grey - Another gambler having fun. Example: Raise, raise, call and Gabby puts $300 all-in with 9-10 suited (pf). No callers, shows.
And finally the jewel of the table. Everybody took chips off this guy. He had 5 rebuys within 90 minutes. I got my $80 off him, while the others shared the rest of his $500. He finally got it all-in with pocket kings on the flop with an Ace on the board. IronMan had called his pre flop raise with A-3d. This guy simply didn't belong in the game. Limped almost every hand, called almost every raise. One of the poorest players I've seen at RCG. I had to give him this name, GWad (Gee What a Dummy). Felt a little sorry for him. Imagine Larry the Cable Guy with no sense of humor and zero brains.
I was up a hundo at one time, but too many limps at this table and a few small beats and I ended up even for the day. Next time.

Hey everyone, I am going to play $1/$2 tonight at Chicago Charitable Games. I have played here before but only for the early bird tournament. How are the players here? Is it okay to buy-in for just $100? I am 19 and have been looking to try the cash games here. I am planning on playing "abc poker" in that I will only play strong hands pre-flop and value bet when I hit. Would that be a profitable strategy for these games?

I heard that RCG has a TV tournament planed for December It's going to be in Willowbrook with players coming in from all over. Anybody have any information on this?

Thanks in advance
Jerry

Windy City Poker Championship will be Dec. 16-18th at Bella Banquets in LaGrange, IL. 4 charity tournaments including a $400 main event.

Any feedback on how the new deep stack Saturday tournaments are? number of runners etc.

Man, I was really in no mood to play poker this week, but I had to get out of the house. You see, after 14 years, the best dog ever left this world. Eddie was a Save-A-Pet of the decade. So I had to get out of my funk and headed off to RCG Bristol Court this week. I knew I couldn't concentrate at cash games so I entered a few cheap SNGs. Somebody was looking over me. Had a lot of fun. Went outside for a smoke when this tall dude (aka Smitty) bummed one, ran to his car & brought us back to cold ones. We played 3 SNGs together and chopped $240 for 1st & 2nd in one of the SNGs. There was also this 80+ year old lady at every SNG we played. She was hilarious in a very grumpy way. As we were trying to fill the last SNG, the dealer looks across the room and says "$h!+, here she comes". Use you imagination regarding a super senior playing poker, cause I ain't got room for the details here. You can always show up at one of these events! Hey, I broke even and at least temporarily broke the funk. Have a great weekend!

sorry for your loss. glad you had a good experience. i always enjoyed the people at RCG.

Much appreciated Shifteye, but you brought more tears, because Eddie also had a major shift eye (re ur icon). Maybe, I'll see you at RCG. Take Care.

Who's going to the massive black friday day at the Odeum? Hoping I don't have to work to get the chance to defend my early bird title from last year.

does anyone have any more info on the windy city championship?

Just found the link.
http://www.windycitypokerchampionship.com/

Poker players. I am new to the forum. My Poker experience was with the defunct Ill. Charitable Games Assc. out of Bloomington. I have been charged with setting up and running poker tournaments for charity through the Fon Du Lac park district in East Peoria IL. We plan on only running multi table tournaments for the forseeable future. The law states that the maximum payout can be only $250. I think the law is fuzzy on that issue. It specifically says that chips can be cashed in for no more than $250. It is silent about placement awards in tournaments or sit and go's. I assume Rockford and Chicago organizations pay out more than $250 for high finishers in tournaments. If they are, are they in complience with the law? We are shooting for Feb 25th for our first event. The buy in will be ultra affordable at $15 with $5 rebuys and addons.

they certainly pay out more than 250 for their MTTs. i don't know enough about the law to know if they're in compliance or not. sometimes the charity workers would hassle people cashing out for more than 250 above their buy-in for cash games, but it was fairly easy to have someone else cash in the chips for you.

I was of the impression that, in tourneys anyway, payouts over $250 + tourney buy-in were paid out in credit card gift cards.

Example: You play $60 tourney. You cash for $500. You are paid $310 ($250+$60) cash + $190 gift card.

I could be wrong.

I saw a letter, online somewhere, from the state to an organization who was trying to get around the limit by giving gift cards. They ruled that gift cards are considered cash and therefore would not meet the non-cash definition.

had multiple 4 figure cashes at RCG. never got anything but cash.

CCG has figured out how to get around state laws and are paying thousands in cash to tournament winners. Everybody likes playing at CCG with the no hassle getting paid cash when winnings are in the thousands. Your charity can do well following CCG business model.

Interesting. Are thousands paid in cash in the MTTs only or do players cash in their chips from the cash games and blackjack for more than the limit of $250. As I said before, I believe the law is silent when it comes to limits on awarding high finishers in tournaments. Whether this was an oversight or not is the question and if it is made an issue will they pass an amendment that does limit them.

they used to advertise the payouts as "cash and gold", but i haven't seen that in awhile. i'm sure it was a way to circumvent whatever laws. would've been entertaining to request the gold...

i had no problem cashing out 1k+ in winnings from cash games either.

Regular player @ RCG events since Black Friday (4-5x/month). Never seen anything but green bills being paid out in all denominations. They're even spreading 1-2 PLO and the stacks at the table range from $200-$2000.
Recent trips
The Windy City Poker Championships (@BellaBanquets) was hosted by RCG mid December. My comments are based on the day I played, only. Had some different events like HU matches and a extremely fun *Joker's Wild tourney. Televised event with celebs, Faraz Jaka, Rick Rahim and Richard Roper was going on across the room. It was like two separate poker rooms. They really didn't mingle with the "crowd" on this day. Richard wouldn't even shake my hand after we both took a pee side by side (a joke?). Since this was a 3 day event, the dealers from RCG were playing a bit. Drinking was heavy. A 60+ lady was dropping F-bombs by the second (Hilarious). It was sort of like this all day. Won a couple hundred, mostly from the dealers that I'm usually tipping.
Double Tree on Dec27 - Cabin fever, too many days with relatives? Who knows, but they turned out in droves for this one. College kids galore, HPT Champ Craig Casino was there. 200 runners for the early bird. It got chopped 20 ways!! My son got a piece after being down to 5BB. Another $250+ win for me.
Atlantis on Dec30 - Another nice crowd. Booked a small win.

Note - Some "cons" - Have no inside info, but there have been a few cancelled events. RCG management and a few employees seem under scrutiny by gaming officials or something along this line. Even though RCG is on FB & Twitter there's not much exciting about their marketing (on-line or mingling with a loyal customer base). They need a good front man because the crowds aren't always this big.
*re the Jokers Wild tourney - Yesterday, I ask one of their "floor managers" if they could spread this again. Response: We ain't gonna do that! Where's the consistency? Get with it Dudes!!!

Interesting & on topic read: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2...aritable-games

To add to Arkyten's analysis, I've played at perhaps 15-20 of these events over the past 5-6 years. I've seen players cash out chips for others, "give" the big stacks their buy in cards after they bust, and buy chips right from another player (while the seller was still playing). There is a limit to winnings in theory but not in practice, it simply is not enforced.....

At two of these charity events where "the authorities" have showed up and once was shut down, the other time I cashed out and left before finding out what happened.

I haven't played in one of these events since last March but I generally I would see 1-2 decent players at the table (sometimes 0) and a mix of old people and 18-25 year olds who play(ed) online.

Forgot to mention I only play Cash games here, Played 1 sit n go and didn't like the fast structure.

Charity Event for Animal Shelter House Jan 21 in Huntley, IL
http://t.co/K06CCsem