Thanks again for putting the chip order together. I've received notice that a package has arrived and plan to pick them up later this week.

The only change I plan to make this year is to make the initial buy-in $10. I find my group is rather conservative when it comes to re-buys.

Has there been any consensus of whether the trigger for the bag of gifts should be any red K or As2h?

I used As2h last year and I am leaning towards doing that again this year.

Pros of As2h: the 2h provides incentive for looser play (many of the group wanted to pull a gift)

Pros of red K: higher chance of going to showdown with a K

What do the majority go with?

Thanks,
Grant

I use red K, because it is the Santa card, dammit!

Honestly, I never got the A2 thing.

It's like the 72 game; people will go nuts with a 2 just for a chance to draw a chip. GAMBOOOOOOL!!!

So I have 15 people signed up for this. I was planning on having just one table, but the response was so good, I opened it up, first to 14, with a table of 8 and 6. Today one last person asked to be included, and he is a great guy, so we'll squeeze him in.

I have a couple of questions for the Schmendo and jz.

You meant "presents in the bag," right?

Also, I added this rule:

How do you handle that?

EDIT: I see jz already has this rule. In fact, I plagiarized him!

I'll post my full text separately.

Santa Gone Wild Poker Tournament
The Game: NLHE Rebuy Tournament
Buy-In: $5 entry for 4,000 chips + Secret Santa Gift + Potluck Dish
Rebuys: $5 for 4,000 chips through 400/800, or when rebuys run out. Must bust to rebuy.
Add On: $5 for 4,000 chips until the end of 400/800. May be bought as rebuy if rebuys run out.
Special: Santa's Bag 'o Presents!

#1 Rule: HAVE FUN!

#2 Rule: If you play a hand down to the river and show a red king as one of your hole cards, you pull one present (at random) from the Bag 'o Presents.
#3 Rule: If the river is a red King, after a round of betting, a sixth card will be dealt face up, with another round of betting. If the sixth card is the other red King, there will be a seventh board card and another round of betting.
Santa’s Bag ‘o Presents Chips


<Schmendr1ck's table here. I'm too lazy to format it>


Rules for Bag 'o Presents
1) There are three ways to win a present at showdown with a red king:
1. If you table your hand and win, you must take a present.
2. If you are all-in, your hand must be tabled. Win or lose, you must take a present.
3. If your opponent tables a better hand, you may choose to table your loser and take a present, but it isn’t required.
2) If you bust out, but win a present, the present you've drawn is applied after you re-buy. If you choose not to re-buy, you don't pull a present. If it is after the rebuy period and you bust out you are still in the game with the one chip you pull from the bag as a "Last Minute Christmas Gift."

3) If you pull a present that's already been colored up, the present is discarded. Feel free to shout, "Bah, humbug" if you'd like.
4) If a table breaks and there are presents on it, the presents are randomly distributed to the other bags.
5) The Night Before Xmas. When there are 10 minutes left in the last blind level before the end of rebuys (400/800), the clock is paused and the current hands are finished. Move the button, then starting with the small blind, each player may optionally draw once from the Bag of Presents. Afterward, restart the clock and continue play.

Secret Santa Gift
In addition to your $5 buy-in, you are to bring in a wrapped Secret Santa gift worth $10-$15. This gift can be anything you want to give; something cool, a funny joke, or something politically incorrect. When you bust out of the tournament, you get to pick one of the Secret Santa gifts, open it, and display it proudly for all to see. But you cannot select the present you brought, unless it is the last present available.

Payouts
For 15 players, 4 will be paid, using BlindValet.com split, rounded to nearest $5. Don’t expect a big payday, though.

May the odds be forever in your favor!

The game last night was a blast. A couple of hours of crazy poker, followed by a mostly short-stacked donkament for another two hours.

We started with the potluck dinner. I made Moroccan Chicken over rice. Someone brought two banquet trays of excellent quesadillas, and there was all sorts of sides, dips, spreads, cheeses and sweets. Way more food than we could possibly eat, but it was fun trying. About five pounds of leftover quesadillas are in my fridge.

We had 13 players, 20 rebuys, and 11 add-ons for a total prize pool of $220. I bought 3 of those rebuys. We paid four places 100, 70, 35, and 25.

Several players were very impressed I had custom chips for this tournament. Maybe disbelief is a more accurate term. It was a great touch, so thanks yet again to Schmendr1ck for providing these.

These chips played havoc with several players, and I was one of them. Gift Exchange chips came up twice, and there were two very happy and two very unhappy players as a result. Company's Coming sent players back and forth between tables, which has a side effect of mixing up the groups a little.

After playing crazy loose and aggro and rebuying a couple of times because of it, I moved to the smaller table and finally got some hands and a decent stack of about 15K. Then I drew Secret Santa and was all-in on the next hand. And...there were two all-ins and a call by a big stack! I had T4 off, so you know I lost it all. I think it was AK vs QQ vs 77. A king came on the flop and that was that. Rebuy!

Our add-ons were the same as the initial buy-ins, 4K, and I think next year I will do as others and double that. But most everyone bought one, even though it was only 4 BB for the next level. At $5, I think cheap poker fever infected most of the crowd.

I went out in sixth place with 44 < A3 off, but I got my money in pretty good, so I was not too unhappy. A on the flop, but I got a flush draw on the turn to give me a sweat.

Definitely a lot of fun and there will be a 3rd annual event. I am going to make some notes about change I want to consider.

Bump for the holidays and for the new people.

Running my game on the 19th with the meltdown tournament. Currently maxed at 17 people.

Thanks for the bump, jz.

We don't have a host for this game until January. So it will run, but it will be a Santa in January game. The usual potluck, Santa game tournament, and gift exchange as people bust out that I've posted previously.

If anyone is interested in the details, scroll up a bit.

I bumped my max up to 20 and the 3 slots filled within a few hours. Going to try running this as 3 shorter tables (7/7/6) and see how it works. I also am going to change how the secret Santa is done. In the past it was just at random pulling a gift. This year I'm going to do it kinda white elephant style during dinner with the pick order being in reverse bust out so the first out of the tournament get the last gift. Should help even things out. As it seems like everyone is staying for dinner I don't predict the early bust out taking off.

We played our belated Santa game last night. We only had 9 players, but it was a good, crazy game. The potluck was a little skimpy, but sufficient. We grabbed a quick plate and got down to the game.

I can't remember more bad beats at a tournament. Remember that any hand shown down with a red king pulls a "gift" chip. The first gift chip was Secret Santa (you must go all-in when next to act), where the all-in 74o on the button (vs AJ in the SB) caught a four card flush on the river to win. AJ sure thought he was good there.

We also had a Bah-humbug chip player (you get only one hole card until you win or bust) go all-in, get called, and then catch four spades for a flush with K.

I played wildly during the rebuy period, because buy-ins were only $5, so why not have fun with it? In one hand I overplayed K6 hoping to get lucky or save myself with a gift chip. I lost, went busto, pulled a Gift Exchange chip (trade stacks with the person to my left). He had a better than average stack. Thanks, man! Enjoy the rebuy!

I was four or five buy-ins into the game when the rebuy period ended (which ran a long time, like from 25/50 to 400/800). There were two monster stacks (who avoided the gift chip drama for the most part) and I had an average stack among the remaining players. I locked down the shenanigans and ended up third.

When we got down to three, my stack was about the same as the former 2nd biggest stack, and we were both down to about 12 BBs. The monster stack was with the same player who had it for most of the game. There were a lot of all-ins and folds, passing the blinds around. I gained a little against the smaller stack.

Then the big stack on my right went all in and I looked at A4. I couldn't fold that, and was glad to first see he had K9, then more glad to see an A on the flop. But less glad to see him find running cards on the turn and river to make an inside straight. Oh well.

We chose presents when we busted, so there were only three. I got two pounds of good coffee beans, which I was happy enough to get.

The monster stack prevailed to take first place, though it took an extra hand. The short stack had a red king when he busted, exchanged that for 2k chips, which was a SB by that point, and played one more fruitless hand.

I profited $10-$15, so it was a major payday for me. I made about the same amount during our fairly short cash game afterwards.

I have my Santa game planned for this Friday. It is looking like I'll be able to run two tables (anywhere from 14-20 playing).

Last year I did the following and it worked well:
$20 buyin 5,000 chips
$5 rebuy 5,000 chips (first 2.5 hours of play up until 500/1000)
$10 add on 15,000 chips

The bigger buyin and addons allow for a decent prize pool. When we did $5 for everything it was dissapointing to make it through so much crazy play only to get a small reward.

Grant

It's that time of the year again. I'm running the 4th Annual Xmas game on the 17th of the month and have 27 players right now and am expecting 30ish to be playing this year. The game got so big that I'm moving it to another regulars home and cohosting it with him this year. He making pot roast, potatoes, green beans, pie and some other things for dinner. Others are bringing appetizers, other desserts, pop, beer and water. We are including the secret Santa exchange again this year and are going to have 3 tables of cash games running after the tournament. A few of the other players and myself bought a Bowmore 18 and a Highland Park 21 to drink throughout the day. Can't wait!

Buy ins are $10 for 5k, rebuy are $5 for 5k and addons are $10 for 10k. My guess is we will be over 100 rebuys, probably closer to 150, so a prize pool of around $1,200-1,400. I've left all the buy ins and rebuys real low as it is the cheapest tournament we do all year and let's people come play for $40-50 on average. Plus since we do cash games after noone takes to big of a beating before those start.

Planning another Red Santa prize game this year. So far very popular. Stole the idea a couple of years ago from a post by eneely on this forum I think. The Glenn Place Rounders thank you again!

I'm glad this is catching on. Ironically, I didn't even think about it until I saw these posts, and with my schedule, I doubt I'll pull a game together this year.

So I am looking forward to hearing how everyone's tournament went.

Also, let's give a slow clap to Schmendrick, who came up with this idea.

I adapted it to our Cash game cause we don't do Tournaments. I put chips in several envelopes. Anybody who wins a hand with Kh or Kd in the hole draws an envelope. Multiple winners are allowed. If some envelopes are not won by game break up , I keep them and cash them out. This has not happened yet LOL

Oh yeah, I think I recall that now. Good adaptation.

Thanks, but it wasn't me. I think I popularized the idea here, but somebody else started it.

Also for the record, my annual game is scheduled for Tuesday the 20th.

We are hosting our third annual santa game on Monday the 19th. We also are primarily a cash game, so we play that if you win a hand with a red K, you get an envelope, but if you win a hand with both red Ks, you get five envelopes (holdem only.) Prizes range from the dreaded $.25 zonk to a grand prize of a $20 scratcher. Always a lot of fun and people are willing to wayyyy overbet their hands for a chance to win an envelope. If there are any left we just splash the pot with them until we run out. Many thanks to this forum for providing the idea that is now an annual tradition.

I might have to steal the double Santa idea KdKh from you. Since I put the chips in out of my own pocket as a kind of Christmas gift to my crew, I usually make all the amounts the same. But the double Santa is really a cool concept. I think I might have to come up with a special prize for that.

Another host of our game is going to run this game on the 19th. I'm going to loan the chips I got from Schmendrick (and this time, I'm pretty sure it is Schmendrick).

Our game went really well. Only ten players, but they were mostly the core group that has played together for years.

We got there an hour early to eat, and there was lots of food. I brought pork ribs, and there was also spagetti, chili, meat balls, lots of cheeses, and several desserts.

The game was fun as always. On the second hand I pulled the "all in on the next hand" chip, so there was a quick rebuy. Maybe ten hands later, the player on my left got a "Bah Humbug" chip that meant he only got one hole card until he won a hand or busted. On the next hand he was the button. I got 44 and when it folded around to me, I raised and it was just me and him on the flop of 772. I bet, he called and won with a hole card of 7. 2nd rebuy came soon afterward.

I ended up third for a nice profit, even with my rebuys, because there were a lot of rebuys. For my Secret Santa present, I got a Samsonite multi-tool, knife and flashlight set. I like to get my tools from a luggage company.

Our annual holiday game was Tuesday night. We had a good turnout, 18 total. Everybody took the add on, and on top of that we had 25 rebuys (not including the freebies from the Merry Christmas chips).

I had light snacks and homemade cookies (thanks Mrs. S!), and a lot of good beer came out. We have a number of beer aficionados/snobs in the group, so most weeks we bring interesting bottles and pass them around.

In spite of the beer and losing my traditional all-in-dark first hand, I played well and had a good time, as did most everyone else.

Merry Christmas HP!

I forgot to mention something. We've played this game 3 or 4 times, and although this is on the official set of rules, we never did it until this year. That is, 10 minutes before the end of the last rebuy level, we pass the bag-o-chips around the table and each player has the option to pull on chip.

Everyone took a chip until it came to me. I was last to have the option, as I was the button for the next hand. I was the chip leader, there were only three chips left, and one of them was Gift Exchange. I opted out, to much booing.

Yes, the "Night Before Christmas."

We had quite a few chips left at our table - we seemed to be short on red kings for a long time - and many, including myself - opted out. With most of us on a decent stack and ALL THREE Gift Exchanges still in the bag, it just wasn't worth it.

Out holiday game had 24 runners for the tournament and 26 different players for the cash games afterwards. I won the all in blind first hand and that was the highlight of my tournament with J4o against TT, A5, and K3 on an AJ2J9 board. I personally had only 5 rebuys this year but our group managed to have ~60 rebuys (I think, Breich can confirm or deny). I ran terrible throughout the tournament after the first hand and could never get above 20k in chips 88<TT, TT<QQ, AK<AA and my favorite after drawing the bag humbug chip I shoved the next hand with a 2. Make a straight on a 345T6 board and lose the lone caller who had 27o. After the rebuys I busted out 3rd and the cohost who was cooking pork, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green beans, pies, chili and some other things busted 2nd so he could focus on his cooking. Other highlights included in the first 5 minutes of the tournament we had two straight flushes. Dadboyle took the tournament down for a second year in a row. Meltdown tournament ringer.

After the tournament cash games started running and we got a PLO/PLO8 game with a rock running, a NLHE table running, and a fixed limit dealers choice mixed game. We also got our secret Santa after the tournament and I ended up with a Chili's gift card. The big items this year that kept getting traded were a pair of Cubs 2016 World Series pint glasses, bottle of Laphroaig, Crown, and other gift cards. We had some dud gifts including a butt scratcher, a toilet seat where the people who drew them took things to a new level by offering cash for other people to steal them. The butt scratcher included $20 from dadboyle to get him a new gift.

A few of us, including Breich, went in on a Scotch bottle share that included a Highland Park 21 and a Bowmore 18. The Highland Park was fantastic and better than the 18 we had last year, but not enough to justify the 3x price point on the bottle. The Bowmore I think was the bigger hit even though two of them in on the share were not huge islay fans (although this might convert them).

All in all things were fantastic and reaffirmed why this day is my favorite poker day of the year. Our cash games concluded at 9am the next morning for a 20 hour poker session.