Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Disclosure

I got into an interesting argument the other day about how a local tournament is run. My contention was quite simple. There is no information going in so why would you want to play it? My friend's argument was simple as well. He didn't care because he enjoyed it.

I guess part of it the debate is to me, his side makes little sense. The sheets announcing the tournament have no information about how much, how many chips you get or blind levels. Furthermore, it doesn't mention it is a rebuy tournament. The tournament is under the guise of a fund raiser for a softball team to boot. Bottom line to my part of the argument is that it is foolish to play a tournament without that vital information. They do not say how much of the buy in (only $25 I believe) is going to the team. They don't tell you how many rebuys have occurred and how much of that they are keeping. So the prize pool could be $1000 but they are paying out $600. Why would you play in such a tournament?

He says he doesn't mind as he has fun. It is the entertainment value. To an extent, I can see that. I say it all the time. If I am having fun, I don't mind losing.

Is it asking too much to ask for full disclosure? I wonder how many people would play if they knew how much the team was keeping?

Thoughts?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Look at it from a non-serious poker player viewpoint and you'll see your friend's point.

Your friend isn't protecting a bankroll, not making an investment to a game that's -EV or +EV, nor is he thinking about what his M or Q should be at the end of level 4.

I'd go, enjoy the +EV company and beer and if the tourney turns out to be profitable, bonus!

Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...

I'm all about playing poker tournaments for the fun and not for the money per se. But this makes no sense to me. Even just playing for fun it still makes good sense to me that I'd want to know what I was playing before I put my money (how much??) down and signed up. Just because you're playing primarily for fun doesn't mean you would not want to be in on the structure, the buyin, the rebuy period, the total prize pool, etc.

PokahDave said...

I believe they are legally obligated to disclose at least the percent of the pool that goes to charity and player payout.....or whatever cause is going to be funded. At least it is that way in Mass. and NH....