Legalities?

[COLouie]

hey I live in Steamboat, and we were thinking of having a poker tourniment, what are the legalities about poker? Can you play in a bar? Can we sponsor an event? How does it work?

I know there the "house" shouldn't make money but I'm not sure if you can charge extra for foos ($55 for entry $50 for the pot $5 for beer)

Just wondering if someone knew

PS The river can kiil ya

[WSoP21]

you can do anything you want as long as no one but the player make a profit off of it. The vander is allwod to charge a fee but only enough to cover cost. I do not belive there is any agenst having sponsor as long has no money is give to them for profit. What a sponsor can get is a tax brake for whatever is donated to the event. Thats it. if you want more info i do bellive this borad has a member who is a gaming lawer or something of that nature.

[Rick]

You can check this site out. He is a member here too.

http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Law-Summary/index.htm

[tjholdem]

You can also go throught he Colorado Secratary of State web page and get info there.

[FIRESTORM]

Well I read that site, and I am not sure if it makes the tournaments legal or not. It is my understanding that:

1. No one can make a profit from the event (Except the winners)
2. A liquor company may not sponsor the event
3. There must be a prior relationship between all parties. (I consider the realtionship we have with each other on this board to constitute a prior relationship.

[WSoP21]

the prior relastionship one would be hard for the law to prove. I mean how are they all goin to know if we all have never met. Just some stuff they put in to keep the flotting BJ games and craps games down.

[COLouie]

(I consider the realtionship we have with each other on this board to constitute a prior relationship.[/quote]

If that is the case, why don't we start planning a large poker event.
What I am thinking...and I am not sure if you all would be interensted is something in Stemboat Springs (where I live)
Would any of you be interested in helping to set something up.

I manage a shuttle company and would be able to get the transportaion to and from Denver for cheap, also if we have it in the off season we could probably get inexpensive lodging.

Let me know what you all think....

[WSoP21]

ok i love steamboat. I sky there alot and I'm there every 4th of July for the Triple Crown Softball tournament. Steamboat would make a great back drop for a nicely put together tournament. I think the only problem with Steamboat is the 3 hour drive to get there. I think if we put a game together its goin to have to be somthing more along the line of a 2 day thing. Might have to do some polling to find out what kind of "REAL" intersest there is for such a thing. But hay if there is a will there is a way. You there is enough smart people on here to get such a thing rolling.

[COLouie]

Yeah we would definatley have to get seriouse intrest before anything was set in stone.

I do have access to people movers (5 21 passenger vans) and I could get something together to make getting here inexpensive. Maybe we should have a poll to see if people would be interested..

[jlavsfan]

I would definatly be interested, and probably have 2-3 others that would be in too. I probably wouldn't be much help organizing but could definatly help promoting it at bar games and such around town. If you were to do it you could also donate part of a buy in to chairity and people could use it as a tax write off (I was able to write off a charity golf tourney earlier this summer).

[COLouie]

ok...I think maybe we should start a poll....

I don't know how to :oops:

We should name it FUTURE tournie in Steamboat and see how many people are interested. We'll see what response we get in a week and then go from there.

I think if we could encorperate (SP) golf into the weeekend it will be more worth it...

Honestly I think I could get 50 people from steamboat to come and play.

I wonder if we should have one big tourniment for $100 or so and then another tourniment for people that have been nocked out...I don't know.

I would like to see buy around $100 and not more then $200...I am a poor ass ski bum....

[WSoP21]

Ok here what u need to do. First thing before anything. u need to at least find a suitable space to hold whatever number of people you think is the most you want to host. Remember you have to make sure you can provide enough chips cards table and dealers for that number of people. After you come up with this stuff then you can start to advertize, and get the word out. Taking polls really dose nothing cause you will always get more people saying they will rether then actully will. Talk to Rick or Firestrom, or even i can help you with most of this. Setting up a big tournament is not all that easy or fun.

[adaugust]

I think it sounds like a great idea. Even if we cant do it in Steamboat, maybe a denverpoker.com invitational tourney here in the metro area somewhere. Or maybe have a traveling denverpoker.com league where we play every couple of months(members only of course) Poker is really blowing up right now. I am sure we can get something to work!

[WSoP21]

there already a denver poker invataional in the works. I really like the idea of hosting it in Steamboat. My first choices was goin to me Estes Park. but now i thinking of steamboat.

[COLouie]

I have some details....but I should get to work I'll post what I 've got for plans at the end of the day....around 4 or 5pm

Even though I know my boss will play...I have to get some work done

[FIRESTORM]

Well, my tournament is tomorrow and if every one shows up who says they will, we will have over 100 people. I estimate I will have somewhere between 50-80 in reality, although I may be surprised.

Setting up the tournament is not that difficult, just takes a lot of time.

One of the hardest things was finding a suitable location. You'd be surprised at the cost of renting a hotel ball room to fit that many people. One place I went to wanted $1300, not including Food or drink or the A/V equipment you will want.

I also purchased a lot of chips, poker tournament management software (Very Cool stuff), dealer chips, a lock box to hold the cash, tickets for the giveaways, etc. I estimate I have spent upwards of $400 in this alone, not including the rental of the hotel ball room.

You also need to write some good rules and figure out the blind structure. Of all things, I am most worried about this. The blind structure is difficult because you need to figure out your blinds, how many chips you will need to buy, and determine how long you want the tournament to last.

I just hope my blind stucture for my tournament tomorrow works out. I got some good advice from a few tournament directors and used it.

You then need to advertise. You also spend a lot of time answering emails from users with all of their questions. You should also pre-register to get a feel for how many people will show up and to determine if it is worth the cost of holding the tournament. At the very least you want to get your money back for the room rental. The rest I am chalking up to having a good time. The things I had to purchase is a one time deal I hope.

You should also look at getting some sponsors to help you with some of the cost. For instance, Rick from DP.com is giving us all the cards for the tournament, a big saving for me. He is also donating several prizes (Tshirts, DVD, etc.). I got a online poker supply store to donate a 300 piece chip set. I got a game developer to give us a excellent poker game. I also rangled 4 rounds of free golf at Castle Pines. All these prizes will be given by random drawing to players. This makes the tournament more exciting since you can win any of these things no matter how high you finish. I think Rick is giving away the DVD to the first guy who busts out.

And there is so much more...

I will be happy to help you with this and will even help you run it. I have the chips, dealer button, tournament software...The more they get used, the better I feel about buying it all.

That goes for anyone who wants to hold a tournament.

I am such a nice guy... :lol:

As far as playing - heck yeah I would be interested.

[WSoP21]

Kevin you are Da Man. we all thank you from the bottem of our hearts. Thanks.