Charity Poker Tournaments: How to Host a Tournament for your Organization
Poker is easily the fastest growing spectator event in America, and the professionals running non-profit organizations are becoming more and more aware of this. If you turn to the local section of just about any newspaper in the country, you are likely to see at least one advertisement describing an upcoming charity poker event. Non-profit organizations are using poker to their advantage.
There are many differences between your average poker game and a charity poker tournament. The first major difference you will see between a charity poker event and a Brick & Mortar tournament is the prizes you will be competing for will not be real money at a charity event. Your buy-in and re-buy’s will cost you money, but the prizes you win will be something the organization has bought, or was fortunate enough to have donated by a business or community member. Prizes can range from gift certificates from a local restaurant all the way up to something like an iPod or flat screen television. All the money that is made from a poker charity event will go directly to what cause the organization is dedicated to working for.
However, there are many factors to take into account when planning to host a charity poker tournament. If the organization’s director hasn’t participated in an event before, or isn’t sure where to start, he or she should consider hiring a poker tournament director to take care of coordinating the event.
Tournament director fees can range anywhere from $80 to $2000, depending on how many people are going to be participating in the tournament. Fees will also depend on where the event will take place and how much of the equipment will have to be provided by the director to properly run the tournament.
Poker tournament directors are not only trained to make sure the tournament runs smoothly, but they will also act as the master of ceremonies and ensure the organization is aware of any extra legality necessary to cover the event. The only responsibility of the non-profit group is to inform the director of the goals they wish to achieve through the tournament. The poker tournament director then relays the information to everyone playing at the poker tournament.
“Hiring a poker company (such as us) is probably a good idea. We provide chips, cards, and outstanding quality poker tables you won’t find anywhere else except in a casino,” says the director of one Charity Poker Agency. Paul, the director of Boston Charity Poker
(www.bostoncharitypoker.com), who wishes not to provide his last name, along with two other employees, are responsible for planning and hosting poker tournaments in the Boston area.
“We also run poker clinics starting two hours before the event for people who want to play in the tournament, but may need a refresher course on how to play,” says Paul. “If the group planning the event is totally inexperienced in poker, we will show up two days early to put on an even more extensive clinic. During this time we also train volunteers to be dealers and to help keep everything running smooth at the individual tables.”
Boston Charity Poker is just one example of the type of company you can hire to host your event. They charge anywhere from $500 to $2000 and are able to accommodate anywhere from 50 to 200 people at one tournament. They provide high-end poker tables, authentic clay poker chips, and anything else you need to host your tournament.
He warns that many people will claim to be tournament directors and charge a lot less than the more reputable companies – you should be wary of these companies. “I’ve heard horror stories from charities we’ve helped that said they previously hired someone claiming to be a tournament director and it was an absolute mess,” he says. “These people basically show up with a deck of cards and some cheap poker chips, and leave with the couple hundred of dollars they were charging.”
Of course, the ultimate goal of these non-profit organization events is to make money and some of them may be hesitant or cannot afford to hire a tournament director – this is expected with first-timers, and they may wish to host the tournament themselves. Groups that choose to go this route can find many resources online and in various poker books to find out how to run a smooth poker tournament. There is even poker tournament software out there that you can buy for cheaper than what it would cost to hire a director. However, some negatives of ‘do-it-yourself’ may be that inexperienced people get stuck trying to figure out things like blind structure and starting chips, which can be tough for anyone when it comes to a large group of people.
Regardless of how the non-profit organization chooses to run their charity tournament poker event, the main goal is to raise money, and these events can raise anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars. However the organization is raises the money, it is almost always a big success for both the non-profit organization and the cause it is supporting.
There are many differences between your average poker game and a charity poker tournament. The first major difference you will see between a charity poker event and a Brick & Mortar tournament is the prizes you will be competing for will not be real money at a charity event. Your buy-in and re-buy’s will cost you money, but the prizes you win will be something the organization has bought, or was fortunate enough to have donated by a business or community member. Prizes can range from gift certificates from a local restaurant all the way up to something like an iPod or flat screen television. All the money that is made from a poker charity event will go directly to what cause the organization is dedicated to working for.
However, there are many factors to take into account when planning to host a charity poker tournament. If the organization’s director hasn’t participated in an event before, or isn’t sure where to start, he or she should consider hiring a poker tournament director to take care of coordinating the event.
Tournament director fees can range anywhere from $80 to $2000, depending on how many people are going to be participating in the tournament. Fees will also depend on where the event will take place and how much of the equipment will have to be provided by the director to properly run the tournament.
Poker tournament directors are not only trained to make sure the tournament runs smoothly, but they will also act as the master of ceremonies and ensure the organization is aware of any extra legality necessary to cover the event. The only responsibility of the non-profit group is to inform the director of the goals they wish to achieve through the tournament. The poker tournament director then relays the information to everyone playing at the poker tournament.
“Hiring a poker company (such as us) is probably a good idea. We provide chips, cards, and outstanding quality poker tables you won’t find anywhere else except in a casino,” says the director of one Charity Poker Agency. Paul, the director of Boston Charity Poker
(www.bostoncharitypoker.com), who wishes not to provide his last name, along with two other employees, are responsible for planning and hosting poker tournaments in the Boston area.
“We also run poker clinics starting two hours before the event for people who want to play in the tournament, but may need a refresher course on how to play,” says Paul. “If the group planning the event is totally inexperienced in poker, we will show up two days early to put on an even more extensive clinic. During this time we also train volunteers to be dealers and to help keep everything running smooth at the individual tables.”
Boston Charity Poker is just one example of the type of company you can hire to host your event. They charge anywhere from $500 to $2000 and are able to accommodate anywhere from 50 to 200 people at one tournament. They provide high-end poker tables, authentic clay poker chips, and anything else you need to host your tournament.
He warns that many people will claim to be tournament directors and charge a lot less than the more reputable companies – you should be wary of these companies. “I’ve heard horror stories from charities we’ve helped that said they previously hired someone claiming to be a tournament director and it was an absolute mess,” he says. “These people basically show up with a deck of cards and some cheap poker chips, and leave with the couple hundred of dollars they were charging.”
Of course, the ultimate goal of these non-profit organization events is to make money and some of them may be hesitant or cannot afford to hire a tournament director – this is expected with first-timers, and they may wish to host the tournament themselves. Groups that choose to go this route can find many resources online and in various poker books to find out how to run a smooth poker tournament. There is even poker tournament software out there that you can buy for cheaper than what it would cost to hire a director. However, some negatives of ‘do-it-yourself’ may be that inexperienced people get stuck trying to figure out things like blind structure and starting chips, which can be tough for anyone when it comes to a large group of people.
Regardless of how the non-profit organization chooses to run their charity tournament poker event, the main goal is to raise money, and these events can raise anywhere from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars. However the organization is raises the money, it is almost always a big success for both the non-profit organization and the cause it is supporting.
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