Rules, guidelines, procedures

General goals for this group:

· fellowship of good Christian guys (decent conversation, no drunkenness)

· have fun playing Texas Hold ‘Em

· a safe place to bring an exploring non-Christian friend

· prompt starting times

· finish events between midnight and 1am

· good clean fun, with low stakes (nobody is gambling their house payment or grocery $$)

· Official events are held the first Friday of each month, although we move events for holidays.

· Unofficial events usually happen when there are 5 Fridays between official events. No CGPL points awarded for these events, although wins and $$ finishes are still credited for all time standings and yearly summary

Playing guidelines:

In general, we tend toward “house rules” (not strict casino rules). We’d like our players to get better, but give players grace as much as possible with regard to mistakes. With that in mind, here are some guidelines:

· Out of respect to the players at your table, try to avoid leaving the table when players could be waiting for you. Generally, 60 seconds is considered a reasonable time to wait before the absent player’s cards are folded.

· Generally, what you say takes precedence over what you do. If you say “call”, you ought to honor it

· Protect your cards – if your cards are mucked, they are dead

· Keep your cards in front of you on the table, so everyone can tell you are still in the hand

· If you show your cards to a player, anyone can request that you show them to all players at the table

· Disputes – the commissioner will make a ruling, which may or may not include a polling of other players

Procedure:

· When someone gets knocked out, it’s ok to miss a small blind, but nobody gets to skip the big blind

· When only 2 players are left (“heads up” ), the dealer is always the small blind

· Attempt to have 2 decks per table, to allow us to play more hands

· We’ll attempt to keep tables full in order to increase action. The number of players at a table should not differ by more than one from any other table. In order to keep things balanced, we’ll move players from one table to another. When moving a player from one table to another, the person to move should be the next big blind. They should move to the big blind position at the new table. If 3 or more players are being moved, the players should re-draw for dealer. If a large racetrack table is available, the final table will be 10 players. When combining tables, the play clock will be stopped.

CGPL unique rules:

· On time bonus – 500 extra chips for being in the room at 8pm sharp – no exceptions)

· $5 entry fee (gets 5000 chips)

· $5 re-buys - when you lose all of your chips, you can purchase a re-buy (5K chips for $5) up until the re-buy deadline – see blinds schedule.

· $5 add-ons – at the re-buy deadline (approximately 10pm), players may purchase an add-on for $5. An add-on consists of forfeiting your entire stack, and getting 5000 chips for $5 (add-ons can not boost your stack beyond 5000 chips).

· Knock out bounty - when a player loses all of their chips, they retrieve $1 from the money bucket to give to the player who knocked them out

· Original $5 - the player lasting the longest on their original $5 wins their $5 back (plus CGPL bonus points in official events). In order to be eligible, players must arrive before the end of the 3^rd blind level (approximately 9pm)

Second Chance table:

· For players eliminated from the main game, we'll typically attempt to have a second game that starts around 10:30pm or whenever enough players are available.