Lemmings Forums club on PokerStars

[namida]

We have a few players (including myself) who are quite into Poker, so I thought I'd set up a club on PokerStars so we can play!

Because I want this to be for forum members only, I'm not going to post the invitation code here. PM me if you want it; I also give full permission for members who already have the code to tell other members what it is via private means (note: mentioning it in the #neolemmix or #lix channels does NOT count as private because the logs from these are publicly viewable; but private message on IRC is acceptable), so that there's no need to wait for me to be online if someone wants to join (although note that I still have to approve the joining, even with the code; this just means we don't need to be online at the same time). Those who aren't members of the forum itself but are established as part of the community elsewhere (for example, #lix members who aren't registered here) are welcome too.

All forum staff can also give you the invitation code even if they aren't in the club themself, as I posted it in the private staff board for exactly that purpose.

To join the club, open PokerStars, go to Home Games (under "More" on the right of the main lobby), click "Join a Poker Club", and enter the club ID (2071858) and the invitation code (you'll need to get this privately from me or someone else who has it). EDIT: I've attached an image that should help show what to click.

See the second post for information on the currently-available tables / tournaments within the club.

According to PokerStars support, even US-based players should be able to join, but they will only be able to participate in play money games (with the exception of New Jersey residents, who can also join the real money games).

(Don't forget - you'll need PokerStars play money chips to play. Don't ever buy them (unless you want to, I guess); every four hours you can get 12.5k chips for free by clicking the "Free Play Chips" in the Cashier. Since the lowest buyin a tournament can have is 20k chips, I recommend doing this from time to time even when we're not playing, just so you're ready for when we are.)

[namida]

EDIT: I did have the various tables / tournaments listed here, but there hasn't really been much activity so far, so I removed the list, as PokerStars seems to remove the games after a while if they don't get activity. If things do pick up, I'll put a list back here, otherwise I'll use it for upcoming one-offs and stuff.

[Minim]

To join the club, open PokerStars, go to Home Games, click "Join a Poker Club", and enter the club ID (2071858) and the password (you'll need to get this privately from me or someone else who has it).

Just to remind everyone that you need to click the 'More' button on the bottom right side to access the 'Home Games' option.

Edit: Also, to make it clear, you type the password in the 'invitation code' box.

[chaos_defrost]

What a group of friends and I used to do after Black Friday in the US is play something like 2/5 play money, or a play money tournament, with the backing that, say, the 2/5's chips were worth a cent each, and the game was $.02/$.05, and the tournaments were a $5 buy-in, or something. We'd have a trustworthy person hold the money on PayPal and receive/send it based on results.

I'd play, and be willing to play for real money under a system like this. Also, assuming my account hasn't been wiped (I don't see why not), I have like 2.5 million play chips in case people need to reload and lose their play chips quickly.

[namida]

I don't want to be responsible for managing a system like that, but I won't stop other people from doing so (and it's possible I might even join in playing).

I've PM'd you the invitation code for the group.

[namida]

I'm going to set up a Texas Hold'em tournament to run in about 15 minutes. (This will be a play money tournament. If you need play money chips, go to the Cashier in PokerStars and there should be a refill button; this is free.)

If you haven't already joined the group and you're interested, PM me or ask on #neolemmix for the invitation code. If you have, come join!

The tournament is the "#NeoLemmix Tournament" one. You can find it in the club's "Schedule" tab.


Late registration will also be available for 10 minutes after the tournament starts, but please be aware that I'll be focusing on the tournament (and not on accepting group joins) so you'll need to at least join the group before it starts.

[namida]

Even with only three players, the tournament was fun! I also recorded it (though of course, you won't be able to see players' hole cards apart from mine, unless the hand went to showdown), the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0itSBdNZec8

(There's no voice, due to the fact that I was using earphones that have a broken mic (but I didn't know they had a broken mic), but you can still see the gameplay.)

Hopefully we'll get even more people for the next one!

[Minim]

As you saw in the video, I was the one that missed out. If you've given everyone let alone me more notice then more players would've easily joined in.

I'm just wondering when will the next game take place? Just note that for this week I can't do Friday after 16:00 or Saturday 11:00-18:00 (all times BST) because of shift work.

[namida]

There's no set schedule. We decided to have a game as a spur-of-the-moment thing in #neolemmix, and not wait too long (or have a game that lasts too long) as both other players wanted to do Lemmings recordings soon after.

With that being said, if people are interested in having tournaments as a regular thing, I can definitely set up a recurring one. The previous ones I set up didn't really take off, but perhaps if we discuss what time and day(s) suit the majority of members (keeping in mind that of course, there's no obligation to play every time the tournament runs), it'll be more successful - and of course, we can still have these "spur-of-the-moment" games too.

IMO, it'd be great if we have at least two regular recurring tournaments - one for Texas Hold'em and one for Omaha. Play money seems to be most people's preference, though as I've mentioned before, I'm not averse to having the odd real money (though, low stakes) game too. For the record, the lowest-stakes real money tournament I can set up would be US$0.11 for entry; though it is worth noting that PokerStars' minimum deposit is $10.00.

(It might help if we use UTC (GMT) times, rather than our local timezone, to discuss what time would work best for everyone.)

I'm fairly flexible, though something around midday UTC would work best for me.

[mobius]

Best time for me would be anytime between 8:00 and 14:00 (2:00 AM) UTC. Though on the later side the better.

[Flopsy]

Best times for myself would be midnight-3am in GMT. I can be available any night at those times really because my work shifts are always the same hours at the moment and midnight is just after I get back from work.

Even though it was just 3 of us earlier, it was pretty fun. I can imagine it would be even better with even more players

[namida]

I've put a poll up with some options (I only covered the weekend at this stage, as I figure that's when people are most likely to be available). Of course further discussion is good too, but if no other widely-liked alternative is agreed on, I'll probably set up a Texas Holdem tournament at the most popular time, and an Omaha at the second-most-popular.

(I strongly encourage people who are only used to Texas Hold'em to give Omaha a try, by the way - it's really fun, and very easy to learn if you're familiar with Hold'em.)

[namida]

So far, it's looking like (in UTC) a Saturday game - including perhaps at midnight between Saturday and Sunday - is the most preferable option.

My next question - if we're going to have two games, do we want them close together (eg: 18:00 Saturday and 00:00 Sunday), or a bit further apart (perhaps 00:00 Saturday and 00:00 Sunday)?

I notice that out of the people who voted, these three options were all selected by all but one person (I don't have any way to tell if it was the same person, or different people for each option). So to the people who didn't vote these options - which is your preferred game out of Texas Holdem or Omaha? That way, I can set the game you're less interested in at the time that you're less likely to be available.

[Minim]

BTW I was the one who voted for all times except for 00:00. Looking at the Omaha rules on Wiki I see that it's a bit more complicated. So there's a high and low hand right?

Whether it is or not I still prefer the old fashioned Texas' Hold'em. With two cards rather than four I can make better decisions on what hand should I play.

[Flopsy]

@Minim: The variant of Omaha which namida plays is not Omaha Hi Lo, he just plays Pot Limit Omaha where there's only a high hand winning like in Texas Hold Em.

The only main difference is that you will get 4 hole cards instead of 2 and you must use 2 of your hole cards and 3 of the community cards to make a hand. So for example if a Royal Flush comes out on the 5 community cards, no one can represent it because they must use 2 of their hole cards and only 3 on the table. It reduces split pot situations mostly and it can be a more complicated game to learn when consider hand strengths when you have 4 hole cards.

I'm sure namida could explain it better than I can though

@namida: I'm easy as long as there is at least 1 midnight game, 18:00 would only be possible if I happen to be off work on that day which is uncommon.