MPT:

  • Metro Poker Tournament
  • $10 buy-in (when you’re out of chips, you’re out until the next MPT), no-limit Texas Hold’em, play (progressive blinds described below) until there are less than 4 players remaining. (Or until there are 2 players remaining if the game started with 6 or fewer players)

Host Fee:

  • Each participant will pay $2 per evening (not per game) to a ‘host fund’ that covers the cost of purchasing cards, providing a playing environment, waters, cleaning up, etc…

Blind Progression:

  • Every 10 minutes, the small blind and big blind amounts are updated to the next level on the Blind schedule. The blind progression schedule begins after the first player is eliminated.

MPT Ending:

  • Play is stopped when there are fewer than 4 players
  • Payout for the MPT is then based on the chip counts of the remaining players
  • Exception – we play down to 2 players when there are 6 or fewer players beginning the MPT
  • Exception #2 - if it’s agreed the MPT is the last of the night and all remaining players (and the host) agree, we can play to the very end

Miscellaneous/Local Playing Rules:

  • All decisions of the Tournament Director are final.
  • Your $10 buy-in gets you $1000 worth of chips.
  • Chip designations
    • Red = $5 (x20)
    • Green = $25 (x8)
    • Black = $100 (x7)
    • Blue = $500
  • A player’s best 5 card hand determines whether that player wins or loses, not what hand the player might have declared. All players at the table are encouraged to ensure that each player has indeed declared his best hand, and correct the player in the event of a mistake.
  • If a card is flipped or exposed during the deal of a hand, the card will remain exposed long enough so that all players have had a chance to see it, the deal will continue as normal with everyone receiving two down cards.
  • Cards must be above the playing surface of the table at all times.
  • Once you’ve “mucked” (thrown in) your cards, you are out of the hand and may not retrieve them. However, the Tournament Director will make an effort to rule a hand retrievable if the hand was folded as a direct result of false information given to the player
  • Minimum raise: Raises have to be at least the size of the current big blind, NOT at least the size of the previous raise.
  • During the flop, turn, or river, the exposed card(s) are the ones that will be played if a player has checked or bet based on the exposed card(s). That is, if the dealer forgot to deal a burn card, the dealer will be reminded about the burn procedure, but the card(s) exposed are the ones in play.
  • If the dealer exposes the flop, turn, or river and then it is determined that a player(s) had not yet acted, the cards exposed are out of play and new ones will be dealt, even if the player(s) subsequently fold.
  • Keep chip stacks of like color (e.g, don’t put blue chips at the bottom of a green stack), and ensure that your chips are visible when you are actively playing a hand. This will allow other players to roughly identify how much money you have and will decrease the number of times someone asks for a ‘chip count’ which slows play.
  • At the Tournament Director’s discretion, play (and the Blind level timer) will be paused. This will occur due to chip exchanges, player rebuys, and any other events as deemed necessary by the TD.
  • During chip exchange, any partial stack of 5 reds (1-4) will be awarded a green (worth 25).
  • There will be a fair amount of commentary from players not involved in the hand giving “advice” (usually something like “he’s bluffing, go all-in”). Get used to it, don’t come if that sort of thing bothers you.
  • If you fold, do not react when the flop, etc, is revealed. This potentially gives information to the players still in the hand and may put some at an unfair advantage.
  • At the Tournament Director’s discretion, a late player may join the game before the end of the 3rd blind progression. This may also include allowing any eliminated player to ‘buy in’ again for another entry fee. The player(s) will be seated at the table according to the current table balancing formula, and will be seated in the first open chair left of the big blind

Getting Extra Chips:

  • Bad Beat Pot - During an MPT, if you lose a hand when you have a full house (or better) AND you’re using both of your hole cards, you win a bad beat pot of 200 chips for your next MPT (but you need to remind the TD)
  • 1st Player Eliminated From an MPT – Receives an extra 100 chips at the start of the next MPT (during same MPT event only, no carry-overs). It’s a “pity reward” for having to wait and an encouragement for the player to hang around for the next MPT

Table Seating:

Single Table:

  • Initial seating and dealer assignment at table – Performed via card draw, whoever draws the Ace is the dealer, and everyone determines where they sit by comparing their draw card to the seating chart (posted on site).

Multiple Tables:

  • Initial table assignments (if 13 or more people) as well as dealer and seating assignments will be performed via a single card draw. For example if there were 15 players, each player would draw from a stack consisting of A-8 of Spades and A-7 of Hearts. Spade draws sit at one table, Hearts at the other, Ace draws are the dealers. Everyone determines where they sit by comparing their draw card to the appropriate seating chart (posted on site).
  • Any time one table has a difference of more than 2 people from the other(s), the table with the most players will send the player who is about to be the big blind to the next hand big blind seat at the smaller table.
  • Exception to the rule above:
    • When the difference is due to table maximum capacity (12 for main table, 8 for kitchen table, 8 for poker table foldout)

Table Merge:

  • 2 Table Merge:
    • Reduce to 1 table once we’re down to 9 players.
    • Players seated at the big table stay in their positions.
    • The TD assigns a random position (from a A-Q draw) for each Player from the small table. The Player sits in that position, if that position is occupied, he sits in the first open position to the left of the assigned position.
    • Once the players have been seated at the final table, there is a random draw to determine the position of the button.
  • 3 Table Merge (minimum 21 players):
    • Reduce to 2 tables once we’re down to 16 players.
    • A red/black draw determines which players are going from table 3 to table 2 and which are going to table 1
    • Players seated at table 1 and table 2 stay in their positions.
    • For each table absorbing Players from table 3, the TD assigns a random position for each Player. The Player sits in that position, if that position is occupied, he sits in the first open position to the left of the assigned position.
    • Button stays where it was on tables 1 and 2.

Payout info:

If multiple players are eliminated in the same hand, the players eliminated will evenly split all money that would be awarded to those positions.

Payouts as follows:

# of Players Places Paid Payout for 1st/2nd/etc…
5 2 40/10
6 2 40/20
7 3 40/20/10
8 3 50/20/10
9 3 50/30/10
10 4 50/30/10/10
11 4 50/30/20/10
12 5 50/30/20/10/10
13 5 60/30/20/10/10
14 6 60/30/20/10/10/10
15 6 60/40/20/10/10/10
16 6 60/40/20/20/10/10
17 7 60/40/20/20/10/10/10
18 7 60/40/30/20/10/10/10
19 7 70/40/30/20/10/10/10
20 8 70/40/30/20/10/10/10/10
21 8 70/40/30/20/20/10/10/10
22 8 70/50/30/20/20/10/10/10
23 9 70/50/30/20/20/10/10/10/10
24 9 70/50/30/20/20/20/10/10/10
25 9 70/50/30/20/20/20/20/10/10
26 10 70/50/30/20/20/20/20/10/10/10
27 10 70/50/40/20/20/20/20/10/10/10
28 10 70/50/40/30/20/20/20/10/10/10
29 11 70/50/40/30/20/20/20/10/10/10/10

Progressive Blinds Table:

  • Blinds remain at level 1 while all players still have chips
  • Blinds go to level 2 when first player is eliminated
  • Thereafter, blinds raise level every 10 minutes
Level Small Blind Big Blind Ante
1 10 20 0
2 15 30 5
3 25 50 10
4 50 100 15
5 75 150 20
6 100 200 25
7 200 400 25
8 350 700 50
9 500 1000 50
10 700 1400 100
11 1000 2000 100
12 1500 3000 100
13 2000 4000 500
14 4000 8000 500
15 6000 12000 500
16 8000 16000 1000
17 10000 20000 1000