On April 21st, I emailed Pops Poker and had a couple of questions about the games--# of entries and how long tournaments last.
I got a response back the same afternoon from Rich the Operations Manager.
They are in Virginia and the Commonwealth rules are live cash games in licensed
casinos only, so the format there is tournaments on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
This is a poker room only and none of that casino stuff. They have 10 tables and a bar and kitchen.
Went first time on Friday April 25th and played the $100 Friday game. $100 = $60+35+5. The 5 is for league play and freeroll at end of season.
Ended up finishing 12th.
The people are there to play poker and it is a friendly place to be. The system they use is Poker Atlas and dealers talk to you using your first name.
The Friday game had 61 players and 9 places paid.
Pops uses the 14% payout structure.
Friday is the $100 game $60+$35+$5
Saturday is $150 game $105+$40+$5
Sunday is $120 game $78+$37+$5
Went back on Sunday April 27th and played the $120 game.
I got AA cracked and finished 39/51.
After all of this, I considered my time driving and poker budget and decided to go on Sunday from now on.
Went back on Sunday May 4th and played the $120 game.
Finished 8/51 and went out on the bubble.
I have been wanting to play live tournaments that are competitive and this is a good place for that.
I had been playing in a couple of the casinos and I like the atmosphere and friendly environment of Pops Poker over the non-personal casino games.
I am looking to improve and climb this ladder and get ITM at Pops and improve my game.