Cignificant

I'd be interested in some responses on the chip vs card issue. For years we've been wrapping cards in paper and stuffing them in envelopes (so you can't see the card through the envelope). It's a royal pain in the arse. And last year there were "rumblings" in the crowd about cheating (people steaming open the envelopes and card swapping). Hard to believe someone would do that, but who knows.

So this year we decided to try custom-imprinted poker chips and swapping them for cards at the banquet (similar to the way you all did it). Two of our card stops are "water stops" (i.e. you pull up to another stopped boat) so I can't think of a better way. I feel using chips instead of cards takes something away from the event, but you eliminate all chances of cheating.

Steve Gresham
President, RPBA
www.geocities.com/Richmondpba

Reckless32

I agree about taking something away, but in our case the run itself is essentially a social run for the event with the purpose being to generate funds for St Judes, and if you paid for a hand/s you're not necessarily compelled to have to finish, you've paid for your draw. Random selection of cards for prize purposes is done at the party. We too have tossed in the idea of specific keepsake chips vice the basic chips we used during this past experimental run.

With that being said, it does "feel" better to have cards but it opens avenues for cheating and it is logistically burdensome. That's why I'd like to hear some other methods being used out there that is not high maintenance and keeps everyone happy...

BAJA WILL

First keeping the prizes at a low value should eliminate cheating, for the sake of greed.

As for chips vs cards. I have never done the chips. But would be open to the idea. Also sometimes passangers don't want to do entire run (I know) so drawing cards at party would help out.

Reckless32

27Fountain that's exactly the intent behind the chips vs cards. If your running and suddenly either the boat or passenger (or even driver) starts to feel not so good anymore, you can bail out but yet still get the draw you paid for. Perhaps it's a matter of the water conditions that day and some boats are getting beat up a little bit for whatever reasons, you can throw in the towel yet still take your shot at whatever the prize may be. For us it's normally a modest $1000 with misc other place prizes which includes overnight packages etc.

As an organizer, the other benefit to chips are there are no special efforts required to put them in place. You simply issue the stop volunteers a bag of whatever kind of chips you use and that's it. Typically you show up at the party and hand over X number of chips for X number of cards. If you happened to bail out, there's a registration list at the card table showing whether or not you actually paid your fee.

"Our" biggest mistake with this method last year was the process of drawing the cards themselves. We were slow out of the blocks and plus we (poker run coordinators) had the additional task of doing poker hands for "non-boaters" for a separate prize and they were in the same line (bad move). Our turnout was larger than anticipated and from now on we (poker run coordinators) are STRICTLY doing only the poker run people/hands. The other hands sold to generate funds for the charity, will be conducted at a separate booth by separate people and no longer will be a factor...

Caincando1

I'm interested in this chip idea. In what for are the cards that are handed out at the end. Do you just randomly pick cards from a open deck then record what they drew???

Brian

Reckless32

First we crack open several new boxes of cards. We select volunteers form the party crowd (preferably spouses/significant others, etc) to shuffle the decks. Then we place multiple decks into a casino style card box. As each person comes up and presents his chips, he/she then pulls 7 cards from the box. Last year we posted each hand on a board in fan configuration but this turned out to be a big time eater. So this year we're only posting the top 3-5 hands. Rules for best hand order will be posted beginning the night before at the captains meeting party so all know the game and ranking order of hands prior to the run/pull. Using multiple decks of course means a chance for 5 of a kind etc. etc. IN the end, top five hands wins and we hope to have decent prizes for 2nd thru 5th place...

hot water

As a poker run organizer we are always looking into ways to make things more fun, run more effiently and safe. In previous years we have always handed out cards in sealed envelopes and opened them at the end. I really like the idea of chips, but think of this....

As it was mentioned earlier in this thread it is not necessary to hand out anything at these stops only to deal the cards at the end. I have put on poker runs based just on this premise and everybody still stopped at all stops, because they all want to be part of the fun. This saves a lot of time instead of handing out cards to 3 to 4 hundred people each stop

I realize this may not work at all runs but if you can keep people from standing in line they are alot happier.

WILDTHING TAZ

I AM ONE OF THE 4 ORGANIZERES OF EAST SIDE AND A GAMBLER. I THOUGHT UP A WAY TO WORK CARDS WHERE THERE IS NO WAY FOR ANYONE TO BE CHEATING.WE MAKE A BOARD WITH EVERYONES NAME ON IT WITH 5 SPACES NEXT TO THEIR NAME. AT EACH STOP THE BOX WITH ALL THE DECKS IS ON THE TABLE.ONE BY ONE EVERY ONE DRAWS A CARD AND IT IS LOGGED ON YOUR NAME AT THAT TIME. AS THE DAY GOES,YOUR HAND STARTS TO FORM & ALL THE WORK IS DONE WHEN YOU GET BACK.BELIVE IT OR NOT IT DOESNT TAKE VERY LONG TO GET EVERYONE THREW AT EACH STOP WHEN THEY KNOW WHAT GOING ON.IF SOMEONE BREAKS DOWN OF DONT MAKE THE STOP,THEY CAN CATCH UP AT ANY STOP OR WHEN WE GET BACK FOR THE PARTY.NOBODY LOOSES A CARD OR HAND AND ALL CARDS ARE PULLED & SCORED IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT RON

Cignificant

TAZ, I thought of that method but two of our stops are water stops - the boats pull up to a another boat to get their cards or chips. I don't think anyone wants to be sitting there while dozens of boats are trying to raft up to pull cards.

The most impressive method I've seen is at Smith Mountain Lake. Each of the seven stops has two volunteers. As you pull your card, the volunteers phone back to the start to tell them your pull. So by the time you get back you know your hand, but you don't know who won. It takes a lot of volunteers and coordination.

Reckless32

Handing out a chip or other token at each stop simply provides each of the boats a tangible item to pick up and symbolizes having made a stop. Pulling the cards at the end gives the feel of actually participating in a game of poker aside from the boating and can be one more aspect of entertainment. The goal under the system of course is to make it fast and simple to where a long line doesn't get the opportunity to form. Again the biggest benny as an organizer is the logistical simplicity of it...