Those that read the site last year know that I have been holding a monthly home poker tournament as a fundraiser to support my Livestrong Challenge rides.

The post detailing the tournament setup is here:
http://www.lafrider.com/index.php/home-poker-tournament-fundraiser/

I made modifications after a few tournaments here:
http://www.lafrider.com/index.php/modifications-to-the-home-poker-tournament/

These tournaments raised over $1000 last year for my ride and were the most successful fundraiser of all I attempted. This year Ive started the tournaments again and made a few changes per suggestions from players last year.

• Rebuys are now allowed. For those that dont know a rebuy is when you are allowed to buy back into the tournament if you lose all your chips before a specified time limit. In the case of the Home Poker Tournament I am allowing rebuys until the first break when chips are colored up or if they fall below $500 in chips. This means that for the first 6 rounds of the tournament if someone goes out or drops under $500 they can rebuy for $20 and get 2500 more in chips. This months tournament was the first time we’ve done this and resulted in three rebuys which increased the pot $60 and garnered more money in support of my Livestrong Challenge ride.
• Each rebuy results in another person being counted as playing in the tournament. For example, if there are nine players as there were this month and three rebuys you will divide the winnings as if there were 12 players in the payout scale (see prior posts above for payout structure). This is done because since the pot increases and the players investment increases then the payouts should also increase. If this were not done then people who did a rebuy would actually be losing money even if they placed in the payouts but did not win, though this still may occur based on the amount of times a player rebuys.
• The second change is I am now giving an attendance bonus of $25 in chips for the final tournament. This means that those that play each month are gaining chips over those that only play in the final tournament. This also allows players to earn extra chips for the finale tournament even if they do not place in the top three and garner points. For an explanation of the points system see the earlier posts above.

I think these changes are positive and the players seem to enjoy them. It results in more action for the betting as well as, and most importantly, more funds raised for the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

This months tournament had 9 players and raised $90 for my Livestrong Challenge ride and then made another $90 when my friend graciously donated his winnings by coming in first place to the LAF. This means that in one night there was $180 raised. This is another great thing about the tournament, several times players who have won have donated their winnings to the LAF unexpectedly. You will find that people will randomly go above and beyond the fundrasing you are expecting by hosting the tournament just due to their goodwill and appreciation for what you are doing and the fun they have had.

Im looking forward to the year ahead and this fundraiser that has turned into almost a tradition of good friends having a good time in the name of the Livestrong Challenge.

This Saturday is the first, of a hopefully annual event, the Le Tour De Femme. This event is an all women’s cycling event that consists of a half-metric and full-metric century. The tour was put together by my friend Ron as a fundraising effort to raise funds for both the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Angel Fund of Rex Hospital. As of now he has over 50 riders registered to participate in the tour and has raised over $4000 so far. This is an amazing turnout in both participants and fundraising for the first time Ron has organized an event and the first time the event has taken place. When the 24 Hours of Booty began in Charlotte it consisted of one lone rider and has grown considerably year to year. Here’s hoping the Le Tour De Femme follows that precedent.

I’ve volunteered to help with the rest stops during the ride and have been put up as team lead on the first rest stop. Since Ron and I have done four different events together he feels that I know what a stop needs and how to set it up. It should be a fun morning even though it means being there at eight in the morning. It’ll be good practice for the 10K the next day which starts at 7:45 in the morning, a mythical time that I rarely encounter. After my rest stop closes Ill probably move on to help with the next stop and then back to the start/finish to help there as well since my afternoon unexpectedly opened up. Might as well put the free time to use and help out so that some good comes out of it.

Well the last poker tournament was held a couple weekends ago and the final tally of them is now determined.  In all the nine tournaments raised over $1000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and my Livestrong Challenge ride.  Thats above and beyond what i expected for the tournaments and a testament to those that played in support of the efforts.  The last tournament had 14 players and I lasted till about fourth.  Some of the money came from people playing just putting money in the LAF jar as well as donating their winnings.  Any funds I won went back into the jar for donation and some players did the same as well which was awesome.

Next month ill have the finale tournament where each player will have a chance of winning the entire pot amount since the fundraising will be complete.  Those that have garnered points through the year will get the extra chips they have earned to help them in the finals.  Ive also decided to get a keg of some type of beer as an extra treat to the players and a way of expressing my appreciation for them playing.  Finally ill also be giving the winner a pair of Carolina Hurricanes tickets that I won on the radio last week.

All in all i highly reccomend the Poker Tournament as a fundraising method.  It worked beyond my expectations and will be a staple of my fundraising efforts next year.

The updates have been off this past week because I’ve been getting ready for and travelling to Las Vegas.  Im actually still in Vegas at the moment waiting on my delayed flight back.  Ill be hitting the road hard in the next week or so to undo all the damage of this Vegas trip.  It basically feels like Ive been eating for four days straight, the upside is I probably averaged five miles a day walking.

Since Vegas brings one’s mind to gambling this would be a good point to recap this months poker tournament fundraiser.  It was a fairly big one in relation to the past few in that there were 12 participants.  A couple of which were new players and ones that havent been in quite a while.  This month I out drew players at a few key points to allow me to win the overall.  Winning was doubly good because I put all my winnings back into the charity pot minus my buy-in.  So this months tournament raised $160 for my Livestrong Challenge.

My friend Ron is currently working on locking up our travel plans to Austin.  We’re running a little late in planning so hopefully it wont bite us in the wallet when we finally book.

Got an email this morning with the results/details of this years 24 Hours of Booty.  Over 900 cyclists were there this year and in the end they raised over $330,000 for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Brain Tumor Fund for the Carolinas.  Not a bad turnout or fundraising effort.  The whole ride started out as a fundraiser for the Ride For the Roses which has now evolved into the Livestrong Challenge with the Ride For The Roses being a fundraising level award.  Im still pushing to get to $7500 by Austin, fairly sad in comparison.

Here’s a videos from the ride.
http://www.charlotte.com/multimedia/charlotte/KRT_packages/archive/mmpage/misc/booty/index.html