Blind Joe's Zombie Outbreak Tournament
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Held my tournament last night, so here is a round up of how the night went.
Summary
First, we were only 4 handed after a difficult time recruiting and some late cancellations but as they say "the show must go on!" We had a lot of fun nonetheless, the other guys were very positive about the zombie concept and would be up for doing it again.
It wasn't difficult to follow, nobody had trouble remembering to post an ante along with their SB and when a human was turned by losing to a zombie at showdown (see 'Spread' below) the zombie was very quick to point this out even if the human wasn't completely aware (I think it was seen almost like a cashless bounty of sorts, or at least a badge of honour).
Details and rules
Buy in: £10
Starting Stack: 10K (100BB)
Rebuys: 10K + 5K zombie bonus¹ for £10, maximum 1 per player, available at 2,500 or below during levels 1—6. You must surrender any remaining chips if not bust.
¹A player who is already a zombie (see 'Spread' below) can only rebuy for 10K
Zombie Outbreak
Outbreak: any player who rebuys is ressurected as a zombie with an additional 5K in chips. In the event of no rebuys having been purchased by L6 the first player to lose a hand (or have the lowest ranking losing hand) while the Ace of Spades (aka the 'Death Card') is on the board will be turned into a zombie.
Note: the latter was a contingency I introduced due to the low turn out in fear that nobody would rebuy, but it was a fear I need not have had.
Zombie Decay: all zombies must post an ante equal to the small blind whenever they are in the small blind position.
Spread: any player who loses to a zombie at showdown will be infected and the outbreak will spread. NB: infected players are eligible for a 5K add-on for £5 within one orbit of infection.
Note: None of our players who were turned by infection took this option but once the tournament was over and they had suffered the increasingly brutal zombie ante they acknowledged that purchasing the add-on might have been a better tactic. Two of the infected zombies went on to purchase the £10 10K rebuy.
Blinds schedule
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As well as only being 100BB deep as opposed to my usual 200BB the schedule I used had steeper increases in the first few levels. All of this was to promote the 'Outbreak'.
Note: it worked. I was the first to rebuy (and thus become a zombie) at around L3 or 4 (unfortunately I forgot to save my log from Poker Timer so I'm a bit hazy on the actual specifics)
Starting stack
16/11/5/6
I had originally planned on 12/12/5/6 but for some reason thought I would alter it just to get a few more chips on the table as we were short handed.
I should have put more thought into this as there was no need for so many T25s with them being removed after 3 levels. T100 was the real work horse for the bulk of the tournament so this should have been reflected in the starting stacks.
Bonuses
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3x £5 bonuses. All three were collected, Grave Digger (win with spades) and Head Shot (win with an ace) were cashed in almost immediately, so in hindsight I should have perhaps made at least one of them more difficult. Night of the Living Dead (infect the last human) was the one I initially thought might go uncollected but being 4 handed that, too, became much easier to collect, though it did so later in the tournament.
We also had a scratch card bounty on the last tournament winner (me) to be collected if and when said played is eliminated.
A few photos of the night
Set up
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In play
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We used zombie cards from Bicycle to indicate who was a zombie. The cards started off face down, when your card was turned it meant you'd
turned.
Hand of the night (that I can remember )
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Player A flopped the nuts flush while player B flopped a set. At this point they went all in and Player B only saw a disappointing
on the turn and river rather than pairing up the board for a boat or better that he'd hoped for
Four zombies
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Blind Joe's Poker Shack bar
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Nothing to do with zombie* poker but I wanted to show off my work in progress. Many improvements to make but it's getting there. The counter top is made entirely of pallet wood (as are the frames for the A3 posters you can see dotted about in the photos).
*I drank so much I now feel like a zombie
The winner
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After busting me in the early levels and doubling up to become chip leader my friend here never let go of his lead, only wavering at heads up when his rival evened things up a little bit. Throughout the night he eliminated all 3 of his opponents, cashed two bonuses and and took my scratch card bounty (from which he won £10). So from a £10 buy in he came away with £75. Good night for him! His first tournament win as well.
Thanks for reading