Pondo's Poker

Pondo's Poker League Table To make things a little more fun, I know, I know how much more fun can it be!?, the games played will also be added to the Pondo's Poker League table. Players will score points based on attendance to games, tasks undertaken during the evening and positions  Here is the breakdown: Play point - Players who attend a Pondo's Poker event will receive 1 league point Rank Points First player out - As a pity point, the first player out gains 2 points Winner - the winner of the night claims points for all players minus themselves (ie 8 players = 7 points) Runner Up - 2nd placed players will receive points for all players that exited the tourney before them (ie 8 players = 6 points) Third place - 3rd placed players will receive points for all players that exited the tourney before them (ie 8 players - 5 points) Subsequent positions - All players who exit the tourney will receive points for all players that exited the tourney before them (except last p...

 And so it begins..... Pre-game Ice Breaker Before we commenced the stacking of chips and turning of cards, it was time to find the wolf amongst us.  Rosh had advised that he was going to be a little late so the waiting players started with a few games of "One Night - Ultimate Werewolf".  A game of deception, trickery and Werewolves. Highly recommended to anyone, even my 5 year old loves to play.  Although the initial concept seemed to be lost on Jack as he openly declared himself to be a werewolf on the first game..... The Poker Room With player seats decided and chip stacks allocated, it was time to begin the game 18 months in the making, deal sat with Mickey (ML) with Daavv (Dv) on small blind and Rosh (RF) on big blind. Danny (DD) to make the first move.  The first flop was friendly with all players in action, however, with bets starting to fall so did the players.  First hand won by RF with trip 8's With blinds set at 15 mins, it didn't take long for t...

 How to play Pondo's Bounceback Hold'em Tourney and "Protect your Princess" Ok, before we start to dive into the alterations of the bounceback tourney and the addition of Princess Protection, lets get the understanding of how the play works on a normal round of Texas Hold 'em  The "Dealer Button" is allocated to a player on the table. The player to the left of the dealer is given the "Small Blind" token and the next player given the "Big Blind" token. Before cards are dealt, the players with the Small Blind and Big Blind place their ante bets. The Small and Big blind will increase at stages throughout the evening. All players at the table are dealt two cards face down by the player who holds the "Dealer" button, these are known as hole cards and will be the start of building your five card poker hand.  Players then view their cards and play begins. The player next to the Big Blind (clockwise) has three options: 1) Fold - dec...

Early in the Texas Hold'em craze in the UK, Pondo's Peace Street Poker was formed and hosted regular monthly Bounce Back Tournaments.  With Pondo's bachelor pad being the regular haunt, these nights were a great success of poker, food and banter.  However, as life moves on and times change somethings have to come to an unfortunate end and new responsibilities form. With the passion for poker still in my blood and the memories of the tables still making me chuckle, in the immortal words of  Dr. Ian Malcom,  "Life, Uh, Finds a way". During the Covid-19 Pandemic and multiple UK lock downs an idea was formed.  With the severe lack of human interaction outside of our household and social/support bubbles, Pondo created a whatsapp group, a group of like minded folk who would bring back banter to the baize of the deprived world.  Irrespective of skill level with the cards, this was going to be epic.   All we needed now was the go ahead from Boris. After m...