Interested in Starting a Texas Hold'em Poker League? Here's HOW!

  If you’re thinking of starting a Texas Hold’em poker league in your area and aren’t sure what to do, then read on. This article is for YOU!
   You, of course, have to decide if you want your Texas Hold’em poker league to be all men, all women or a mixed poker league. Then you have to poll your friends and acquaintances to see how many would commit to a ten month poker league. You will want to start out with at least 16 – 20 people.
   Then you need to decide why you want to start your Texas Hold’em league, what would you like the group to be called, how often would you like to meet, is your poker league educational, how do you want to pay – one lump sum or for each session. And you have to set up the prize that you’re playing for (usually to send the top 2 – 3 players for the season to a compete in a major tournament). You will need to establish your poker league rules.
   Also, you will need to find one or more of your new recruits to host the league. Preferably someone who has poker tables, poker chips, poker software or timer, and everything else you’ll need to shuffle up and deal.
   Don’t forget about setting up your blind structures. And establishing points for the league players in the order that they finish. The top two or three players will be given their buy-in for the major tournaments that you identify in your poker league rules. You’ll also want to establish how many chips that all league players will start with.
   I belong to two poker leagues and we use the WSOP sanctioned poker rules for each poker league. The difference is one of the leagues meets once per month and we pay at the beginning of the league and play 12 games. The other league is set up so that we pay $20 twice per month as we play.
   Both have their merits. If you pay in advance, you don’t have to worry about funding your prize pool if someone misses one game. The downside is that there is no prize money per game – it all goes to the final prizes.
   The pay as you go method offers the top three winners a small prize pool (half goes to the final prizes). Each poker league is set up to help the members to become better skilled Texas Hold’em poker players, with all aspects of the game including betting and heads up play which can be more challenging parts of the game. There’s a lot of strategy involved in playing poker and this will certainly help to develop an individual’s poker strategy.
   The prize money that is set aside is used to send at least two people to a major tournament. One poker league that I play in pays for the buy-in for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Ladies Tournament which is played in June at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
   A Texas Hold’em league can be very effective for improving your poker play and give you more confidence when you play in major tournaments or casino or card room sponsored cash games.
   A poker league is educational, fun, and a great social outlet as well – it’s enjoyable to play poker with friends and acquaintances. You can add to the social aspect by bringing food and sharing personal stories during play. And, of course, you can keep each other up on what tournaments are coming up that are close to home just in case one or more of the league players can participate. Starting a poker league in your area has many benefits and can be very educational, fun and rewarding!