This past Saturday night at Chicago Charitable Games (event hosted by the VFW in Warrenville), Zeus followed by his friend the Driller orchestrated a $115 PLO/PLO8 Single Table Sit n Go Tournament.  It was a really fun tournament where we switched rounds between PLO (pot limit omaha) and PLO8 (pot limit omaha high low).  We started with $6,000 in chips, and the blinds went up every 15 minutes.  Omaha is one of those games where a ton of action takes place, and people are more inclined to play because…well you have four cards to justify your play, which translates to twice as many reasons to play a certain hand.

I am a big advocate of Omaha and all its variations (except NL Omaha).  This is the poker game of the future in my opinion.  It gives card players a lot more options, and it is a post flop game (than pre flop like in No Limit Holdem) with more strategy and odds to calculate than any other game in poker.  I also really like the action, in almost any hand of Omaha you can justify a pre-flop call…typically all omaha hands are relatively even pre flop (worst off you are looking at 60-40 against any opponent’s hand…with some exceptions).  Pot Limit Omaha is the game of the future because it is fast moving and has tons of action for us action junkies and no foldem holdem players.  This translates to a younger range of poker players, as well as the online poker players joining in on the Omaha fun.  I have heard that switching from No Limit Holdem to Pot Limit Omaha is similar to switching from Live Poker to Playing on the Internet.  The internet players are used to playing two or three games at once, and never waiting very long.  At least with Omaha, there are more cards to look at and poker players get to play a lot more hands.

So the next time you are getting board with your same old poker game, try switching it up and going for an Omaha SNG or MTT.  Chicago Charitable Games will be offering some mixed game single and multi table tournaments such as:

• HA (Pot Limit Holdem/half Pot Limit Omaha)
• HO (NLH/PLO)
• PLO/PLO8

Just so everyone knows here is a key for some of the poker games and what their acrynomns are:

• PLO = pot limit omaha 
• PLO8 = pot limit omaha 8 or better (high low)
• 08 = limit omaha 8 or better 
• NLH = no limit holdem 
• LH = limit holdem 
• HA = half pot limit holdem and half pot limit omaha (games switch every round or dealer orbit)
• HO = half no limit holdem and half pot limit omaha 
• HORSE = limit holdem, O8, Razz, Seven card stud, and Seven card stud 8 or better
• HOSE = limit holdem, O8, Seven card stud, and Seven card stud 8 or better 

On Friday 11/27/2009 at 2:00PM Chicago Charitable Games and Chemically Imbalanced Comedy set a new record for the most players in a $20 Early Bird Tournament.  The old record of 203 players was blown out of the water with 230 players on the day after Thanksgiving.

Top 20 players were paid out in this tournament with the top prize being $1100*.  The whole tournament took close to 5 hours to complete, with over $690,000 chips in play and 12 minute blinds that is not too bad.  I am not sure if this is a record or not, but we had one player down on the third hand of play…I guess that is better than on the first hand.  

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported Chicago Theater by playing at the Odeum this Friday.  We know you have a choice on where you choose to play poker and your friends at Chicago Charitable Games thank you for choosing CCG for your Charity Poker Events.

The day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” has typically been one of the busiest days of charity poker in the year.  Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Productions will be hosting an event at the Odeum in Villa Park from 2pm until 1am. 

There will be a record breaking $20 Early Bird Tournament at 2pm.  We are looking to have 300 players in this tournament and beat the current record of 203 players.  There will also be a $200 MEGA DEEPSTACK Tournament at 4pm for all you high rollers out there, and a $80 Mini Deepstack at 7pm for all of us medium stakes players out there.

Last year there was five or six cash games going all day, with plenty of action in the $1-$2 and $2-$5 games.  As well as some great mixed games including $1-$2 PLO and $3-$6 Limit Omaha 8 or better. 

Remember to be early for the tournaments that you want to play in, they will all sell out (minus the $20 early bird tournament) and there will be lots of Single Table Tournaments offered all day long.  Last year there was a little wait for Single Table Tournaments, but the hosting charity will have more tables to help accomodate all the charity poker players.

I really hope everyone comes out to support Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Productions on the biggest day of charity poker in all of Illinois. 

http://www.chicagocharitablegames.com/calendar/details.php?EventID=412

Double events on Saturday November 21st…Chicago Charitable Games will be helping the South Suburban Humane Society with their event at Balmoral Racetrack in Crete, IL…and there will also be an event supporting the VFW in West Chicago. 

Balmoral’s event will have a $100 Deepstack at 3pm and a $30 KO Tournament at 6pm.  There is always some great mixed cash games going on…like 7 card stud, and Omaha 8 or better. 

The event at the VFW will have a $100 Deepstack at 5pm and a $60 HA (half pot limit holdem and half pot limit omaha).  The VFW in West Chicago will also have a $40 40/40 Late Night Tournament at 10pm. 

I hope to see everyone out at one of the events on Saturday, and remember if you go to the event at the VFW in West Chicago you are going to enjoy some great drink and food specials…if you choose Balmoral you can fill your down time with betting the ponies. 

Good luck at either event. 

Chicago Charitable Games this Friday November 20th at the Marriott in Lisle on Summerhill Drive the hosting charity will be offering a $40 Knock Out Tournament at 8pm. 

The $40 Knock Out Tournament will have a $5 bounty on every player, when you knock a player out you will win their $5 Bounty…if you are knocked out of the tournament you will give out your original $5 bounty chip and would keep all the bounty chips that you won. 

This tournament is limited to the first 100 players, and has sold out the last two events.  This is a great tournament for you Friday night folks looking for something to do.  For $40 you can enjoy a fun filled charity poker night with friends and possibly walk home with some extra money. 

Any questions call the poker hot line (888-715-4837) or check out the website at www.chicagocharitablegames.com

I hope to see everyone this weekend at an event soon!

Second post of the day…Chicago Charitable Games will have a $40 Omaha 8 or better tournament on Thursday at the VFW in Summit on Thursday November 19th at 5pm.

This will be a Omaha 8 or better Pot Limit Tournament. The hosting charity will also have a $3-$6 Limit Omaha 8 or better cash game as soon as players are busted out of the tournament.

The VFW in Summit turned out to be a pretty good night by 7pm…come out and support the St. Rose Center on Thursday November 19th at the VFW in Summit.

See you poker fools there, and I am hoping to see some of you early for the Omaha 8 or better tournament.

Ken Kaulen
Chicago Charitable Games Inc
888-715-4837

Not quite sure what we are going to blog about, but I wanted to have something that players could read and be a part of. The Chicago Charitable Games (CCG) Poker Community is one big happy family, ok maybe not everyone is happy but we certainly try our best to make sure everyone is at least having fun.

This poker blog will be specific to Chicago Charitable Games Poker Events and will be out there for players to respond to in addition to the CCG Poker Forum… www.chicagocharitablegames.com/discussion

So by all means come and check out the newest addition to the Chicago Charitable Games online poker community…