Poppa P's Poker Night — Game Rules
No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Biweekly. This page is open to anyone so you can see the format before you come.
📍 Poppa P's Smoke Shoppe & Lounge — 1935 Mallory Ln, Suite 220, Franklin, TN 37067
Points & tournament qualification
Regular games earn 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points for places 1–5. Players tied for a finishing place each earn that place's points. Sixth and below earn no points.
A Special Players tournament is scheduled automatically about every three months on an off-week Monday. The top eight at qualification close earn invitations. Points reset at that close, two weeks before the tournament, so regular games afterward count toward the next season. Tournament results award no season points.
Equal point totals are displayed by the earliest last scoring result. A tie for the final available tournament seats is decided by the host. The line on the board is provisional until qualification closes.
Keep playing regular game nights to earn points. If you receive an invitation, reply CALL by its deadline to confirm, or FOLD to decline while keeping game reminders. Unclaimed seats may go to the next player; an expired or replaced invitation cannot reclaim a seat. STOP ends texts; HELP gets program help. Joining reminders does not reserve a tournament seat.
When
Cards fly at 6:30 PM (Central). Come early to buy your cigars, grab a drink, find a seat, and get your buy-in. Hard stop at 9:00 PM — final ranks are decided by chip stack.
End of the night
- 9:00 is a hard stop. The hand in progress finishes — no new hand is dealt after 9:00.
- If more than one player is still in at the stop, final places go by chip stack (most chips finishes higher).
- Short stack, nothing to lose: when places are being decided by chips and you're behind, calling an all-in costs you nothing — you're already ranked where you are, so it's a free shot at moving up. Don't get bluffed off it.
- The host stays out of live hands — no coaching either player mid-hand. Got a question or a disagreement with a call? Raise it with the host after the hand; the ruling in the moment is final.
Buy-in & buy-back
- Your first cigar is your buy-in → 2,000 chips.
- Bust out? Your second cigar buys you back in for another 2,000 chips — available until 8:00 PM (≈ level 7) only.
Blind structure
15-minute levels. Times are approximate.
| Level | Blinds | ≈ Start |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 / 50 | 6:30 PM |
| 2 | 50 / 100 | 6:45 PM |
| 3 | 75 / 150 | 7:00 PM |
| 4 | 100 / 200 | 7:15 PM |
| 5 | 150 / 300 | 7:30 PM |
| 6 | 200 / 400 | 7:45 PM |
| — | 5-minute break | 8:00 PM |
| 7 | 300 / 600 | 8:05 PM |
| 8 | 400 / 800 | 8:20 PM |
| 9 | 500 / 1,000 | 8:35 PM |
| 10 | 1,000 / 2,000 | 8:50 PM |
Payouts — the cigar pot
Every buy-in and buy-back cigar goes into the pot. Off the top:
- 2 cigars to the employees working that night (the person up front + the bartender).
- 1 cigar to each table's designated dealer (otherwise the dealer button decides who deals).
The remaining pot is then split among the top three:
- 1st place — grand prizes from Poppa P (cutters, lighters, ashtrays, travel humidors, merch, cigar packs, and more) + 50% of the remaining pot.
- 2nd place — 1/3 of the remaining pot.
- 3rd place — 1/6 of the remaining pot.
Player badges
Names on the standings board can carry a badge:
- 🔥 Hot — finished in the top 5 in both of their last two games played.
- ⚡ Comeback — back in the top 5 in their last game played after four or more games played without scoring. (A player is never both Hot and Comeback — Hot wins.)
- 🃏 Regular — played all of the last three game nights here at the lounge.
Fine print: badges count regular game nights only — Special Players tournaments and cancelled games don't count — and "played" means the host marked you as attended that night.