How to Organize a Charity Poker Tournament

Charity poker tournaments are a legal, fun and very profitable way to raise money for a cause. Done right, the charity event will be a successful community or state-wide event that draws in people who don't regular donate their money to charity.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Decide on a venue. A bar, church hall, college campus, veteran's association hall or a large park are all good places for your event. If you hold the tournament at a restaurant or bar, ask the owner to commit a portion of food and drink sales to the event or match a portion of the overall donated amount.

2. Choose how and what portion of the tournament monies are going to be donated. Some tournaments will have the players gather pledges similar to walkathons. The more pledge money they get the more money they will have to play with. Another choice is to take a portion of each buy in.

3. Get free advertising by soliciting a local radio station to host the event. Depending on the cause, you can ask local business to sponsor and help advertise the event. They can encourage their employees to play in the tournament which will gather more players.

4. Organize the game by tables and reorganize as each table loses players. Use a big and small blinds to make the tournament move at a decent pace. You can either use voluntary dealers or have the deal move around the table one at a time.

5. Give a prize pot to the winner and some to second and third place as well. If you want all the money to go to the charity, ask for donations from businesses to replace the prize winnings.

[thebestintown]

on 3/21/2009 If you belong to a 501 (c)3 organization and are looking for fundraising opportunities in Michigan, have you considered hosting a poker tournament? The organization I belong to contacted http://www.pokertimeinfo.com and held a Texas **** tourney to raise some funds, and it worked out great. We had a good time, and made some money for a good cause as well. They have several venues throughout West Michigan (Grand Rapids, Middleville, Holland, Oscoda, etc), so check it out if you’re interested in using a poker tournament to generate funds for your organization.

[bobby2000]

on 11/20/2008 My company went with http://www.a-1bingo.com for our entertainment supplies for a corporate casino night. They have a full range of casino rental equipment to choose from, and that really added to the flexibility of the evening. The event organizer was able to customize our order for what we needed. We even had a money wheel and a photo booth. I do believe that some time in the near future we are going to be working with
A-1 again for a charity poker fundraiser as well.