UPDATE - Friday, 13 April 2012: Tickets on sale now for the 5th Annual Texas Hold'em Charity Benefit Tournament for Army Emergency Relief. This Charity Benefit Tournament is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Oscar's Bar & Grill in Enterprise, AL. The charity advanced donation buy-in for this game is $60 with no re-buys. Double add-ons will be available at the door. Doors will open with registration beginning at 5 p.m. and we will shuffle up and deal at 6 p.m. Buy-ins at the door are $100, however there is a 6-table 54 player limit for this game and tickets are sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Buy your ticket now before we sale out!
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UPDATE - 31 May 2011: We are completely sold out for the CSC Charity Benefit Tournament on June 4th. Be on the lookout for the CFC game scheduled for October 2011.
UPDATE - 18 May 2011: The Official Rules for the CSC Charity Benefit Tournament have been posted. Go to the Upcoming Events tab view and download them.
UPDATE - 7 May 2011: Tickets on sale now for the Fort Rucker Community Spouses Club Charity Benefit Tournament scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Silver Wings Golf Course on June 4th, 2011. The buy-in for this game is $30 with double add-ons and no re-buys. Doors will open at 5 p.m. and we will shuffle up and deal at 6 p.m. Buy-ins at the door are $50, however there is a 12-table 108 player limit for this game and tickets are sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Buy your ticket now before we sale out!
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UPDATE - 19 March 2009: The tournament results for the 2009 AER Tournament are posted. Congratulations to winner Grady Creel who outplayed the field of 164 and took home the top prize of $1,600 cash and a 32" high definition flat screen TV. Heads-up against Mr. Creel and coming in second was Glenn Miller who took home $800 in cash and a Texas Hold'em table. A record $6,500 was raised for AER in this no-limit game with no rebuys. The final table also included Eric Matthews who won his entry into this tournament by winning the Friday Night Free-roll at the Silver Wings Golf Course back in January. We also inducted four more players into the RuckerHoldem.com Hall of Fame. Door prize winners were Kristen Hammer who won 1,000 chips in an acrylic carrier and Courtney Kirland, who's brother finished 5th, who also won a Texas Hold'em table.
UPDATE - 23 February 2009: The Official Rules, Blinds Matrix, and Payout Schedules for the 2009 AER Tournament have been posted.
UPDATE - 20 February 2009: Tickets for the 14 March AER game are now available for purchase at The Hangar in Daleville. Store hours are Monday thru Friday 8:30 to 6:00, Saturday 10:00 to 5:00, and closed on Sunday. Tickets for this tournament will not be available from ACS in Building 5700. Tickets can only be purchased at The Hangar, online, through phone orders by calling 334.255.8187, or directly from the Tournament Director at Oscar's in Enerprise during the Rucker Poker League games on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
UPDATE - 17 February 2009: Supplemental buy-ins for the AER tourament are now available for purchase online. Supplemental buy-ins are only for those players who have a $30 credit with RuckerHoldem.com from the Friday night, 14 November 2008, Daleville Chamber of Commerce game that was cancelled. Players who elected to maintain a credit and not to receive a refund for that game can purchase their supplemental buy-in by clicking on the order tickets tab and choosing the supplemental buy-in option.
UPDATE - 16 February 2009: Major rule changes for the AER Tournament are now published. You can download the complete officials rules from the upcoming events tab. A summary of the major changes indicated below:
- No re-buys: By popular demand, this tournament will offer no re-buys. This is an experimental rule change. In previous games, re-buys have been a major source of the charity dollars (up to $1,000 in any one game) raised. However, many players have complained about the re-buys, and some have even chosen not to play in our charity events because of the re-buys. Eliminating the re-buys will definitely change the game, player's strategies, and the amount of money raised for charity. RuckerHoldem.com is committed to providing the best player experience in a Texas Hold'em benefit tournament while maximizing the amount of money raised for a particular charity. Reduced revenue from the re-buys will need to be made up somewhere if this is to be the norm for future Hold'em events on Ft. Rucker. One way to do this is to create an extra incentive for the second add-on.
- Double add-ons: Double add-ons are not new to the Saturday tournaments. The major change for the 2009 AER games is the amount of chips players will receive for the second add-on purchased. With re-buys available in previous games, some players' strategies have been no to even buy a single add-on. The theory there being that they would play loose aggressive in the early stages of the tournament in an effort to double up early. Conversely, if that strategy failed, they would simply buy back in to the tournament and continue that style of play until they either amassed a huge amount of chips or until re-buys were no longer available, forcing them to change their strategy back to a more conservative style of play. With no re-buys available for the 2009 AER game, the expectation is that more players will purchase the add-ons, thereby increasing the charity revenue, making up for the losses from no re-buys. Add-ons in previous games were $20/5,000 or $40/10,000 chips. Add those additional chips to the base 10,000 chips everyone receives for their $60 buy-in and players could start the game already doubled-up at 20,000 chips. As an added incentive to purchase the second add-on for the 2009 AER game, the add-ons will be $20/5,000 or $40/15,000. Thus, players that purchase both add-ons will start the game with 25,000 chips to start, or 125 times the starting big blind.
- Pot line: This is a permanent rule change to all RuckerHoldem.com sponsored games. The pot line is a physical line drawn on the table eight (8) inches from the inner edge of the vinyl rail. The purpose of the pot line is to reduce instances of string bets or raises and to clarify the intent of a player's action when making a bet or raise. Players will now have a defined staging area between the rail and the line to stack, organize, and count their chips prior to making a bet or raise. Once chips cross the line, they are in the pot, and action is complete, unless a verbal announcement precedes the placing of chips across the line. For example, if a player intends to make a 600 chip bet, but doesn't announce "600", then places his/her hand across the line with 1,000 chips in it, the entire 1,000 chips must stay in the pot. That player may not drop 600 chips, and pull 400 chips back. The only way for players to absolutely protect themselves and their intended actions is with verbal announcements prior to acting. Any action across the line, unless preceded by a verbal announcement of that action, must be in a single motion. See the official rules for more examples.
UPDATE - 01 February 2009: Tickets for the Saturday, 14 March AER game are now on sale. Click on the order tickets tab to make your purchase. For more information about the game, click on the upcoming events tab. SPECIAL OFFER: All tickets purchased online during the month of February will not incur any online fees.
UPDATE - 20 January 2009: The Rucker Poker League Website is now up and running. You can go there to view player standings, photos, get directions, and, coming soon, you'll be able to register online to be a part of the league. Visit www.ruckerpokerleague.com and join the area's best Texas Hold'em League play.
UPDATE - 08 January 2009: The Friday Night Free-roll, sponsored by Ft. Rucker's Morale Welfare & Recreation (MWR) Division, will be played Friday night, 23 January 2009 in the Banquet Room at the Silver Wings Golf Course beginning at 1900 (7 p.m.). The tournament is limited to the first 120 registered participants. Click on the Upcoming Events tab for more information.
UPDATE - 31 December 2008: RuckerHoldem.com announces the Rucker Poker League. Click on the Rucker Poker League tab to find out about the newest and most exciting Texas Hold'em League in Southern Alabama.
UPDATE - 07 November 2008: The Friday night, 14 November tournament for the Daleville Chamber of Commerce has been CANCELED. An email I received today from the Chamber reads as follows: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are not allowed to host the Texas Hold Em tournament. We are very sorry for any inconvenience and we appreciate the support you have given to us." I do not know what those circumstances are or the reasons behind their decision to cancel the event so close to the tournament date with more than half the seats already sold. Rest assured that all monies for tickets already purchased will be refunded in full. As of this date, our next event will be the Fort Rucker Friday Night Free-roll scheduled for 23 January 2009. More details for that event will follow soon. You can call Ms. Pam Sauders at 334.598.6331 or email the Chamber at chamber@dalevilleal.com to register your complaints about the short notice cancellation of this tournament.
UPDATE - 06 October 2008: Another tournament is in the history books, and more records were broken, and history was made once again at the 3rd Annual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) No-Limit Texas Hold'em Charity Benefit Tournament held on 4 October 2008 at the Aviator's Landing on Ft. Rucker. Nick Williams (aka The Una-bomber) outlasted the field of 146 and took home $1,400 in cold hard cash along with the Championship Bracelet and a Texas Hold'em Table. Heather Helms who finished 2nd in the ESO tournament on 12 September once again made it to the final table and finished 10th in the CFC event. No woman has ever made the final table twice, and Heather did it back-to-back. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see her at a WSOP event soon. Mrs. Alabama, Deborah Flynn, stopped by to assist in pre-game festivities and to cheer on the players. And her efforts in drawing out the door prize tickets were appreciated by all the players, especially the two that won the 1,000 chips with acrylic carrier and the Texas Hold'em Table. See her posing with Ft. Rucker's Deputy Garrison Commander, Mr. George Steuber, and the Tournament Director, Scott Morgan. And finally, not only did we set a record for the amount of money raised for CFC, but this was the longest game in Ft. Rucker Texas Hold'em history. Click on the Tournament Results tab for the complete run-down of Saturday's tournament.
UPDATE - 02 October 2008: Tickets ordered within 48 hrs. of the 4 October CFC Tournament will be Emailed to the recipient. Tickets should be received within 4 to 6 hours of placing the order.
UPDATE - 27 September 2008: View a 30-second video clip of the starting field at the ESO Tournament. You can also view a 20-second video clip of an EPT tournament held at Oscar's every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights in Enterprise, AL. Videos are in DivX format and require the free DivX video player to view.
UPDATE - 22 September 2008: You can now purchase a video of the final table for the Enlisted Spouses Organization tournament held on 12 September. Just click on the Order Tickets tab then select the DVD category. The price for the DVD is $15.00.
UPDATE - 13 September 2008: The final table for the Ft. Rucker Enlisted Spouses Organization Tournament held Friday night, 12 September proved to be a history making event. Prior to that, only one woman had ever made it to the final table. However, for the ESO event, three local ladies took seats around the red felt of the final table of ten. And when it came down to heads-up play, it was two out of those three that battled it out for the title. In the end, Christena Brown took home the $1,000 cash prize with her 9-high straight. Heather Helms came in second and walked away with $500 in cash. Coming in 5th was Anita Losoya. She pocketed $150 in cash for her efforts. Click on the Tournament Results tab for all the game stats. Coming soon we'll have video of the event and you'll be able to purchase a DVD to catch all the action of the final table.
UPDATE - 25 August 2008: The Friday night, 15 August tournament has come and gone. Congratulations to Jose Martinez, the First Place Winner, who took home $1,100 for his efforts. We also raised $3,700 for the Ft. Rucker Community Foundation. For complete details, click on the Tournament Results tab. You can also read the online article as published in the Army Flier