Topic: Texas Hold'em, strip poker style - Recruitment closed

[Sethala]

Update: We've got enough players.  Thanks everyone who was interested in joining.

Introduction
As you open the mail one day, you find a rather odd invitation:

Greetings, friend.  You are invited to a special high-stakes Texas Hold'em style poker game.  The game will take place in two weeks this Saturday, in a special room in our casino, and will be televised live.  This invitation is not tied to any particular person, and can be transfered freely.

Tournament requirements:

• Players must have this invitation in order to enter the tournament.  The invitation only allows one person entrance; partners or other guests are not allowed.
  
• Participants must be aware of the basic rules of poker and Texas Hold'em.  Casino staff will be available to assist in explaining the rules, should any confusion arise.
• All participants must be over the age of eighteen, and must appear properly washed.  Participants with poor hygene or under the minimum age will be denied entrance.
• All participants must bring $250,000 entrance fee.  This money, as well as a portion of the income from televising this tournament, will go to the winner.
• Each participant is allowed to wear four articles of clothing, including jewelry and other accessories.  Articles that come in pairs, such as shoes, socks, gloves, and earrings count as a single article of clothing.

Poker rules for this tournament:

• This tournament will be divided into several rounds.  At the beginning of the first round, each player will have seven chips, and a player to hold the position of dealer will be chosen randomly.  Dealing will be handled by the tournament judge.
  
• After each hand, the dealer will move one seat to the left.
  
• Each round will last until one player runs out of chips.  The player that ran out of chips will have to either remove an article of clothing, or complete a dare chosen by the player that won that hand.  After the dare is completed or the player removes an article of clothing, a new round begins.
  
• Each round after the first, chips will be collected and redistributed based on each player's standing after the previous round.  Players that were out of chips at the end of the previous round will re-enter with seven chips.  A breakdown of distribution will be announced when the tournament starts, and will be based on the total number of participants.
  
• The small blind will begin at one chip at the start of each round.  Should the dealer return to the player that began as dealer for the current round, the small blind will increase to 2 chips.  The small blind will reset to 1 chip at the start of each round.
  
• There is no maximum bet.  Bets will follow normal poker rules for all-in bets.

Special rules for dares:

• If any player is out of chips at the end of a hand, the winner of that hand must propose a dare to all players that are out of chips.
  
• Players that decline to perform the dare must discard an article of clothing.  Players that decline the dare and are already naked are eliminated from the tournament.
  
• If more than one player is out of chips, the dare may involve multiple players.  If any player declines the dare (and thus removes an article of clothing), the remaining players must complete an alternate dare.
  
• Players may back out of performing a dare they initially agreed with.  If they do so, they must discard clothing or be eliminated as if they had declined the dare in the first place.
  
• Dares may involve the winner or another willing player.  Should the volunteer back out of the dare, the player that was required to perform the dare counts as completing that dare.
  
• Dares may last longer than simply between rounds.  Such dares may have a time limit of some sort attached, as determined by the winner.  Regardless of any limits however, once the player discards clothing to decline a different dare, or is eliminated, all such dares are revoked for no penalty.
  
• A variety of BDSM equipment, furniture, and toys are available for dares.  Players may bring their own devices, however such devices will be thoroughly examined by the tournament judge, and may be denied for any reason.
  
• If a player disagrees to a dare or backs out partway through a dare, and the same dare (or something very similar) to it is asked of the same player, that player may refuse the dare freely, and the winner must decide on a new dare.  If there is a dispute about whether the dare is similar or not, the tournament judge will make a decision.
  
• Dares that cause injuries or permanent alterations to the body, dares that require touching of bodily wastes, dares that require the removal of clothing, dares that include equipment that is not provided or previously accepted, or dares that affect the poker game itself are all not permitted.  IF a dare makes it difficult for a player to physically play the game, casino staff will step in and assist the player.
  

I shall act as the tournament judge for this special occasion.  Drinks and snacks will be provided by casino staff for the duration of the tournament.  I hope this has piqued your interest, and I am eager to see you present at the tournament.

Sincerely,
Geoff Carlow, casino owner.

What I'm looking for

Hello everyone, and welcome to my little game.  I saw something very similar to this in another thread here, and while it seemed to run out soon after starting, it seemed interesting enough for me to try my own hand at making it work.

This game will work like regular Texas Hold'em.  The game itself is rather simple, and if anyone here is interested in playing but doesn't know the rules, I'd be happy to explain how to play.  Basic knowledge of the rules of poker will be required, however.

I am currently looking for more players to take the roles of the tournament participants.  I plan on starting once we have six to eight players in the game.  Participants can be male or female, and I don't require anyone to play their real-world gender.  While the original idea is for a real-world game, if enough players are interested we could shift the genre to include other non-human races (i.e. elves, catpeople, etc).  The game will still take place in modern times, however.

I want characters that are interested in winning the game, not just sexing up everyone, although the dares certainly support it.  This is, after all, a high-stakes game with several million on the line.

I plan on playing as GM myself, however if anyone is interested in taking the role of dealer/casino owner/GM, I'd be happy to pass it off.  Keep in mind that the dealer is required to post very frequently.

I do plan on playing as a regular character as well.  Yes, this does mean that if I'm dealer and also player, I'm able to cheat and look at everyone else's cards.  I promise that I won't purposely try to take advantage of this knowledge, but if the players insist I wouldn't mind changing the rules so that the dealer rotates to a new player each hand, and the dealer sits out on the regular game.

We will be playing the game in full on the forums.  Since we can end up hanging on one person if they have to leave, I encourage everyone that plans on not having access for an extended period to PM a basic betting strategy to the current dealer.  If we end up waiting on you and you haven't told anyone how you plan on bet, I will likely step in and have your character fold so we can continue with the game.

Since this is mostly consentual and the object is to convince a player to do something they don't want to do, I'm going to ask that everyone ignore players' O/O lists.  Don't try to find something the other player is comfortable with, since the object is to get people to pass on dares, but also don't purposely pick a dare you know they'll refuse.

[AurelieCatena]

I am interested. I know the basic rules of poked (combinations of cards) but I don't this Texas thing. Also, I don't understand how this will be played over a forum thread... Is the GM going to draw real cards and then send the result to everybody through PMs?

[Sethala]

Well, if you know the basics of poker, Texas hold'em isn't too complicated.  To start, the dealer deals out two "pocket" cards to each player, and there's a round of betting.  After betting finishes, the dealer lays out three cards (the "flop") face-up, and there's another round of betting.  The dealer lays out a fourth card (the "turn"), more betting, and a fifth and final card (the "river"), and one last round of betting.  After everyone's finished, whoever has the best five card hand using their two pocket cards and the five community cards wins the hand.  (As an aside, one person might be designated as the "dealer" even if the person physically shuffling and dealing the cards isn't in the actual game, and is instead someone working for the casino or other group that's running the game.)

The only other special rule here are the blinds.  After the pocket cards are dealt out, the person to the left of the dealer bets a "small blind", and the person to the left of the small blind bets a "big blind", usually twice the small blind.  For this game, we're starting with a small blind of 1 chip and a big blind of 2 chips, so there's always a pot of three chips.  Everyone else then has to match the two chip bet or fold.  Basically, it's a way of weeding out people with poor starting hands by making them bet something.

As for how to play as a forum thread, there's three ways we can go about doing it.  First, if someone wants to, they can step in as GM and play as the dealer and casino staff (I'll still act as a co-GM, for any OOC rules questions, and I can take care of tallying chips after/during each hand, but everything else I'll leave to the main GM).  It'll have to be someone that can check the forums frequently and post when necessary, however.  If no one wants to do that, then either I'll NPC the dealer and staff, or we can have the participants themselves play as dealer, and whoever's dealing is then out of the current hand, possibly with someone stepping in as an NPC dealer when enough people are eliminated.  The downside to myself being the GM is that I plan on having my own PC as well, which means everyone will have to trust me to not cheat.  If we go with a rotating dealer, then we need to make sure everyone can post regularly enough to not slow down the game.

Regardless of how we go about having a dealer however, whoever is dealing will likely use a physical deck of cards and PM the players what their pocket cards are, then post to the thread whenever more cards are turned up from the deck.

[AurelieCatena]

All these rounds, which require everybody to post uninteresting short posts regarding how they bet seems a bit longish and fastidious to me. Could there not be a faster way to play?

Like dealing everybody five cards and then two rounds of betting and that's done? Even than would already be quite long...

[BigBuckBob]

As interesting as Texas holdem is,  she makes a good point. Even when the players are flirting or otherwise interacting in the betting rounds The length of the card portion tends to be what kills strip poker games on E, from what I have seen.

[Sethala]

I've thought about that a bit actually.  Some other things to consider:

First, nothing says the posts have to be uninteresting.  Table talk is common in these games, even moreso when the dares start going around.

Second, the blinds play a bit of an important role in speeding things up.  Aside from the players actually betting the blinds, everyone is forced to either fold or bet something.  In professional tournaments (which work with similar rules, minus the strip/dare part of course), it's almost unheard of for more than three people (out of a table of 8 or so) to not fold right off the bat.  Since players will only start with 7 chips (and I might even cut it further to only 5), and the minimum bet to "enter" the hand is 2 chips, it's a serious risk to call that first bet.  So that will speed things up from hand to hand.  Also, if players go all-in, the game essentially "speeds up" and finishes the current hand without any more betting.  (Don't worry about figuring out the math for going all-in, it can be kind of confusing, but I'll take care of all the numbers stuff.)

Third, I'm purposely giving everyone very few chips.  The idea is that a player can only lose two or three hands before going out, so hopefully it won't take long at all for someone to go bankrupt and have a nice dare to spice things up a bit.

Finally, I'm going to suggest that players PM their betting strategy to the current dealer, if they think they can't post very often.  While the posts will probably end up somewhat uninteresting if we go with that, it's likely better than the whole game bogging down for one person.  Alternatively, we can just rule that if someone takes too long to post, they automatically fold (or check, if there's no bet to meet).

Regardless, I know that the length might be an issue, but I would still like to try anyway.  If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the drawing board and see if I can come up with anything else.

[Lady Morgana]

Hi Sethala

Deal me in.

Thanks

[ExisD]

Hey there, I'm still interested in taking part in this endeavor.

Though one question that the answer seems to be obvious, but needs to be asked.

Once you lose clothing it is gone for good right?

[Sethala]

More or less.  There's no way to put it back on (aside from dropping out of the tournament - you're not forced to walk out of the casino naked, as amusing as that would be), however discarded clothing is available for someone to use on a dare (i.e. must put your own socks in your mouth, or something like that).

[BigBuckBob]

I should add that I am interested in playing.

[ivygrowth]

I'd be interested. 

[omfgSarah]

I'm interested. :]

[Sethala]

Ok, so we've got BigBuckBob, Lady Morgana, ExisD, ivygrowth, omfgSarah, and myself as players, and maybe AurelieCatena as well.  Six or seven is a good enough number to start, I'll give people a little more time to notice and post if they're interested, but I think I'll cap it at eight.

Anyway, I'm going to change it to only 5 chips to start with for the first round, then scale the breakdown to average about six or seven chips per person after each new round.  The person that was in last at the end of the previous round (not counting the people that went out) will start the new round with four chips, so a round shouldn't last too long before someone goes out.  I'll come up with a full breakdown once I know how many people are playing.

Two last things to ask.  First, who's dealer.  Unless someone comes in saying they want to be dealer, I plan on having an NPC be dealer.  If anyone objects to that we can instead have the players themselves take turn dealing (and not play the same hand they deal for), but it would mean whoever's dealer at the time has to post fairly frequently.  If no one objects, then I'll take over dealing myself.

Lastly, a waiting timeframe.  I know unexpected things can happen and someone might have to go away without being able to post something.  I'd rather not let such happenings slow down the game, however.  Would anyone object to a two-day wait before forcing a player to fold (or check, if possible)?

[Sethala]

Character thread is up here: http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=110019.0

Since some of the dares completed will be more out of coercion, I decided it should go in the NC boards instead of Bondage.  Plus, if the players so desire, it would allow for something not entirely allowed (after all, someone may end up tied and helpless...)

Go ahead and post a character sheet, but please, keep discussion to a minimum until everyone's posted a character.

Character sheets should include name, a brief physical description, and a description of the four articles of clothing your character is wearing to the tournament.  A quick bio of how the character got money for the tournament, if they got the invitation themselves or if someone else gave it to them, why they entered the tournament, etc. is also welcome.

[ExisD]

I think a day or two wait then folding would be a good idea in this case.

[AurelieCatena]

I won't be part of it. I'm not a huge fan of poker and mainly interested in roleplaying.

[Sethala]

Alright, so that makes six, unless someone else shows up.

So, here's the breakdown after a round is over:

Once someone runs out of chips, the current round ends.  The players with no chips have to do a dare or lose clothes, as normal.  Then, everyone's chips are reset based on what position they were in.  Assuming we stay with six players, the breakdown will be:

First place: 10 chips
Second place: 7 chips
Third place: 5 chips
Fourth place: 4 chips
Fifth place: 3 chips

The players that were out of chips will get five to start.  If there's a tie, everyone gets the same number of chips (so if two people are tied for second, they each get 7 chips, and then the next highest person will get the 4 chips for fourth).  The idea here is that you still want to win enough to get a lot of chips, even if they're going to be reset soon, meanwhile the players that are low on chips will stay low, and it won't be too many hands before someone runs out again.

[Lady Morgana]

It all sounds good to me.

[ExisD]

Those chip rules sound fine here.

[Sethala]

Excellent.  If someone else shows up I'll change them around a little, but otherwise we'll go with that, at least until someone gets eliminated.

Anyway, IC/game thread is up here: http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=110078.0

Everyone should post themselves giving their invitation to the bouncer and entering the room.  Geoff will ask each participant to pick one of the twelve cards laid out on the table; those cards will determine seating order and initial dealer.  (I'll post what the card actually is, of course.)  Feel free to roleplay the bartender serving drinks, if you want.

Once everyone posts in the IC thread I'll start up the game proper and close the doors.  Until then, anyone's still free to join, we've got room for one or two more players still.

As for the character thread, it looks good except for BigBuckBob.  You're limited to four articles of clothing, unless you plan on taking off the jacket before the game begins.

[Sethala]

I tossed a pm to omfgSarah to see if she's still interested.  If I don't hear back by tomorrow evening sometime, I'll probably start without her.

Also, there's still room for one or two more players, if anyone is interested.

[Aurora Wayland]

Im interested. Can we do siblings?

[Sethala]

If you mean one person playing two characters, no.  If you mean being a sibling of another player's character though, sure.

[Aurora Wayland]

Where should I post the character?

[Sethala]

Character thread is right here: http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=110019.0