May Feature: A “farm” system for the big leagues?
By
Mike, Ken, and Jess -- co-founders of RRPL
A “Farm” System for the big leagues?
The River Rat Poker League is a monthly home game dedicated to sending players to HPT and MSPT events
From the May issue of MNPokerMag
Three hours northwest of Minneapolis, in a little town called Verndale, Mike Lovelace, Jess Geesey and Ken Hamilton have put together possibly the finest home poker game in the entire state.
Ten-thousand-chip starting stacks, 30-minute blind levels, and most importantly, a wide-ranging pot-luck food spread that is totally out of this world.
The River Rat Poker League — a monthly home game consisting mostly of out-state players that primarily awards tournament seats into HPT and MSPT events.
“It mainly started as a way to get seats into the Heartland, just because nobody could really dish out the money to play in those events,” says Mike Lovelace, who owns Lovelace construction and purchased his current home — the site of the RRPL — in 1979. “So you spend $30 or $40 at a time in our tournaments and have a chance to win your seat.”
The RRPL, which was co-founded two years ago by Lovelace, Geesey and Hamilton, draws from a pool of approximately 120 out-state players, rarely drawing fewer than 40 for an event. The idea of a satellite-based home game dawned on Lovelace after he qualified for an HPT event through a home league in Fargo, ND.
“The chance of getting big money kind of intrigued me,” he said. “There’s a lot of players around here and in the Free Poker Network (bar league) that want to go to the next level. So we just talked about it for three or four months, and we put it together hoping to get 20-25 people. The first event we had over 50.”
The tournaments award points based on results, and prizes are handed out for both individual events and for seasonal stretches. The biggest prizes are typically buy-in packages to an HPT or MSPT event of the player’s choosing.
“We have players that nobody’s really heard of that are really decent players, but they’re known well throughout this area,” Lovelace said. “And I think that’s why we’re so successful. With our structure we have, and the quality of play we have, it’s kind of like poker 101 — We set our structure so people know what to expect when they’re in an ante tournament, how to play against good players.”
Geesey says RRPL events help players prepare for that next step.
“Probably at least 80% of our players had never played in an ante tournament until our events. Antes change your play up a lot, so you’ve got to get used to how much to bet pre-flop, etc.”
Lovelace estimates that River Rat players have earned approximately $16,000 in HPT events over the last two years, including Brian Niemann, who final tabled the HPT Red Rock event in Las Vegas earlier this year for $6,925.
Not a bad return on investment.
May 12th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
Hey Pmac looks like we are gonna be giving away 3 $1,100 main event seats and 8 $250 qualifiers to the Northern Lights MSPT event!