PokerRoom.com Unveils Team Poker

You read that right. TEAM poker. What has always been one of the most individual of individual contests has now been made into a team competition by PokerRoom.com.

No, it does not involve two people sharing one hand. No, there is no collusion. This is all about friends pooling their resources and playing individually for the betterment of the group.

At PokerRoom.com, teams can be comprised of anywhere from five to ten members, with one Team Leader, who is in charge team enrollment and event buy-ins. All members have access to their share of the team wallet, to which they can transfer funds from their own personal PokerRoom.com bankrolls. Team members can also withdraw funds from the wallet at any time. Of course, a team member can never withdraw more than his share of the team bankroll. Additionally, nobody can deposit money into the team wallet to make one’s share of the wallet more than 20%. The only way to grow one’s share of the team wallet above 20% is to participate in and win team events.

As stated previously, the Team Leader handles all event buy-ins. The Team Leader is responsible for assigning team members to various events and signing the team up for competitions. He does not, however, have absolute power, as before a buy-in is actually paid for an event, the required number of team members must give their approval. The team members can also suggest events to join and players to recruit.

If the team wins money in an event, only the players who actually participated receive the winnings (no coattail riders here). Each player receives his share of the buy-in plus his share of the winnings, in proportion to his share of the overall team wallet compared to the shares of the other participating team members. So, the more money a player has contributed to the team, the more money he stands to win. Through winning events, a player can see his share of the team wallet exceed 20%. According to PokerRoom.com, prize distribution is designed this way to reward long-term loyalty to the team.

There are currently two types of team events, Team Leagues and Team Eliminators.

Team Leagues are a series of tournaments in which one player from each team competes. Leagues can vary in the number of rounds played, the frequency of the rounds, the buy-in, scheduling, and payout structure. For each round, the teams will receive points based on how their players finish. At the end of all the rounds, the prize pool (consisting of the buy-ins from each team) will be distributed to the teams that earn the most points, as laid out at the beginning of the league. Depending on the league structure, the duration of the league could be as short as days or as long as months.

Team Eliminators are heads-up tournaments played between teams in a sort of “March Madness” style bracket setup. One player will represent each team in the opening round in a one-on-one match against another team, with the winner advancing to the next round. In the next round, a different player may be selected by his team. In the end, two teams will remain to determine the champion.

PokerRoom.com deserves a lot of credit for having the creativity, desire, and courage to put forth this unique poker offering for its players. While it may be a little confusing and slow to develop at first, it could turn out to be a ton of fun for everybody involved and infuse a little sportsmanship and camaraderie into the game of poker.

More information on how to signup and play team poker can be found at http://www.pokerroom.com

Originally published November 28, 2005