About the Pinnacle Poker Club
Who We Are and What We Do
We are a growing group of players from all experience levels who gather 6 to 8 times per year to play low-stakes poker tournaments focused on fun, fellowship, and friendly competition.
We have two or three tables in action on most nights, and the poker room now has space for a fourth table to accommodate future growth.
We play a wide variety of tournaments, including both freezeouts and re-entry events, tag-team events, shootouts, bounty-only and mystery bounty tournaments, and time-limited events. We are committed to keeping things fresh and fun, so tournament formats planned for 2025 and beyond include: survivor, heads-up, progressive knockout (PKO), win-the-button, ante-only, three-blind, and more!
We are low-stakes players focused on fun, not profit. But much of our fun comes from the professional, efficient setup we have created for our events, including:
- Custom-printed, high-quality playing surfaces on each table (indoor and outdoor)
- Custom-designed and manufactured clay poker chips made exclusively for the Pinnacle Poker Club
- Two Shuffletech automatic shufflers and Copag playing cards
- Professional-grade tournament clock software (CasinoWare) displayed on multiple screens throughout the poker room.
Click here to see our club rules
General and House Rules
Please be aware of the following simple rules when playing at the Pinnacle Poker Club. These are designed to ensure friendly and fair competition for all.
- Keep cards and chips on the table. To minimize the likelihood of dealer errors, please keep all cards and chips on the table at all times.
- Minimum bets and raises. The minimum opening bet is always equal to the amount of the big blind. Any raise must equal or exceed the amount of the previous bet or raise. [Example: If player A bets 200, and Player B raises 400 to a total of 600, then the next raise must be at least 400 more (total of 1,000).]
- Single oversized chip considered a call (“one-chip rule”). If one or more players have bet, a subsequent player placing a single chip into the pot (even a chip larger than the amount of the existing bet) will be treated as a call unless the player verbally declares his or her intent to raise.
- Out-of-turn action. If a player acts before it is his or her turn, that action will be binding if there is no additional betting before that player’s turn.
- No “string betting” or “splashing the pot”. All bets and raises should be placed directly in front of the player, across the betting line, in one motion. Chips should not be placed directly into the pot.
- Communicating about a hand during play. Players should avoid “coaching” another player on how to play his or her hand. Players who have folded should not comment on or guess about another player’s hand or strategy while a hand is still being played.
- Showing cards.
- The last bettor on the river is required to show his or her cards first.
- Any player who called the last bet may request that the bettor show his or her cards.
- A player must show both hole cards to win the pot unless all other players have folded or “mucked” their hands.
- Any cards shown to one player must be shown to all players.
- Any cards that hit the discard pile facedown are dead and cannot be used as part of a winning hand.
- Bounties in split pots. In the event of a multiway pot in which one or more bounties are awarded, and more than one hand wins, the bounty prizes will be split evenly among all relevant players (as in any split pot, any odd amounts that are not evenly divisible will be awarded to the player closest to the button in a clockwise direction).
- Tournament Director’s rulings. In ruling on situations not detailed above, the Tournament Director will be guided by the operative versions of Robert’s Rules of Poker and/or the rules promulgated by the Tournament Directors of America. The Tournament Director will make all rulings in a manner that serves the interests of friendly competition and fair play.
Blind Structures
We customize our blind structures to accommodate each event’s desired schedule and goals, but below are our most common structures. Depending on the details of the event, we may not start the event at the lowest blind level listed.
Standard Blind Structure
Used for events with shallower stacks, smaller fields, and/or longer play times
| Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante (if used) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 100 | 25 |
| 75 | 150 | 25 |
| 100 | 200 | 25 |
| 150 | 300 | 25 |
| 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 300 | 600 | 75 |
| 400 | 800 | 100 |
| 600 | 1,200 | 100 |
| 800 | 1,600 | 200 |
| 1,000 | 2,000 | 300 |
| 1,500 | 3,000 | 400 |
| 2,000 | 4,000 | 500 |
| 3,000 | 6,000 | 500 |
| 4,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 |
| 6,000 | 12,000 | 1,500 |
| 8,000 | 16,000 | 2,000 |
| 10,000 | 20,000 | 2,500 |
| 15,000 | 30,000 | 4,000 |
| 20,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| 30,000 | 60,000 | 8,000 |
| 40,000 | 80,000 | 10,000 |
| 60,000 | 120,000 | 15,000 |
Turbo Blind Structure
Used for events with deeper stacks, larger fields, and/or shorter play times
| Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante (if used) |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 100 | 25 |
| 75 (or 100) | 150 (or 200) | 25 |
| 125 (or 150) | 250 (or 300) | 25 |
| 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 300 | 600 | 75 |
| 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
| 800 | 1,600 | 200 |
| 1,200 | 2,400 | 300 |
| 2,000 | 4,000 | 500 |
| 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 |
| 5,000 | 10,000 | 1,500 |
| 8,000 | 16,000 | 2,000 |
| 12,000 | 24,000 | 3,000 |
| 20,000 | 40,000 | 5,000 |
| 30,000 | 60,000 | 8,000 |
| 50,000 | 100,000 | 12,000 |
Meet Your Pinnacle Poker Club Hosts
Chris (Tournament Director)
Chris is responsible for all poker operations, including planning, structuring, and running our poker tournaments, and generally ensuring that the poker games run smoothly. He has been playing poker off and on since the mid-2000s poker boom that started when he was in college. He played primarily cash games (live and online) for about 15 years. However, since 2021, he has focused almost all of his poker playing and hosting efforts on tournaments.
Chris loves playing, teaching, learning about, talking about, and thinking about all things poker. He has played at least two events in each annual World Series of Poker (WSOP) since 2021 — cashing twice, including a top 5% finish in 2023 in which he outlasted more than 4,000 players over two days of play. He also plays occasionally in local WSOP circuit events throughout the year, and has finished as high as 15th place.
Christina (Poker Room Manager)
Christina handles many of our non-poker operations, including music, decor and ambiance, and generally ensuring that our players and guests enjoy themselves. She has no particular love for poker, but she enjoys socializing, bringing together different groups of friends and family, and watching Chris participate in his hobby (because she is an amazing wife).
Christina has a gift for hospitality. Whether she is hosting bible study at church, planning events for her inter-faith employee resource group at work, or humoring Chris by helping to host our poker games, Christina is great at at making people feel welcome.
