Shareholder Poker Tournament
Monthly community event for KmikeyM Project shareholders
Overview
The Shareholder Poker Tournament is a monthly online poker game that brings together shareholders of the KmikeyM Project for community building, competition, and social connection. Beyond the formal voting and governance, the tournament provides a casual space for shareholders to interact, strategize, and build relationships.
Format
Frequency: Monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of every month
Time:
- 7:00pm Pacific (PT)
- 8:00pm Mountain (MT)
- 9:00pm Central (CT)
- 10:00pm Eastern (ET)
- 4:00am Spain (CET, next day)
Platform:
- PokerNow.club (online poker)
- Zoom (video hangout)
Buy-in: $50 (up to 2 rebuys allowed in first hour, cutoff 8:05pm PT)
Game Type: No Limit Texas Hold’em
Structure: Standard tournament - equal starting stacks, escalating blinds, last player standing wins
Purpose
Community Building
While the KmikeyM Project is fundamentally about collective decision-making and shareholder governance, the poker tournament serves a different role:
- Social connection: Shareholders meet beyond voting on life decisions
- Informal networking: Build relationships outside formal governance
- Competitive fun: Lighthearted competition among community members
- Engagement: Keep shareholders actively involved between major votes
The Meta-Game
There’s a unique dynamic when shareholders who vote on Mike’s life decisions also compete against each other at poker:
- Strategic alliances may form around the table
- Social connections influence voting coalitions
- The tournament creates informal power structures
- Relationships built during poker may affect governance decisions
As shareholder Josh Berezin noted about the broader project: “I’ve lobbied others to ensure certain outcomes because that’s even more fun.” The poker tournament provides another venue for this kind of shareholder interaction.
Participation
Eligibility: Open to all KmikeyM Project shareholders
How to Join:
- Subscribe to pokergame.substack.com for tournament links
- Links to PokerNow.club game and Zoom call sent before each tournament
- Join the game on PokerNow and hop on Zoom for the social experience
Communication: Announced via Discord and pokergame.substack.com
Tournament Structure
Prize Pool Distribution
For pools over $500:
- 1st place: 50%
- 2nd place: 30%
- 3rd place: 20%
For pools under $500:
- 1st place: 70%
- 2nd place: 30%
Special House Rules & Bonuses
The tournament features unique bonus rules that award KmikeyM shares (not cash) for special achievements:
Mean Girls Rule
Players on the official Zoom call may strategically team up against players who are absent from video (excluding technical disconnects). Social presence matters!
2-7 Bonus
The worst hand in poker gets special treatment:
- Showdown with 2-7: Reach showdown with 2-7 offsuit → earn 1 free KmikeyM share (requires 5+ players at table)
- Win with 2-7: Actually WIN a hand with 2-7 offsuit → earn 5 shares
Hope Coin Slayer
Eliminate the player currently holding the “Hope Coin” → earn 1 share
The Hope Coin is a physical coin that travels through the mail between shareholders. Eliminate the current holder 3 times across multiple tournaments and you become the new Hope Coin keeper. This creates a multi-month meta-game tracking eliminations.
Final Countdown
- Play 2-7 on final hand: Use 2-7 offsuit on the tournament’s last hand → 2 shares
- Win tournament with 2-7: Win the entire tournament with 2-7 offsuit → 7 shares (the ultimate achievement)
Cain + Abel
First player to eliminate Gene (username: webvee) → earn 1 share
Kevin Deuce
First player to defeat someone at showdown with unsuited K-2 while announcing “Kevin Deuce!” → earn 1 share
What Makes These Rules Special
The house rules transform a standard poker tournament into a uniquely KmikeyM experience:
- Share rewards: Bonus achievements grant actual KmikeyM shares, giving players ownership stakes
- Social dynamics: Mean Girls rule incentivizes showing up on Zoom
- 2-7 celebration: The worst hand becomes valuable, adding chaos and entertainment
- Named rules: Personalized bonuses (Cain + Abel, Kevin Deuce) reference community members
- Meta-game: Players balance optimal poker strategy with bonus hunting
Community Impact
Beyond Governance
The KmikeyM Project includes formal mechanisms (voting, share trading, annual forums), but also needs informal community spaces. The poker tournament fills this gap:
- Regular touchpoints: Monthly rhythm keeps community engaged
- Low stakes fun: No major decisions, just cards and chips
- Personality: Shareholders show different sides at the poker table
- Stories: Tournament moments become part of community lore
Building the Network
With ~160 shareholders, not everyone knows each other. The tournament helps:
- Connect shareholders across the network
- Put faces/personalities to names in the voting portal
- Build trust and rapport
- Create shared experiences beyond voting
History
The Pandemic Origins
The Shareholder Poker Tournament began during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to keep the shareholder community connected during lockdown. What started as a casual online gathering became a defining feature of the KmikeyM Project.
The Weekly Era:
- Ran weekly for years during and after the pandemic
- Not just one game, but multiple tables simultaneously: cash games AND tournaments running at the same time
- The intensity and frequency created deep bonds among regular players
- Eventually evolved to the current monthly format (2nd Tuesday) for sustainability
Notable Moments
Vienna Dedication: Mike once woke up in the middle of the night while in Vienna to play in the shareholder poker game—a testament to the tournament’s importance to the community (and perhaps questionable time zone math).
The Hope Coin
One of the most unique traditions: the Hope Coin is a physical coin that travels through the mail from shareholder to shareholder.
How it works:
- A designated player holds the Hope Coin at any given time
- If you eliminate the Hope Coin holder during a tournament, you earn 1 share (the “Hope Coin Slayer” bonus)
- Eliminate the Hope Coin holder 3 times across multiple tournaments → you become the new Hope Coin holder
- The coin then travels to you via mail
- You keep it until someone else achieves the 3-elimination requirement
This creates a multi-tournament meta-game where players track their eliminations of the Hope Coin holder over weeks and months. The physical coin traveling through the postal system adds a tangible, ritual element to the digital poker games.
Evolution
Weekly → Monthly: After years of weekly games (and sometimes multiple simultaneous games), the format shifted to monthly tournaments to prevent burnout while maintaining community engagement.
Format consolidation: From running cash games + tournaments simultaneously to focusing on a single monthly tournament with the elaborate house rules system.
The rules evolved: The special bonuses (2-7, Kevin Deuce, Cain + Abel, etc.) were added over time, transforming a standard poker game into a uniquely KmikeyM experience.
Notable Games
[Add memorable tournament stories, big hands, unexpected winners, or interesting moments]
Related Community Activities
The poker tournament is one of several ways shareholders engage:
- Discord: Daily communication and real-time discussions
- Substack newsletter: Weekly/monthly updates (3,000+ subscribers)
- Voting forums: Annual shareholder meetings and resolutions
- Podcast: Long-form discussions and shareholder communications
- User directory: Find and connect with other shareholders
- Share trading: Active secondary market for KmikeyM shares
How to Get Involved
For Current Shareholders:
- Subscribe to pokergame.substack.com
- Watch for tournament announcements in Discord
- Get the PokerNow.club and Zoom links from the newsletter
- Show up on 2nd Tuesday at 7pm Pacific and play!
For Non-Shareholders:
- Purchase shares at kmikeym.com to join the community
- Once you’re a shareholder, subscribe to the poker newsletter
- Participate in both governance votes and social events like the poker tournament
Philosophy
The poker tournament embodies an interesting paradox of the KmikeyM Project:
Serious governance with playful community: The project involves binding votes on real life decisions, but also monthly poker games. This balance makes the experiment sustainable and human-scale.
Formalized informal networks: Mike formalized advisory relationships through shareholder voting; the poker tournament formalizes social bonding. Both make invisible social dynamics explicit and structured.
Long-term engagement: Monthly tournaments keep shareholders engaged during periods between major votes, maintaining the community between governance moments.
Gamification of ownership: The house rules award actual KmikeyM shares as prizes, creating a unique feedback loop:
- Win poker bonuses → gain more shares → gain more voting power → influence Mike’s life decisions
- This transforms poker achievements into governance power
- The worst hand in poker (2-7) can literally increase your ownership stake
- Social dynamics (Mean Girls rule) affect both the game AND the broader shareholder network
Full Rules: For complete details, see the official rules on Substack
Future Ideas
Potential enhancements or variations:
- Themed tournaments: Special games for major project milestones
- Championship series: Seasonal or annual championship with cumulative points
- Side games: Cash games or alternative poker variants
- Cross-promotion: Winners featured in Substack newsletter
- Charity element: Donate portion of buy-ins to shareholder-selected causes
- In-person tournament: Annual live poker game at shareholder meetup
Player Tips
Wisdom from experienced tournament players:
Common Mistakes
Q: What mistakes do you see cash game players make when they enter tournaments?
“Not being aggressive enough, especially if there are more bullets (rebuys) available. I do this all the time.”
The rebuy period changes the math—with rebuys available, you can take more risks to build an early stack.
Tournament Style
Q: Do you think tournaments favor a certain style of player more than cash games? Why?
“Not so much a style but a willingness to change up your approach and switch from aggressive to passive and back as needed to be unpredictable and manage bubble situations.”
Adaptability matters more than any single style. Being able to shift gears keeps opponents guessing and helps navigate critical moments like the bubble.
Reading the Structure
Q: When you sit down at a new tournament, what’s the first thing you look at in terms of structure?
“Blind schedule, and where I’m at in position to heavy hitters like Beau and Josh :)”
Know the blind progression to plan your timing, and pay attention to who’s sitting where—especially the dangerous players at your table.
Building Your Stack
Q: How do you decide when it’s time to shift gears and start building a stack aggressively?
“If I build a lead I tend to go aggressive, or battling a short stack heads up.”
Leverage your chip lead to apply pressure, or get aggressive when you’re short-stacked and need to make a move before the blinds eat you alive.
Calculating Odds
Q: Do you calculate odds explicitly at the table, or is it more intuitive at this point?
“For the flop yes, and sometimes will think through implied odds (if I make this ace-high flush ima gonna get PAID! So worth another big call, etc.) when I have a line on the nuts.”
Explicit calculation on the flop, then factor in implied odds when you’re drawing to a monster hand that can stack your opponent.
Tournaments vs Cash Games
Q: How do you adjust your play style between tournaments and cash games?
“Tournaments I pick my spots much more than I do in cash. Cash games I am not playing against the clock or the levels. I am usually more open in a cash game than I am in tournaments.”
In cash games you can afford to play looser—there’s no escalating blinds forcing action. In tournaments, spot selection becomes critical because the clock is always running.
Tournament Speed & Aggression
Q: How does tournament speed affect your strategy?
“Faster you have to pick your spots earlier and accumulate chips quicker than in slower formats. Your ability to win pots without a showdown early in both formats will only help your cause later in the game.”
In faster tournaments, you need to build your stack early. Learning to win pots without showdown (through aggression and fold equity) sets you up for success in later stages.
The Rebuy Period Advantage
Q: Should you play differently during the rebuy period?
“I think most players are much too cautious in tournaments, especially ones with rebuys. The spots you can pick with worse starting hands that have equity and a shot early could set you up for a huge stack moving into end of rebuys where most people are going to tighten up their games.”
Take advantage of rebuys! Players tighten up as the rebuy period ends, but if you’ve accumulated a big stack by taking calculated risks early, you’ll have a major advantage when others start playing scared.
Fold Equity & Late-Stage Play
Q: How does your approach change as blinds get higher?
“Fold equity changes and becomes more a factor as the levels increase. The more you can read a table and capture blinds, push in spots, and force other players to make decisions on their entire stack the more success you should have in tournament play. This does not mean shove randomly and in every spot, but it should be a factor in how you play not just hands, but specific streets on hands.”
Example from a recent game: “The one hand that jumps out to me was earlier in the night where I knew I was beat and I put my opponent on a high pocket pair. The runout was 4 hearts and I had no heart. I eventually shoved, made my opponent make a decision for almost their entire stack and eventually took down a monster pot.”
Understanding when you can make your opponent fold—even when you’re behind—is a crucial tournament skill. It’s about applying pressure at the right moments, not random aggression.
Common Overplays
Q: What hands do you see people overplay?
“I think people overplay suited connectors and more marginal hands without actually knowing the math. I also think people bluff more than they should against people that they have no history against.”
Suited connectors look pretty but they’re not magic. Know the actual math before getting married to these hands. And bluffing unknown opponents without reads is usually -EV (negative expected value).
First Tournament Advice
Q: What’s your best advice for someone playing their first tournament?
“Pick your spots and know that you can’t win the tournament in the first hour, but you can lose it fairly easily.”
Patience early, aggression when it matters. Protect your stack in the early stages—there’s plenty of time to accumulate chips later when the real pressure begins.
Related
Part of the KmikeyM Project community ecosystem