Dreaming up ideas

A couple of nights ago I had yet another poker dream, but this one contained the germ of an idea that just might work.

I was playing in a poker tournament in which the action was periodically stopped for a trivia question, and answering correctly allowed one to double up.

So here's the basic idea, as refined a bit by some daytime pondering. In a tournament, at the end of every level (or two, or three), you use a Trivial Pursuit or similar game card. You announce the subject. Players are then allowed to prop-bet with each other about whether they will be able to answer it correctly. (In order to reduce the time for such bargaining, you might limit it by saying that each player can make a deal with only one other player. You could go even further and specify the prop-bet pairings; e.g., the small blind with the big blind, UTG with the player on his left, and so on. In that kind of pairing, when the game is 9-handed, the button would be out of luck for that round.)

They could negiotiate for any number of chips up to what they have--like the "Daily Double" on "Jeopardy." (This is another reason for limiting the deals to one per customer; you don't want somebody double-committing more chips than they have.)

The question is posed. Players write down the answer on a slip of paper. The answer is announced.

If both players have it right or wrong, it's a push, no chips trade hands. But if one has it right and the other wrong, the agreed-upon number of chips moves from loser to winner. Then the tournament continues as usual.

I don't expect to see this implemented in the World Poker Tour anytime soon. But if you give it a try in your home game, let me know how it works out.