Home tourney question

[Jim Kuhn]

A friend ran a home tourney a couple of weeks ago. A couple of players told me it was badly run. He wants to run another one next month and I told him I would try to obtain some helpful information.

What should the payouts be at 40, 50 and 60 players? I prefer a flat payout schedule. I am thinking all players would start out with $1000 and stakes would start at $10/$20. How long should the rounds be and what type of progression should the stakes go up?

Thank you for any help or links you may provide!

[hutz]

Regarding blinds: It depends on how long you want the tournament to last. If the blinds go up too quickly, it'll be more of a crapshoot and the skilled players will lose a lot of their advantage. I know I've seen posts with different blind escalation structures, so do a search in this forum and I'm sure you'll find something helpful.

Regarding payouts: I assume what you intend by "flat" payout is that lots of places pay. I would think paying the top 20-25% of the field would be pretty darn flat. In order to make the final four or five players have something to play for, however, I'd make the lower half or so of the payouts a nominal amount (but, then, what's the point in paying out so deep?). Can you tell I prefer paying fewer, but higher-paying, payout positions? /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Jim Kuhn]

By flatter I meant having less of a gap between the top positions. Some tournies will have like 1000 for first, 500 for second and 250 for third. I would prefer 800 first, 600 second and 350 for third type of structure.

[JTrout]

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I would prefer 800 first, 600 second and 350 for third type of structure

[/ QUOTE ]
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My 2c. The gap should get smaller as you go further down the pay scale. In your example, there was $200 difference between 1st and 2nd, then $250 between 2nd and 3rd.
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This should be flip-flopped. To the point that it is acceptable for the last few places to get the same amount.
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I like 20% of field getting paid type payout. But as with everything in poker, it depends.
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I've played tons of mini-tour golf tourneys, and they typically pay about 33%. But in those events, you have guys trying to eek out a living, guys trying to cover expenses, and guys trying not to go broke too quick.
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Its the tourney directors goal to balance the payout to meet the expectations and wants of the majority. Are these tourney players strictly recreational? Is the entry nominal or substantial? How many players would consider it successful just to make their entry back? How many would consider that a complete waste of time?
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If the payout were 20% of field in mini-tour golf, they would all go under, because the bottom 60% of the players would go broke very quickly. By paying out deeper, it allows more "fish" to chase the dreams a little longer.
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I think in poker, the fish have more of a fighting chance to get lucky and win, place, or show.
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Sorry if I'm rambling. Let us know what you come up with.

[chaos]

Many tournaments pay a place for each table. You could pay five places 30%, 25%, 20%, 15%, and 10%.

Rounds can last 20, 30 or 40 minutes. The longer the rounds the less affect luck plays in the results. I think it works best if the blinds do not go up too quickly. Here is one suggested structure:
10/20
15/30
25/50 color up $5 chips after this round
50/100
75/150
100/200 color up $25 chips after this round
200/400
300/600
500/1000 color up $100 chips after this round
1000/2000
2000/4000
3000/6000
5000/10000
You also might want to introduce antes in the later stages of the tournament.

[Miwala]

Maybe you want to check out this address... It seems to have the info you need to run a small tourney.

www.homepokertourney.com (http://www.homepokertourney.com)

Mika

[wayabvpar]

Thanks for the link...that site is great!

[Jim Kuhn]

Thank you very much for the information.