Coming up with a Ranking formula for KotZ

[eMarkM]

Hi, probability and math gurus. I've recently taken over the role as Tournament Director for the King of the Zoo series of tournaments. For those not familiar, it will be a series of 18 events on PokerStars open to any 2+2 poster with at least 25 posts. Mostly HE, but featuring every game Stars has touneys for. See here for more info on the series.

Anyway, much of the fun in playing in this is for bragging rights of being the best, or King of the Zoo. For that we had a formula for determining the best player over the course of all events. That formula, devised by the previous TD went as follows:

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After each tournament, the participants are awarded points based on their finishing position, relevant to the field. The percentage of the field they beat is multiplied by 10 to derive a points total. For example - If a player finishes 13th in a 56 runner tournament, they will have beaten 43 of their 55 opponents = 78.2%. Thus, their points total is 782 for that event. The winner receives 1000 points, and the last placed competitor scores 0.


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The problem I have with this is that it led to a situation where a player who was consistently in the top 20 would get a high ranking without ever making the money. In fact, last year 2nd place went to someone who only made one final table and went out 9th. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth, doesn't seem right. It also gives those who play the most events an automatic pop in the rankings by just surviving for awhile in each event. We'll have many more events this year, so this will get more pronounced. This leaves me wanting a better formula.

On one hand, I don't want a system where someone plays two events and takes first or second in each and hops to the top. I want players to be somewhat rewarded for participating. But I think the formula above gives too much reward for just showing up a lot. I'd like to at least weight it for players that make the money so we don't have situtions where players are in the top ten that never moneyed. Would also like a formula where everyone earns points somehow, so not like Stars where the majority of participants get 0 because they don't finish in the top 15%. A lot to ask of a formula I guess and not sure the best way to go about it.

Any input, ideas, suggestions would be appreciated. And of course, every 2+2 poster with at least 25 posts is invited to play in the series. Just give me an email address and I will email passwords to the events as they come up. Thanks for your help.