Poker Season - Critiques & Suggestions Desired

[Precept2]

I currently play in a home game that has anywhere from 7 to 16 guys each night. There's a total of 22 guys that go. A few people have suggested we do an extended tournament (similar to Poker Superstars II). They've asked me to take care of it, because they know I can cook up something good. Little do they know that you're going to help me. We've thought of the fact that not everyone can commit to 8 consecutive Wednesday night games, so here's my proposal.

8 Consecutive Weeks (8/31-10/19)
Maximum of 3 Tournaments per Night
$5 extra per tournament to Earn Points (Qualify)

Qualifying
1. Players must announce at beginning of tournament their intention to qualify.
2. Players may opt not to qualify for a tournament – they will earn 0 points.
3. Players, who announce nothing, will be excluded from qualifying.
4. A player may opt not to attend a night – they will earn 0 points.

Earning Points
1. Points are earned only if you’ve paid the $5 qualifier fee.
2. Points will be earned for finishing positions.
3. If there are 10 players in a tournament, 1st place earns 10 points, 2nd place earns 9 points … last place earns 1 pt.

Point Values
1. All players who earn points make the final tournament.
2. At the end of 8 weeks, each point earned will translate into $25 in chips (for example 28 points=$700 in chips, 80 points=$2000 in chips).

Final Tournament
1. Tourney will be played on the 9th Wednesday, October 26th at 7:30.
2. Seats and Button will be drawn at Random (by drawing cards).
3. Tournament purse will consist of all qualifying money.
4. Final payout will be determined by how many players qualify for the tournament.

[ QUOTE ]


Earning Points
1. Points are earned only if you’ve paid the $5 qualifier fee.
2. Points will be earned for finishing positions.
3. If there are 10 players in a tournament, 1st place earns 10 points, 2nd place earns 9 points … last place earns 1 pt.


[/ QUOTE ]
This looks very good and i have always wanted to attempt something like this.
My only question would be say i did'nt "qualify" for a tournament and still came in first place. I may have misunderstood the buy-in system.
Overall it looks very good.
You may also want to to some kind of deal in the last 3 matches or so make a larger buy-in for players in the bottom 50% point-wise to make a last second charge. That would add some more money to the purse and add more excitement.

[stevea]

I do something similar. My rules are a little different but the starting chip stack for our league's championship tourney is based on the points earned over the season.

Also, check out my site if you want to organize your tourney and record the results online: www.homepokerclub.net

steve
<font color="orange">North Shore Low Rollers</font>

[Rams_Law]

These things are OK as far as they go, but it occurs to me that the game of poker has a brutially simple, efficient and effective method of keeping $core.

[Lottery Larry]

This isn't that different from your "brutal" determination.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
We've thought of the fact that not everyone can commit to 8 consecutive Wednesday night games, so here's my proposal.

8 Consecutive Weeks (8/31-10/19)

[/ QUOTE ]

How have you adjusted for the fact that not everyone can make every week? Are you going to use best 15, or 20, tourney scores?


[ QUOTE ]
1. Players must announce at beginning of tournament their intention to qualify.
2. Players may opt not to qualify for a tournament – they will earn 0 points.
3. Players, who announce nothing, will be excluded from qualifying.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ours is slightly different. We run a tournament, sometimes 2 concurrently, each month. You always earn tourney points, but only if you pay $3 when you buy in do your points "qualify" for the special end-of-year tourney (ours is scheduled for the end of Sept)
I keep track of everyone's points- extra $3 qualifiers and those who don't- for an end-of-the year award on best tourney performance.
For the year-end tourney, all of the $3 fees are added to the prize pool generated by the buy-ins for the special tournament.


[ QUOTE ]
1. All players who earn points make the final tournament.
2. At the end of 8 weeks, each point earned will translate into $25 in chips (for example 28 points=$700 in chips, 80 points=$2000 in chips).

[/ QUOTE ]

Each tourney point in ours is worth T180. The lowest total get chips added to make their starting stack T10,000. The same amount is added to all of the other stacks as well.
I did that so those who only make a few tournaments still have an incentive to buy in. The largest stack will only be around 5 1/2 x the smallest- rather than having a 22:1 deficit.

[ QUOTE ]
Final Tournament
2. Seats and Button will be drawn at Random (by drawing cards).
3. Tournament purse will consist of all qualifying money.
4. Final payout will be determined by how many players qualify for the tournament.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't do it as a freeroll. I wanted to make the prize more significant than our regular tourney prize pools.
I will be trying to balance the chip total at the tables as best as I can, for the start. I thought that would put the lower stacks at less of an overall disadvantage. Moving seats during the tourney, to balance tables, will be random.

Let us know how yours turns out.

[Precept2]

[ QUOTE ]
How have you adjusted for the fact that not everyone can make every week? Are you going to use best 15, or 20, tourney scores?

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope. We play 3 tourneys each night (that take about 100 minutes each). We are going to count those 24 tourneys within the 8 week time period. If people can't come for whatever reason, they've lost 3 opportunities to earn points.

[ QUOTE ]
You always earn tourney points, but only if you pay $3 when you buy in do your points "qualify" for the special end-of-year tourney.

[/ QUOTE ]

We're going to count points the same way.

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For the year-end tourney, all of the $3 fees are added to the prize pool generated by the buy-ins for the special tournament.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone whose earned 1 point or more will qualify. We plan to do a freeroll with all the $5 qualifying money, because people who only earn 15 points may not want to put up $20 to be the short-stack.

[ QUOTE ]
The lowest total get chips added to make their starting stack T10,000. The same amount is added to all of the other stacks as well.
I did that so those who only make a few tournaments still have an incentive to buy in.

[/ QUOTE ]

This addition is a good idea. I'll talk to the other guys to see if this would make it so we would get more for the final tourney.

[ QUOTE ]
I will be trying to balance the chip total at the tables as best as I can, for the start. I thought that would put the lower stacks at less of an overall disadvantage. Moving seats during the tourney, to balance tables, will be random.

[/ QUOTE ]

We draw starting seats and moving tables at random, so we'll keep that theme. The host wanted to have the top 6 point-earners make the final table. I told him that the people with only a few points would stop qualifying and the final purse would be crippled. Having the short-stacks at a disadvantage was the only way I could get everyone into the final tourney.

I appreciate your suggestions and critiques. I'll talk to the others about having the short-stack start with a specific amount and go from there - or make point values worth T50. Thanks.

[stevea]

[ QUOTE ]
Nope. We play 3 tourneys each night (that take about 100 minutes each). We are going to count those 24 tourneys within the 8 week time period. If people can't come for whatever reason, they've lost 3 opportunities to earn points.

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to do multiple tourneys a night but I found that people tend to make stupid decisions when it gets down to 2 or 3 players because the players who busted out are all pressuring them to make moves.

I think one tourney per night is much better, maybe with a larger buy in?

Also, next season I plan on asking for a membership dues up front, and awarding points based on the players best 10 out of 12 results. This will allow players to miss up to two games and not be penalized, but it also gives players incentive to attend all tourneys as the people that do will have more opportunities to place higher.

steve
<font color="orange">North Shore Low Rollers</font>

[John Bedtelyon]

Stevea that's a good method to allow people to miss. I know I can't make everygame, even though I'd love to.

My personal opinion is along the lines of LotteryLarry's, you definintely want to do the point as bonus chips, not as exact starting chips. The person with one point may qualify for the end of the year tourney but they'd only be starting with T25. I think T10 bonus per point would be good, and start everyone at T10k chips. That way 100 points would only be 1000 chips added. This makes it more realistic and fair. Starting stacks of T25 vs T1000 would be very unfair.

Another idea that just came to me as I wrote this post was, why not run it more like poker superstars, like you originally thought? Using your qualifying system, if you qualify, you make it into the playoffs, like any other sporting event. This way anyone can qualify by paying your entry fee but they won't be in a freeroll for the big money. Make them work for it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Maybe cover the whole spectrum and run full games to qualify, full games to narrow the field, then six hand max to advance further and then have the finals be heads up. Pay out as you go, so the winners each night get a prize, like in the show (if I remember correctly, I don't watch much poker on TV.)

Hope this all helps maybe, or at least allows you to add a few new ideas to your otherwise good idea [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Please post what method you ended up using and your success!

Goodbye friends,

JMB