Alternate Social Tourney Format Ideas?

[EStreet20]

Haha, once again that was mostly hangover surliness. But no, my friends and I have a few girls who play in our home games. One of them has actually gotten quite good, because she comes wanting to play, not just to hang out and see everyone. The point I will make, which I really made no effort to get across before is that if you have these "social tourney" setups as you called them, you will always have to deal with a lot of sitting around talking. My suggestion would be to treat your home games as an event where people who actually want to play a poker tourney can play and if the wives/husbands/significant others or whoever else wants to come along but aren't that into poker they can just relax on some couches and talk, have a few drinks etc. so that everyone enjoys their night as much as possible. This is meant with no offense whatsoever but I don't see the point of trying to integrate ones significant other into everything he/she does, especially if that person isn't particularly interested and from your situation it sounds like you have a lot of people who would be more interested in mingling at a coktail party or just hanging out at someone's house talking than playing poker and it's slowing up your game.

Good luck,
Matt

P.S. I've never been called a magoo before, that's pretty cool.

[MrBrightside]

Frankly, my home game took a vote when someone's girlfriend wanted to play: No women allowed. We're mostly old married guys with kids who are there to smoke cigars and have a "boys Nite". I didn't really care that much, as long as someone didn't start whining about the smoke.

Our bigger tourneys (up to 24), where we widen the invite list have had some whiners about the cigar smoke (we're in a garage with the door open and a fan for **** sake). We made it clear he was welcome to host a tourney and have it no smoking. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BigRedAce]

In case it wasn't clear to those of you making idiotic comments about inviting women to the game (gasp) this is a *social* tournament. We (the men of the neighborhood) started it not to supplant our regular competitive games, but to allow other folks (including some our wives, girlfriends) to play who had expressed interest in playing a game we are all fanatical about.

Kind of like bridge in the 60's.

We still play for much higher stakes (that we lie about to our wives) drink our tequila, smoke our cigars and chug Spaten at the lodge *without the girls*.

Now if anyone has anything friggin USEFUL to say about SOCIAL TOURNAMENT FORMATS instead of playing at being some Soprano's poker wannabe, please respond.

[EStreet20]

Here's the point, you won't be able to have a "social torunament" that'll run any smoother than the one you already do. I thought that's what the original post was for. you'll always have soccer moms and PTA activist blabbing away instead of moving expeditiously from table to table. You'll always have people gabbing it up instead of paying attention to the action. What the [censored] were you asking in your original post again????? for ideas of an easier way to get through a social tourney. My response is, there is no easier way, except to redraw tables by stack size, every hour (I.E big and small stacks sit together and so on like the seedings in the NCAAs until everyone has a seat). Then you'll deal with a lot of talking and BS like I already stated. My best advice is still, have some other kind of social engagement besides a poker game at your house.

Honestly, you know you can't tell me straight that you don't think half of these guys' wives aren't complaining about getting "dragged" to go play poker again.

Good luck chief,
Matt

[BigRedAce]

[ QUOTE ]

Honestly, you know you can't tell me straight that you don't think half of these guys' wives aren't complaining about getting "dragged" to go play poker again.


[/ QUOTE ]

No, they're not the ones complaining. In fact, they're the ones bugging the guys to host another one soon (and often the women are the ones organizing them). You're obviously not married with kids...married women with kids RARELY get dragged by their husbands *anywhere*. All it takes is an "I can't find a sitter" and that's that. Our tournaments are always full to 40+ people.

I am looking for a happy medium between full on, play to the last chip and a cocktail party. There are more formats than traditional freeze-outs.

For example, we have a bimonthly boys game that ends at 11PM on a Tuesday (go ahead, make fun of us having to end at 11). We've modified the rules so that the game ends on time. We've also held round robin and single-elimination bracket STT tournaments.

In any case, you don't really have anything useful to say, so I am not even sure why I am wasting time responding.

[EStreet20]

[ QUOTE ]
In any case, you don't really have anything useful to say, so I am not even sure why I am wasting time responding.

[/ QUOTE ]

A. Because you have no life.

B. I think it's funny.

But in actuality I have said some pretty useful things, you're just too defensive about Sopranos poker wannabes or whatever you said before. Either way, if it's the case that these people want to play then just hold it like a regular tourney, I.E. every few eliminations count out everyone's stack and shuffle the tables accordingly to balance them out. Also, don't worry about being a nice guy to everyone, let them know they have to get a move on while switching tables. You said it's you and your wife hosting so if these people have any respect and class at all then they'll appreciate you allowing them into your home to play enough to not lolligag around and keep you guys up till some crazy morning hour. Problem solved, people will be at different tables with different people on any given night and they'll speed up.

Go get em Tiger,
Matt

[duality72]

Just an idea off the top of my head: Make it similar to Casino Night events held by charities and at corporate events. Everyone buys in for a certain amount and gets a set of chips. Let the players play ring games (you can set the stakes or let the players choose) until the deadline (3-4 hours later), then whoever has the most chips wins. Players can get up or sit down and choose their games as they like. Expect a lot of all-in bets as the deadline approaches, which might not appeal to your better poker instincts, but may be fine for a social event.

[jtr]

[ QUOTE ]
In any case, you don't really have anything useful to say, so I am not even sure why I am wasting time responding.

[/ QUOTE ]

For the record, I thought he had plenty of useful things to say. It's just that you don't agree with them. When you find an internet forum on which people only tell you what you want to hear, please let me know.

[EStreet20]

Thanks guys. All I basically did was feed this prick a "how to" but since he was a douche he had to get all defensive about keeping his game a "social event" he couldn't loosen up a bit and welcome the suggestions. Anyway, good luck guys.
Take care,
Matt