Tourney Big-O Tournament - Am I Crazy? (1 Viewer)

[Mandos]

I host a poker league that plays a tournament once a month. Our standard game is NLHE but I try to mix in 3 or 4 other formats a year to keep things interesting. In the past we've played PLO, PLO8, Shortdeck, Super Holdem, 7 Card Stud, Heads up NLHE, and even Deuces Wild. I'm considering adding Big-O to the mix but since I haven't played it much at all and never as a tournament I wanted to get feedback from those who have: is this a terrible idea, or is it going to be a blast? Is there anything I should plan for or change in the structure? Is there another poker variety/format that works really well as a tournament that I haven't mentioned that you would recommend? Other thoughts?

 

[DaneWoj]

The sheer time it takes to deal 5 cards to each player take so much time. If you do it I would suggest playing 6 handed at most.

Also chopping pots takes time as well as quartering which can be a mess.

We did it a few times and realize that it’s just easier to deal games that have only a high hand.

We now use our online site to play mixed games in our league due to the sheer ease of dealing and chopping pots. The site does all the math for us.

Good luck!

 

[Mandos]

The sheer time it takes to deal 5 cards to each player take so much time. If you do it I would suggest playing 6 handed at most.

This is a good point, I hadn't really factored in how much extra time it takes to deal.

Also chopping pots takes time as well as quartering which can be a mess.

This was the main thing I was thinking about. I'm pretty good at handling that sort of thing, but it definitely slows the game down, there's no way around that. If I do it I might go with a T500 structure just to not have as many T100 chips to deal with when chopping pots (our normal format is T100).

 

[DaneWoj]

I like the idea of less physical chips.

Also if there’s a low possible have players start splitting the pot before the hand is over to speed it up

 

[BGinGA]

Our group has played a wide variety of tournament games over the years, sometimes including multiple games in a rotating mix, or a combination of two games (alternating levels).

2 cards: Hold'em (NL, PL, and FL)
3 cards: Pineapple (plain, Crazy, Lazy), Tahoe, Super-Hold'em (all usually PL)
4 cards: Two-Hand Hold'em, PLO, O8, Scrotum (all either PL or FL)
5 cards: Big O, Dra2maha, Scrotum
6 cards: SOHE
7 cards: Stud, Stud8, Razz, Razzaho
And a bunch of others I'm now forgetting.

We've tried pretty much all 52-card deck real poker variants (no wild cards, short-deck, or Scarney) at one time or another, including a best-low-hand-wins variation for some games.

Split-pot game tournaments will typically take a couple of levels longer than hi-only game events, given the same starting stacks and blind structure/times.

Our player favs for tournament circus games are Super-Hold'em Hi/Lo, 5-card Scrotum Hi/Lo, and SOHE, played either pot-limit or fixed-limit.

 

[Mojo1312]

Tournament may be the best format for learning Pot Limit Big-0. Seven players max per table.

Use the same structure from your PLO tournament. Extend the first couple of rounds by 50% to break players in who aren't accustomed to playing 5 card PLO.

Or extend all levels by 25%. (The one extra card increases hand possibilities by 67%, not 25%.) Retrofit your poker chairs with seatbelts.

I also recommend drinking three cups of black coffee before the game. Tell your players to bring plenty of extra money for re-buys. Chances are good that more than one of them will leave the game lighter than a June frost.