Tourney Help with League and The Tournament Director (2 Viewers)

[buffalojim]

Picked up The Tournament Director a little while ago and have been messing around with it. I don't need anything flashy but wanted good software I could run locally that also auto-balanced tables for when I have more than a STT. Man, this software is not for n00bs, but I managed to set up my tourneys the way I'd like them to run, I think, hopefully, maybe. I've checked out the TTD forums and I swear you need a PHD in astrophysics to know how to come up with and input formulas to really use the full potential of this software.

In any case, I want to run a league, or a season, or both. I'm not entirely sure what the difference even is. I don't have a large player pool, lets say 15 guys. I want to run a league/season where we have 12 events, 1 per month. At the end of the year, the top 8-10 players will get a free-roll for the final game of the year with the rake money I take out for 12 tournaments. It will be a STT. Does anyone have a suggestion how to set this up in the software and the best method to use for points? I want the points to be participation based as opposed to performance based. I'd say on average I get 7-9 players. Some rarely place or win but play often, so I don't want to exclude them from the free-roll. I see there are points you can give for buy-ins, re-buys, add-ons, and hits/KO's. I want to use all of these. Add-ons will be when you surrender you current stack, if you're really low, for a full new one. Re-buys will be for when you're knocked out, surrender your bounty, and can buy a new full stack plus another bounty chip.

The plan was $50 initial buy-in, $35 towards the game, $5 for bounty, $5 high hand, $5 for rake towards the free-roll. Re-buys would $35 + $5 optional bounty, Add-on would be $35. If anyone has a suggestion how I can incorporate a nightly high hand into this mess I'm all ears. The plan for high hand would be $4 would go towards the high hand of the night and $1 would be for quads, and if nobody wins it it rolls over to the next tournament.

Thanks in advance!

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Picked up The Tournament Director a little while ago and have been messing around with it. I don't need anything flashy but wanted good software I could run locally that also auto-balanced tables for when I have more than a STT. Man, this software is not for n00bs, but I managed to set up my tourneys the way I'd like them to run, I think, hopefully, maybe. I've checked out the TTD forums and I swear you need a PHD in astrophysics to know how to come up with and input formulas to really use the full potential of this software.

In any case, I want to run a league, or a season, or both. I'm not entirely sure what the difference even is. I don't have a large player pool, lets say 15 guys. I want to run a league/season where we have 12 events, 1 per month. At the end of the year, the top 8-10 players will get a free-roll for the final game of the year with the rake money I take out for 12 tournaments. It will be a STT. Does anyone have a suggestion how to set this up in the software and the best method to use for points? I want the points to be participation based as opposed to performance based. I'd say on average I get 7-9 players. Some rarely place or win but play often, so I don't want to exclude them from the free-roll. I see there are points you can give for buy-ins, re-buys, add-ons, and hits/KO's. I want to use all of these. Add-ons will be when you surrender you current stack, if you're really low, for a full new one. Re-buys will be for when you're knocked out, surrender your bounty, and can buy a new full stack plus another bounty chip.

The plan was $50 initial buy-in, $35 towards the game, $5 for bounty, $5 high hand, $5 for rake towards the free-roll. Re-buys would $35 + $5 optional bounty, Add-on would be $35. If anyone has a suggestion how I can incorporate a nightly high hand into this mess I'm all ears. The plan for high hand would be $4 would go towards the high hand of the night and $1 would be for quads, and if nobody wins it it rolls over to the next tournament.

View attachment 1433210

Thanks in advance!

Wooo!

I'd put high hand in rake, I wouldn't have high-hand tracked on there (thought I suppose there's a way). Everything else is pretty standard: set up a profile for each player, for now just set up test bots ("Ape1", "Ape2",etc.), make 10 and have them "play" (select one to get knocked out, itll automatically ask you who knocked them out) until there's one left. See how the money and points are allocated, and tweak if needed. Sorry, I can't speak to leagues or points but I love all the tracking the software does.

I can be more help tomorrow, don't have that laptop with me tonight. Will get back to you once I play around with it a bit.

 

[buffalojim]

Wooo!

I'd put high hand in rake, I wouldn't have high-hand tracked on there (thought I suppose there's a way). Everything else is pretty standard: set up a profile for each player, for now just set up test bots ("Ape1", "Ape2",etc.), make 10 and have them "play" (select one to get knocked out, itll automatically ask you who knocked them out) until there's one left. See how the money and points are allocated, and tweak if needed. Sorry, I can't speak to leagues or points but I love all the tracking the software does.

Thanks, I've run some tests and have seen the points and didn't really understand what was going on there. I may have to run it again but I thought it was more performance based, which isn't really what I'm looking for. I want entice people to play more often and re-buy or add-on where they might normally not and reward them for that. I'm just not sure what a good point allocation system is for that.

As an example. 100pts for buy-in, 25pts for a re-buy or add on, 50pts? 10pts for a knockout?

I know some people aren't going to be able to make all 12 events. So with a possible 1200 points for buying into all of the events, like I will, since I'm hosting. What is a good way to distribute points? Am I making any sense lol

Just trying to learn from some that may have a similar setup.

As far as high hand. I just almost rather keep that separate, off the software, to be honest.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Thanks, I've run some tests and have seen the points and didn't really understand what was going on there. I may have to run it again but I thought it was more performance based, which isn't really what I'm looking for. I want entice people to play more often and re-buy or add-on where they might normally not and reward them for that. I'm just not sure what a good point allocation system is for that.

As an example. 100pts for buy-in, 25pts for a re-buy or add on, 50pts? 10pts for a knockout?

I know some people aren't going to be able to make all 12 events. So with a possible 1200 points for buying into all of the events, like I will, since I'm hosting. What is a good way to distribute points? Am I making any sense lol

Just trying to learn from some that may have a similar setup.

As far as high hand. I just almost rather keep that separate, off the software, to be honest.

Ahh misunderstood about point incentives, cool idea. I'll defer to others on that.

 

[HiveKueen]

I don't think TD supports high hand jackpots. I even searched the forums for "high hand" and got no hits, which supports my guess.

As for the points questions, are rebuys and add on's unlimited or limited such as 1 rebuy/add-on per person per game?

Opinion: I can see rewarding playing versus not, but, it seems like rewarding rebuys is rewarding poor play. End opinion.

You definitely can do what you are hoping with awarding points. My points formula is very based on performance (it detracts for rebuys!) so I would need more info to work up a formula for you.

BTW - teh points formula likely can be put right into the Points For Playing box at the bottom of the setup screen (as seen in your pic in op). Then, once you game ends, you run stats using a custom stats profile to see where people stand.

Let me know the additional info and I'll work up a formula.


I'm not a rocket scientist but it does help to be a retired software engineer!

 

[HiveKueen]

Is this the formula you are looking for?

100 + 25*numberOfRebuys + 25*numberOfAddOns + 10*numberOfHits

Attached is how this formula calculated out my most recently completed league season (8 games). Ignore the Total Winnings column as you didn't ask for that (it is a vestige of my own league stats).

Your feedback/thoughts welcome. Hope I understood what you were looking for.

 

[buffalojim]

I don't think TD supports high hand jackpots. I even searched the forums for "high hand" and got no hits, which supports my guess.

As for the points questions, are rebuys and add on's unlimited or limited such as 1 rebuy/add-on per person per game?

Opinion: I can see rewarding playing versus not, but, it seems like rewarding rebuys is rewarding poor play. End opinion.

You definitely can do what you are hoping with awarding points. My points formula is very based on performance (it detracts for rebuys!) so I would need more info to work up a formula for you.

BTW - teh points formula likely can be put right into the Points For Playing box at the bottom of the setup screen (as seen in your pic in op). Then, once you game ends, you run stats using a custom stats profile to see where people stand.

Let me know the additional info and I'll work up a formula.


I'm not a rocket scientist but it does help to be a retired software engineer!

Thank you, just busy at the moment but I'll take a look asap Got a bunch of snow headed our way lol.

 

[merkong]

 

[HiveKueen]

Thank you, just busy at the moment but I'll take a look asap Got a bunch of snow headed our way lol.

Heard about the snow on the way.

 

[buffalojim]

I don't think TD supports high hand jackpots. I even searched the forums for "high hand" and got no hits, which supports my guess.

As for the points questions, are rebuys and add on's unlimited or limited such as 1 rebuy/add-on per person per game?

Opinion: I can see rewarding playing versus not, but, it seems like rewarding rebuys is rewarding poor play. End opinion.

You definitely can do what you are hoping with awarding points. My points formula is very based on performance (it detracts for rebuys!) so I would need more info to work up a formula for you.

BTW - teh points formula likely can be put right into the Points For Playing box at the bottom of the setup screen (as seen in your pic in op). Then, once you game ends, you run stats using a custom stats profile to see where people stand.

Let me know the additional info and I'll work up a formula.


I'm not a rocket scientist but it does help to be a retired software engineer!

You are definitely correct that rewarding rebuys is kind of rewarding bad play, no doubt. My thought was to incentivize rebuying and adding on as opposed to just leaving. So awarding some points was thought.

My main issue is devising a good system to run a league for 12 events based on participation. I'm open to performance based. Can I ask how you do your league, as far as points and all that. I like the Total Winnings stats though!

 

[HiveKueen]

I've been playing in a poker league since 2009. When the Pandemic hit, the league I was playing in went online and eventually the host stepped away from poker. He used TD so I bought TD adn started a league to replace his.

We play weekly on Thursday night. Monthly is tough to maintain interest. As a matter of fact, in the old league, interest really waned when the host bought a boat and stopped holding regular games during the summer (pre-pandemic). Before boat, he was filling two tables consistently. AFter boat he only drew in 10-15 players.

I have adopted changes to the way he did things. He ran 10 game seasons - mine are 8. In his league, at the end of the season, the top 6 qualifiers (based on money won), played in the season championship and he awarded a bracelet to the Season Champ. The desire to play in the season championship created incentive to play and rebuy.

I dropped to 8 games because 10 took too long to get to the championship game.
In my league 8 players, not 6, make it to the Season Championship.
I adopted a point system that rewards showing up AND good play - this incentivizes people to both show up AND improve their game. I switched to points because there were numerous flaws to using money won as the criteria for qualifying for the season championship.

Next, to up the ante even more, I will also conduct a Tournament of Champions that will be a 6 max - the first one will be when we have 6 unique season champs (we now have 5, so after we crown the next new season champ we will play the first TOC). This event will be a rotating trophy event. The goal is to have one TOC per year.

In short, I use the Season Championship and a TOC to incentivize people to show up, and, when needed, rebuy instead of just leave.

Let me know when you've had a chance to look at the formula I published above - is it what you are looking for?

 

[buffalojim]

I've been playing in a poker league since 2009. When the Pandemic hit, the league I was playing in went online and eventually the host stepped away from poker. He used TD so I bought TD adn started a league to replace his.

We play weekly on Thursday night. Monthly is tough to maintain interest. As a matter of fact, in the old league, interest really waned when the host bought a boat and stopped holding regular games during the summer (pre-pandemic). Before boat, he was filling two tables consistently. AFter boat he only drew in 10-15 players.

I have adopted changes to the way he did things. He ran 10 game seasons - mine are 8. In his league, at the end of the season, the top 6 qualifiers (based on money won), played in the season championship and he awarded a bracelet to the Season Champ. The desire to play in the season championship created incentive to play and rebuy.

I dropped to 8 games because 10 took too long to get to the championship game.
In my league 8 players, not 6, make it to the Season Championship.
I adopted a point system that rewards showing up AND good play - this incentivizes people to both show up AND improve their game. I switched to points because there were numerous flaws to using money won as the criteria for qualifying for the season championship.

Next, to up the ante even more, I will also conduct a Tournament of Champions that will be a 6 max - the first one will be when we have 6 unique season champs (we now have 5, so after we crown the next new season champ we will play the first TOC). This event will be a rotating trophy event. The goal is to have one TOC per year.

In short, I use the Season Championship and a TOC to incentivize people to show up, and, when needed, rebuy instead of just leave.

Let me know when you've had a chance to look at the formula I published above - is it what you are looking for?

I've played poker for a long time but just one off tournaments and some cash games, never in a league or anything like that. So, trying to come up with a good system for one doesn't come naturally for me. It sounds like you have your stuff dialed in pretty nicely and you have a good and eager bunch of guys. I am pretty fortunate if I can get a game going once a month. I have a very small group, it's really only like 12 players. It's a good night if I can get 7-8. I always have 4 definites and I have to drag others kicking and screaming to play so it's not a bust. Hence, one of the reasons I wanted to implement a participation based structure. I won't even bother if I can't get at least 6, and most don't want to play if there's less. If I could play every week I would, it's my players, not me haha!

I checked out your formula, by the way. Thank you! It does exactly what I wanted, which was just an example, not necessarily what I planned to use. I really like the sound of the way you run your league. Could you perhaps share how your point system works, and the incentivization process? My main issue I suppose is my player pool. I'm trying to grow it but it's a slow process, it's mostly family and a couple friends. My pool hall junkie degen friends are either dead, in jail, or not the sort you really want to bring into your home lol. They are lots of action and laughs though

I think right now I am definitely open to using a system like yours incentivizing performance and participation. I want to have a free-roll freeze-out tournament at the end of the season using the rake money from the buy-ins throughout the season. The plan for that will be a table of 8. The top 8 point getters will make that tournament. I just don't want somebody who only comes only a few times and takes 1st all those times to outweigh someone who comes for every event but might not ever win. They contributed more money with their rake than the person who only came a few. Know what I mean? I have all the thoughts up in my head but they just might not translate to my fingers well, so if it all sounds rather vague I apologize.

And yeah, off of work today because of the snow and weather. These are the best days.

 

[HiveKueen]

This could be a fun challenge to help you get your league up and running. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get to the point where we have a Rochester-Buffalo I-90 league rivalry going! Like, a couple times a year hold an event where your high X point getters play against our season champs?!

There are a lot of NLHE tourney players in Buffalo. I actually get some interest in my league from people in Buffalo. I'd love to be able to send her to a league closer to where she lives.

If you really want to attract new players, I'd advise you structure your league with the long term vision in mind versus making it attractive to the people who come now. Ask yourself if you want the league to be about playing the game (i.e. the competition) or about having a good time with fun people. Both are legit reasons to run a league.

I've made a strategic decision to make my league about the competition for the purely self interested reason that I want a setting where I can be working on my game via regular play. We do have fun in my league, but the players are all also trying to win or finish in the money.

let me know if we should banter more about this, perhaps offline if not appropriate to do so in these forums.

Happy snow day. We have about an inch here in southern Monroe county. but hey, I'm retired!

 

[FestiveKnight]

We’re currently 90% of the way through our first tournament season which is going really well!

Here’s the points formula I’m using which I adapted from something @krafticus posted in a similar thread.

=ROUND(LOG(([Placement Rank]+30)/[# Participants + Rebuys],10) x 2500,0)

With ~12 players and 6-8 rebuys (1 allowed) this awards 1500 points at the low end and around 4000 to the winner.

Starting stacks are 20000. For the finale, anyone who has played in at least 3 tournaments can play. Starting stack will be equal MAX( total season points, 15k).

11 weekly tournaments and then the finale is 12th. Here’s current standings after 9 tournaments.

As you can see, there’s a good number of folks who will have an advantage over all those who will come in with the 15k minimum.