Tourney Season long poker tournament ideas (24 Viewers)

ChipNup

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So currently we do a 20 week format for my home poker game and everybody gets points based on how many people play that week and what place they finish. Those points go towards one big game at the end of the year where everybody’s chip totals are based on how they did all season. Half of everybody’s weekly buying creates the prize pool for the end of year tournament. It’s a decent format, but I was curious if anyone else had done anything similar/different. Just kind of looking for other ideas I might possibly be able to bring to our game. Thanks in advance!!
 
I would make the final tournament chip weighted to participation over performance as someone who’s not doing well has no incentive to keep playing thru the season.

Your current system is a rich getting richer system.
 
I would make the final tournament chip weighted to participation over performance as someone who’s not doing well has no incentive to keep playing thru the season.

Your current system is a rich getting richer system.
Our current season is 20 weeks you have to play at least 10 weeks to qualify for the end of the season game so that helps entices people to keep playing as much as they can to try and generate more points but I definitely see your point.
 
To expand on the participation based final. We make later events worth slightly more than early events. This keeps ppl who power thru to get more chips at the end.
 
To expand on the participation based final. We make later events worth slightly more than early events. This keeps ppl who power thru to get more chips at the end.
I like it kind of like what the PGA does making the last few tournaments of the year worth more. I’ve been trying to think of some sort of playoff type thing for the last few weeks, but I don’t really want to eliminate anybody early.
 
My theory for why we go w participation is because the more ppl play throughout the season, more they contribute to the final game. They should slightly better shot to win some of that back.

Our league awards wsop seats and we reserve a final seat to the season ending freeroll that awards a seat for any player who doesn’t win one via points. Chips get awarded for that freeroll based on participation cuz they battle thru season and by playing each of the events knowing they can get some value by continuing to play.

For a league getting playing to come back each time is key.
 
My theory for why we go w participation is because the more ppl play throughout the season, more they contribute to the final game. They should slightly better shot to win some of that back.

Our league awards wsop seats and we reserve a final seat to the season ending freeroll that awards a seat for any player who doesn’t win one via points. Chips get awarded for that freeroll based on participation cuz they battle thru season and by playing each of the events knowing they can get some value by continuing to play.

For a league getting playing to come back each time is key.
How many sessions are in each season and what's the buy-in? I like the idea, and may steal it in part for our group.
 
I copy and pasted this answer of mine from an older thread @ChipNup but happy to answer any questions:

I've been running a league for 10 years now. We play once a week (48-50 weeks/year) with 8-10 players per week (T20k structure) and have found the following league structure to be excellent:

1st place: 10 points
2nd place: 6 points
3rd place: 3 points
4th place: 1 point ($ bubble boy still gets one point).

Top 3 are paid on a standard payout structure, evened out to the nearest $20 amount.

We play a $40 rebuy structure and the points are always the same but obviously the amounts the top 3 cash for will depend on total buyins. The more rebuys, the higher top 3 pay. We have a formula for buyins, rounded, standard.

Final Table / Withholding's:

If we have 12 or less buyins, we take $40 out of the weekly prize pool for the final table. If we have 13 or more we take $60 out. This goes directly to the Final Table prize pool (no rake). The top 8 players in the overall standings get a free roll at the final table, which takes place either in December or early January. The points system has allowed for extremely competitive finishes every single year. Perhaps more importantly, this structure *incentivizes strong attendance* as everyone is incentivized to play for what ends up being a ~$3000 free roll at the final table.

Final Table Starting Stacks:

We structure the final table (Free Roll) to award the higher finishing players during the entire year with more starting chips. This, again, incentivizes participation during the course of the year and also competition for each and every spot in the standings. Starting stacks at the final table are as follows:

1st: 40k
2nd: 35k
3rd: 32k
4th: 30k
5th: 28k
6th: 27k
7th: 26k
8th: 25k

The Final Table also features a much deeper structure than the regular season to allow for maximum play and also to give everyone a shot. The 8th place player, though starting with significantly less chips, has several hundred bbs to start and a structure that allows several hours or play until they get short. We have a trophy and a Google Doc "website" that tracks the full standings (results, payouts etc.)

It's been incredibly successful and a ton of fun. Happy to answer any other questions.
 
How many sessions are in each season and what's the buy-in? I like the idea, and may steal it in part for our group.
We used to do 15 in a season but now we are all older w families so we do 8 tournaments a season. Buy ins now are $100. With a $200 high roller and a $150 main event.
 
I'm sure I've posted mine before as well.

We do an 11 game season; 1 game per month, with a final game for all the money in the 12th month (which happens to be my October game). I use an elaborate formula to calculate points:

=(ROUND(LOG(($F$3+5)/A8,10)*100,0)*15)*2 (+100 points for each bounty acquired)
Cell $F$3 represents the total number of entries and rebuys
Cell A8 represents your rank.

In this example from my 1st game of the season with 25 entries and 9 rebuys (34 paid):
- the winner got 4770 points + 800 additional points for bounties. (5570 total)
- last place got 570 points.

I maintain a spreadsheet with the points, and these points become your starting stack for the final game.

Here's a snapshot of that (note, this is the highest our 1st place has ever been, as it's never eclipsed 30k before).
1726752068692.png


For my game, the top 36 players qualify for the final game. This season, the total pot is 4100 paid out to the top 6 and the high hand of the season ($120 going to @MikesDad for an 8-high straight flush). Sometimes I push that 36 out a bit if I have a long time regular on the final game bubble. I usually have 2-4 players that can't make the date anyway, and it works out.

Monthly games are T10k tournaments with a $60 buy-in. $40 goes to the current game, $10 bounty, and $10 to the final game. Rebuys (1 per person before the 1st break) are handled the same way. There are no pre-payments made, and no need to commit to playing in every game. Essentially, you get out of this what you put into it. I'm not a fan of "leagues" that require large deposits at the beginning, and make you commit to an entire season even when mathematically eliminated from the final game. I find that causes problems within the group (people tanking chips to others or just not showing up). Again, I've found this method works best for our group.

The only "rule" I have about the final game is that you have to have played in 2 or more games in the season to qualify. This prevents a player that won in their only event from making the game. (in all fairness to the players that attended more and didn't do as well throughout the season).

I've been doing this for the last 10 years or so (even though I call this "Season 5"), and I find it works perfectly for our group. Sometimes I forget to calculate split bounties and a few other little things that I could do better .. but at the end of the day, it doesn't really impact the bottom line. Season 6 starts in Nov.

Here are the final numbers for players in the current season. (I do a game in Dec with prizes and such, and do pull some of the $$ from the prize pool for that).

1726753075043.png
 
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I play in two by two different hosts.

Summer is a $40 buy-in. $5 of each buy-in goes to the championship game. Points are awarded based on finish. At the end of the season there is a final table where the top 10 players play down for top 3 season prize money.

Winter is $150 up front. Points awarded based on finish. Lowest three scores are tossed. Top point earner at the end gets 15% of the league pot. All players return for the final to fight for the rest and usually top 3-4 are paid.
 

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