Advise .. whats needed to run a successful tourney ?
Just wondering what i would be getting myself into if i wanted to run a successful tourney? I have been considering doing just that for the past few months and i realize that its not exactly cheap or quick so any of those out there that have any advice please do tell im open to all suggestions , thanks guys.
Ps. sorry i know i posted in the wrong forum maderators show me how to delete this and post it somewhere else ?
Ps. sorry i know i posted in the wrong forum maderators show me how to delete this and post it somewhere else ?
Comments
1 - I live in a small town, even here poker is growing but it is not yet huge. If people want to play poker, they come to my place on Saturday. No invite required. That said we average between 12 and 15 players normally for our tournaments. However that number is growing along with the interest.
2 - With that many players, our tournaments are running about 5-6 hours. This works perfect for us, it means people still have enough energy to get some side cash games going after they get knocked out.
3 - We run a $20+5 buy-in tourney with the +5 going to a high hand jackpot. Unlimited $20 rebuys (conditional) for the first 3 rounds with a $20 add-on after round 3. That said buy-ins for people range from $40 to as high as $200. We have seen some maniacs hit $360.
4 - We play No-Limit Hold'em. Initial stack of T1000, rebuys are T1000 and add-on is T2000. If a rebuy tournament is not your thing, I would recommend starting with atleast T5000. People like having stacks of chips infront of them.
5 - Format is a basic Tex's Tears Format. 30 minute rounds.
6 - We pay the top 3. Payout is 50%, 30%, 20%. We will consider paying more once we start getting 15+.
7 - Supplies: Chips - 300 white (25), 300 Red (100), 100 blue (500), 50 Black (1000) 25 Green (2000). 1 table per 8-10 people (depending on table size). 2 decks of cards per table (I recommend KEMS). A laptop running tournament management software (I use Poker Tournament Manager from Hammond Software and love it). A proper place to hold the cash. Munchies, drinks and a smoking room.
Lessons learned:
- Have your buyins and rebuys all stacked out and waiting for quick and easy access. Only one person should handle money and chips. We normally have a non-poker playing (GASP) friend do that for us. She does great and has everything taken care of and recorded by the end of the first break.
- We do not use dealers at the start of the tourney, but normally have someone dealing the "final table". This person is normally one of the participants who takes the job. First and second place will normally throw this person some of their prize money.
- Find a good set of rules and have them in place before the tournament. These will come in handy in the case of disagreements. If you want a baseline send me a message and I can e-mail my rules, shamelessly stolen from Casino Regina's tourney rules.
- Make sure it stays friendly and fun. Remind your season pros that nurturing the fish keeps them coming back.
- I can have a tournament up and running on about 10 minutes notice. It really isn't hard to do once one has a system in place.
- And as a side note, last Saturday, with 14 players, first place took home $940.00. Not too shabby a prize pool.
Good luck.
Mike
14 players, $20 buyin, $1880 prize pool???? holy rebuys Batman! that's like an average of 6-7 per player. wild.
Try running a tourney for 100 players and a $50,000 prize pool and tell me its not that tough!
Well lets see;
Tables and chairs - make sure you have enough or you can go rent them. Try not putting 8 guys around a folding table meant for 4.
Chips - typically you need $1000 chips per person - so 7($100) Black 10($25)green and 10($5) red. Try to have another colour - blue or white as higher value chips. With 24 people you will have at least 24K on the table or more depending on rebuys - or 500 chips if you only use black and green. (so at my local chip store for every ten players it is about a $60 investment $60 for 300 chips)
Software - I use tournament director, it is share-ware and relatively simple to use. Does your seating arrangements, timing, and keeps track of prize pool etc if you want it to.
(you do not need software or a computer - you can go the old method a kitchen timer and a paper trail) Make sure you have some sort of timer, using a clock tends to be open for interpretation of when you last did the blinds and the break etc etc.
Cards - I have mutliple decks of the better plastic royals ($5-8) a deck. Very similar to KEMS and theyre CHEAP! If you go with plastic coated ensure you have at least a couple of back ups per table as they get marked/folded/bent easy.
Dealer buttons - not needed you can use the card boxes or bottle etc, but at $2 bucks a peice they do make it a nice investment
Have a plan - and stick to it
When will you colour up? How are you moving people? When are the breaks?
It is ok to discuss this before hand and get a consensus, but I have learned that you really leave yourself open to problems if you try and get opinions afterward.
If you are going for 24-32-40 players, keep track of them. I send out the invite a week to two weeks ahead, generally have it filled in 2-4 hours. BUT I also have about a 20% cancellation rate. However, I have managed to keep every tourny completely filled by setting a waiting list, and asking all the players I have confirmed at 7 days, 4 days and 2 days before to recheck schedules and let me know if anything changes.
This way I know if someone is going to cancel, I have a backup in their place.
Food and Drinks. I make it BYOB-BYOfood. With 40 people an extra beer here and there ends up being a case or two by the end of the night. I offer ice chests and a fridge.
Be very careful of drinking. Since your hosting - your responsible. If a player drinks to excess and wrecks on the way home it's your fault. Have a cab number nearby.
I would check out www.homepokertourney.com and you can get rules and alot more advice there.
Email if you have any questions!
The site that Redington pointed out is one of the best resources there is.
Yeah, like I said, we have some maniacs with more money then brains. Some of them don't think twice about 9 or 10 rebuys.
That tournament I took 1 rebuy and decided to forego the add-on. so a $45 investment. I won it. There was one player who had to make second place to cover his investment. He finished 13th and was happy enough that he played in the cash game until 5 am...
I don't think it would be that tough. I wouldn't play in it if I was running it, but I am pretty sure I could have that tournament ready to go in under a month, with trained chip runners, reasonable dealers (not Casino quality pros, but more then adequate) and enough floor workers to deal with disputes and seat changes.
Like I said, I can run a two table tourney on a ten minute notice. Ten tables and a month of prep time would be easy.
Mike
it's a good place to advertise your home games too, and also find other players in your area looking for a game. when shannon Stpboy) and myself ran the first park street poker pit tournament, we had many of our players respond from that site.
give'r a try.
and good luck with your homegames.
thanks,
johnny
Azim is right man, it is tough. i have played in one of his tournaments and have seen the amount of effort he put in. And it was just his $60 buy-in sunday tournament. it had 45 people i think. not even the hundred he gets on his huge nights.
saying that running one of azim's tournaments would be easy when you have never done it, is remarkably ignorant. If you tell a professional athlete that what they do woudl be exceptionally easy just because it looks that way, they woudl obviously be offended.
try it, and then if you tell us it's easy, we will give you credit.
Most of the regulars on this forum have at one time or another held a 2 table game at their house. they will all tell you how easy that is, but that going any bigger woudl be a real stretch.
not trying to sound like a dick to you or anything Mikeiwo, i just think it was bad form to shoot down azim's comment liek that. he REGULARILY runs massive tournaments, so he obviously knows the degree of difficulty a tournament liek that holds. and if he says it's tough, i think you should respect that untill you personally go through what he has.
thanks,
johnny
I am sure he does an excellent job. And I definitely believe that it requires alot of hard work. But I have been organizing major events for quite some time. Not poker events, but events nonetheless. With the proper organizational skills, a proper plan, and the resources to do it, it really should not be difficult.
I suppose the issue lies in how one defines "tough". Like I said, I expect it to be a lot of work. Work however does not make something tough. Azimk's statement added nothing of benefit to the discussion. Now if he had explained what exactly makes the running of a tournament tough in his experience then he might have gotten a response you may consider more "respectful", and would then have actually added positively to the discussion.
Respectfully,
Mike
thank u all for the great advice.