Alternative Tournament Formats

mikelbylmikelbyl
in Brick & Mortar Casino Talk
In the Canada Cup thread we were discussing alternative tournament formats, so I thought creating a new thread for the discussion would be useful.

Share the neat, fun, offbeat tournament formats you've played and would like to see again.

I'll copy my other post below...

Comments

  • mikelbylmikelbyl
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    1) Accumulator format. As more & more of the poker community hates the re-entry format, I want to try out this format at least once. This will incentivize players like me to stay longer at Playground, as opposed to arriving just before the ME starts then leaving as soon as we're eliminated.

    We tried an Accumulator although admittedly it was on the Easter weekend which is a very difficult weekend for a big event.

    The feedback we received on this from people who did play or who we might have expected to play such an event but did not was that they felt that if they couldn't buy in to ALL of the starting days, they felt at a disadvantage and were negatively incentivized to play at all. Objectively, because players tend not to qualify more than once, it actually shouldn't be an issue but perception is king here.

    Also - our experience is that players still really love the next-day re-entry format. It provides a helpful "second chance" while not allowing people to just re-enter like crazy people.

    Some have raised questions about tournament security, but our experience shows that this is not a real issue IF the event is well-managed. We have had little to no evidence of any shenanigans. If there were evidence of wrong-doing that would be different.
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    2) Tag Team. I only played this format once, but would like to try it again.

    I love the Tag Team format. We have one planned for June 29th - the 9th edition of this super-fun event. Part of the reason I love it - I've placed in the top 3 of 2/8 held so far!

    I'll pass this along as a possible Series event - my understanding is that it doesn't necessarily fit well among a whole series of events, but there may be a way to squeeze it in.
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    3) Survivor. This is my favourite format, and is one of the rare tourneys that I will ever play in Las Vegas (Venetian). This is one of the first tourneys I ever played at Playground and I loved that it didn't have the hated re-entries.

    Can you say more about why you like it? My interpretation is that people like it because it's a way, in the middle of a series or festival, to bolster one's bankroll all at once which allows a person to play more sit n go satellites or side events. Kind of like a mid-stream replenishment.
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    4) All-in-or-fold. I first noticed this fun format during WPT CSC, but my roommate & I had left by then.

    We have run this twice, once as a re-entry and once as a freezeout. FUN! It will definitely appear again at some point.
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    5) Iron Man format would also be fun.

    Please say more? What is this format?
    BlondeFish wrote: »
    6) If the hated re-entry format will be kept for the ME, how about copying Matt Savage's WPT 500 format?

    "Hated" is very strong - hated by you. Not by a clear majority of players.

    I hope to play the WPT 500 this summer if I can win a sat! Not sure about an event in which people get paid before the prize pool is established based on real numbers (they pay based on estimates). Also not sure about paying people who don't qualify for Day 2 - in theory, I could place 30th on one day and NOT be paid but place 55th on another day and be paid. Isn't that kind of confusing?

    One of my favourite formats is the Survivor, and I'm lobbying for a 6-Max survivor though I don't know if it will ever make it in.

    Also - this month on Sunday nights we're running a whole bunch of alternative formats such as a 50-50 Bounty (the bounty is as big as the amount that goes to the prize pool).
  • trigstrigs
    what is the survivor format and the iron man format? never heard of either of those.
  • mikelbylmikelbyl
    Survivor is just like a satellite - you specify that 10% of the field will get paid and when the tournament gets down to that # of players everyone chops the prize pool and the tournament ends.

    Not sure about Iron Man.
  • trigstrigs
    is this correct?

    survivor format:
    The Survivor format creates edge-of-the-seat poker as the tournament has a convenient, fixed duration which is divided into time-based elimination levels. Quite simply, if at the end of an elimination level you're among a certain percentage of the lowest chip stacks you'll be eliminated from the tournament! Make crucial decisions based on 'Safe', 'Warning' and 'Danger' indicators that alert you of your Survivor Status.

    iron man format:
    a tournament with “no deals” and “no breaks,” runners in the Iron Man would not stop until a winner was declared in a true test of skill, grit, determination, and survival.
  • trigstrigs
    mikelbyl wrote: »
    Survivor is just like a satellite - you specify that 10% of the field will get paid and when the tournament gets down to that # of players everyone chops the prize pool and the tournament ends.

    Not sure about Iron Man.

    chopped based on chip counts i'm assuming.
  • pkrfce9pkrfce9
    nope. just an even chop all around from the ones i've looked into
  • trigstrigs
    pkrfce9 wrote: »
    nope. just an even chop all around from the ones i've looked into

    really? that's kind of interesting. i feel like that format would be better to be used online as opposed to live though.
  • pkrfce9pkrfce9
    i liked your original defn of survivor. kind of like a 'devil take the hindmost' concept.
  • trigstrigs
    pkrfce9 wrote: »
    i liked your original defn of survivor. kind of like a 'devil take the hindmost' concept.

    i just found that online. yeah, it's definitely a cool idea. forces action in an attempt to keep your head above water. could be fun for sure.
  • UBetIFoldUBetIFold
    I feel like I'm really going to enjoy this thread. Great idea! Subscribed.
  • mikelbylmikelbyl
    Very interesting alternative kind of survivor! It seems that live you'd lose a certain % through players who bust, but then you'd lose a certain % more by the moving cutoff... Hmmm could make for a very quick action event.
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    Yes, that's "Iron Man." A professional friend of mine played in the one where a World Guinness record was set, and loved it.

    Iron Man World Record Shattered for Longest Continuous Poker Tournament

    As for the Survivor format, it's popular at the Venetian. I love it because it's lower variance than the rest of the long series of events. Obviously, most players lose at Playground, WSOP or ANY other series, so it's good to have an option that can save you from life tilt. I'm NOT interested in any 6-max live format though.
    trigs wrote: »
    Quote:
    a tournament with “no deals” and “no breaks,” runners in the Iron Man would not stop until a winner was declared in a true test of skill, grit, determination, and survival.
  • kk_rushkk_rush
    I played a survivor format online before...bottom 10% of the field was eliminated at the end of each level until 10% of original field remained.
  • trigstrigs
    double bubble tournament structure during the PCA this year.

    PokerStars Experiments with New "Double Bubble" Tournament Payout Structure | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
    While traditional poker tournament payout structures pay out to approximately 10% of the people that enter, the new Double Bubble tournaments will award cash to 50% of the players. For example, after half of the field has busted out, the remaining players are all guaranteed to at least make their buy-in back.

    There will be no further prize increments until the field is down to 8% of the starting number, when a more normal accelerating prize structure will hand out the remainder of the prize money.
  • moosemoose
    Wrong. Ironman: bust and do a shot before you can rebuy. 2000 chip add on for every beer you finish.

    Also Merry Xmas Maddness is the best possible tournament format, followed closely by CHAOS holdem.
  • sn1perb0ysn1perb0y
    trigs wrote: »
    double bubble tournament structure during the PCA this year.

    PokerStars Experiments with New "Double Bubble" Tournament Payout Structure | Pokerfuse Online Poker News

    I think for the low bankrolls, this a good structure and specially for people who qualified through satellites. Although this also goes to favor pokerstars as well since the money goes back to more tournaments= more rake.

    I don't think the pros like this so much.
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    +1. Playground is the most likely to be willing to try these different formats, so I hope there will be NO-reentry events such as this, Survivor and All-In-Or-Fold during WPT Montreal in November. I am saving the money that I would have played in the PokerStars-withdrawn series for the RFG/WPT series.
    trigs wrote: »
    double bubble tournament structure during the PCA this year.

    PokerStars Experiments with New "Double Bubble" Tournament Payout Structure | Pokerfuse Online Poker News
  • trigstrigs
    An Analysis of the Double Bubble Tournament format
  • pkrfce9pkrfce9
    trigs wrote: »
    An Analysis of the Double Bubble Tournament format

    I don't see any consideration of variance there. Isn't that important for tourney players, especially since pca has a lot of extra expenses?

    tapatalk puts this here to annoy YOU
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    +1. It's good to have a Survivor or other flatter payout structure during a series such as WPT Montreal.

    The worst formats are Quantum Reload, and unlimited re-entries with unlimited rake.
    pkrfce9 wrote: »
    I don't see any consideration of variance there. Isn't that important for tourney players, especially since pca has a lot of extra expenses?
  • trigstrigs
    analysis of "best stack forward" tournaments.

    Blowing Your Stack: The Economics of
  • MonoxideMonoxide
    Wow only 1/200 people actually double qualified 0.6%, doesnt seem very high or that it would affect the tournament that much.
  • trigstrigs
    Card Player Poker Tour Bicycle Casino Main Event to Feature Quantum Reload Structure - Poker News
  • BlondeFishBlondeFish
    Quantum Reload Structure
    *&^%$#@!
    :rage:
  • mikelbylmikelbyl
    Yeah, that article ended up being quite favourable to multi-starting-flight tournaments. Particularly considering that many of the deformations they noted arose because they chose such an extreme example (22 starting flights, some with re-entry DURING a flight? Extreme).
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