Winter Poker League Discussion
- Thread starter Gameface
- Start date
It can be hard to strike a balance that works for everyone. I know at least a couple people aren't in the summer league because of the league buy in. In fact, the league buy in was going to be $100 but one guy in particular thought that was too much so we dropped it to $50 and it still kept him out.
If it looks like we aren't going have two tables I'd definitely consider doing a $100 league buy in for a ten person league
That would keep me out.
No, what I'm suggesting is a $40 league membership fee (buy-in) all of which goes to the league prize pool.
Then for 6 out of the 9 tournaments to have a $40 buy-in. Of that $30 will go to the prize pool for that individual tournament and the other $10 will be withheld for the league prize pool. An idea was that if a person didn't want to join the league and/or didn't want to pay the $40 league membership fee up-front they would have to pay an additional $10 (non-member fee) to play in a tournament. That $10 would go towards the league prize pool. If that player played in 5 tournaments they would be considered league members at that point (having paid a total $50 in non-member fees) and on their 6th tournament, and all tournaments beyond 6, they would not longer pay the extra $10.
I also want to have one larger buy-in tournament as part of the league. I'm not sure how much it should be, but let's just say $60 buy-in, with $50 going towards the tournament prize pool and $10 going towards the league prize pool. With the point system I intend to use this tournament will be worth considerably more than the $40 buy-in tournament. So, it'll be a tournament that can shake-up the standings a little bit. I would probably schedule that tournament for March.
Then I'd like to have two rebuy tournaments. I can explain rebuy tournaments in a little more detail, but for now I'm going to skip that. The rebuy tournaments would have a lower initial buy-in, most likely $20, with all of it going towards the tournament prize pool for that game. A rebuy would cost $20, of which $10 would go to the tournament and $10 would go to the league prize pool. Rebuys would be allowed until the first break. At the first break players would have an optional add-on that would cost $20, of which $10 would go towards the tournament and $10 would go to the league prize pool. After the break the game would play like a normal "freezeout" tournament.
This is what has me a little torn. I'm concerned that I'm trying to do something in an attempt to capture two groups, one group that wants to play in a casual low-stakes poker league as a sort of generic opportunity to get out of the house and another group that has a much higher tolerance in regard to cost that is more focused on playing in a competitive poker league for a more significant payout.
I'll say that looking at poker in Wendover you can't really play in a poker tournament for less than $70, and that's their bargain tournament and it has a rebuy. I'm pretty sure the smallest cash game they offer is $1-$2NL, which you'd normally want to buy into for $200.
I think I'm missing out on some players who are more into poker because they sort of see a $20 buy-in tournament as a waste of time. I mean, the winner of our league tournaments has been walking away with $70 for 1st place. That's not a huge payout for ~3hrs of play. The league winner will be getting $200 after playing in 6 tournaments over 6 months.
I want to guarantee $1000 for the winner of this league. That is an amount that I think will get people's juices flowing a little bit. So I'm trying to find creative ways to make that happen.
I really value your participation, Bigb. Same with everyone else who has played in the majority of the games I've hosted since I've been on Jazzfanz. I absolutely want to accommodate as many of the people that have been playing as possible. But I think $20 buy-ins are too small. There isn't much to play for and it's easy to not really care about the results. Winning a tournament is kind of meh. You could spend all your winnings picking up dinner for the family on the way home. I want to make it a little more exciting, a little more intense.
I hope that we come up with something that works.
This is a crazy idea and I'm not really suggesting it as something that will actually happen, just an idea.
What if there was a basic league membership and a "premium" league membership.
So, $40 league buy-in for the basic membership
$100 for the premium membership.
So let's just say for the sake of this example there are 10 basic members and 10 premium members. That would put $800 into the basic prize pool ($40 from 20 players) and there would be an additional $600 (the additional $60 from 10 players) in the premium prize pool.
If we payed top 4 at 40%/30%/20%/10% the basic prizes would be $320/$240/$160/$80 The premium payouts would go to the top 3 at 50%/30%/20%, so $300/$180/$120
If the person who took 1st overall was a premium member they'd get $620 ($320 + $300) But if a basic member took 1st overall they'd just get $320. So maybe second overall is the highest ranking premium member, in that case they'd get $540 ($240 + $300).
Anyway, just an idea. But it kind of illustrates how much more of a payout you get if everyone buys-in for a little more.
$40 over 9 tournaments comes out to less than $4.50 per tournament
$100 over 9 tournaments comes out to just over $11 per tournament.
What if there was a basic league membership and a "premium" league membership.
So, $40 league buy-in for the basic membership
$100 for the premium membership.
So let's just say for the sake of this example there are 10 basic members and 10 premium members. That would put $800 into the basic prize pool ($40 from 20 players) and there would be an additional $600 (the additional $60 from 10 players) in the premium prize pool.
If we payed top 4 at 40%/30%/20%/10% the basic prizes would be $320/$240/$160/$80 The premium payouts would go to the top 3 at 50%/30%/20%, so $300/$180/$120
If the person who took 1st overall was a premium member they'd get $620 ($320 + $300) But if a basic member took 1st overall they'd just get $320. So maybe second overall is the highest ranking premium member, in that case they'd get $540 ($240 + $300).
Anyway, just an idea. But it kind of illustrates how much more of a payout you get if everyone buys-in for a little more.
$40 over 9 tournaments comes out to less than $4.50 per tournament
$100 over 9 tournaments comes out to just over $11 per tournament.
I love it. And I appreciate how much thought you're putting into this.
Yeah, I get what you're looking for. I definitely fall into the group that looks at it as a night out. For me, it's a chance to get away from the kids and wife, hang with some dudes and let my hair down. While I take the playing seriously, if I don't win, it's not the end of the world. It costs less than a date with the wife.
I would be okay with upping the stakes some, but I'm certainly not good enough of a player to start looking at pumping a lot of money into it.
I think the most I'd be willing to pony up would be like $50 for the league and maybe (MAYBE) $40 each night. Even that would push it.
Just my personal input.
Lies!
Back hair, bro.
As far as communication and RSVPing last time I made a group on meetup.com, but it seemed like a lot of players didn't want to mess around with making an account on that site. I'm not a Facebook user, but if it has good functionality for that sort of thing I'd give it a shot. Have any of you used the RSVP feature on Facebook? I've been told it exists.
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I just downloaded an app called Groupme for my son's baseball team. It's free and works well.