Running a local tournament

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With 16 players, 14 will lose twice, 1 will lose once or twice. Total matches will be 29 or 30.

I use 6 games per hour average for 8-ball, which accommodates a reasonable time between matches. A race to 7 will average 11 games, or about 2 hours. A little more allowance for idle time.

Total "table" time is about 60 hours, which doesn't matter much with 8 tables.

The minimum time to run the tournament in my opinion is 10 hours. An undefeated winner will play 4 matches and will be waiting for the final match.

AlexandruM said:

Thank you. Useful statistic. I counted an average 7 minutes per rack.

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The number of games per hour will increase as the entry fee goes up.

For a local tournament I think you can easily go to 5 game sets to shorten the time if the room or the players find that it is a bit long to stay.

While many of the better players may say 5 games is a bit short, unless it's a monthly or less event with a large entry fee, it's not really that short for what it is. You did not list the entry fee, but if it's $20 or less, a race to 5 should be good enough for that type of tournament.

If someone was plopping down a $50 or higher, then I'd want a longer race to even out luck a bit.

I think a break and run pot would be more fun than a stop shot. Have the players try 1 or 2 attempts at a break and run (if they are B or lower level maybe give ball in hand after the break), the one that gets the closest, wins.

For your first tournament, write down when the matches start. This way you can identify the bottlenecks, caused by slow play.

AlexandruM said:

In our pool hall we want to run a small 8-ball tournament, should be 16 players, but it can go up to 20-24 players. There are 8 tables we can use, start at 9 a.m. and should end at 4 p.m., but we can stay couple hours over if needs.
My question is what format to use? I want to play double elimination till the final, race to 7, others players want to play groups (4 groups with 4 players each), but I think that format will be longer, and race should be shorter. Which is the best?

There where be prizes for first 3 places. Also I want to organize another contest for players that took 4-16 place, a spot shot challenge, there will be a 10$ guarantee pot, and each player can take 5 spot shots for 1$, the best player will take the money. Will be that contest interesting?

Any others ideas, recommendations or experiences will be appreciated.
Thank you.

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There are far more matches in the losers' side than the winners. So you want to go with shorter races there or you'll end up with the winner's side finalist waiting a long time for the losers' bracket to finish. If you do races to 7 on the winners side, races to 5 on the loser's side should work nicely. You can also do 8-ball on the winners' side and 9-ball on the losers' to balance things out further.

Over time, you'll develop a feel for which matches to put up next, but if in doubt, emphasize playing losers' bracket matches over winners'. Watch for bottlenecks and have the players ready.

Start on time, or players will start coming later and later. Charge an extra $5.00 for late entry.

I think the spot shot challenge sounds fun. It will be good practice for the players. You could make them alternate the side from which they shoot as well. However, the nice thing about a break pot is that it builds up from week-to-week and when it gets big you get a boost to turnout. Your spot shot idea wouldn't have that, unless the winner gets half the pot and there's a separate cumulative pot that you have to go 5/5 to win (if 5/5 is too easy, then anyone who hits 5/5 could have the chance to get to 8 or 10 and take down the big pot.)

Also, push the pot a little bit deeper. 60/30/10 is probably most common, but I find that 55/30/15 is a little better.

Good luck!

AlexandruM said:

Thank you. Useful statistic. I counted an average 7 minutes per rack.

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Don't invite Adam Smith!! lol
...................or me