Advice on a weekly tournament please!!

kath13 said:
It's not you, you are perfectly aware of what players in this area need in order to play in tournaments. Your handicap is appropiate as is theirs. It's a fair race and let the best man or woman win. It's not in the best interest of any tournament to not have high caliber players in it and nor should any player feel that it isn't fair when they lose after being given 6 or 7 games from better players.

Okay, thats it! I'm coming to bust you!! Calling in sick tomorrow! LOL:D
 
That's the ticket

kath13 said:
We have tried every variation known to man with these tournaments, conclusion, who knows. Not everyone is going to be happy. Some won't play because they lost the previous week, some won't play because there is a good player signed up, some won't play because the moon isn't aligned in Saturn. Reducing the races for higher skilled players isn't the issue that can be done, maybe... But, I can guarantee you they will not agree if they are playing you. lol I would almost say that a race between 4's and a race between an 11 vs. 4 would take the same amount of time anyway.

You know the secret to running tournaments now. You will never please everyone, no matter what you do. If you add $1000, charge no entry fee, adjust handicaps accordingly, and pay every player back something out of the prize fund, someone will *****. I guarentee it. But that's business.
There are some good ideas here. It does help shortening races, maybe if 2 4's are playing each other, or just use the APA accelerated race chart.
My personal opinion is " don't let the same person win more than 2 weeks in a row. And always pay down as far as possible in the field. If you get 20 players, pay down to 5th and 6th. If it's a $15 entry, pay back even $10 to them. If it's just average players, they are tickled to just get something back for their time. Bragging rights for their time spent. A few players will always come in and refuse to play, because so and so is playing. That's ok too.
And yes, you can save some time by taking an 11 against a 9, and just playing 7 to 5 or 8 to 6. It all adds up in the end.
 
Nice post

1on1pooltournys said:
Yes, I agree, most of my matches were over in no time. I won't be playing Saturday, and will not play at all if it is in the best interest for the tourney and its proprietors!

Some people will say they don't care about a tourney dying because they play in it. A good player can kill a tourney, if he sghows up and wins all the time. Play a week or 2, then take a week or 2 off. Some people don't like feeling like they are giving their money to the same guy every week.
 
satman said:
Some people will say they don't care about a tourney dying because they play in it. A good player can kill a tourney, if he shows up and wins all the time. Play a week or 2 then take a week or 2 off. Some people don't like feeling like they are giving their money to the same guy every week.

Good players (stacked teams) hurt our league as well! The taking off every week or two has seemed to work everywhere I have seen it in use. It keeps things happy on "the home front" which in turn helps participation :wink: .
 
satman said:
...snip...You will never please everyone, no matter what you do. If you add $1000, charge no entry fee, adjust handicaps accordingly, and pay every player back something out of the prize fund, someone will *****. I guarantee it .... snip ...
Some people will ***** if it rains hundred dollar bills because they are not new or in sequence!
 
A little off topic here, but this is a formula we have used around my area that has been pretty successful. For the last 2-3 years, Me and a friend of mine run a tournament at a local bar on Friday evenings. We do the draw at 7:30 and it usually runs right up to closing time at 2AM. We have 8 bar tables. We use APA handicaps as a guideline. We group handicaps in 2's. Such as 2's and 3's race to 2. 4's and 5's race to 3. 6's and 7's race to 4. (Except when they play each other. Then it is a race to 3.) We run the losers bracket as a straight race to 2 unless time gets really short and then we do a race to 1. We police it pretty well and rarely have big complaints about someones handicap.
Our bar owner has been great to us over the years. He has leagues going all week long and wants to keep the players coming in even on the weekends. He opens all of tables and matches the pot. The entry is $5.00. We have been averaging 50 or more players lately with a normal average of 40 or more. Even during the summer we get an average of 30 or more players. I believe that the low entry, short races, and the chance to play better players cheap are what keep the players coming back for more. The low handicaps realize they have the worst of it but they seem to enjoy the chance at playing better players with at least some spot for only $5. The higher handicaps generally win the most money, but some lower handicaps sneak in there and pull off some upsets. That is the rewarding part of it as the TD. For example: Last weeks payouts based on 57 players were as follows:
1st $150
2nd $125
3rd $100
4th $70
5/6th $40 each
7/8th $25 each
Pretty good payout for a $5, no quarters night out of decent pool competition I would say. Anyways, I think the bang for the buck and the little handicap the players get are the key to our success. It may not work everywhere, but It works for us. Good luck to all.
 
watchez said:
Losers side, cut the handicaps in half (and round up if not an even number)
Not a bad idea, that mean's a 4 and a 11 in the losers side is a 6 on 2 race. That might draw in some lower players.
 
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dogginda9 said:
A little off topic here, but this is a formula we have used around my area that has been pretty successful. For the last 2-3 years, Me and a friend of mine run a tournament at a local bar on Friday evenings. We do the draw at 7:30 and it usually runs right up to closing time at 2AM. We have 8 bar tables. We use APA handicaps as a guideline. We group handicaps in 2's. Such as 2's and 3's race to 2. 4's and 5's race to 3. 6's and 7's race to 4. (Except when they play each other. Then it is a race to 3.) We run the losers bracket as a straight race to 2 unless time gets really short and then we do a race to 1. We police it pretty well and rarely have big complaints about someones handicap.
Our bar owner has been great to us over the years. He has leagues going all week long and wants to keep the players coming in even on the weekends. He opens all of tables and matches the pot. The entry is $5.00. We have been averaging 50 or more players lately with a normal average of 40 or more. Even during the summer we get an average of 30 or more players. I believe that the low entry, short races, and the chance to play better players cheap are what keep the players coming back for more. The low handicaps realize they have the worst of it but they seem to enjoy the chance at playing better players with at least some spot for only $5. The higher handicaps generally win the most money, but some lower handicaps sneak in there and pull off some upsets. That is the rewarding part of it as the TD. For example: Last weeks payouts based on 57 players were as follows:
1st $150
2nd $125
3rd $100
4th $70
5/6th $40 each
7/8th $25 each
Pretty good payout for a $5, no quarters night out of decent pool competition I would say. Anyways, I think the bang for the buck and the little handicap the players get are the key to our success. It may not work everywhere, but It works for us. Good luck to all.

I have heard good things about this little turny...isnt it 8ball one night, and 9ball the next? Or is that from week to week. Also can I get in the middle bracket if I come play. Thats the only chance I have to cash since the TD wins it often! Do you still play in it yourself weekly? :grin:
 
Most places here

use a form of the national handicapping system that Bob Jewett helped establish.

Runs from 1 to 160. Games are decided by difference in handicaps. Cutoffs are usually determined by 19 point ranges. 3 is the minimum games to win in 9 ball, 2 games in 8 ball.

Say, a 110 handicap plays a 85 handicap, the race is 4-3 for 9 ball.
say, a 122 handicap plays a 60 handicap, the race is 6-3.

7 is the maximum, 3 the minimum, so a 7-3 race is max to be played.

In 8 ball, 6 is the maximum, 2 is the minimum, so a 6-2 race is max to be played.

If you place in top 4 of tournament, your handicap goes up. If you lose all the time your handicap decreases gradually.
 
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Worst_7_ever said:
I have heard good things about this little turny...isnt it 8ball one night, and 9ball the next? Or is that from week to week. Also can I get in the middle bracket if I come play. Thats the only chance I have to cash since the TD wins it often! Do you still play in it yourself weekly? :grin:
Hey Mikey. It is 8 ball every week. We've considered the occasional 9 ball tourney but the players don't seem to have much interest. No, you cannot play in the middle bracket. Yes, the TD plays and does well from time to time. The bar owner tells me that my pay for running the tournament is performance based. :D That's fine except for the weeks when I lose my first match or go out early!:(
 
I was on holiday vacation visiting the Rockford, IL area and went on a trip to Beloit, WI to check out the Carom Room.

They have a fantastic tournament that was possibly the most enjoyable evening tournament I have ever played. In addition to the tournament they have a break and run which is an event itself and can turn into a huge draw if the pot gets large.

The tournament is a race to 7 single elimination and the handicaps range from 3 to 11, where each difference in handicap was a 1 ball (wild) spot. This tournament was on the tightest bar tables ive ever played. For a tournament on big table I would shorten the race to 5. Generally on the big table the best player will win an even matchup. The break is determined by whomever is behind in the set, and in case of a tie the last person to be behind breaks. Handicaps go up if you get into the top 2 places. I was a out-of town player so they arbitrarily made me a 5 handicap after consulting another player who had watched me practice.

As far as an alternate format for loser bracket shortening the race to either 3 or 4 would speed things up nicely.

As far as payouts, unless you get a very large turnout - 40%/30%/20%/10% is about as fair as you can go. I have been to places that give the first person out their money back so they don't get discouraged, but I would personally modify that to a coupon (that they must sign to prevent giving/selling to someone else) to the next week's tournament (as opposed to any future tournament because if you get people saving them it could impact the prize pool).

The main thing about a tournament is to make sure most of the people have a good time, and feel they have a chance to be competitive. We all want to win, but can accept loosing if we had a good time :)
 
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