Calcutta tips

[Sw10balltour]

I can't figure out why I can't get more money in my auctions. I'm starting everyone off at $20 and going in $10 increments. I'm having minimal turnouts on my tournaments but all the players are quality shooters.
Any hints or secrets I should know to build up the auction?

 

[rossaroni]

You are probably not the only one. Economy sucks right now and many people don't have extra cash.

That being said....I know a place that actually puts some of the added money into the calcutta. Might get better bids if people know there is money in the pot to start. I do not know how your calcuta is run, but maybe pay out another spot or two. If the same players are always cashing, then it kind of discourages other players from being bid on.

Good luck!

 

[gpeezy]

run blinds. start with the best players on the roster. invite the best players in the area. get all the stakehorses available in the building. bid on players yourself. if they are going to cheap, run their asses up. gotta have good character to run a strong calcutta

 

[RiverCity]

Start the calcutta with "pick of the litter", with a higher opening bid. You can bring in an auctioneer to do the mic, which adds some fun to it. Razz the players a little, and egg the bidders on with joking exaggerations like, Joe Schmo on the block, I hear he just won the US Open..... Hows it feel to be the US pick up sticks champion Joe?
Just have fun with it. How much is the tournament purse? And how often are you trying to run a calcutta?
Chuck

 

[Buster Jones]

Maybe it's too expensive for some to bid on some of lesser known players. If you have a handful that don't get bid on, you can lump them into a group and sell them all to one bidder. Also, for the tournament, each time a player wins the tournament, you could move their handicap up. This is a good selling point to your lower ranked players, because they fell that you're trying to give them an opportunity to compete against the big guys.

Some people would rather have a chance at a break and run auction. You can add this and let it build up over time. You add say $500 to the pot and sell tickets to win a chance at the break and run, start off with $250 plus whatever is raised during the raffle. The winner tries to break and run a rack of 10 ball. Each ball gets he makes earns 1/10th of night's pot. If he runs the full rack, he wins the full pot, you've put $250 in the kitty to restart when someone runs a full rack. But, it probably won't happen often, and whatever is left, carries over to next week's purse. I've seen the purse bump up quickly and hit over 15,000. This is when the big dog's start coming from all around.