How exactly does a calcutta auction work?

cleary

cleary

Honestly, I'm a liar.
Silver Member
When I first started playing back in Ohio, I played in some tournaments that had a calcutta. I didnt really understand what was going on so I didnt participate. Can someone explain to me how exactly it work? Do you just say, Ill put X amount on the best player and if he wins, you get everything?
 
cleary said:
When I first started playing back in Ohio, I played in some tournaments that had a calcutta. I didnt really understand what was going on so I didnt participate. Can someone explain to me how exactly it work? Do you just say, Ill put X amount on the best player and if he wins, you get everything?
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A Calcutta is a player auction. Each player is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The money that is collected from this action is set into a side-pot with first, second, third place (or however far you want to go) allocation. The person who owns the top finisher will receive the respective amount in the side-pot.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
A Calcutta is a player auction. Each player is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The money that is collected from this action is set into a side-pot with first, second, third place (or however far you want to go) allocation. The person who owns the top finisher will receive the respective amount in the side-pot.
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less normal 10+-% "administration" fees..:)
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
A Calcutta is a player auction. Each player is auctioned off to the highest bidder. The money that is collected from this action is set into a side-pot with first, second, third place (or however far you want to go) allocation. The person who owns the top finisher will receive the respective amount in the side-pot.
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Agreed and a lot of the times the player that is purchased, before the matches start, has the option to buy half of themselves from the person that purchased them in the calcutta. This way if they win then they would receive half of the calcutta money also.
 
And finally, it is traditional to "tip out" the player you bought if he finishes in the money and did not buy half of himself...or herself.

I usually give 10%.

Regards,
Jim
 
wbweld0 said:
Agreed and a lot of the times the player that is purchased, before the matches start, has the option to buy half of themselves from the person that purchased them in the calcutta. This way if they win then they would receive half of the calcutta money also.
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Yes, each calcutta is going to have intricate details to it. I've seen online calcuttas where you may bid on multiple players at a time as opposed to live calcuttas which are typically done one at a time. Also, there are blind bids (typically done first) where you would bid for the player of your choice. The buyer would announce after purchase who his horse would be. Sometimes blind bids end up being cheaper than the most expensive player.
 
Usually the bid starts with yourself. The auctioneer will usually ask do you have $5 on yourself to which the usual reply is, "Yes." Then like a regular auction people up that bid...10, 20, 25 and so on. Everything is in the open so you have to sing out your bid to be heard. Many times two people will throw out the same bid at the same time. The highest bidder has that player or horse as some people call it for all the calcutta money which is separate from the tourny money.

Once sold, the buyer usually will ask the player he bought if he wants half of himself. That way a player that wants to bid on himself but don't want the price jacked to high doesn't have to get into a bidding war knowing he can at least buy half later.
 
av84fun said:
And finally, it is traditional to "tip out" the player you bought if he finishes in the money and did not buy half of himself...or herself.

I usually give 10%.

Regards,
Jim
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Seriously, you have to make it incentive driven to protect your investment. If you typically give out 10% no matter what the place, you should say to your horse, "If you win the whole thing, I'll give you 25%." That way, he's less likely to dump for a payoff.
 
Also.....

When the Auction for a player is completed, the player has an option to buy half of his bid amount.(in most cases)

If Joe the player wants to buy all of his action, he has to get in and bid to win. Otherwise, he only gets the option to pay half of the winning bid amount and take half of the purse if he plays in the money.

It is not unusual with a large spectator crowd to have the calcutta pay way more than the tournament itself. Kinda like going to the horse races, but only one winning $$ payout for each place.
 
Jude Rosenstock said:
Seriously, you have to make it incentive driven to protect your investment. If you typically give out 10% no matter what the place, you should say to your horse, "If you win the whole thing, I'll give you 25%." That way, he's less likely to dump for a payoff.
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Good advice for people who bid on players they don't know.

I don't.

Here's another tip for "field players" like me (those who don't figure to finish in the money).

Take a look at the entry list to see where your name comes. Memorize the name of the player just ahead of you on the list. When that name is called, leave the building so you don't waste the money buying yourself or have to suffer the embarrassment of refusing to do so!

(-:

Regards,
Jim
 
Calcutta's

Most larger tournament Calcutta's start with blind bids. These are bids where the players name is not determined until the high bidder wins the right to name who he /she is choosing. Most blind bids begin @ $50 and the sky is the limit ( I've seen bids of $400-$500), and the blind bids continue until no one wants to shell out the initial $50

That's how it works in my part of the country
Walter
;) :eek: ;)
 
If you're a "nobody", you should always buy yourself for $5 or whatever the minimum bid is. Hopefully your "friends" won't try and stick you for more by bidding up.

Not enough calcuttas are run IMO. Arguably the biggest Colorado tournament was last weekend and no calcutta to be found.
 
Interesting Factoid:

The calcutta is at the heart of the history of pool. In fact, the name "pool" probably comes from the widespread historical practice of "pooling" players' bets (like entry fees at a tournament).

The most common form of this kind of gambling today is "parimutuel betting", like at the horse races, a kind of pool betting where the payout odds are calculated after betting is closed based on the amount bet on each horse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimutuel_betting

pj
chgo
 
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