Need help/advice organizing a pool tournament

S

Str8PoolMan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have finally talked the Employee Activities Committee (EAC) where I work into sponsoring a pool tournament for employees who are interested in playing. Now I need to come up with a venue, format, etc. Therefore, I am turning to the good people of AZB for some help/advice. I am unsure of the number of people who will play. But I would guess that it would be less than 20.
Here are some of the questions I have:

1) What would be the best format for a small group of 15-20 people in order to finish in one night without burning the midnight oil too much? (Note: the game will undoubtedly be 8-ball) I would kind of like to have a round robin type format, so no one gets knocked out after just one or two matches, but I don't know if that is feasible.

2) How many tables will we need to reserve at the hall (assuming 15-20 people)?

3) This is in the Dallas/Plano area (I-75 & Plano Pkwy, near Collin Creek Mall). What would be some suggestions for venue? The places that I know of that are close to our factory are The Billiard Den, Fox & Hound, Main Event. Does anyone know of any other decent places in this area?

This is not a world championship event or anything. It's mostly just an excuse to drink and have a good time. So it doesn't have to be a perfectly run event. I would like to have a good tournament though, so any advice and/or information y'all can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Another reason I would like this to go well is that I am hoping to talk the EAC into sponsoring a league, or at least a team or two for a league.

Thanks in advance for all your help.
 
Just a simple tourney 8 ball with a race to 2 or 3 will most likely last until after mdinight, especially since most of your players will not have any real skill at the game. A race to one, double elim would probably work well on 3 or 4 tables.

As for me, I think I would forget the competetive side of the game and make it more of an entertainment evening focused around one or two tables. That would allow others to sit around the main table and drink, make fun remarks, and basically have a good time. I would have everyone pick a nick name, write it down on a card, and put it into a basket draw. Everyone draws an opponent from the lot and plays one game. The fun here will be guessing who goes with which nick name. Anyway, put the winners of these single game match ups back into the basket again for the second draw. Keep this up until the final two remain. Then make them pick a name from the hat again (from everyone that lost) for a partner. The two winners then play each other, but with the unknown element of playing with someone else from the group (shape partners, but not so much in this case-smile). You could also let the group pick the new partner in order to even things out in a fun way.

To me, the main point is to make it fun. These folks are not regular players, and competition can sometimes be less than fun when you are playing another person's game.

I think it is great of you to organize this regardless. It is folks like you that make this world fun to live in!
 
For time sake and a fun tournament, consider a Scotch Doubles tournament. A Mixed Scotch Doubles tournament works great if you can get enough women involved (maybe require each Male employee to
sponsor a Female employee, but keep it luck of the draw). Use a luck of the draw format for partners...that way the better players can't load-up a team and dominate the rest.

This will make less teams but the games can sometimes last longer that a singles match. Double elimination would work good too...keeps people around longer.

Also, give prizes instead of cash. When money gets mixed up with work related activities, people sometimes lose the 'fun' aspect of the event.

Hope it work out for you. Sounds like a good plan.

L8R...Ken
 
We recently did a fund raiser for an animal rescue group. We ran 8-ball double elimination race to 2. We had 32 players and the whole event took about 7 hours. (We had 10 tables)
To make it fun, encourage sharking! You can say or do anything to distract your opponent short of touching the balls or their cue. (We had a couple of very creative ladies who figured out how to be quite distracting, although we did also enforce a "no nudity" rule.
Set up a PA systen so someone can provide a little added commentayr. "Looks like Scott forgot to take his Prozac this morning...getting pretty wild over there" or "If Cindy misses this shot, I'm betting she calls in sick on Monday due to extreme embarassment!)

Keep it light, keep it fun, and keep it moving! Don't let people get bored.

Steve
 
Krypto said:
A race to one, double elim would probably work well on 3 or 4 tables.
Click to expand...

+1

I think a race to one, double elimination would be fastest and people would still have fun without playing too late (assuming you don't have a lot of highly skilled players)


I like billiard den ... but if you don't mind playing on 7' bar boxes, you might consider Lone Star Grill & Sports Cafe (972) 680-0400 1144 N Plano Rd, Richardson (at Plano rd and Arapaho). Smoking is allowed and the wait staff is good (food is good too).

Edit: ... also you may consider Austin Avenue Grill & Sports at Parker and Alma. They have 8' tables (I wish they would replace the cloth though)
 
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Round robins are great in that everyone gets to shoot everyone else. But, takes a lot of tables and may take too long to finish.

If you want to keep all people shooting for the entire evening, as an alternative to a round robin you might try a line tournament if the place has enough tables. You'll need half the number of tables as you have people plus an initial guess at peoples' skill level.

For example, with 16 people you'll need 8 tables. Seed people 2 per table (the best on table 1 and the worst on table 8). All tables start playing one game at the same time and report the results to you when they are done. Then each winner moves up a table and each looser moves down a table. You read out the new table assignments and they all have a go at it for the second round (and so forth). (Note: The person who wins on table 1 stays on table 1 and the person who looses on table 8 stays on table 8.)

Usually takes approx. 15-20 min. per round with 8-ball. So, if you go for 2 1/2 hours you should get in 7-8 games or so. Add in 1/2 hour or so for warm up practice and you're looking at 3 hrs. total. This way you can control the amount of time used and the number of games varies depending on how fast the rounds go (assumes a given start time and end time).

The person with the best record (say 6 wins and 2 losses) wins. Can be a lower level person who started at the last table and has a good run. So, need to be careful how you seed people. Eventually, people will be playing others with a similar skill level.

Also, suggest you decide on rules beforehand, have them written (can be a very simple list of just the major ones) and distribute them beforehand to help you get things started.
 
Tournament for Everybody

Place everyones name in a bowl. Draw a name alternating between Bracket 1 and 2. With 10 players per bracket they play one game round robin. This will occupy them for a couple of hours. Take the top 4 each bracket and mix them up and draw names for a race to 2 single elimination bracket. The bracket 1 and 2 players(losing 6 players in each bracket) who aren't in the top 4 play a Second Chance single game bracket. This shouldn't take more than 4-5 hours.Everybody gets to play. Have Fun.
 
PM pulzcul. He and Mike put together a very successful and fun tournament this weekend with over 130 players. Its been an annual tournament for 10 years or so.
 
Thanks for the suggestions...

Some good ideas here. I would expect, if we have a good turnout, that doubles would be the way to go. Preferably mixed, if we have enough women sign up. We have a wide range of skill levels here. Doubles might also help level the playing field a bit. Plus, it'll just be more fun not to lose or win alone.

I have played at Austin Avenue Grill before. The equipment is crap. Also, they have a strange requirement of you having to "ask" for a cue to use. I would prefer the Billiard Den. Fox & Hound is nice, but a bit too yuppie for my taste. However, they had very nice equipment last time I played there and some of the people I work with are quite yuppie. So maybe it would be the best fit. Main Event is decent enough. We recently had our bowling tournament there. It's more of a family/teenie-bopper hangout. But I wouldn't mind playing there.

I will present the information, along with my recommendations, to the committee. I will post here what/where we decide on and how it turns out (assuming it actually happens).

Thanks again to everyone for the help.
 
More Questions: Specifically about Time & Number of Tables...

Hi guys,

It's been a while, but finally the committee has decided to have the tournament. So far we have 24 people signed up. I would imagine a few of those would drop out / not show up, but who knows?

I am now being asked how long the average game of 8-ball would take so we can determine how many tables need to be reserved and how much time will be necessary for the tournament. Since I have no experience organizing a tournament (neither does anyone else here), I could only guess about 20 minutes per game, depending on the skill of the players. We are going to play doubles. I am unsure of the format. My contact on the committee suggested a round robin, but with 12 teams, that might not be do-able. I would probably suggest a one game double elimination tournament. Though that would knock some people out of the fun early. But I would imagine it would take fewer tables and fewer hours.

Can anyone give me an estimate on time for one game of doubles?

What would be the best combination of time and/or tables for a one game, double elimination tournament for banger-level players (24 players, 12 teams)? For a round robin?

I think for a round robin, we would have to divide the teams into groups, have them play round robin in the groups, then take the top 1 or 2 teams and then have knock out rounds. What do you all think? Could we do 2 groups of 6 teams (top 2 advance to knock out)? Or is 3 groups of 4 teams better (top 3 teams plus 2nd place team with best record advance)?

I appreciate everyone's help on this. Especially since I have never paid attention to how long a tournament or match takes.

Thanks again.
 
Send a pm to RichR. He and his wife Kathy, run our CCB tournament every year during the Open. It is scotch doubles 9 or 10 ball, (could be 8 too) and you change partners every game. The person who ends up winning the most matches gets a prize. Pretty fun format and I believe they have software to help run it. It makes for a fun, social pool experience.

Mike
 
MikeM said:
Send a pm to RichR. He and his wife Kathy, run our CCB tournament every year during the Open. It is scotch doubles 9 or 10 ball, (could be 8 too) and you change partners every game. The person who ends up winning the most matches gets a prize. Pretty fun format and I believe they have software to help run it. It makes for a fun, social pool experience.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike. Rich did help me out. Sounds like an interesting format.
 
If you run a double elimination tourney I recommend a 5$ break pot after the first two rounds.
So anyone knocked out has a reason to stay a little longer.
Do an eight ball rack but instead of the eight on the break have it each person break... if you make a ball ...any ball your into the next round.
play to the the round where no one makes a ball then split the money with whoevers left
Even out of 24 beginniers somone should make at least one ball on the break
as the field narrows its alot of fun
 
Nice idea...

Rak9up said:
If you run a double elimination tourney I recommend a 5$ break pot after the first two rounds.
So anyone knocked out has a reason to stay a little longer.
Do an eight ball rack but instead of the eight on the break have it each person break... if you make a ball ...any ball your into the next round.
play to the the round where no one makes a ball then split the money with whoevers left
Even out of 24 beginniers somone should make at least one ball on the break
as the field narrows its alot of fun
Click to expand...

Since this is a corporate event, I'm not sure how they will feel about the gambling aspect. But hey, I can at least ask.
 
Str8PoolMan said:
I am now being asked how long the average game of 8-ball would take so we can determine how many tables need to be reserved and how much time will be necessary for the tournament. Since I have no experience organizing a tournament (neither does anyone else here), I could only guess about 20 minutes per game, depending on the skill of the players.
Click to expand...

An average game of 8-ball with two bangers or low-moderately skilled players takes around 10 minutes. (assuming they're actually paying attention) Better players take less time, of course.

Str8PoolMan said:
We are going to play doubles. I am unsure of the format.
Click to expand...

Doubles usually takes a little bit longer. Are you playing Scotch doubles? ... or are they going to alternate innings? Are you going to let the team members talk stratagy before every shot, or no?
 
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