Seeking advice - 9 or 10 players

[tonmo]

I host a monthly pool night in my basement. When we have 7 or less people, we play round robin format, 9-ball (21 games max). That works best because everyone gets to play each other, and the stats are great.

Because of the time it takes to play, when we have 8, 9, or 10, we play double-elim, which keeps us at 20 games or less. The problem with that is that it sucks to lose twice in a row -- you're done until the "after party" money games

I was looking at 7-ball as a way to shorten games, but because of the pocket rules I'm not sure it would be any faster than 9 ball.

Is 8-ball typically a faster game than 9-ball?

Doubles isn't as fun, because people prefer to control their own game (although we do it sometimes in the after-tournament money games).

Any other suggestions? We usually do play 3-ball at the end of the night as well, but that's too thin for the main tournament. Appreciate any input!

 

[larrynj1]

pill pool can be really entertaining with a large group of people. stakes can be anywhere the group is comfortable with, starting at half and a dollar.

 

[randyg]

Scotch Doubles????
SPF=randyg

 

[tonmo]

Larry, that's the trick, thanks. Not gonna do a tournament as we usually do. Instead, we'll do it like this:

group 1: 5 players max. Kelly pool, $3 each, winner takes all.

Group 2: same. May add a loser or two from group 1 to round out the group.

3rd game - winner from each group squares off in their own money game, their own stakes. 8, 9 or 10 ball, their choice.

Repeat.

Randy, scotch doubles are fun too but I wanted to maximize play and give winners ability (and incentive) to play their own games.

Thanks!

 

[JoeW]

We played round robin with a 7 minutes shot clock (for 8-Ball). If the clock ran out you lost. This is about two minutes per shot. It is more than enough time but it does keep the players on task as everyone wants to save the time for a safety battle.

In a handicapped tournament the lesser player can remove the difference in ball handicaps from the table before their turn begins. This makes it so that anyone can win because lesser players learn to leave the blocker balls until they are ready and thus force the better player to play for the break.

Game length (over hundreds of games) is less than ten minutes. Run the numbers and you can have 7- 10 players over a few hours and everyone has fun all night.

Loser racks for the next game and winner is the ref and the time keeper punching the clock as needed.