Tournament Help

[theopiateden]

A local bar that a friend and i shoot at once and a while has tried to start a tournament. I say tried because it doesnt seem to be getting off with much success. They have a few advertisements around the bar and in the Johns above the urinals for all the men to see. Usually when we go to shoot there are a few other people shooting and are seemingly pretty good. The problem is that no one will show for the tournament. It is held every Thursday night at 7pm. The entry fee is $10. No take for the house, and no green fees. Winner take all. Last week only four people showed up. Hardly a tournament. Its has been like this for a month now. My question is, how can we get more people to come? Its not like they are shotty tables. They are all Diamond Pro's and are set up well. We would really like to get this off the ground and get a good thing started, so any input would be great. Thank you in advance. Jon

 

[MilwShooter]

a radio advertisement or perhaps a banner OUTSIDE (not just inside the bar and above the urinals). What's the median of ages that walks through the door to the place? That makes a pretty big impact on how you should advertise the tournament.

 

[Aaron_S]

If the tournament is not handicapped, you may want to consider making it handicapped. Handicapping obviously comes with it's own set of issues, and has the potential to turn a simple tournament into somewhat of a nightmare, but sometimes that is what it takes to get people to show up. We use the following system for handicapping, and we probably get 3 times as many people as we would if the tourney were not handicapped.

Good luck,
Aaron

Edit: If you continue to only get 4 people, I'd make lemonade by turning it into a 10-ball ring game. $10 buy-in, 5-ball is worth 1 point, 10-ball worth 2 points, first one to 20 points wins the pot. Much more fun, IMHO, and you could play multiple games per night.

 

[theopiateden]

a radio advertisement or perhaps a banner OUTSIDE (not just inside the bar and above the urinals). What's the median of ages that walks through the door to the place? That makes a pretty big impact on how you should advertise the tournament.

The place is all ages but seems, at leat to me me, to be geared toward the middle aged crowd. 30-50 id say. I could talk to the bar owner about more advertisements but im not sure how hed like to spend his own money.

If the tournament is not handicapped, you may want to consider making it handicapped. Handicapping obviously comes with it's own set of issues, and has the potential to turn a simple tournament into somewhat of a nightmare, but sometimes that is what it takes to get people to show up. We use the following system for handicapping, and we probably get 3 times as many people as we would if the tourney were not handicapped.

Good luck,
Aaron

Edit: If you continue to only get 4 people, I'd make lemonade by turning it into a 10-ball ring game. $10 buy-in, 5-ball is worth 1 point, 10-ball worth 2 points, first one to 20 points wins the pot. Much more fun, IMHO, and you could play multiple games per night.

Not sure how the handicapping idea would go over. It wouldnt bother me much, but i wouldnt mind getting my @$$ handed to me by an A player. I personally want to get better and playing sets against someone with more experience and knowledge appeals to me. However, im sure that doesnt appeal to everyone. The ring game does sound good though. Still get the experience of getting action, but between a friendly crowd.

 

[randyg]

"Winner take all" could be the start of their problems. Might need to payback 25% of the field and include something for "last Lady"....SPF=randyg

 

[Big Perm]

A local bar that a friend and i shoot at once and a while has tried to start a tournament. I say tried because it doesnt seem to be getting off with much success. They have a few advertisements around the bar and in the Johns above the urinals for all the men to see. Usually when we go to shoot there are a few other people shooting and are seemingly pretty good. The problem is that no one will show for the tournament. It is held every Thursday night at 7pm. The entry fee is $10. No take for the house, and no green fees. Winner take all. Last week only four people showed up. Hardly a tournament. Its has been like this for a month now. My question is, how can we get more people to come? Its not like they are shotty tables. They are all Diamond Pro's and are set up well. We would really like to get this off the ground and get a good thing started, so any input would be great. Thank you in advance. Jon

Stick to your guns, keep trying, it takes time....

What are you playing? 9-ball....8-ball....10?
What are your races? Race to 3, or 4??? Handicapped?? (handicapped will likely get you a larger field)
Is it double elim??? (people like a second chance)
As Randy asked, try to pay top 25% and last lady.....
The best marketing you can have is word of mouth. Ask the other players if they have friends that play and are willing to try to bring at least one other person each week. Ask the others in the bar if they are interested, a $10 buy-in and double elim basically pays for itself, especially on nice equipment.
Also, advertise here in the tourney section. Call your friends and buddies that play - no reason you can't have 8 players by next week, and it will grow from there.
Also, be prepared - a good TD makes all the difference....

 

[pooltchr]

We have a friday night tournament in a local room that cuts off the field at 32 each week. Double elimination, 8-ball, handicapped very closely to APA handicaps. With a $10 entry and 32 players (It is almost always full, and often turn away a few late comers) they pay $180, $80, $40, and $20.

You might consider a similar model. It sure seems to work here.

Steve

 

[bigshooter]

I agree with everything mentioned so far, handicap it, pay deeper into the field.

Lesser players do not like winner take all, they feel like they are just contributing with no real chance to win.

I see you are in the Detroit metro area so you have plenty of population to draw from, you should post it on Craigslist and any other free classifieds available.

Put up fliers at any nearby college, students have expendable money and time.

Make sure to get everyone's name, address and email and make a mailing list/emailing list and blast out an email every week to keep the tournament fresh in their minds and encourage them to bring a friend, if everyone brings a friend it doubles.

Drink and food specials, see if the owner is willing to sell some cheap drinks, that always helps.

 

[theopiateden]

Thank you everyone for the ideas, i will take them and run with 'em. The tournament is 8-ball right now but its open to debate since we can change it for what more people would want. The winner take all will also change as soon as we get more people in the tourney. Since there was only only four people for the fisrt few, winner take all seemed fitting. Once we get more people we will do something like a 70% - 20% - 10% payout. We also are doing double elim. I completely agree with people wanting a second chance. Like i said, things are subject to change for what all the players want, and we are trying to work out the kinks. I will have a talk with the TD to see what he thinks about my buddy and I possibly taking over his position since he is the active manager when the tourney starts, and usually has many other obligations to take care of.

 

[Johnnyt]

"Winner take all" could be the start of their problems. Might need to payback 25% of the field and include something for "last Lady"....SPF=randyg

I agree this is probably the biggest problem with the tournament. Flyers...NOW PAYING OUT 25% OF THE PLAYERS. Johnnyt

 

[Cory in DC]

Some thoughts, from experience.

People do like double-elimination. But you'll run into a real problem with the winner's side waiting on the loser's side to finish.

Two solutions:
1. Shorter races in the losers side. This will help but won't solve things
2. Only finish to the end of each side. So whoever wins through gets to go home early, with say 45% of the pot. Then take the remaining 50% of the pot and pay that out 60-30-10 (if the field has 32 players). The losers bracket is really a second chance tournament. This approach was really popular.

8-ball on the winners side and 9-ball on the losers helps balance out the time.

Paying deep helps.

Starting on time is a big issue and it gets out of hand if you start waiting for players. But you don't want to kick people out, either. Simple solution: entry fee is $10 until start time, then $11, then + $1.00 for every additional 5 minutes. Cap it at $15.00.

Make sure you know how to space the byes correctly and how to correctly add a new player.

Handicap it -- a pain, but just a simple A+/A/B/C format will really help attendance.

A break pot is a good idea. Maybe the owner could seed it with $50 or $100. This is a pain to track, but I did the following and it worked well: to be in the draw for the break pot you had to (1) have played in the prior week, and (2) have arrived on time in the current week. This rewards the regulars, which is a good thing. I'd draw 2 names for < 16 and 3 for >16. If the first breaker snaps the 9, the later players can "steal" half -- makes it kind of fun. Or you can draw more names and use a 10-ball rack.

Add money -- $2.00-$4.00/player added by the house will really boost attendance, and is good business if the crowd is a drinking and eating one. This would only make sense for the owner if you handicap since the average recreational player, who will only play if it's handicapped, will usually drink and eat more than your typical local champion.

Be patient--these can be hard to get going but once they are going, they tend to stay that way.

Good luck,
Cory