I won my league! (1 Viewer)

[Eastwik]

This year was the 10th year of my poker league I host at my house. We send our champion to the WSOP every year and pay for their buy-in ($1,500) and all travel expenses.

This is my 4th title and another guy in the league has 4 titles as well. Together, we have 8 of the 10. All the other players keep coming back though so I must run a good league. Maybe it's the Paulsons. Ha!

I have decided to play in the $1,500 buy-in NLHE Bounty tourney. $500 for each person you knock out. Sounds kinda cool!

Wish me luck!

(That's a painting of Neil deGrasse Tyson over my left shoulder and not Saddam Hussein just for the record.)

 

[RichMahogany]

Sweet man, congrats! Sending some run good to you for the WSOP

 

[brains613]

(That's a painting of Neil deGrasse Tyson over my left shoulder and not Saddam Hussein just for the record.)

I think you should just leave that out and see what kind of questions you get. Could be fun.

 

[upNdown]

Congratulations!
What’s your thought process behind choosing the bounty tournament?
I’ve only played in one casino bounty tournament, and it was a small one - about 40 runners. I cane in third, but because so much if the $$ went to bounties (and because I somehow managed to only collect one bounty) I barely doubled my money.
Maybe it’s better to take a bigger risk/reward approach in that format.

 

[Eastwik]

Congratulations!
What’s your thought process behind choosing the bounty tournament?
I’ve only played in one casino bounty tournament, and it was a small one - about 40 runners. I cane in third, but because so much if the $$ went to bounties (and because I somehow managed to only collect one bounty) I barely doubled my money.
Maybe it’s better to take a bigger risk/reward approach in that format.

Great question. A few factors played heavily for me.
1) Timing - this was one of the few $1,500 NLHE tournaments I could actually play. Some of the others didn't work for my schedule.
2) Timing again - cost of airfare and hotel is cheaper Sunday-Thursday than it is Thursday-Sunday. This tourney starts on a Monday.
3) Payout is still not that bad. The winner of this tourney last year won $266K. I'll take it.
4) $500 is $500. Let's say I don't cash but I get lucky and knock out one or two players along the way. I could manage to have some fun with $500-$1000 in my pocket out in Vegas.

 

[upNdown]

The winner of this tourney last year won $266K. I'll take it.

I hope you do!

 

[BGinGA]

Congrats! And good luck in Vegas. (y) :thumbsup:

 

[legend672]

Jackie Robinson-ted Williams- Pete rose ?

 

[Eastwik]

Jackie Robinson-ted Williams- Pete rose ?

Yep! I'm a baseball guy. Although it's hard these days when you're a Cincinnati Reds fan.

 

[bsdunbar1]

We send our champion to the WSOP every year and pay for their buy-in ($1,500) and all travel expenses.

Congrats!
If you would share I am interested in what structure you have that enables this? How many involved? How do you collect and/or win? etc etc
Very Cool!

 

[Eastwik]

Congrats!
If you would share I am interested in what structure you have that enables this? How many involved? How do you collect and/or win? etc etc
Very Cool!

Very happy to!

This structure has been tweaked a bit over the 10 years we've had this league but I think it works very well for us and the players seem to really enjoy it. I have a great group of guys that really enjoy each other's company but everyone is also extremely competitive and serious about poker. Both of those things I think are important for a successful league.

Our season consists of one game a month for nine months and runs from August to April.

Buy-in for each player is $550 for the year. That equals $60 per month ($540) + $10 from each player that I use to purchase a bracelet for the winner.

Of the $5,400...$2,500 goes towards a $1,500 buy-in at the WSOP and $1,000 in travel expenses. The other $2,900 goes back into monthly prize money for the players.

The point system for each individual game are as such:

1st place - 30 points
2nd place - 27 points
3rd place - 24 points
4th place - 21 points
5th place - 18 points
6th place - 15 points
7th place - 12 points
8th place - 9 points
9th place - 6 points
10th place - 3 points

* You get 1 extra point (or bounty) for each person you knock out
* The person who is currently 1st place in the standings has a bounty that is worth 3 points. If that person wins an individual game, he gets to keep his 3-point bounty.


Monthly prize money is awarded as such:

August - $60 (1st place)
September - $120 (1st)
October - $180 (1st)
November - $180 (1st), $60 (2nd)
December - $240 (1st), $80 (2nd)
January - $240 (1st), $100 (2nd)
February - $300 (1st), $100 (2nd)
March - $400 (1st), $140 (2nd)
April - $500 (1st), $200 (2nd)

* In my opinion it is imperative to implement an escalating prize money schedule each month. This helps with the competitive integrity of the league. If a guy is in last place and has no shot at winning with two games to go, he is still going to play his best to see if he can win $900 over the next two games. This is important. It keeps people from possibly "dumping" to someone to help them get an edge over another person. I'm not saying it couldn't happen. Just less likely to happen. I can't picture any of my guys doing this anyway.

At the end, the player with the most points gets the bracelet, bragging rights for the year, and a free trip to Vegas!

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Eastwik]

Oops! I forgot about the blind schedule and starting stacks!

Blind levels are 20 minutes each. Players start with 10,000 in chips.

Level 1 25-50
Level 2 50-100
Level 3 75-150
Level 4 100-200
Level 5 150-300
Level 6 200-400
Level 7 250-500
(Remove T25 chips after Level 7)
Level 8 300-600
Level 9 400-800
Level 10 500-1000
Level 11 600-1200
Level 12 800-1600
Level 13 1000-2000
Level 14 1200-2400
Level 15 1500-3000 (usually a winner is decided by Level 15)


At the WSOP, if the winning player finishes in the money in the event he represents the group in, he will keep 73% of the winnings (after taxes) with the other 27% will be divided evenly among the other 9 players (3% each).

 

[rjbf65]

Sounds like an awesome league! I love the escalating prize pool idea. Smart to implement that. Sounds like you collect the full $550 buyin before the first tourney. Is that correct? Good luck in Vegas!

 

[Eastwik]

Sounds like an awesome league! I love the escalating prize pool idea. Smart to implement that. Sounds like you collect the full $550 buyin before the first tourney. Is that correct? Good luck in Vegas!

I don't collect all the money up front. I allow them to pay $120 at the first game and then $60 each month until they're paid up. I know they're good for it. It's never been a problem.

 

[Eastwik]

One new rule we implemented this year is if you don't show up for a game and fail to get a substitute, you are eliminated after two hours at whatever place is currently next. Your chips are then divided equally among the remaining players. We did this because we didn't want 10% of the chips to leave the table with the blinds the way they are.

This rule was implemented because we had a no show one game and had to blind him out to the felt because we had no other rule in place at the time. He was blinded out and ended up finishing 5th that night. Crazy.