League Help - More interest than seats (1 Viewer)

[CraigT78]

As I start wrapping up 2018 and look to making 2019 adjustments, I'm curious how to handle a problem of too many players, not enough seats. As it stands, I can host 20 players, including myself. My issue is I've got 30+ players who would like to get in on the game. Obviously this creates a challenge when it comes to the league format. I'm already scheduling my games "Ticket Master" style, where I don't put up the sign up until a specified time/date. My last round filled in 12 minutes with 4 waitlists (my max).

I can't expand - no room (nor do I want to)

I like damn near everyone in the group, so I don't want to try and pick favorites.

Any suggestions?

I'm thinking more games, but then how do I make it fair to determine the end of year league winner if one guy makes all 24 (me and probably 4 to 5 other degens)?

I know there are plenty of guys who can do only one game a month, but as it stands I have guys I enjoy playing with that didn't even get a wait list spot.

Has anyone else that's been running a long term league had this issue, and how did you resolve it? Or am I just overthinking it - and leave it as is - first come, first serve - you snooze you lose?

 

[trigs]

Sounds like a terrible problem

I don't like the idea of omitting people or not giving everyone a fair chance to play, so I don't really see a way around this. I guess you could do it like lottery style once everyone who is interested has posted, but I think you should just stick to first come, first serve.

 

[CraigT78]

Sounds like a terrible problem

It is, and this isn't a brag thread. I really feel bad that some guys don't always get a spot.

 

[trigs]

It is

It's not lol. I understand how you feel though.

 

[colter ripton]

Maybe stop giving away free hot dogs?

Then you will see who is really there for the poker. Lol

 

[CraigT78]

Maybe stop giving away free hot dogs?

Then you will see who is really there for the poker. Lol

Hot dogs and beer are a suggested donation of $10!

 

[Sunshine]

Do they all want in on the league or do some of them just want to play? Would it help any to alternate league games with non-league games? Maybe give the once-a-month guys priority on the latter?

And we all just feel terrible about your problem ... boo-hoo ...

 

[CraigT78]

Do they all want in on the league or do some of them just want to play? Would it help any to alternate league games with non-league games? Maybe give the once-a-month guys priority on the latter?

And we all just feel terrible about your problem ... boo-hoo ...

Thanks for your compassion
That's a great idea, they might just want to play. I'll have to inquire about that!

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Seriously, I also like the lottery idea. Give everyone who is interested a window to sign up, then pick names randomly until all seats are full. It's the fairest way I can think of to handle this.

You still have one player who gets a seat in every game - you - but that's a benefit of hosting.

 

[grantc54]

What about a rotation where every player gets a chance to play 2/3rds of the games? You'd have to drop a certain amount of games for players who make more than 2/3rd of the games.

As others have stated, I wish I had this problem!

 

[T_Chan]

I ran into this problem last year, we had a night with over 40 players and it was chaos. After that I decided that for this year I would implement a max 36 players, 4 tables of 9. First come first serve basically. When it gets close to full then I watch the list to see who RSVP's over the limit and put them on a waiting list.

Last game I hard to turn someone away who showed up without letting me know they were coming. Had to do it though to be fair to anyone else who does the same.

 

[CraigT78]

What about a rotation where every player gets a chance to play 2/3rds of the games? You'd have to drop a certain amount of games for players who make more than 2/3rd of the games.

This is the way I am leaning, just have to figure out what that magic number is.

Last game I hard to turn someone away who showed up without letting me know they were coming. Had to do it though to be fair to anyone else who does the same.

I had to do this as well, guy shows up who thought he was on the list. He wasn't, and I can only fit 20.

Seriously, I also like the lottery idea

I think a lotto for the seats would cause more flack than I care to deal with. I am hoping that all don't care about the league and will be open to a non-league game semi-regularly thrown in.

 

[Mojo1312]

Run two leagues.

 

[JustinInMN]

Yeah I agree, if leauge implies some series of games, then any multiple of 3 will do for you purpose. Just set up a rotation where all 30 players are invited to two out of every 3 games. Mix and match. Everyone gets to play 6 games over 9 weeks for example.

You might even find players find it easier to commit to 2 out of 3 weeks.

I did curling league recently. The league has 15 teams, but the club has 6 sheets, so only 12 teams play at a time. The solution, each team plays 8 matches over 10 weeks and each week 3 teams sit out.

It's the same principle and won't cause the hard feelings of a lottery.

 

[Highli99]

I suggest telling a few of your members to move to Maryland and come play in my game.

 

[Max D]

We have a core group that attends 90% of the game and they get the invitation 2 days before the rest of the group.
We basically give the core, about 10 out of 40 ish players, first dib. The rest of the group depends on how fast they respond.
Last, if someone doesn’t reply to the invite twice they get dropped from the invite.
We are trying to reward people that come often or respond to the invite.

 

[Moxie Mike]

Your original post doesn't specify how long your league has been running, so I'm assuming you've been running games for some time.

I don't agree that your selection process should be randomized via a drawing or lottery. Your player pool should be comprised of the strongest participants.

Since these are friends and you don't want to alienate people, the simplest way to fill the 20 slots is to explain the problem to the group, and then outline the process for deciding who should be invited first. Be transparent.

My personal opinion is that players with the longest tenure should be given first right of refusal. Secondary to that, players with the most participation in past league events should be given extra consideration over those who miss more games than others.

Once you've filled your 20 slots (we'll call them 'starters'), then you determine who of the remaining 10 wants to be a 'reserve'. Maybe they all will, maybe not.

Then you require an RSVP for all participants and set a deadline for all starters to commit. Once you have your # of commitments, you contact reserves (all at once or one at a time) to fill the rest of the slots.

I might also suggest that people who commit and then bail at the last minute or no-show should be penalized somehow. There's nothing worse than taking a spot someone else wanted and then no showing up.

 

[Frogzilla]

I'm thinking more games, but then how do I make it fair to determine the end of year league winner if one guy makes all 24 (me and probably 4 to 5 other degens?

Nothing wrong with rewarding some degeneracy! (y) :thumbsup: But a couple scoring schemes that lessen the impact of attendance:

-Subtract a small number of points from each persons standing, per game they attend
-only top xx number of games count towards the standings
-not attending is worth last place points

 

[CraigT78]

Nothing wrong with rewarding some degeneracy! (y) :thumbsup: But a couple scoring schemes that lessen the impact of attendance:

-Subtract a small number of points from each persons standing, per game they attend
-only top xx number of games count towards the standings
-not attending is worth last place points

You coming to pre-cash Saturday? We should discuss.

 

[bsdunbar1]

Yeah I agree, if leauge implies some series of games, then any multiple of 3 will do for you purpose. Just set up a rotation where all 30 players are invited to two out of every 3 games. Mix and match. Everyone gets to play 6 games over 9 weeks for example.

You might even find players find it easier to commit to 2 out of 3 weeks.

I did curling league recently. The league has 15 teams, but the club has 6 sheets, so only 12 teams play at a time. The solution, each team plays 8 matches over 10 weeks and each week 3 teams sit out.

It's the same principle and won't cause the hard feelings of a lottery.

^This is what I would try^

Well REALLY i would host 2 leagues but.......

 

[Chris Manzoni]

I've had a similar problem this year - I just send out two waves of Evite lists, first wave goes to senior players and also includes a few more players who never miss a tournament. Everyone knows this Evite goes out on Sunday at noon. The second Evite list that includes everyone else goes out as soon as the first Evite hits 10 players, which typically happens within a half hour. In other words, the senior/more active players are given a heads up and if they miss that 15-30 minute window then they are lumped in with everyone else. 27 seats max, no exceptions. Alternate list if someone cancels (use the 'maybe' category on Evite), first come first serve.

 

[Frogzilla]

You coming to pre-cash Saturday? We should discuss.

Definitely

 

[CraigT78]

Definitely

5PM? I’m opening early.

 

[Mojo1312]

^This is what I would try^

Well REALLY i would host 2 leagues but.......

A favorite saying among members of the community is moar chips! Why not moar poker!

Should be easy to accomplish if the host is willing and has the time. Cut the season to 10 monthly games for each league. This gives you ample room to skip holidays, plus you can host a Grand Championship tournament combining players from the two leagues based upon their point standings as well as the winners of the two league championship tournaments.

Of course, you could stick to running one league, once a month. I mean, less poker is fun, right? Let those who you can't work into your league find somewhere else to play. Maybe you can help them get started by directing them to this site. Problem solved.

 

[timinater]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

That said, if you want to ensure more even participation you could reserve a few seats of the 20 for players with less games played than average or some other qualifier that works for the group.

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

Could run 2 leagues and set buy-ins at a point where you'll get 20 at each. For example if buy-in is currently $50, start a second league with $100 buy-ins. Some degens will play both whereas others will drift to one or the other, bringing total of each to 20.

Alternatively, could run two pools of same league throughout the year, with the tournament of champions composed of top 10 from each pool.

Either way, you'd be left hosting twice as much, but that gets back to the root cause of the issue - more people than there is room.

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

Nothing wrong with rewarding some degeneracy! (y) :thumbsup: But a couple scoring schemes that lessen the impact of attendance:

-Subtract a small number of points from each persons standing, per game they attend
-only top xx number of games count towards the standings
-not attending is worth last place points

^ I am a fan of only taking top x% of finishes, based on points. If you count best 18/24 points finishes, it allows for people to miss / not fit into some tourneys, but also gives a slight benefit to someone who makes it to every tourney, as they'll have more chances to bump their total points up.

 

[BRMLOL]

Alternatively, could run two pools of same league throughout the year, with the tournament of champions composed of top 10 from each pool.

Without too much thinking about it, I love the idea of separate conferences, an "AL and NL" if you will. Top 9 or 10 from each "conference" moving to play for it all. Could make it super gimmicky, I know my guys would create a jokingly (but very serious) rivalry between the two.

 

[efdenny]

@CraigT78 How did you end up handling this? I've run into the exact same situation, and am curious as to what you did...

 

[CraigT78]

@CraigT78 How did you end up handling this? I've run into the exact same situation, and am curious as to what you did...

Three tiers of email invites.

1st group is my original 14 players or so, they get first dibs at seats. Second group is my multi-year players of about 6 or 7. Third group is the new players for last year and this year.

I usually fill up in the first and second emails and take 4 waitlists. Inevitably someone cancels and the 1st waiting always gets a seat, 50% the 2nd waitlist gets a seat.

It's not perfect, but it works.