Poker League Format (1 Viewer)

[Megsy9]

I was asked to join a poker league of 8 people. (It is anticipated it will be the same 8 at all tournaments) with the following format.

6 month Season (1 Tourney/Month) (all of this is based on 8 entries)

$60/month ($60 x 6 months = $360 total investment)
Breakdown (based on 8 entries)
- $30 goes to overall standings ($1,440)
- $20 goes to monthly payout ($960)
- $10 goes to final end of season tournament ($480)

Monthly (Daily) Payouts ($160)
1st - $100
2nd - $60

Monthly (Daily) Point awards for where you finish
1st – 20
2nd – 15
3rd – 10
4th – 8
5th – 6
6th – 4
7th – 2
8th – 1

Overall Standings Payouts ($1,440)
1st – $720
2nd – $360
3rd – $220
4th – $140

Final End of the Year Tournament Payouts (Optional) ($480 from daily entry fees) + $60 buy in = $960
1st – $500
2nd – $ 240
3rd – $140
4th - $80

I’m excited for the idea of getting the league going but was interested if anyone who has played in a league or runs a league has any thoughts on the structure.

 

[Moxie Mike]

I run a league. Take this for what it's worth.

So if I understand what you've posted, the monthly entry fee is split 3 ways: $20 to the monthly event's prize pool, $30 to be distributed as prizes in the league standings and $10 is held to supplement the championship event prize pool?

My opinion is that a 6 event season spread over half-a-year is a long time. Things change over a six-month period... kids change sports seasons, winter turns to summer, people change jobs/schedules, etc. All of these things can affect participation and overall enthusiasm for the league.

All that said, if players in the league are fine with this setup, then I guess it's not a big deal. But I wouldn't be interested personally for this reason alone.

As to the fund distribution:

Having 50% of the entry fee funding prizes for performance in the league standings is a bit odd to me. I would rather see this money paid out as part of the monthly prize pool. Maybe others with more experience can chime in as to how common this is. Most league point systems tend to be pretty top-heavy, so cash prizes for league standings really only serves to pay the winners twice.

I run my league where the point system rewards top performers with extra chips in the championship event. Not that that's the only (or best) way to do it, but it's worked pretty well for us so far and motivates participation. If you want to see my league rules as a point of reference, send me a PM and I'll send you a link.

 

[Megsy9]

I run a league. Take this for what it's worth.

So if I understand what you've posted, the monthly entry fee is split 3 ways: $20 to the monthly event's prize pool, $30 to be distributed as prizes in the the league standings and $10 is held to supplement the championship event prize pool?

My opinion is that a 6 event season spread over half-a-year is a long time. Things change over a six-month period... kids change sports seasons, winter turns to summer, people change jobs/schedules, etc. All of these things can affect participation and overall enthusiasm for the league.

All that said, if players in the league are fine with this setup, then I guess it's not a big deal. But I wouldn't be interested personally for this reason alone.

As to the fund distribution:

Having 50% of the entry fee funding prizes for performance in the league standings is a bit odd to me. I would rather see this money paid out as part of the monthly prize pool. Maybe others with more experience can chime in as to how common this is. Most league point systems tend to be pretty top-heavy, so cash prizes for league standings really only serves to pay the winners twice.

I run my league where the point system rewards top performers with extra chips in the championship event. Not that that's the only (or best) way to do it, but it's worked pretty well for us so far and motivates participation. If you want to see my league rules as a point of reference, send me a PM and I'll send you a link.

Thanks for the input! I’ll defin shoot you a PM to take a look at what you do. When I first heard the rules my initial concern was how unlikely it would be for the same 8 people to make each tournament over 6 months for the exact reason you stated. I mentioned that I thought 12-15 or so people with a few more tournaments would probably work a little better.

 

[Moxie Mike]

Thanks for the input! I’ll defin shoot you a PM to take a look at what you do. When I first heard the rules my initial concern was how unlikely it would be for the same 8 people to make each tournament over 6 months for the exact reason you stated. I mentioned that I thought 12-15 or so people with a few more tournaments would probably work a little better.

No problem hope it helps.

If they already are running their league this way, then they probably won't see a need to change. There's a league in my area where their seasons run for 9-months at a time. Kinda nuts if you ask me, but it's about 20-30 people who alternate between two different guys' garage setups... they've been doing it for years and no one seems to mind.

My opinion is that stretching the league out for months on end makes it difficult to on-board new players mid season... since they'll be so far behind. But if people want to run their games that way - I have nothing to say

 

[CraigT78]

You be suprised when it comes to attendance. I run a year long season and can seat 20. I have a waitlist 4 deep each game, and my top 20 last year 6 guys made all games and the lowest attended was 9. I had a total of 26 unique players. Degens gonna find the time to degen.

 

[Chipandchair]

I am interested in any advice about this as well as I am looking to start this up again. I ran a league about 10 years ago. Only 10 people over 6 months, much like the one described in the original post but the end payout was greater and monthly payouts less, no end of year tourney. Paid out only top 5 places at the end. Attendance was a bit of a pain but everyone paid $600 ($100 month) fee within first 3 months with at least $300 at the first game. One difference, we did not award points for places 7-10 each month. One problem we ran into was that the last game was kind of meaningless for a couple of players at the bottom as I believe our end payout may have been too high and our monthly payout too low.

We mainly play cash games nowadays but I would like to get a nice 16-20 player tourney league format from anyone with experience. Monthly would be feasible. 3-6 months is what I would think but I would like to see what other do. Thanks.

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

my initial concern was how unlikely it would be for the same 8 people to make each tournament over 6 months

A suggestion to help alleviate this issue is to take the best 5 scores. This allows a person to miss a tournament (take a 0) without affecting their standings. For anyone that attends all 6, just drop their worst score.

 

[Gobbs]

There are a kazillion ways to run a league and I have many suggestion but my top one is to put a lot more of the $60 in the individual tournament prize pool and a lot less in the league standings. Otherwise, there is a huge disincentive for players to show up for later tournaments if they are way down in the standings.

Question: Is the $360 paid up front or as $60 per tournament? Is there an agreement that players will pay for all tournaments regardless of attendance? If not, why would somebody dead last in the season standings pay $60 to play when the total prize pool for that tournament is only $160??? If people stop showing, that would seem to throw off a lot of the planning and change the payouts for league standings.

Also, quite honestly, I would be very hesitant to join any league with payment up front for all tournaments, or an agreement to pay for all tournaments, unless the schedule was determined in advance and there would be a guarantee of no deviations. I wouldn’t want to be stuck not being able to play because of scheduling or, worse yet, because of a change in scheduling.

 

[MikesDad]

@krafticus

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

why would somebody dead last in the season standings pay $60 to play when the total prize pool for that tournament is only $160???

This is a very valid point. If a player happens to be insurmountably behind in overall score, they would have to win to make a meager profit, hit second just to break even. I sure wouldn't show up for last tournament in this case...

 

[krafticus]

see this thread:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/league-advice-please.36770/#post-682792