Tourney Tourney Scheduling (1 Viewer)

[Jordan Downs]

Hey all, looking for some advice regarding tournament scheduling for a poker league. I’ve run our poker league for the past five years with 10 players. Scheduling tourney dates has at times been tough. This August I’ve decided to expand our poker league from 10 members to 20. I do anticipate scheduling tournament dates is going to be a nightmare. Any suggestions on a fair way to schedule these tournaments?

 

[BeesKnees]

How often do you play? I would recommend using a set date ie; the third Saturday of the month or whatever works best for you. Alternatively you could run the league through a Facebook group (or similar service) and use the polling feature, choose 3 days per month that work best for you and have the players choose the date.

 

[TexRex]

I agree with Bees. The greatest growth in my game came when I set a specific Friday of the month. In one word, your answer is scheduling!

One thing I've done that has helped has been surveying players. I always ask in my surveys (I do them annually) about Friday vs. Saturday. We play on Fridays because I would lose more players by switching to Saturday than I know I would pick up if we switched to Saturday. Knowing that helps me know the impact on players if we changed nights or alternated nights. If we played 2x/month, I would have one on Friday and one on Saturday. But I'd consider playing say the 1st and 3rd Friday (or Saturday).

In surveys, I ask them about their preferences, but I also ask about days that either might be impossible for them, or would require a lot of planning for them. Knowing the difference between a preference and something that can't do helps a lot.

I've also found that posting the schedule as far in advance as possible helps. We play on the 3rd Friday, but there are months where that doesn't work for me. Since I sometimes know those months in advance, I'll announce it when I know that. At the beginning of the year, I post the known schedule for the year, but there is almost always a change or two, and on those, I give them as much notice as possible.

Another thing I've asked about is the starting time on Saturdays. I've played with groups that started regularly scheduled games from 5 to 7:30. By asking my players, I found that if I go to Saturdays, a 6:30 or 7:00 starting time works the best. I have players who work until 6 on Saturday, for example.

If you want to play 2x/month, you could run two leagues simultaneously -- the Friday league and the Saturday league, or the 1st Friday league and the 3rd Friday league. Or you could keep it all one league and not have the same attendance requirements you've had with one table (and I have no idea what those requirements might be).

I'm curious about one thing. You are planning to double the number of attendees quite suddenly. I just wonder how you have players waiting in the wings that you are sure will come.

 

[Poker Zombie]

A 10 player league will run very differently than a 20 player league.

With 10 players, you have a reasonable expectation of near 100% attendance. The fewer games you have, the greater the expectation. With 20 players, you won't get 100% attendance. To much real life gets in the way.

My preference as a host are 2-table tournaments. I invite enough to spill onto a 3rd table, knowing I won't (usually) get 100% attendance, but I have a contingency plan for that extra table.

Because of my work schedule, I cannot do a "Every Xth Saturday". So I sit down before the last game of the season, and I make the game schedule for the next year. I then print it out copies for everyone, like a sports schedule. This allows me to also avoid big holidays that move around (Easter for example), and still make as many PCF meet-ups as I can afford.

 

[Jordan Downs]

It’s your standard WSOP League. A ten month season starting in August and ending in May just in time to send our top four players to a $1k Event at the WSOP. We play once a month. Typically Saturday or Sunday. This year I asked the members to reach out to people who may be interested for next season. As of now there are 10 additional players who’ve all been recommended and vouched for by our current league members. So although nothing is for certain until the start of the season in August, I feel fairly confident that all ten new players will join.

I really like the idea of just making it the third Saturday of the month. We’re all really close friends and most of the new members are good friends with the league members already. Again, thanks for the ideas. I also think being able to plan ahead knowing that every tournament is on the third Saturday is also a huge plus. Thx

 

[Jordan Downs]

A 10 player league will run very differently than a 20 player league.

With 10 players, you have a reasonable expectation of near 100% attendance. The fewer games you have, the greater the expectation. With 20 players, you won't get 100% attendance. To much real life gets in the way.

My preference as a host are 2-table tournaments. I invite enough to spill onto a 3rd table, knowing I won't (usually) get 100% attendance, but I have a contingency plan for that extra table.

Because of my work schedule, I cannot do a "Every Xth Saturday". So I sit down before the last game of the season, and I make the game schedule for the next year. I then print it out copies for everyone, like a sports schedule. This allows me to also avoid big holidays that move around (Easter for example), and still make as many PCF meet-ups as I can afford.

Yes, life does get in the way. Our league members have the option to have a guest player sit in and play for them during tourneys a member can’t attend. The league member receives the points based on what place the guest player finished. Which is a luxury because our WSOP Event buyins are based on the seasons highest accumulated point totals.

 

[DoubleEagle]

Hey all, looking for some advice regarding tournament scheduling for a poker league. I’ve run our poker league for the past five years with 10 players. Scheduling tourney dates has at times been tough. This August I’ve decided to expand our poker league from 10 members to 20. I do anticipate scheduling tournament dates is going to be a nightmare. Any suggestions on a fair way to schedule these tournaments?

Having run one of these WSOP leagues in the past, the only fair way to do this is pick a set day each month; e.g. 1st Sat. For the finale, if you have one, schedule it the first time you play. Then players can schedule around the finale so they can be there. If not, voice of experience says there will be hard feelings if you wait til the end because one or more players will have a conflict. Everyone agrees to the date up front and they have no basis to complain.

 

[Jordan Downs]

Having run one of these WSOP leagues in the past, the only fair way to do this is pick a set day each; e.g. 1st Sat. For the finale, if you have one, schedule it the first time you play. Then players can schedule around the finale so they can be there. If not, voice of experience says there will be hard feelings if you wait til the end because one or more players will have a conflict. Everyone agrees to the date up front and they have no basis to complain.

Yes this is definitely the way I’m going to go. Thanks for your insight.