Tourney What are some fun NLHE Tournament Tweaks? (1 Viewer)

[Preditor]

I am looking for a list of tournament tweaks/additions to spice up my home game. I want to stay in the lane of NLHE so not looking to do mix game or Omaha tournaments, but I am looking for new tweaks to make it more fun for my players every month without fundamentally changing the game from NLHE.

I'm looking for anything from small tweaks like:

• Show Em Chips
• Bad Beat Pots

To more substantial structural tweaks like:

• Bounty Tournaments
• Mystery Bounty Tournaments
• The standing game

I thought it would be great to get a thread going that's a consolidated list of these things. So list away!

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I would highly advise bounty tournaments. Fantastic way for more people to leave with some money, and puts a premium on knocking someone out. My casual players love it; no, they don't calculate the EV differences or anything, they just enjoy collecting the chips that represent the skulls of the fallen.

 

[KHarp1]

Deal 4 hole cards, you must use two out of your hand, and, maybe make it pot limit... that's a neat tweak.

 

[Preditor]

I would highly advise bounty tournaments. Fantastic way for more people to leave with some money, and puts a premium on knocking someone out. My casual players love it; no, they don't calculate the EV differences or anything, they just enjoy collecting the chips that represent the skulls of the fallen.

I agree with this. I actually have been doing bounty tournaments since last fall. It's really helped people feel like they have a shot of at least breaking even and is a fun side game.

 

[joeyshin]

so I started playing in a friends tournament and it ran fine. $40 buyin for 20k chips and rebuys first 6 levels. Everyone would just jam jam jam bc there was rebuys so it made the tournament hard to survive. And then, even at final table it’s short stack bc blinds increased too quickly. He’s been running it like this for 8 years. I asked him if I could restructure the tournament so he let me.

I made it a deep stack tourney with bounty freezeout. $120 buyin with $20 going to bounty. T50k starting stack with blinds starting 25/50. So 1000 big blinds to start but bc it’s a freezeout everyone plays much more seriously. We’ve run it the past 2 months and everyone loves it. People play much better and people can last much longer with their stack.

They like the Ojibwas too

 

[BamaT8ter]

My favorite tournament tweak is to play cash games instead.

 

[buzzmonkey]

I do a mystery bounty once per year. $50 buy in. 40/10 split. But I add $40 out of pocket (you could take from the prize pool) to one random bounty.

 

[Preditor]

My favorite tournament tweak is to play cash games instead.

...you realized they make us tag these "cash" or "tournament" flairs... right?

 

[Preditor]

I do a mystery bounty once per year. $50 buy in. 40/10 split. But I add $40 out of pocket (you could take from the prize pool) to one random bounty.

I want to do a mystery bounty tournament in May.

How do you choose the mystery bounty? Do you have someone not playing pick it, or do you find out who it is at the end of the tournament?

Also, do the people who have the mystery bounty on their head a get chance to cash in on it if they survive long enough? I was thinking of letting the MB keep the bounty if they made it to the bubble.

 

[louBdub]

Bounty chips are a must!

I also have a STFU button. It’s like a dealer button but has a recording that when pressed says “Hey, you need to shut the fuck up, failure to do so will cost a big blind”

Whomever has it can hand it to another player, and that player can either STFU until the hand is over OR pot a BB. It’s awesome and players love it.

I wait for someone mid story and BAM, STFU

 

[buzzmonkey]

I want to do a mystery bounty tournament in May.

How do you choose the mystery bounty? Do you have someone not playing pick it, or do you find out who it is at the end of the tournament?

Also, do the people who have the mystery bounty on their head a get chance to cash in on it if they survive long enough? I was thinking of letting the MB keep the bounty if they made it to the bubble.

Everyone gets a bounty chip. When you are eliminated, you cash in each chip for a chance to pull an envelope from a basket. Each envelope contains one bounty. One envelope contains the mystery bounty.

 

[detroitdad]

I am looking for a list of tournament tweaks/additions to spice up my home game

Change to PLO

I want to stay in the lane of NLHE

I will exit the thread. Good luck.

 

[KHarp1]

Change to PLO



I will exit the thread. Good luck.

Maybe you've reached the end of the line with NLHE if you're having to look for ways to spice things up. We've all seen what happens to marriages that need to be spiced up... first marriage counseling, then when that's not working you try an "open marriage," next thing is divorce court where one person ends up happy with the money and the other is complaining every time you're around them...a lot like poker.

This is the counseling segment of your card playing, now it's time to move to the "swinging" phase, i.e. PLO. Start by having a mixed tourney where you "swap" from NLHE to PLO every orbit. You're going to need to keep an open mind.

 

[detroitdad]

Maybe you've reached the end of the line with NLHE if you're having to look for ways to spice things up. We've all seen what happens to marriages that need to be spiced up... first marriage counseling, then when that's not working you try an "open marriage," next thing is divorce court where one person ends up happy with the money and the other is complaining every time you're around them...a lot like poker.

This is the counseling segment of your card playing, now it's time to move to the "swinging" phase, i.e. PLO. Start by having a mixed tourney where you "swap" from NLHE to PLO every orbit. You're going to need to keep an open mind.

Great post!

 

[raynmanas]

I would highly advise bounty tournaments. Fantastic way for more people to leave with some money, and puts a premium on knocking someone out. My casual players love it; no, they don't calculate the EV differences or anything, they just enjoy collecting the chips that represent the skulls of the fallen.

Progressive bounties are fun too - I learned them from @SpaceMonkey's game. Everyone starts with one bounty chip, worth whatever you decide. When you knock someone out, you pocket half their bounty (rounded up). The other half is added to your own table bounty.

I still quite enjoy NLHE tourneys after 20+ years, despite the constant posts here disparaging them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[CallingStation614]

I would highly advise bounty tournaments. Fantastic way for more people to leave with some money, and puts a premium on knocking someone out. My casual players love it; no, they don't calculate the EV differences or anything, they just enjoy collecting the chips that represent the skulls of the fallen.

I'd like to try this for my next tournament. We're 10 players, so I need 10 bounty chips right? Everyone gets one and when you eliminate someone else, you're taking over his bounty chip. At the end there is a e.g. 5$ cash premium for every bounty chip acquired?
We have a payout for top 3 (Playing like this in the group for a long time), but now if you're eliminated at 5th, you could still have 3 bounty chips, if you eliminated others beforehand. Am I thinking this right?

so I started playing in a friends tournament and it ran fine. $40 buyin for 20k chips and rebuys first 6 levels. Everyone would just jam jam jam bc there was rebuys so it made the tournament hard to survive. And then, even at final table it’s short stack bc blinds increased too quickly. He’s been running it like this for 8 years. I asked him if I could restructure the tournament so he let me.

I made it a deep stack tourney with bounty freezeout. $120 buyin with $20 going to bounty. T50k starting stack with blinds starting 25/50. So 1000 big blinds to start but bc it’s a freezeout everyone plays much more seriously. We’ve run it the past 2 months and everyone loves it. People play much better and people can last much longer with their stack.

Could you explain what freezeout means?

 

[bergs]

Playing cash instead of a tourney is a great tournament tweak.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I'd like to try this for my next tournament. We're 10 players, so I need 10 bounty chips right? Everyone gets one and when you eliminate someone else, you're taking over his bounty chip. At the end there is a e.g. 5$ cash premium for every bounty chip acquired?
We have a payout for top 3 (Playing like this in the group for a long time), but now if you're eliminated at 5th, you could still have 3 bounty chips, if you eliminated others beforehand. Am I thinking this right?


Could you explain what freezeout means?

Freezeout means no rebuys.

Yup, 10 bounty chips. These could be anything, representing having knocked someone out. Youre thinking perfectly, just a way to spread the buyins out.

 

[Frogzilla]

Agree with @raynmanas …progressive bounty. Very fun and strategic. I’ve seen it executed a little differently, give everyone four bounty chips, at knockout transfer half of the bounty chips to the winners bounty stack, pay out the other half immediately. Decide beforehand where you are going to place odd chips.

I want to do a mystery bounty tournament in May.

How do you choose the mystery bounty? Do you have someone not playing pick it, or do you find out who it is at the end of the tournament?

Also, do the people who have the mystery bounty on their head a get chance to cash in on it if they survive long enough? I was thinking of letting the MB keep the bounty if they made it to the bubble.

It’s a larger bounty only active later on (usually activated something like on the bubble, or in the money) and then there is a randomized portion to the bounty amount. For example, if your 18 person tournament is paying out 4 places to 8 players, you want 4 or 5 bounties of various prizes. For $40 buy-in, $15 to bounty pool $25 to prize pool, you might do something like $100/$70/$50/$25/$25 for your bounties.

I like the bounty activated on the bubble as that’s an interesting spot.

 

[Frogzilla]

I'd like to try this for my next tournament. We're 10 players, so I need 10 bounty chips right? Everyone gets one and when you eliminate someone else, you're taking over his bounty chip. At the end there is a e.g. 5$ cash premium for every bounty chip acquired?
We have a payout for top 3 (Playing like this in the group for a long time), but now if you're eliminated at 5th, you could still have 3 bounty chips, if you eliminated others beforehand. Am I thinking this right?


Could you explain what freezeout means?

You don’t necessarily need bounty chips if you are running a normal bounty tournament, a cash chip or even cash is fine. Bounty chips are fun though

 

[DeeVee8]

Progressive Bounty? Each player gets two bounty chips (each worth $10). When you ko someone, you get paid for one bounty chip and the other goes on your stack. If there's an odd bounty chip, it gets paid rather than on your stack.

We have golfers around Jax, so I'm working on the Poker Players Championship. During the first 100 hands, each winner picks a "golf ball" from a bag. The ball has a score on it (Par, Bogey, etc). At the end of the first 100 hands, the player with the best 3 ball "sleeve" wins the bounty pot (or maybe pay 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). In the event of a tie, another ball is added until the tie is broken, or the player has no more balls.

I'm going to have Golf Ball chips made, but a marker and some spent golf balls would do the trick.

 

[Labrat]

My favorite tournament tweak is to play cash games instead.

Amen, brutha.

 

[CSW]

We have a league and we play a variety of tournament formats to keep things fresh. (We use bounties in every format.)

Some of the more unusual tweaks so far are tag-team and mystery bounty tournaments. We have also done unlimited re-entries (through a certain level), single re-entry, freezeout, and “pre-buy”/“reload” events.

Next month, we will do a shootout tournament (tables play 5-handed, play down to a single player, and the winner of each table forms the final table to play for the main prize pool). We usually have around 15 or 20 players, so we will hopefully have 3-4 at the final table.

Toward the end of the year, we will be playing a time-limited tournament: exactly 10 levels; players are paid out at the end of Level 10 based on their remaining stack.

We also have plans for a heads-up, bracket-style event; progressive knockout (PKO); and a win-the-button event (winner of each hand has the button the next hand).

I’ve also considered other more minor tweaks like ante-only or three-blind tournaments.

We only play 6 regular-season events each year, so it will take me a while to work in all of these ideas (I try to include one unlimited re-entry game and one or two normal single re-entry games per year, and then mix in a few unusual formats to keep things fresh).

Feel free to let me know if you want more info on how we run (or plan to run) any of these.

 

[CSW]

We have golfers around Jax, so I'm working on the Poker Players Championship. During the first 100 hands, each winner picks a "golf ball" from a bag. The ball has a score on it (Par, Bogey, etc). At the end of the first 100 hands, the player with the best 3 ball "sleeve" wins the bounty pot (or maybe pay 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). In the event of a tie, another ball is added until the tie is broken, or the player has no more balls.

This is SUCH a cool idea. I love it.

 

[Poker Zombie]

I have done shootouts, but I think my group liked them a little less than normal because there is less interaction. I want to do a Heads-Up tournament, but if the shootout was not greatly received, I imagine HU would be even less appreciated.

I have also run a survivor game. When we got down to the final 4, players were paid out whatever they had remaining in their stacks. This took a little more calculation to get it to run in my preferred time window, color ups had to be exact (not always easy with MTTs) and I used cash chips but tournament chips worth X would also work (X=buy.in/starting stack). It was fun to see the minor tweaks in strategy as we got near the end. Players on short stacks didn't look to limp into the money, as winning $5 on a $20 buy-in was still a loss, so the usual suspects of limpers suddenly found an aggressive game.

We also shake things up with different bonuses. This year we have a game on Star Wars Day - May the Fourth (be with you). Each player will select a character (Rebel or Empire). When there is only one side remaining, the whole team splits the prize pool that is set aside (probably $100). Knock out a teammate, more money for you. Knock out the opposition, the closer you are to getting paid.

 

[Frogzilla]

I have done shootouts, but I think my group liked them a little less than normal because there is less interaction. I want to do a Heads-Up tournament, but if the shootout was not greatly received, I imagine HU would be even less appreciated.

I have also run a survivor game. When we got down to the final 4, players were paid out whatever they had remaining in their stacks. This took a little more calculation to get it to run in my preferred time window, color ups had to be exact (not always easy with MTTs) and I used cash chips but tournament chips worth X would also work (X=buy.in/starting stack). It was fun to see the minor tweaks in strategy as we got near the end. Players on short stacks didn't look to limp into the money, as winning $5 on a $20 buy-in was still a loss, so the usual suspects of limpers suddenly found an aggressive game.

We also shake things up with different bonuses. This year we have a game on Star Wars Day - May the Fourth (be with you). Each player will select a character (Rebel or Empire). When there is only one side remaining, the whole team splits the prize pool that is set aside (probably $100). Knock out a teammate, more money for you. Knock out the opposition, the closer you are to getting paid.

That Star Wars is an interesting setup. Never seen that before. Would love to hear how it goes.

 

[upNdown]

tag-team

This is one format that I’ll never understand. Why would you want to play in a tournament where you’re not playing half the time?
To try to answer my own question, I guess it would work if it was part of a larger social even, so you can mingle with the wives or play bocce or something, when you’re not playing. But then my question becomes why would you want to squeeze poker into a larger social event?

 

[Poker Zombie]

Why would you want to play in a tournament where you’re not playing half the time?

Because I'm the worst player in the room, so tag-team greatly improves my chances.

 

[Frogzilla]

This is one format that I’ll never understand. Why would you want to play in a tournament where you’re not playing half the time?
To try to answer my own question, I guess it would work if it was part of a larger social even, so you can mingle with the wives or play bocce or something, when you’re not playing. But then my question becomes why would you want to squeeze poker into a larger social event?

The wsop one seems to be fun to do with a friend. There is also no breaks at all (dinner or even every 2 hours) so the partner thing is help. You could even get somewhat close to a normal poker tournament having an early/late shift, that’s 7 1/2 hours with just a 2 hr break.

10 am-1:30 pm (early shift)
1:30 - 3:30 pm (late shift, early takes 120 min break)
3:30 - 5:30 pm (early shift, late guy takes 120 min break)
5:30 - 9 pm late shift

 

[CSW]

This year we have a game on Star Wars Day - May the Fourth (be with you). Each player will select a character (Rebel or Empire). When there is only one side remaining, the whole team splits the prize pool that is set aside (probably $100). Knock out a teammate, more money for you. Knock out the opposition, the closer you are to getting paid.

Super cool idea. Please post afterward to let us know how it goes.