Poker league - Soliciting ideas

[Small Fry]

Got to have some Bling, the bigger and gaudier the better. With the requirement that the winner must wear it at all future games during their reign as champion. Failure to wear said bling results in forfieture of title.... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. Plus some good natured trash talking, bragging, etc.

Our point system is simple and is dedsigned to keep everyone involved. Since we have 20 regulars we do a point reversal for final placement, ie., 1st=20 We generally have 18 show so even just showing up gets you 3. We also give bonus points for 1st-3rd of 5, 3, and 2. We'll track this for 11 months, Jan-Nov. We are also subtracting each players lowest score before adding it up for a total. (so best 10 months) In December we will have the Championship. I believe we'll be awarding additional chips based on point standings for the final game.

We've had something like a league going on for about 3 years now. Have had a regular group of 20. It's always been more about just getting out and hanging with the guys. Buy in is $30. Unfortunately we play in a motel conference room so a chunk of the buy in pays for the room.

We also only play once a month so the commitment isn't that great.

We have a bizarre structure: Say 18 show. We have two tables and everyone starts with T1500. For the first 90 minutes we play limit, 25/50, with blinds of 15/25. At the end of this we take chip counts and move players based on their counts. Top half go to table 1, bottom half to table 2. We switch to NL with 30 minute levels and blinds of 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400.

Everyone at table 1 receives a payout. (minimum is $25). At table 1 you play with whatever chips you came with. Generally players have between 1650 - 2400

Table 2 (aka the losers table) is a bit different. It follows the same NL format but as players come with less chips we instituted a 1100 minimum. If you have less than 1100 you get chipped up, for free. Here only the top four get paid with first getting $20 (2-4 get $10 each).

The points are broken up by table also. Table 1 has the top 9 players, Table 2 has 10-18. The worst you can do by making table 1 is 9th place. So by making Table 1 you guarantee yourself at least a $25 payout and 12 points.

As you can see we're all about keeping everyone involved for as long as possible. Even if you bust out in the limit portion you'll get 1100 for the NL portion and have a shot at the $20. It's strange, but I think the lack of serious money to be won plus the majority of the players receiving some type of payout has kept it going. Thanks to the payout most guys are cutting their cost to less than $20, or better yet, winning a little on any given night (Due to having to pay for the motel room it's almost impossible for anyone to actually make money....We can't even beat the rake in our own game....lol). But not bad for 3-4 hours of poker with the guys.

We also have a new host each month. So players host every 20 months. As this is a requirement we ran into a little problem whenever we had an alternate show up for game. (we try to always have 18 so if 3 or more regulars cannot make it we invite alternates)Well as an alternate you are not required to host. Anyone with half a brain says I'll stay an alternate - all the benefits with hosting duties. To compensate for this the buy in for alternates is $40. The extra $10 goes into a general fund. It'll provide additional money for the Championship game or help pay for things like cards, chips, etc.

Good luck