Home Tourney Stategy

[wyatt880]

I'm involved in a 10 person, 24 session tournament, starting with t1500 chips, with the following blind structure (20 minute levels):

15/30
25/50
50/100
75/150 - 25 ante
100/200 - 25 ante
150/300 - 25 ante
200/400 - 50 ante
250/500 - 50 ante
300/600 - 50 ante
400/800 - 75 ante
500/1000 - 75 ante
750/1500 - 75 ante
1000/2000 - 100 ante
1200/2400 - 100 ante
1500/3000 - 100 ante

POINT DISTRIBUTION
First 100
Second 90
Third 85
Fourth 80
Fifth 75
Sixth 70
Seventh 65
Eighth 60
Ninth 55
Tenth 50

It's the same 10 people every session, if you are absent you are blinded out (unless you can find a sub). The sessions are generally over before the 1000/2000 level.

Collect $20/game per person, and distribution per game is $40 for 1st, $25 for 2nd, and $10 for 3rd. End of the year payout for point position is: $1,750 for 1st, $750 for 2nd, and $500 for 3rd.

My questions are - how does this set up look? What would you change if it were your tournament?

What would be a general strategy for playing in this tournament? Sit back and try to get the best position you can with minimum risk, or try to win each session? Sorry if this type of question has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything on stategy.

Thanks a lot for your responses,
wyatt880

[pismeyer]

I'm not really digging the payout for each session but I realize you're playing for the end of the sessions/year points position which looks like a sweet pot.

Is there some sort of play-off for a points tie?

As for your strategy in this type of game: I like solid play. If you can bluff from early position then more power to you. The same players can be fun but you will have to change up your play constantly (I know this, min raises on the river with the nuts gets a fold from my crew everytime).

Without knowing the guys you play and your playing style it's tough to guess.

Good Luck!

P [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[tsearcher]

I would get rid of the antes. I find it's too much trouble for a home game. Additionally, I don't like your blind structure. Get rid of the 15/30 level. Start everyone with t2500 and make the starting round 25/25. It's a lot easier to distribute chips that way. And you'll have fewer color ups.

[tsearcher]

I'm too lazy to do the math right now, but your point distribution isn't very top heavy. There isn't much difference between 1st and 10th. So I'd think playing super tight and sliding into the money would be the way to go. The end of the year pay out is where the money is.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]

It's the same 10 people every session, if you are absent you are blinded out (unless you can find a sub).

[/ QUOTE ]

So, you prepay for the tourney and someone ELSE earns points for you? Ugh.

Also, the point system sucks AND the prize pool is too heavily weighted to the final 3 for year-end. Pay $20 to get back $4 per person? 3rd place doesn't even get their money back?

People are going to hang around and feed the prize pool when it's obvious they can't win it, around session 15 or so?

Your keys are:

1) Survival to move up the ladder in each tourney- the session prize money isn't important.

2) If you're anywhere near the lead half-way through, start looking to knock out the other leaders. The individual session results aren't as important as lowering their long-term points... not that it's easy to do with that point structure.

This is a strange setup. Does the designer assume that he/she has the best shot at winning the year-end money?

[PantsOnFire]

1. A starting blind of 15/30 is very odd. Starting blinds are usually 5/10 when you have $5 chips and 25/50 when you have $25 chips.

2. The point distribution is very flat.

3. Given the flat point distribution, just play solid poker, except possibly adjusting a little to try and secure 34d for some cash.

[wyatt880]

Agreed, the point structure is flat. This is the second year that we have played this way, and one thing that was kind of cool was that 1st and 2nd place were tied going into the last session, and all but the last two places could (mathmatically) get into the top 3 spots.

[wyatt880]

Also, we added antes as an experiment to help blind out the people who are absent faster. There were times last year where there would be no action whatsoever as people waited for the absentees to get blinded out. That isn't happening as much this year. We play two sessions a night once a month, so we tried to balance the poker playing with speed. Generally each session lasts around 3 hours. This worked out best for everyone - gave the most chances to get points with the least amount of days committed.

What would be a suggested pay out / points structure? I was also thinking that maybe instead of final standings dictating payouts, it could dictate chip distribution for a final table, with payouts remaining the same as the end of year payout. What could be a suggested chip distribution?