League Structure (very deepstack, slow structure)

[magicmcq]

I run a league (10 players) that consists of 10 regular season games followed by a heads-up playoff system. Top five make the playoffs based on total point score (top 3 go directly to semifinals, 4 vs 5 in wildcard match).

Structure is very long, but leads to deep stack and thoughtful play


Buy in $165 ($10 each season game, $65 playoff fee) for the league.

So, pool per game is $100; playoff pool $650



Regular Season Structure

10 Games, 10 players each

Starting Stack $300

(I use Modern Clay sidepot chips with following breakdown per player)
8 Camo $0.25 ($2)
40 White $1 ($40)
34 Peach $2 ($68)
38 Red $5 ($190)

Blinds (20 minute levels)

1 - 2
1.5 - 3
2 - 4
2.5 - 5

(10 minute break, color 0.25)

3 - 6
4 - 8
5 - 10
6 - 12 (1 ante)
8 - 16 (2 ante)
10 - 20 (3 ante)

color $1, introduce green $25s

12 - 24 (4 ante)
15 - 30 (5 ante)
20 - 40 (7 ante)
25 - 50 (10 ante)

CAP

Payouts:
1st = $50
2nd = $30
3rd = $20

Points:
1st = 10
2nd = 7
3rd = 5
4th = 3
5th = 2
6th = 1
all others = 0


Playoffs (all best 2 of 3 HU matches)

Payouts:
Champion = $340
Finalist loser = $180
Semifinalist loser = $65


Starting chips depend on finishing rank


Wildcard (4th place - $1300 chips, 5th - $1200 chips)

Blinds (25 minute levels)

8 - 16
10 - 20
12 - 24
15 - 30
20 - 40
25 - 50

CAP


Semifinals (1st - $3500 vs WC winner - $2500)
(2nd - $3200 vs 3rd - $2800)

Note: Black $100 chips come into play here

Blinds (30 minute levels)

15 - 30
20 - 40
25 - 50
30 - 60
40 - 80
50 - 100

CAP


Finals (semifinal winners - $6000 each)

Blinds

30 - 60
40 - 80
50 - 100
60 - 120
80 - 160
100 - 200

CAP

[Lottery Larry]

Interesting. Three comments:

1) I'd suggest a points system adjustment (assuming you want to keep 1st place as 10 pts)

Points:
1st = 10
2nd = 8
3rd = 6
4th = 4
5th = 3
6th = 2
all others = 1

2) It would be interesting to see if your champ heads-up is different than the regular season points leaders, as stack sizes will cover heads-up skill deficiencies during the year.

3) You could have A play B, C and D and best two records play for the championship, but that would add some time.

Also, we used unbalanced stacks for our first heads-up tourney and dropped them the next year. We didn't want the chip stack lead to come into play heads-up.

Overall, interesting system. I may steal some components for our third annual Heads-Up Championship.

[magicmcq]

The reason I chose unbalanced chip stacks for the playoffs was to encourage playing hard for 1st (remember, these places are based on 10 games of play -- I try to make the regular season worth something). Without an edge for 2rd, since 2nd plays 3rd in the semifinals, there is no reason to go for 2nd rather than 3rd.

This is the third league I have had with this structure.

Previous results were:

League 1 Semis 4 def 1, 2 def 3
Final 2 def 4

League 2 Semis 1 def 4, 3 def 2
Final 1 def 3

In all seasons, playoff cutoff was ~ 30. I also drop your two lowest score to both allow someone to miss a game, and encourage aggressive play.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
The reason I chose unbalanced chip stacks for the playoffs was to encourage playing hard for 1st (remember, these places are based on 10 games of play -- I try to make the regular season worth something). Without an edge for 2rd, since 2nd plays 3rd in the semifinals, there is no reason to go for 2nd rather than 3rd.

[/ QUOTE ]

SURE there is- the weekly cash payouts are there to play for and to strive to finish higher in position as a result.

It seems to be a double-punishment: Luck determines that you finished in third place money because of a suckout and THEN you get shorted on your starting stack heads-up also.

But that's just me...

[TheDarkHorse]

OMG this chip structure made me cream my pants!!!

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
OMG this chip structure made me cream my pants!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

And I thought I was the one who needed a life...