Tournament Payouts?

[pfapfap]

After six months of running home tournaments, I have structure and pace how I like it, but I still struggle with payout system. We usually have 25-30 people (tho' we're getting more each time), and most will spend $60-$100 with rebuys and addons.

I'm of the opinion that the top few should get the lion's share of the prize pool, then a fast taper after that. Gotta be in it to win it. But a few people have expressed concern that it's too weighted and more should get paid. I worry that the more the top prize gets whittled, the fewer dollar signs will be in peoples' eyes, people won't be as ready to rebuy (we have unlimited for the first few rounds), and interest will wane.

Anyone out there have similar issues? What have you found works best? These are monthly tournaments (weekly cash games) and I like to have a bit of a "special" feel to them.

My last tourney paid (percentages) 38 / 29 / 19 / 9 / 5 for 29 players and a pool of a bit over $2k. (That's $790 / 610 / 400 / 190 / 100).

Or maybe I'm over thinking it and should tell people to STFU because it's my tourney. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[pfapfap]

I thought about it a bit more and realized that my thinking was mired in the days when we'd get 12-18 for a tournament, and I wanted first prize to be worth something. With more people, I can soften a bit and pay more people, which I think is now what will keep folks coming back. I use Dr. Neau's and set up a nice accelerating schedule that I think is a good balance (paying 25% of players, still a decent first prize, and more places with a reasonable ROI).

Regardless, I'd still like opinions if anybody has any.

[pismeyer]

I tend to like to spread the wealth, then again, if it's your tournament then you can run it like you want.

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

[Etaipo]

I hate dilluting the top prize, but yeah, with 25-30 I would probably pay out the top 25% too.

[NickMPK]

With 25-30 in a home game tournament I would probably pay Top 6.

Maybe 38 - 25 - 15 - 10 - 7 - 5

[Gitz]

40% 27% 18% 10% 5% Not much different from yours but we added a fifth of Absolute to the first 6 people who get knocked off. It was a great way to have fun during the beginning of the game and those 6 people really enjoyed it. I would rather not change the payouts that way people will play to win rather than split. This was with 35 players.

[johnnyrocket]

yea this is fine, you need to pay out so the fish can cash a little sometimes or you will lose them. Lots of luck when blinds get higher also so not fair to leave people out who played awesome then got unlucky at the end when they all had 10BB

[jalsing]

For my 30 player tourneys, I pay out:
40-25-15-12-8

makes the 3-4-5 spots a bit flat but keeps the majority of the payout in the top 2.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
the fewer dollar signs will be in peoples' eyes, people won't be as ready to rebuy (we have unlimited for the first few rounds), and interest will wane

[/ QUOTE ]

The fewer places you play, the quicker people will realize that rebuys are tougher to get a return on, IMO.