Tournament Streamlining Tips?

[pfapfap]

I doubt I'm the only one who has difficulty bringing his A-game while also running the tourney. With each one I get better at reducing my distraction, mostly a combination of little things that collectively make a difference. I'll list a few. Anyone have any other little tips or tricks? My planned assistant TD had to cancel, so I'm still having to do it all myself.

* Rebuys are higher denomination chips (either four 500s or two 1000s), so I don't have to be careful holding a stack of 100s or whatever other combination.

* I keep the prize pool folded in my back pocket; very easy to pull out and add another $20.

* I make players come to me for the rebuys.

* I keep empty racks in easy locations around the room for players who have to move tables.

Some things I'm going to do this time:

* Tell people to think for themselves and not bother me with every little thing that's not related to the game. Request that they respect I have enough distractions already.

* Make it so that the table who needs a player because of a bustout is responsible for assessing which other table gets a player pulled (explain to them the procedure first, of course).

* Assign a couple of other trusted knowledgable players as "floormen", with authority to make decisions, and ask that they help with moving players if they bust out.


Anything else? I'm sure others here have had to tackle similar problems, and any little time/energy/distraction-saver you can throw my way would help. All these little things combined do make a difference, not only with helping cut down distractions, but getting the game running more smoothly and with fewer interruptions.

-p.

[Small Fry]

I put all chips in ziplock baggies which I hand out when a player gives me their buy in money. I make extra of these for rebuys. If I run out of pre made baggies I then go with large denomination chips.

I use a type of cash box. Allows me to keep denominations seperate. Easy for making change and it has a lock too.

I prefer the player remain in their seat. If he comes to you does the table he left wait for him to come back or do they deal him out? My method allows the deal to continue and him to get dealt in.

The baggies everyone started with are usully lying around for a player to put all their chips in if they move tables

Not sure how large your tourneys are but mine are 3 tables. I have dedicated dealers / players. I give them a discounted buy in. I met with them before starting and we went over what I expected from them. Kind of like dealer school. They are basically in control of their table, with me as the TD. They let me know about rebuys, bust outs, etc. They do everything you'd expect a real dealer to do. If you don't / can't have dedicated dealers maybe just have table captains. One advantage I can think of with a table captain is they can take care of rebuys for their table.

We use two decks at each table to keep the game going

Next, you have to be using a program like Tournament Director. If not, get one. Depending on your set up the program can move people to keep tables even. I have a projector I plug into my laptop so I can display the tournament stats up on the wall - Blind level, Time, Payouts, Ave. chip count, Players left, etc.

Wish I had more suggestions for you but overall it sounds like you're doing pretty good. I'm interested to hear what others do as well.

[akebono]

Looks pretty good. I'd add a few points about timekeeping:

Make sure your tourney clock is visible to all. I used to use a kitchen timer in my early days and it sucked having to announce times left in levels and answer questions about time.

Keep your breaks on a pretty tight timed schedule also. It used to frustrate the hell out of me when I'd have to extend breaks because one of my tables only had 2 people back from their smoke breaks. I'm still more lenient with this than I should be but people get back to their seats a lot faster if they see the clock flashing 00:00 time left on break.

[Small Fry]

One more recent change I made was to put myself on a freeroll for the initial buy in. If I have to rebuy I pay full price. I provide all the food and drink, which I charge for to cover some of my cost, but I'm still out of pocket a little. Plus all the time spent on set up and clean up. I don't think it's unreasonable that I get my initial buy in for free (buy in is $25). The $25 probably covers my increase in water bill and wear and tear for toilet use....lol

[akebono]

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One more recent change I made was to put myself on a freeroll for the initial buy in. If I have to rebuy I pay full price. I provide all the food and drink, which I charge for to cover some of my cost, but I'm still out of pocket a little. Plus all the time spent on set up and clean up. I don't think it's unreasonable that I get my initial buy in for free (buy in is $25). The $25 probably covers my increase in water bill and wear and tear for toilet use....lol

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Hmm. . . I don't think this is unreasonable but I don't think I'd want to do it. Is everyone actually ok with this? I think I would get fewer players and many would probably complain about the prize pool being short. Also as the TD, I try and do everything I can to make sure that no one in the game perceives me as taking an unfair advantage. Freerolling your own tourney could be perceived this way even if it is just to recover your expenses in running the game.

[Small Fry]

[ QUOTE ]
Looks pretty good. I'd add a few points about timekeeping:

Make sure your tourney clock is visible to all. I used to use a kitchen timer in my early days and it sucked having to announce times left in levels and answer questions about time.

Keep your breaks on a pretty tight timed schedule also. It used to frustrate the hell out of me when I'd have to extend breaks because one of my tables only had 2 people back from their smoke breaks. I'm still more lenient with this than I should be but people get back to their seats a lot faster if they see the clock flashing 00:00 time left on break.

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Having dedicated dealers helps with the time. As long as they're back we start the dealing. Blinds get posted for absent players.

I tried to stagger my breaks for one tourney. My rounds are regularly 30 minutes. Instead of having one 10 minute break for everyone, say at the end of round 3, I extended round 3 to 40 minutes and gave each table a 10 minute break during the round. It allowed the players on the break to watch others play, have easier / quicker access to food / bathroom but it was more work for me making sure it ran smoothly. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this but it's another option.

[Small Fry]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One more recent change I made was to put myself on a freeroll for the initial buy in. If I have to rebuy I pay full price. I provide all the food and drink, which I charge for to cover some of my cost, but I'm still out of pocket a little. Plus all the time spent on set up and clean up. I don't think it's unreasonable that I get my initial buy in for free (buy in is $25). The $25 probably covers my increase in water bill and wear and tear for toilet use....lol

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm. . . I don't think this is unreasonable but I don't think I'd want to do it. Is everyone actually ok with this? I think I would get fewer players and many would probably complain about the prize pool being short. Also as the TD, I try and do everything I can to make sure that no one in the game perceives me as taking an unfair advantage. Freerolling your own tourney could be perceived this way even if it is just to recover your expenses in running the game.

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I understand your point and if you do it I would reccommend letting players know up front. Maybe even floating the idea to a few people to get a feel for how it might be perceived. You migh t be surprised. No one's complained because I run a first class operation... [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

You mention unfair advantage. What about an unfair disadvantage? Does not running the tournament place you at an unfair disadvantage to the other players?

I apply the same concept to my dealers. We all make the game much, much more enjoyable for the others who just get to show up, plop down some money, and play. And for $5 bucks ($25 - 5 goes to food, 20 to the pot) they can drink all the beer, soda, coffee and eat all the pizza, Sandwiches, buffalo wings, spicy chicken curry, M & M's, chips,or whetever else my wife happened to buy or make. I put out a good spread. I also take voluntary contributions. I track all my costs and have always spent more, sometimes way more, than I take in. I am looking at reducing the amount / type of food I provide in which case I'd also reduce the fee allowing more to go to the pot.

I guess in the end it's a matter of how much time and effort you put into it. I'm sure there might be a few that don't like the fact I initially play for free and then can choose not to play. But those that are aware of just how hard it really is think I should actually get paid.

[Befolder]

Well it sounds like you don't use a Tournament Director software or anything like that. It has a nice feature for suggesting seating movements.

I think your game is bigger too from what I've read. We've got 20 players coming to this one, which is ab out 8 more than average, so I could be up against more challenges.

I also handle everything, but I find it pretty easy to get up from my seat after folding, running over to the computer to register a bust out and rebuy and get back on time.

It can get hectic at times when beginners nag you about stupid stuff and we have a lot of beginners.

[Befolder]

Small Fry, it sounds like you need to ask more of your guests if you're providing everything. It shoudn't be expected of you since you're not a business.

I've done a lot to improve the game experience from our group. I've never been able to host until buying my house recently. We always played in a storage unit, which had some room, but inconvenient access to bathrooms, temperature control, proper lighting or decent appeal.

Part of my goal for our new game which I am now running, as the most educated of our group about procedures and stuff, is to add a lot of value.

I've only had 4 games at my place, but attendence and/or pot size has increased every game.

My place is warmer, nicer to look at, has proper rules, we've added a bounty chip to make it easier for the fish to score some kind of return, we now use a tournament director softward which I run through the flatscreen on my living room wall, proper blind structure which is constantly being balanced for maximum pot/playability, official invitations from Evite.com (nicely formatted), polling my group (which is a vast array of skill, economic status, etc) about what they like and don't like.

It feels like it's becoming more of an event, than just a poker game and I'd like to believe it's because of the effort I'm putting out to market it. I basically want to grow this game as large as I can support in my house for my friends. I'm proud to finally be able to host a proper game.

Oh, also, I've totally geeked out the tournament director w/ probably close to a hundred sound effects and short music clips to enhance the bust outs, buy ins, rebuys, breaks, add-ons, level warnings and such. This is stimuli we didn't have before.

I don't feel it would be proper at all for me to have a free buy in. I ask my guest to BYOB and an optional food item if they so choose and we always have enough munchies.

My game grows despite not offering the things that you do. These may be totally different situations though.

Lord, this sounds like an advertisement. Just happy with the results so far I guess.

[Small Fry]

I provide it all because thats the way I want it. Basically I control it all.(hmmm..maybe I should see somebody about this) For example, I don't want any hard alcohol, so I only provide beer. Players are allowed to bring their own if they choose, but not allowed to bring any hard alcohol. Nobody gets drunk, stoned or wasted. It is my house after all.

I've had 15 games at my house. 3 table tourneys so 27-30 players. Basically I have them every other month. I always fill up my game. I have over 125 players on my invite list.

In conjuction with TD check out Statsgenie. Web based freeware (he does accept donations, which I'll encourage as I think it's great) that you can download TD into, track all your tourneys with stats for all your players. It also has an invite/ tracking function that I really like. Plus the guy who created it is super responsive to suggestions, problems, issues, etc.

The only additional sounds I have are from the lead into / out of commercial breaks for the WSOP. You know, that litte guitar riff. Thats cool that you did the rest.

But I think you said it best when you said it's an event. And thats what I try to make it. I want my players to leave thinking they've just busted out of the best tournamant ever. I want them thinking that for $25 they got 10x that in value. I actually have some players refuse to play in their old neighborhood games, which where poorly run, after playing in mine. I take a lot of pride in making sure everyone has the best time possible, as you should too.

Here's one more thought about playing for free. (And I forgot to mention this but If I bust out during the rebuy period I am forced to rebuy, which I do pay for. So now I'm actually paying half price.) If you were to take all your equipment, I'm assuming we all provide tables (I have 3 that I made), chairs, chips (custom design), cards, dealer button, Tournament program, etc. and actually have somebody rent it all and you to run it how much would you charge? I'm assuming just a regular 25-30 person tourney lasting 6-8 hours. $500? more? What if you also provided the dealers? $1000?

I understand your guy's view and for the first 13 games I shared it and paid full rate. It was only after some suggested that I shouldn't have to pay that I changed.

But, again, you should be proud to put on a well run game. There are no set rules in how elaborate or simplistic it should be so to each his own. I just believe if your going to run it, run it well (how you define well is up to you)

Good luck.