So, is anybody tired of playing in or hosting the same freeze-out or re-buy tournament week after week? Anybody looking for a change of pace and a different tournament structure? Well, I have a couple suggestions for you.
Obviously, beyond any shadow of a doubt, no matter what variation of poker you’re playing, the most commonly played tournament structures are simple freeze-out and re-buy tournaments. There’s probably a reason for this, too. They are popular, they work well, and they are easy to run. In fact, my favorite type of tournament is a freeze-out with no re-buys or add-ons.
However (and that’s a big HOWEVER), even I get tired of the same old tournament day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Sure, sometimes there are small variations like a bounty or last-man-standing side pool, but the bottom line is that no matter what wrinkles you throw at it, freeze-out tournaments and re-buy tournaments all start and end the same way – give everybody the same amount of chips, fill up as many tables as you can, move players around as other players get eliminated, and the last player with chips is the winner.
Every once in awhile, it’s nice to do something a little different. Fortunately, there are different tournament styles from which to choose. If you’re hosting a tournament in the near future and you’re just a little tired of freeze-out tournaments, maybe you can try one of them.
A shootout tournament is only a slight variation of a freeze-out tournament, but the strategy for playing in a shootout tournament is completely different. In a shootout tournament, every player is playing at a “final table” of sorts. This is because of the way players are moved in shootouts as opposed to freeze-out tournaments.
Instead of combining tables or evening the number of players at each table as players get eliminated, shootout tournaments do not move players until each table only has one player remaining. Once every table has a winner, then they all move to a final table.
For example, if there are 24 players, the tournament director can elect to have a 4-table shoutout tournament by sitting 6 players at each table. Each table will play until there is only 1 person left. In essence, they are playing at their own final table. Once each table has a table winner, the tournament director will move the table winners to the final table where they will resume the tournament until only one player remains.
For most shootout tournaments, make sure your payout schedule pays all players who make the final table. Players should be rewarded for winning their tables.
There are drawbacks to this tournament format in that you need to start each table with the same number of players so that all players have the same opportunity to win the same number of chips. If this is not possible, one solution is to have a dead stack at tables short one player and blind off that stack as though there was a player who just didn’t show up after paying.
Overall, though, this is a good format. It’s actually a little easier to run than a multi-table, freeze-out tournaments since the tournament director doesn’t even have to worry about moving players. In addition, players can easily understand this format since it’s just a variation of a freeze-out tournament.
A small variation on the shootout tournament is to wait until two players (or any pre-specified number of players) remain at each table. For example, when Table A is down to two players, the two players will stop playing and wait for all remaining tables to also be down to two players. At that time, the remaining players will bring the chips they’ve earned to the final table and continue the tournament.
An occasional Heads-Up Tournament always provides a nice change of pace for players and allows for quite a bit of tournament director discretion regarding how it is run.
The basic premise is quite simple. Players play heads-up matches against each other. The format you can use to run the heads-up tournament are quite varied.
Apart from determining the blind structure and starting stacks, you can elect to have players play each other one time or play a best two out of three format (or three out of five, four out of seven, etc.). On top of that, you need to determine if you will be using a single-elimination bracket format, double-elimination bracket format, round robin format, pool play format, Swiss format, or some combination of them.
I suggest, for most home games, a combination of pool play and single-elimination formats. For example, if you have ten players, you can separate the players into Pool A and Pool B. Within each pool, all players will play each other. The two players with the best records in each pool will advance to a single elimination tournament.
Again, it’s always a good idea to make sure the payouts pay each player who advance to the single-elimination tournament. Doing well within your pool should be rewarded.
A potential drawback to this format is that players will have to deal a lot, but it’s always nice of players who are currently not playing in a game to help out dealing for games still in progress.
The last suggestion for a different format is one that a friend of mine is using for his end-of-season championship tournament. Throughout the season, players have earned points in freeze-out tournaments based on their performance. The top four players earn the right to play in the Championship Ladder Tournament.
If you’ve ever seen the Professional Bowlers Association television tournaments – that is a Ladder Tournament. It is best described with an example.
If you have four players who make the championship tournament, the third and fourth place players will play each other in a best two out of three heads-up match. The loser of the match will be eliminated. The winner will move on to play the second place player in another heads-up match. The winner of that match will move on to play the season champion in the last heads-up match.
A drawback to this format is that the first and second place players have to wait to play their matches, but the beauty of the ladder tournament is that the person who had the best performance during the regular season is guaranteed first or second place money (a small percentage was taken out of each prize pool during the regular season). My guess is that the regular-season champion will typically be more than happy to wait around a bit for guaranteed placement.
This format places an emphasis on consistent performance throughout the season, but still allows players who had a few bad tournaments or missed a couple sessions to have a chance at a slice of the pie.
I know I’ve only touched on a couple of these formats. If you are interested in using one of them and would like assistance, just let me know and I’ll be happy to help. I hope they give you an alternative to the standard freeze-out or re-buy tournament.
[thanks to kaloozer and grandslampokersource via cc]
Obviously, beyond any shadow of a doubt, no matter what variation of poker you’re playing, the most commonly played tournament structures are simple freeze-out and re-buy tournaments. There’s probably a reason for this, too. They are popular, they work well, and they are easy to run. In fact, my favorite type of tournament is a freeze-out with no re-buys or add-ons.
However (and that’s a big HOWEVER), even I get tired of the same old tournament day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Sure, sometimes there are small variations like a bounty or last-man-standing side pool, but the bottom line is that no matter what wrinkles you throw at it, freeze-out tournaments and re-buy tournaments all start and end the same way – give everybody the same amount of chips, fill up as many tables as you can, move players around as other players get eliminated, and the last player with chips is the winner.
Every once in awhile, it’s nice to do something a little different. Fortunately, there are different tournament styles from which to choose. If you’re hosting a tournament in the near future and you’re just a little tired of freeze-out tournaments, maybe you can try one of them.
Shootout Tournament
A shootout tournament is only a slight variation of a freeze-out tournament, but the strategy for playing in a shootout tournament is completely different. In a shootout tournament, every player is playing at a “final table” of sorts. This is because of the way players are moved in shootouts as opposed to freeze-out tournaments.
Instead of combining tables or evening the number of players at each table as players get eliminated, shootout tournaments do not move players until each table only has one player remaining. Once every table has a winner, then they all move to a final table.
For example, if there are 24 players, the tournament director can elect to have a 4-table shoutout tournament by sitting 6 players at each table. Each table will play until there is only 1 person left. In essence, they are playing at their own final table. Once each table has a table winner, the tournament director will move the table winners to the final table where they will resume the tournament until only one player remains.
For most shootout tournaments, make sure your payout schedule pays all players who make the final table. Players should be rewarded for winning their tables.
There are drawbacks to this tournament format in that you need to start each table with the same number of players so that all players have the same opportunity to win the same number of chips. If this is not possible, one solution is to have a dead stack at tables short one player and blind off that stack as though there was a player who just didn’t show up after paying.
Overall, though, this is a good format. It’s actually a little easier to run than a multi-table, freeze-out tournaments since the tournament director doesn’t even have to worry about moving players. In addition, players can easily understand this format since it’s just a variation of a freeze-out tournament.
A small variation on the shootout tournament is to wait until two players (or any pre-specified number of players) remain at each table. For example, when Table A is down to two players, the two players will stop playing and wait for all remaining tables to also be down to two players. At that time, the remaining players will bring the chips they’ve earned to the final table and continue the tournament.
Heads-Up Tournament
An occasional Heads-Up Tournament always provides a nice change of pace for players and allows for quite a bit of tournament director discretion regarding how it is run.
The basic premise is quite simple. Players play heads-up matches against each other. The format you can use to run the heads-up tournament are quite varied.
Apart from determining the blind structure and starting stacks, you can elect to have players play each other one time or play a best two out of three format (or three out of five, four out of seven, etc.). On top of that, you need to determine if you will be using a single-elimination bracket format, double-elimination bracket format, round robin format, pool play format, Swiss format, or some combination of them.
I suggest, for most home games, a combination of pool play and single-elimination formats. For example, if you have ten players, you can separate the players into Pool A and Pool B. Within each pool, all players will play each other. The two players with the best records in each pool will advance to a single elimination tournament.
Again, it’s always a good idea to make sure the payouts pay each player who advance to the single-elimination tournament. Doing well within your pool should be rewarded.
A potential drawback to this format is that players will have to deal a lot, but it’s always nice of players who are currently not playing in a game to help out dealing for games still in progress.
Ladder Tournament
The last suggestion for a different format is one that a friend of mine is using for his end-of-season championship tournament. Throughout the season, players have earned points in freeze-out tournaments based on their performance. The top four players earn the right to play in the Championship Ladder Tournament.
If you’ve ever seen the Professional Bowlers Association television tournaments – that is a Ladder Tournament. It is best described with an example.
If you have four players who make the championship tournament, the third and fourth place players will play each other in a best two out of three heads-up match. The loser of the match will be eliminated. The winner will move on to play the second place player in another heads-up match. The winner of that match will move on to play the season champion in the last heads-up match.
A drawback to this format is that the first and second place players have to wait to play their matches, but the beauty of the ladder tournament is that the person who had the best performance during the regular season is guaranteed first or second place money (a small percentage was taken out of each prize pool during the regular season). My guess is that the regular-season champion will typically be more than happy to wait around a bit for guaranteed placement.
This format places an emphasis on consistent performance throughout the season, but still allows players who had a few bad tournaments or missed a couple sessions to have a chance at a slice of the pie.
I know I’ve only touched on a couple of these formats. If you are interested in using one of them and would like assistance, just let me know and I’ll be happy to help. I hope they give you an alternative to the standard freeze-out or re-buy tournament.
[thanks to kaloozer and grandslampokersource via cc]