[sandy creek]

i am playing a 9 event season, followed by a TOC and a consolation tourney
TOC is made up of all people who have cashed, top 2 on leaderboard, top 2 in consolation tourney. the 9 events are limited to the first 30. any player in tourney has first chance to sign for the following week.
must attend 5 events to qualify for any post season tourney
these were the rules for the first 3 events
25 first week, no problem
23 second week, no problem (15 regulars, 8 new)
33 third week, (13 regulars, 14 2nds, 3 new)
last 3 to sign up didn't get a spot, all three had attended 1 or 2 prior
but, the sign up sheet didn't hit 30 until friday nite (tourneys are sun nite)
tonite, (sun) 29 of the players signed up for next week
6 others called to sign up.
i have 4 choices.
1st is most obvious, lotto the 1 seat between the 6 players.
here's what we don't like. some of the people that had to miss tonight were "regulars" and 1 that had to miss cashed in his only event. if we lotto for the seat, at least 5 people are going to miss the next tourney. there is a real possibility that next week all 30 will sign up, closing out all 5 (and anyone else) for a second week in a row. the problem is, if they are wanting to play, but get shut out, how are they going to get their 5 mandatory appearances?
2nd is play a 35 man tourney
problem here, we already made 3 people sit out that didn't sign up in time using the 30 limit rule. now to change that seems wrong...
the other thing is, i've had numerous people who have heard of my tourney in the last couple of weeks say they were interested, and i told them all we were going to hit 30 people, (the limit) so they probably wouldn't ever get to play. if everyone hears we opened it up, where / how do i cut it off? I don't want to have a 50 person tourney.....and could possibly get there. (right now i have only 3 tables and chips for 30, now i could massage that a little, but not over 40)
still, to mollify the people who are going to complain that they can't get their 5 appearances in, this is a possibility
3rd is to lotto all seats except for those who have attended every event.
there are 13 in this category, so we could lotto 17 seats
this one answers a lot of the problems, but creates some new ones. now you have players who came and played and signed up, and i'm going to have to tell them they lost the lotto and can't play next week. plus, we could still run into the people who need to get to five events saying, "i wanted / tried to play and couldn't"
(i've thought of, already, lotto losers getting a guaranteed seat the following tourney, and i've thought of anyone losing the lotto getting a "bye" on that tourney and being able to count it towards the 5 needed)
4th, and maybe fairest of all, would be to lotto all 30 seats between everyone that signed up sun nite. problem with this is, i could have to sit out of my own tourney!
this also ignores anyone who didn't sign up on sunday nite but wants to play the following sunday and just hasn't told me yet

I need help!
has anyone run into this problem, and or what do you think the fairest solution is?

thanx in advance for your help / input

Sandy Creek

[Captn_All_In]

Boy this is a tough one. Man I wish I had this many people fighting to get into my games!! Anyways back on the topic.

I think you need to open up the number of players some. Go to at least 32 (4 tables of , possibly 36, or 40. (Feed your chip addiction and get more chips!!)

Next you need to schedule more events by rearranging the weekly structure. You could extend the season to 18 games, and then the players who were at this weeks game are last in line for next weeks (meaning that all the players who didn't get a chance to play get first dibs at next weeks seats)

Then for your consolation tourney it could be two separate events that would offer everyone at least one additional shot at making the TOC.

How many people will be in the money for each weekly event? If its 4 then I would offer a seat to everyone who cashes (theoretically 1 or 2 people will cash more than once) then the top 2 from each Consolation Event, and then any extra seats you have can be raffled off (give out a chance to win those for every event that the persaon attended {meaning "Bob" made it to 8 events and the Consolation Tourney so he gets 9 chances thrown in the bag for a shot at 1 of 3 availible seats}

I hope that what I have put down here makes some kind of sense!

You know, you could always start over....might just tick as many people off as a change to what's already started!!??!!??

My 2 bits...

[sandy creek]

thanks for your reply cap

here's what i ended up doing
lotto for seats, to include only ppl who have attended SOME tourney games
if you have attended all, you are exempt
if you've never played, end of the list
extended blinds to 30 min for 1st 3 levels (10-20, 15-30, 20-40 T1500)
whenever anyone is eliminated from the tourney, 1st on alternate list is seated.
this to continue until all are seated or first 3 levels are completed. (1.5 hrs)
any alternate not getting to play, gets a guaranteed seat the following week

were going to try that and see how it works

Sandy Creek

[Captn_All_In]

Sounds good! Good Luck!!

[ZackAllen]

I have this same issue. got room for 40 people, have 62 on the list. My game is Friday night, and the next weeks game is full by Sunday morning.

Usually have 5 on the waiting list. It is first come first serve. No exceptions, no pre booking, no signing up for the next game while at the previous game. The evite hits the email sat morning and everyone has the same shot. Those without email have to call me after 9am saturday morning to get a seat.

First come first serve. period.

Everyone who has attended at least one game has first rights. If the game is not full by 5am the Thursday prior to the game, then it is open to new people.

I have had no issues with the "regulars", but I have done it this way since day one. They know if they screw around and don't open thier email but once a year, they will miss out on the next tournament.

My waiting list is first come first serve as well, and it is numbered as such. I just work my way down the list througout the week as people are unable to come.

[OnTheButton]

You could try to increase the buy-in amount to narrow down the field of players a bit.

[DEEJAY]

I think you started off on the wrong foot by limiting your players to begin with,the amount of tables you say you have is plenty(3), your thinking that everyone has to be seated at the same time which is ideal but not neccessary, I play at local venues where all they have is two tables, you get your name on the list and are seated accordingly, they seat 11 at a table i really don't like this but it's what they do, blinds stay at a constant level until all players waiting have been seated, at times there are anywhere from 38 to 48 players signed up to play, some are no shows some are late add ons to the list, i should add that the first 22 players draw for their seats, a heart table, a spade table, cards ace through jack of each suit on table! Then as people are eliminated from event the next person on list takes the seat but has to wait for the blind button to pass before he is able to play, when the last player is seated the blinds will start to go up after the timer is re-set! I know this will not help you right now but maybe this will help out later just something for you to consider!