I'm about to play in a tournament with the following structure: 4 rounds, 5 to 7 players per table, 120 players total, no eliminations, no secret bets, no surrender. Points are awarded at the end of each round as follows: 1st place on your table = 7 points 2nd = 6 3rd = 5 etc. 7th = 1 At the end of the four rounds, the players with the six highest point totals advance to the final round. Neither Wong's nor Smith's book seems to cover this structure. Any advice on how to maximize the chance of advancing to the final round? Thanks in advance, David
A few thoughts Will the current standings be available for all to see between rounds? If so, I think I might play the first couple of rounds conservatively, aiming for the middle, and then assess the situation from there. It also occurs to me that there are likely to be a number of people sharing the top six scores at the end. I would want to get a clarification of how ties will be resolved. Any tables with less than seven players seem to have an advantage (no one gets one point for last place), so if there is any freedom to choose your table you could try for these; unless it's actually the first place score that gets reduced, in which case the opposite applies.
Wow, unchartered waters. I personally have never heard of a structure like this but it seems like it can be interesting. Offhand, I would play this as if I were playing a 2 advance table with one exception. In rounds 1 and 2, I wouldn't risk a lot in the endgame to take 2nd place if I have a reasonably solid hold on 3rd or 4th. The objective for rounds 3 and 4 need to be adjusted according to how one did in the preceding rounds. My best guess, and that's all it is - a guess, is that 20 to 22 points should get a seat at the final table. That translates to an average of about 5.2 points per round - hence the reason for being satisfied with a 3rd place finish in one or two rounds. I'd like to try a structure like this. It gives everyone more playing time and it could be fun and interesting. So where is this tournament being held?
Leaderboard Do they post a leaderboard with the point standings? Only the top 5% will advance. One could expect a sizeable concentration of players with scores at or near 20, because the over-aggressive ones will finish first sometimes and last others and mostly average out. The maximum possible score is 28 but no one will achieve that. I would think the cutoff would be around 23 or 24. I'm with Toolman I would try for at least 2nd in my first two tables. However, I would avoid going all in and busting out if 2nd starts to seem too out of reach and would just try to maximize my ranking in the remaining spots. Also, I might adjust my last bet on a table if it gives me a reasonable chance to finish first rather than second. Every point will count in this format. After my first two rounds I would adjust my strategy based on my position on the leaderboard. This format seems to favor conservative play. Players who can consistently finish in the top two rankings on their table should fare well in this format.
Very interesting format. The bad part of this format is that people who are essentially eliminated will determine to a large extent who advances. I would also think that many of those people just wouldn't show up for their last rounds. I think a tournament like this should cut the bottom 50% of the field after 2 rounds and cut 50% of the remainder after round 3, so that only the top 25% are competing in round 4.
Certainly an interesting concept, have never seen a tournament like that. Others have brought up some interesting questions. How to they break a possible tie for 6th place? What are the minimum and maximum bets? I don't care for the possibility of a differant amount of players at differant tables. Depending on how they adjust the points, if they do adjust them, it will give someone an unfair advantage. If the points are not adjusted and a table with 5 players, will the 5th place finisher still get 3 points? Doesn't quite seem right to me. Maybe adjust the points to: 1st ... 7 points 2nd ... 6 points 3rd ... 5 points 4th ... 4 points 5th ... 3 points 6th & 7th ... zero points Some have suggested playing the first 2 tables conservative and then adjusting your play according to the points standings for the last 2 tables. I would rather be more aggressive the first 2 tables and get as many points as I can and then not have to worry about accumulating high point totals on the last 2 hands. With 120 players I would think it will take 23-24 points to make it to the final table, that would be an average of 6 points per table, an average of a 2nd place finish at each table. A 3rd and a 4th place finish at the first 2 tables would be a total of 9 points, you would likely then need two first place finishes at the last 2 tables to advance. But it could be that I am way off base here as the others here have much more tournament experience that I have. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Be interested to hear how many points are needed to advance to the finals.
SImilar format JA Nugget Tournaments with a similar format have been held at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks, NV at least 6 times. # 1= 10 points # 2= 8.5 # 3= 7 # 4= 6 # 5= 5 # 6= 4 Qualifying scores were always 33- 35 points with 90-120 entries. You pretty much have to average 2nd place or just slightly below that point. Tied places qualifying for the last few spots were played off.
