Tournament Director Guide - World Tavern Poker

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SECTION 2
HOW TO BE A
GREAT TOURNAMENT
DIRECTOR
This section provides more details about how each tournament
and the league works as well as tips on how to become a
GREAT TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR.
NOTE: All Tournament Directors (TDs) should log on to the
website and complete the CERTIFIED TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
QUIZ. When this happens, your bar will receive a special icon
on the website showing players that your TD has been properly
trained.
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TOP 10 BIGGEST
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR MISTAKES
1
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3
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5
Below is a list of the Top 10 mistakes made by Tournament Directors that often causes the bar
to lose players, lose revenue and possibly stop World Tavern Poker.
Please be sure you do not make these!
Not Updating Points
Players take their points very seriously and
not updating them within 48 hours will
cause players to stop coming.
Making the
Game Too Serious
Remember you are not trying to recreate
the World Series of Poker in the bar.
Your goal is to make this the most fun
and organized poker tournament possible.
Playing “Rule Police”
Yes, you are in charge of the tournament,
but please understand that your job is to
“guide” the tournament, not run it with an
iron fist. Your players will respect the fact
that you have the perfect balance of power
and leniency.
Not “Selling” Food & Drink
Remember that this promotion is for the
customers of the bar…and if the bar is not
making money, they will not continue
running poker. Be sure that you are
constantly promoting the food & drink
specials and asking “Who needs a drink”
Letting the
Players Run the Game
Remember that you are in charge, and as
much as we talk about being fair and polite,
you also need to ensure the rules are being
followed and that players are not getting
out of hand.
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Allowing Loitering
Most bars have a No Loitering Policy which
means their establishment is for their
CUSTOMERS only. If you find players
loitering (not customers), let the bar owner
or manager know.
Being Inconsistent
Be consistent with everything you do
including: Rulings, start times, prizes, etc.
Being Rude to
Players & Customers
At times you may get frustrated with a
player. Please remember that they are a
customer of the bar’s and before you lose
your temper, find the owner/manager
for assistance.
Falsifying Scores
Not only will this cause you to lose players,
it will cause you to lose your job as a Tournament
Director and be eliminated from the
league. Always be truthful when updating
your scores and running your tournaments.
Getting Bored
If you get bored, your games will get boring
and players will start losing interest. If you
ever find yourself losing your enthusiasm,
take a week or two off to give yourself a
break or give us a call to give you some new
and creative ideas.
15

WHAT MAKES A GREAT
TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR
No two Tournament Directors are identical, but we have found that the three most common traits of
any great Tournament Director are:
FUN |
Understanding that World Tavern Poker is not only about the poker, but also about
the fun!
FAIR |
Being able to follow the World Tavern Poker rules, and making decisions that are
fair, unbiased and in the best interest of the promotion.
ORGANIZED |
Being set up and ready to go, running a great tournament, updating
points within 48 hours and sending out weekly emails.
So if you possess these traits, then you are well on your way to becoming a GREAT World Tavern
Poker Tournament Director.
WHAT ARE
MY RESPONSIBILITIES
There are many responsibilities of a GREAT Tournament Director, but below are the key tasks that you
will complete on a weekly basis.
Getting Set Up
Welcoming and Registering Your Players
Making Great Announcements
Running the Tournament
Making It FUN!
Updating the Points
Sending Weekly Emails
Helping the Bar Increase Sales
REMEMBER: You are the host/hostess of the evening so you set the tone as to how fun your
Tournament will be. Stay committed to running the best World Tavern Poker tournament in your area!
PLAYERS REGISTERING
IMPORTANT NOTE: We cannot stress enough the importance of getting your players to
pre-register for each tournament. They simply go to www.WorldTavernPoker.com or use the mobile
app to create their player account. and create their player account. They can log in each week to
pre-register for their tournaments.
Having them pre-register will make your job of updating points much faster and easier!
16

YOUR CUSTOMERS
PLAY IN
Your Step By
Step Guide
To Running A Tournament
WEEKLY
TOURNAMENTS
TOP PLAYERS
MOVE ON TO THE
1
2
Running a successful World Tavern Poker Tournament can be very easy if you follow the steps below.
Remember that the most important elements are that the games are FUN, FAIR & ORGANIZED!
Tournament Times
Your goal is for each tournament to last approximately 3 hours. This allows you to run 2
tournaments a night without much overlap. You can make adjustments to your blind times to
speed up or slow down your game if needed.
TOP PLAYERS
MOVE ON TO THE
Getting Set Up
TAVERN
CHAMPIONSHIPS
STATE
You should have the poker area of the bar set up no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of the
tournament. That means:
Chips ready and in trays
8-10 chairs per CHAMPIONSHIPS
table
2 Decks of cards for each table Food & Drink specials displayed
Tables set up with table
Be ready to have fun
covers on
TOP PLAYERS
FROM EACH REGION
3 Player Registration & Seating
Getting your players checked in and seated should be a fun and organized task.
NATIONAL
Here are the guidelines:
Have your player registration print out from the website
Welcome all of the players to the bar (you are their host for the evening)
Give them their Table Assignment (from the registration sheet)
Guide them to the bar to wait until the Tournament begins
Above all, smile and be happy. Your attitude will set the tone for the evening.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
24 WSOP SEATS
GIVEN AWAY EACH YEAR
4 Make Announcements
Five minutes prior to the start of the Tournament, ask the players to take their seats and make
the announcements
Food & Drink Specials Prizes Announce # of players in the Where game YOU can win o
Go over rules
Announce blind times Remind players of supporting the bar
NO GAMBLING
and tipping their servers
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5
6
Handing Out Cards & Chips
Each table should get the correct number of chips & trays and two decks of cards (one red and one
blue). Having two decks allows one to be shuffled while the other is in play.
To determine who is first to deal at each table, a player should deal cards face up to each player
until the first ace is dealt…that player is the dealer first.
Running the Tournament
During the tournament you have 3 key responsibilities.
Raising the Blinds - Set the timer and be sure to raise the blinds on time throughout the night.
Every time you raise the blinds you should also ask, “Who Needs A Drink”
Combining Tables - As players get knocked out you will eliminate tables, moving those players
randomly to other tables still in play (see next page for details on combining tables).
Keeping Up The Excitement - Remember that you set the tone for the tournament. The more fun
the players are having, the more money they will spend and the more likely they are to come back
week after week.
*World Tavern’s mobile app will feature a Tournament Director game clock with customizable blind
times – coming in 2013!
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Setting Up Satellite Games
When players get knocked out of the main tournament, you can set up side tables for them (single
table tournaments) where they can play for fun or for a smaller prize the bar provides. This is a
great way to keep players around for the entire night.
8 Sign Out Players (for Points)
The Top 20 players in each Tournament receive points, so as it gets later in the game, be sure that
you have the Top 20 Sheet ready and make an announcement about signing out.
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Announce Your Winners
Remember that poker, like most other games, is about the competition and the bragging rights.
Be sure that you put your winners up on the pedestal by announcing them before the next game.
Update the Points within 48 Hours
The tournament is not over until you update your points! Updating your points takes only 10 minutes
and is a major factor in getting players engaged in the league concept and coming back every week.
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Sending Weekly Emails
All GREAT Tournament Directors send out emails every week to their players and announce the
winners, post next week’s specials, and thank all the players for supporting the bar.
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TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
AND TOURNAMENT NOTES
Tournament Structures are based on 3 elements:
STARTING CHIP COUNT
World Tavern Poker Tournaments start
with 10,000 in chips. We recommend
placing the Red, Green & Black chips
in the tray, and handing out the Grey
chips manually. Here is a chart for
Starting Chip Count & Chip Values.
15 100 = 1,500
3 500 = 1,500
2 1,000 = 2,000
1 5,000 = 5,000
21 Chips = 10,000
BLIND STRUCTURE
The World Tavern Poker blind
structure is a great structure
to allow for two tournaments
each night.
SMALL/BIG
Level 1 100/200
Level 2 200/400
Level 3 300/600
BREAK/COLOR UP RED CHIPS
Level 4 500/1,000
Level 5 1,000/2,000
Level 6 2,000/4,000
BREAK/COLOR UP GREEN CHIPS
Level 7 3,000/6,000
Level 8 5,000/10,000
Level 9 10,000/20,000
Level 10 15,000/30,000
BLIND TIMES
Adjusting your blind times will
speed up or slow down your
game. Most importantly
however is to use the same
blind time throughout the
entire tournament. Below is a
guide to blind times based on
number of players.
10-20 Players =
30 minutes per level
20-30 Players =
25 minutes per level
30-50 Players =
20 minutes per level
50+ Players =
17 minutes per level
COLOR UP
After the 300/600 level you will no
longer need red chips in play so you
will be eliminating them. So for every
5 Red Chips a player has, you will give
them 1 Green Chip.
5 1
If a player has extra chips, we use
the round up/round down method.
If a player has 1 or 2 extra chips, you
round down and they lose them.
If a player has 3 or 4 extra chips, you
round up and give them 1 Green Chip.
You also color up Green Chips after
level 6. Each player with 1 Green Chip
will receive 1 Black Chip.
COMBINING TABLES
As players get eliminated throughout the night, you will begin
eliminating tables from play by randomly moving players to empty seats
at other tables.
The rules are: If you move 1 or 2 players to a new table and either is
sitting in a Blind Position, they can wait until the deal passes them to
play. If you move 3 or more players to a new table, you will reset the
dealer position by dealing out the first ace (the same way the tournament
begins).
NO LOITERING POLICY
Many bars have a No Loitering Policy which means that their bathrooms,
televisions, seating and entertainment is for their CUSTOMERS ONLY.
Please check with the bar owner & manager about their No Loitering
Policy and help them to enforce it.
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TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
POINTS AND RANKING SYSTEM
POINT SYSTEM
The World Tavern Poker Point System awards players points based on: A) Where they finish in a tournament,
and B) How many players participated. For example, if you come in 3rd place at a tournament of 45 players,
you will receive more points than coming in 3rd at a tournament of 25 Players.
>10 Plyrs 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 81-90 91-100 101-110 111-120
1st 8,100 9,000 10,000 10,500 11,000 11,550 12,100 12,705 13,310 13,976 14,641 15,373
2nd 7,290 8,100 9,000 9,450 9,900 10,395 10,890 11,435 11,979 12,578 13,176 13,835
3rd 6,480 7,200 8,000 8,400 8,800 9,240 9,680 10,164 10,648 11,180 11,712 12,298
4th 5,670 6,300 7,000 7,350 7,700 8,085 8,470 8,894 9,317 9,783 10,248 10,761
5th 5,265 5,850 6,500 6,825 7,150 7,508 7,865 8,258 8,651 9,084 9,516 9,992
6th 4,860 5,400 6,000 6,300 6,600 6,930 7,260 7,623 7,986 8,385 8,784 9,224
7th 4,455 4,950 5,500 5,775 6,050 6,353 6,655 6,988 7,320 7,686 8,052 8,455
8th 4,050 4,500 5,000 5,250 5,500 5,775 6,050 6,353 6,655 6,988 7,320 7,686
9th 2,835 3,150 3,500 3,675 3,850 4,043 4,235 4,447 4,658 4,891 5,124 5,380
10th 2,633 2,925 3,250 3,413 3,575 3,754 3,932 4,129 4,325 4,542 4,758 4,996
11th -- 2,700 3,000 3,150 3,300 3,465 3,630 3,812 3,993 4,193 4,392 4,612
12th -- 2,475 2,750 2,888 3,025 3,176 3,327 3,494 3,660 3,843 4,026 4,227
13th -- 2,250 2,500 2,625 2,750 2,888 3,025 3,176 3,327 3,494 3,660 3,843
14th -- 2,025 2,250 2,363 2,475 2,599 2,722 2,858 2,994 3,144 3,294 3,459
15th -- 1,800 2,000 2,100 2,200 2,310 2,420 2,541 2,662 2,795 2,928 3,075
16th -- 1,575 1,750 1,838 1,925 2,021 2,117 2,223 2,329 2,446 2,562 2,690
17th -- 1,125 1,250 1,313 1,375 1,444 1,512 1,588 1,663 1,747 1,830 1,922
18th -- 900 1,000 1,050 1,100 1,155 1,210 1,271 1,331 1,398 1,464 1,537
19th -- 675 750 788 825 866 907 953 998 1,048 1,098 1,153
20th -- 450 500 525 550 578 605 635 665 699 732 769
MAIN RANKING SYSTEM
Although you will find that players are
tracked in a variety of ways, the Average
Of Top Scores is used as the main ranking
system. This means that the average of the
player’s top scores are taken at 4
different levels to give them a ranking
Tavern Ranking
Average of the player’s Top 10 Scores at
the Tavern.
Regional Ranking
Average of the player’s Top 15 Scores at
any Tavern in the Region.
State Ranking
Average of the player’s Top 20 Scores at
any Tavern in the State.
National Ranking
Average of the player’s Top 25 Scores at
any Tavern in the Country.
POWER RANKING SYSTEM
There is another set of rankings known as POWER RANKINGS.
This gives players another way to measure their success as well as
qualify for the National Championships.
Cumulative Points
This ranking is kept only at the National Level and takes a total of
ALL the points the player has accumulated during the season.
Number of Wins
This ranking is kept at the National Level and ranks players based
on the number of times they have won a tournament. This is very
important as players are often drawn towards venues with a lower
number of players (helping build that bar’s numbers) in order to
qualify for Nationals.
Big Spender Ranking
For every tournament, you will give 1 point to each of the top two
spenders you had for the evening. This Big Spender National
Ranking recognizes those players who are supporting your bar with
their food & drink purchase. Please be sure that you promote the
Big Spender ranking every week.
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WORLD TAVERN POKER’S 2 -
WEEK
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26
Feb March April May June July August
SEASON1
Every Month
ONLINE
TOC
1 WSOP Seat
Each Month
ALL-STAR
CHAMPIONSHIPS
August/Sept
TAVERN
CHAMPS
Fall - Las Vegas
TOC
Top 3 go to A.C.
REGIONAL $50,000
CHAMPIONSHIPS
IN CASH
Please note that Season Start/End dates may change each year due to holidays and/or other events
Season Format
Weeks 1-12 - Nightly Games
Week 13 - All Star Championship *
Weeks 14-24 - Nightly Games
Week 25 - Tavern Championship
Week 26 - Tournament of Champions*
*gold package bars
All Star
Championship
All players ranked in the bar are
invited to play in the All Star
Championship where the Top 3
players will win each of the
following:
• A seat into the National
Championship Semi Finals
• A seat into the National TOC
Semi Finals
This is a single Deep Stack
tournament with bigger chip stacks
and longer blinds so the game will
last 4+ hours depending on
the turnout
• 15,000 starting chip stack for
each player
• 30 minute blinds
Tavern Championship
All players ranked at your bar are invited to play on Tavern
Championship Night. This should be a big event with bigger prizes,
and food/drink specials to say thank you to your players!
Semi Finals
Players ranked 11 and lower compete in the semi finals with the Top
10% seated moving on. If you have 31 players in the semi-finals, the
Top 4 move on to the finals. (Top 10 ranked cannot play in semi finals)
The Finals
The Top 10 ranked players compete with the Top 10% from the semi
finals. The winner is named Tavern Champion and receives the trophy
along with a seat directly into the National Championship Finals and
other prizes the bar is giving away!
Second Chance Tournament
While the Finals are being played, you will hold the Second Chance
Tournament which is open to everyone (ranked or not) to play for a
free seat into the Regional Championships and any prizes that the
bar provides.
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SEASON LEAGUE STRUCTURE
WEEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26
August Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. February
SEASON2
Every Month
ONLINE
TOC
1 WSOP Seat
Each Month
ALL-STAR
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Feb/March
TAVERN
CHAMPS
Spring - Atlantic City
REGIONAL 24
CHAMPIONSHIPS
WSOP SEATS
TOC
Top 3 go to A.C.
NATIONAL
Tournament of Champions
The TOC is a Championship Event that sends the top 3 players to the
National Tournament of Champions and their shot at 8 WSOP seats
including a $10,000 main event seat to the winner.
How to Qualify
• Come in the Top 3 at any nightly tournament and you qualify with
a standard starting chip stack
• For each additional Top 3, your starting chip stack will increase by
2,000 chips.
For Example
• If a player came in the Top 3, six times throughout the season,
they would receive 20,000 starting chips
• 1st Top 3 = 10,000 + (5) Top 3s x 2,000 = 20,000 total
• Don’t worry, the website will do the math for you the week
before TOC
The Prizes
• TOC Champion – Receives the TOC Coin and a seat into
the National TOC Finals!
• 2nd & 3rd Place – Receive a seat into the National TOC
Semi Finals
Regional
Championships
Regional Championships are held at the
end of each season (in markets of 5+
bars) with the top players from each
bar and in the region competing for
bigger prizes and the shot at moving on
to the National Championship.
How To Qualify
• Top 20 ranking at any bar in
the Region
• Top 30% Regionally ranked
players
• Second chance winner from Tavern
Championship Night
• The Website will generate each
player’s starting stack
The Prizes
• Top 10% win seats directly into the
National Championship Finals
• Other prizes are awarded based on
size of the event including; Hotel
stay at Nationals, Tickets to the
National Events (parties/etc),
Plaques and T-shirts.
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