This is what I sent out to my players. The structure is based on what I learned from last year's league. It's not going to deviate much from this, so no suggestions on overhaul, but little fine-tuning ideas are welcome. This is more an FYI for those looking for something similar.

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WSOP 2009 League!

Last year was a raging success, but there were problems:

* too expensive to play
* too much of the tourney prize pool went to the league
* not enough places paid out every tourney
* tables too short too quickly (didn't help train for real event)
* no reason for non-contenders to keep playing near the end
* those who won entry didn't bring home any money

These problems are solved!

* cheaper buyin!
* lower percentage to league!
* more payouts!
* one rebuy each to help keep tables full!
* END OF LEAGUE FREEROLL FOR A WSOP SEAT!
* that's why we're training again, like duh obviously

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THE CONCEPT

Over the course of the next year, we play 15 tournaments. You may play as many or as few of these as you like. ~25% of the buyin is reserved for the League Fund, the rest is paid out each tournament. Players receive points in each tournament, and use the points from their best 10 for their Total Score. The top finishers receive seats in $1500 WSOP events.

At the end of the league we run a freeroll open to anybody who has played in any of the league games. Starting chip stacks are based on how many tournaments in which one has participated (on a geometric scale).

Anybody who has played in any tournament has a share of the winnings should one of us cash in the WSOP.

Last year we gave away four seats. I hope to do six this year, giving two away in the freeroll.

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THE STRUCTURE

As we're training for the $1500 NLHE event, we're using that structure, except with 40-minute rounds instead of 60.

Initial buyin is $60. $15 of this goes to the League Fund.

Each player is allowed one rebuy for $40. $15 of this goes to the League Fund.

30% of the field is paid. For a sense of what this means, if we have 16 players, 10 of whom rebuy, first prize is over $300 with 5th at around $120. If we have 25 players & 16 rebuys, first is $500 with 8th around $150. This makes each tournament worthwhile on its own, even if you have no interest in the league.

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THE SCHEDULE

These will be monthly on Thursdays. Cash games will run concurrent and afterwards until the usual times. No set schedule yet, but I'll give a few months lead. As we come closer to next summer, we'll do them more frequently, perhaps even every week next May.

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THE SHARES

Same as last year. If 'x' is the number of tournaments played, your share is [ x * ( 1 + x/10 ) ].

1 is worth 1.1. 5 is worth 7.5. 10 is worth 20. 15 is worth 37.5.

The players who win seats will keep 65% of their winnings, with 35% spread over the league based on participation and shares. Obviously we can't know what this will be until it's done, but if we have two tables every time, those who play all 15 stand to win $20k or more, while those playing in only five could still find themselves $3k richer if one of us cashes big.

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THE FREEROLL

This will be a big all-day affair with hour-long rounds. No charge for the game, but the standard cookout/booze deal. The number of seats given away depends on how much loot we raise, but it would be great if we gave away 4 seats for points and 2 in the freeroll.

The formula for chipstack hasn't been worked out yet, but it will be similar to that for the shares, but rewarding frequent participation even more heavily. It's based on participation, NOT performance. This more than anything will be the incentive to keep playing every month.

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THOUGHTS?

This is what I've developed after having conversations with y'all for the past few months. It's not for sure in stone yet, but I'd like to get it there soon. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions, now's the time. I'd especially like to hear from those who participated last year to find out what you did and didn't like. And from new people, what would entice you to play in this?

Last year's league had 12+ people for most of the tourneys. With the improved structure and payouts, I hope to have two full tables each time, if not three. I view this as a merging between the old rebuy tourneys and last year's WSOP league, hopefully retaining the best elements of each.

First game is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, August 28.

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Note for 2+2: I am NOT accepting new players right now. This is a league for our established crew. Sorry, you're too good for us.

But maybe if you sent a better player to the WSOP, they might cash.

It's a great concept and we do a carry-over league that used to be for a WSOP seat.

However, I think people are kidding themselves if they think these things are 'training' for WSOP event. There's no way an event with a couple of tables that takes a few hours, even w/ a final game w/ 1 hr blinds, can train you for the WSOP marathons.

Unfortunately, I cannot fit 2500 of my closest friends in my garage, so I'll have to make do with what I have.

Considering that we ran a version of this last year, and considering I played in the WSOP, I can say with absolute certainty that playing eleven warm-up games for sure helped me train for the event. Not every aspect of course, but a lot of it. Building off of that, I've made adjustments for next year to help even more.

Study sessions don't have to be the exact format of the final, do they?

I know it's tl;dr, but if anybody cares about chatting up such things, I'm curious what you feel about policy for rebuys or alternates. How many rounds do you figure to allow? 3? If it's an alternate taking a vacated seat, do I do a chip penalty? If I do that, do I also do it for the one rebuy?

And some more! (I'm a little stoked because I put up the evite this morning and we're already half-way full on the first tourney.)

I'm thinking for the final freeroll to do a shootout and seed the players. As many tables as it takes. Those who almost had enough points to win outright get separated, and the rest of the stacks are distributed so that each table has the same number of chips. Each play down, and we do the final table the following week during the regular cash game.

Advantage is that the guys who showed the most skill get a chance to be king of the hill, and the idea here is to send a good player, right? We all get a share of WSOP cashes. Why run the risk of random draw putting them all on the same table or creating unbalanced chip situations?

Also, since most of the attendees are already gone by the time the final table is finished, this way the last WSOP winner gets to win his/her seat in a room with a bunch of cash games going on, lots of people happy and excited, a larger shared experience. Y'know, for the team.

Is it next summer yet?