(inb4 ****talking tournaments)

Here's the deal - I've played at just about every daily tournament in Vegas. Some are good, some are fine, some are holy **** bad. So I'm trying to standardize tournaments based on certain factors to come up with a ranking system. So far, I have:

Buy-in + add-on
Rake %
Total chips
Total chips in terms of starting blinds
# of big blinds at first break
# of big blinds at close of registration
What level = 10bb starting stack?
Antes
Cleanliness
Speed of levels
Hand v machine shuffle
Guarantee
Dealers
Floor staff
Chairs

I might trim some of these off at the end, but I'm curious to see what else I've forgotten. And I'd like to hear from people outside of Vegas as well, if there are multiple places that run daily tournaments. One of the things I wanted to add was average number of players, but I think that's too day of the week dependent.

The end product is going to be a podcast where I talk about these daily tournaments around Vegas (one or two per episode), categorizing them by certain criteria, then ranking them. And by the end, I should have a full listing of all the dailies around town.

good bang for the buck and large enough stacks and level times to where it's not a crap shoot.

I care most about the rake percentage and how many hands I will get before I am in push-or-fold mode if I am getting a below-average run of cards. Some of the factors you listed can be consolidated into the latter. I also care about how long the tournament will be if I win.

Some people care about how top-heavy the payout is. Some would prefer paying 10% of the field and some would prefer 20%. One very simple factor you ignored, which might be the #1 criteria but is so obvious, is start time. Would you want a tournament where everything else is perfect but it starts at 8am or one which isn't perfect but happens to start just after you might finish an early dinner? Freeze-out vs re-entry, limited or unlimited, matters to some people, but one isn't inherently better.

How come you didn't start with the most important one; how bad the players are. I couldn't care about anything (within reason) when people play terribly nor would I play the best structure in the world if the 2kNL pool on stars joins in.

I think the approximate number of players matter, as a way of determining my Vegas-visitor criteria: How Long until the Final Table?

As a non-resident, usual visitor who has a wife in tow, I need to floorplan my days probably moreso that a pro, resident, etc. Dinner reservations, show tickets, meeting others are all a bigger priority as a visitor/vacationer.

I have relied on the old "Poker Tournament Formula" by Snyder to thumbnail an overall length of tournament. BY now, I know which ones I can play given how long they last. Aria daily- 8 hours to final table. Venetian daily- 7 hours to final table. Mirage Friday bounty- 4/5 hours to final table. (all my estimates, but with input from room staff)

Good point. I think looking at starting stack size vs. opening blinds, starting stack at end of registration, and what level means the starting stack was 10bb would cover all that, but maybe I should add an "aggregate time before it becomes a ****show".

Yeah rake is a huge factor, especially with such a massive disparity between some rooms (10%-ish at Wynn and South Point; 33% at Green Valley Ranch and others).

I'll definitely be reporting on start times (and I can throw in average length), but I don't know that I could use it as a "this start time is better than this time" factor. I might split them up into like "early, mid-day, late night" categories, then judge based on those factors. Something I need to think about.

I don't disagree that it's important, but a lot of dailies have such a rotating cast of characters it's hard to really gauge the average of how bad the players are if I only fire at the thing once. I can probably get a general idea, but it's not always going to be accurate.

TVs and T&A. Damn, missed both of those. Thanks.

Approximate time is a good point. Fortunately these things are designed to be over by a specific time (typically). I know the TI 10pm is over by 2am, 2:30 at the latest. I'll include that as well. Thanks!

How many runners they get. 10 or 20 runners and there's a good chance that even third place won't get paid. A lot of the small room tournaments don't even typically get 20.

I played in a tourney down at Binion's about 5-6 years ago, must have been during WSOP season, because they were short experienced dealers. So they pulled this girl from the table games pit, she was absolutely gorgeous(natural not fake)! Had the party pit outfit on, so her cleavage was SUPER distracting. I think she was from a South American country, because she had a fantastic accent. Needless to say, I couldn't concentrate at all when she was at my table...probably threw away some premium hands...

Grunch from title alone:

If I play a daily (which I rarely do, because they are generally over-raked crap-shoots) I am looking primarily for decent stacks (starting stack must be more than 100bb for the first level, and should be at least 80 for the second), long levels (half hour minimum), non-geometric blind increases (if they double every time, I'm not very interested), and reasonable rake (even for small tournies, I won't pay more than 20% vig).