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Messages - no_hoper

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1
Suggestions / Re: Streamline the buy-in process
« on: February 01, 2012, 06:12:49 PM »
So here's what I propose: the current dialogs stay as they are, with the exception that I'll be adding the profile selections.  Then I'll add a new dialog, yet to be named but we'll call it "Mass Buy-in" dialog for now.  I'm thinking this will have two sections: one lists the "Available" players (as the "Add Players" dialog does today), and the second section lists the players whom you have "Bought-in", along with their buy-in profile.  A "New Player" button would open the "New Player" dialog (leaving the "Mass Buy-in" dialog open underneath).  The "New Player" dialog would have the addition of the buy-in panel, so the player could be added and bought-in simultaneously.  Once the "OK" button is pressed on the "New Player" dialog, the player is added to the "Available" section in the "Mass Buy-in" dialog, or to the "Bought-in" section, if they were bought-in on the "New Player" dialog.  Players can be removed from the "Bought-in" section at any time.

I think this is an excellent approach.  The current Add Player/Buyin dialogs for the stragglers you need to add during the game and a new panel for pre-game registration.  That would eliminate a ton of repetitious key strokes and mouse clicks.
Having buy-in details on the New Player dialog is possibly redundant (and less code to maintain for you) but it's 50/50 i.e. as long as when you return from the New Player dialog back to the mass buy-in (Registration?) dialog, the new player is visible and selected in the 'Available' section.  Like I said, it's a toss up.  If you make the New Player dialog a modal action from the current Add Player/Buy-in dialogs and have the new player thrown into the list on return then you don't need buyin details on the New Player dialog for that either.


The "Mass Buy-in" dialog will have buttons "OK" (or maybe it should be "Commit"), "Clear" (or "Reset") and "Close".  Notice no "Cancel" button.  The idea being if one wants to start over, they press "Clear", and after confirmation, all players are removed from the "Bought-in" section.  But pressing "Close" only closes the dialog.  By pressing the button to open the "Mass Buy-in" dialog again, all settings remain.  The buy-ins don't actually occur until the dialog is "committed" ("OK" is pressed).  So, if I open the "Mass Buy-in" dialog and buy-in 12 players, they're not really bought-in yet, they're just "ready to buy-in".  If I then press "Close", then open the "Mass Buy-in" dialog again, the same 12 players will be in the "Bought-in" section.

Perfect.

I'm not sure whether or not I would want to add the "Add-on" or "Rebuy" parts.  I'll have to consider it.  I feel like these could really be covered with different buy-in profiles.  But I know people play their own way, and even if they can buy a player in for twice the cost and receive twice the chips, they'd rather have the player buy-in for normal cost and also rebuy before the tournament starts.

You're right.  Buyin profiles would work just as well though I can see I'll end up having to create a lot of them (I host a lot different game formats)...c'est la vie.

With regards to rebuys, addons, bonuses etc. I always like to have an accurate display of the total prize pool, number of buy-ins, rebuys and addons on my screens.  Aside from the fact that raked home games are illegal here in our county, the players can see exactly what goes into the pot and that we're not skimming anything off the top.  I've been to many games  (in card rooms and home games)  and I always do the math (so I know my players do too) and feel cheated when I see the house over-raking the pot.  Besides, I got tired of being asked "How many rebuys were there?", 30 times a day when I didn't display everything.  My point being, keeping buyins separate from rebuys, addons, bounties, etc provides visibility and transparency. I don't really care how the numbers get there as long as they are accurate.  If a rebuy is $60 for 3,000 in chips then I don't mind entering $120 for 6,000 as long as the system knows I just did 2 rebuys and recognizes if I make a mistake (eg. $120 for 4,000). 


...So I guess we'll be seeing all this in v3.1.2, sometime next week?
(just kidding...  ::))

2
Suggestions / Re: Streamline the buy-in process
« on: February 01, 2012, 03:18:30 AM »
PS: Corey....don't get me wrong, you still have the best tournament manager out there.  Bar none.  $39.99?  Heck, I'd pay $199.99 and think I'd gotten a bargain.

3
Suggestions / Re: Streamline the buy-in process
« on: February 01, 2012, 03:08:50 AM »
The "Add Players to Tournament" dialog has a "New Player" button which switches to the New Player dialog.  I think what I will end up doing is adding a panel to each of the "New Player", "Add Players to Tournament", and "Buyin Players" dialogs with buttons for each of those 3 dialogs, allowing one to switch instantly from any one of those dialogs to any other of those dialogs.

Rather than switching from one dialog to another and losing the context of whatever data you have entered, wouldn't it be smoother to open the other dialog as a nested transaction or sub-task?  

Let me demonstrate by way of a workflow example:

In a typical scenario in our games - It's a rebuy tourney so players can single-buy or double-buy (buy-in + rebuy).  In addition, we're giving players who arrive 30 mins before start time a chip bonus of 1K, players who arrive within 30 mins of start time get the standard start stack while players who arrive after posted start time get penalized 1K...Our morning satellite has run overtime, the main event starts at noon and it's 11:45 already.  I have 30 - 40 (impatient) players in line waiting to buyin. The first guy hands over his money, so I open up the Add Player dialog...
  • I know the first few guys all showed up early so I set the initial chip count to +1K
  • Player 1 buys in for a double buy.  I put a check next to his name on the list and note down his name (so I can register all the rebuys later before the tourney actually starts).  Note: I leave the dialog open.
  • Players 2 - 5 go through the same proccess
  • Player 6 is a new Player. Now I have to click OK on the Add Player dialog to save the work I've already done.  Click on New Player which opens the New Player dialog, enter the new players details and click OK to save the details.  This adds them to the tournament but now I have to find them in the player list, right-click on their name and select the buy-in player menu action, re-select the player in the list, re-enter the buy-in details and click OK.
  • Back to the Add Player dialog again
  • Player 7 showed up at 11:40 so he doesn't get the bonus, so no need to mod the Add Player dialog since the initial chips are good to go.
  • Player 8 was early so now I have to close the Add Player dialog, re-open it and tweak the details again
  • ...and so on.  I'm sure you get the idea.

To cut to the chase, I think simply going from one dialog to another does not really solve the functional problem.  I think the idea you presented regarding buy-in profiles offers promise.  What if you combine that with a bulk entry style interface for player buy-ins where each selected player can have their own buy-in options.  Let me try to demonstrate using a table....
Sel.PlayerBuyin ProfileRebuy ProfileAddon Profile
XBobStandard Buy-inNo RebuyNo Addon
_Fred---
XMargeStd BuyinStd RebuyNo Addon
XYuloff W.Late BuyinStd RebuyStd Addon
[New Player]
[OK][Cancel]

(Note: Fred is not selected and thus not included in this tourney.....yet)
...where...
[New Player] is a button that opens a new modal dialog, allowing you to add a new player.  When you click OK on the new player dialog, the dialog closes and the newly added player now appears in the player list of the Add Players dialog.

Std Buyin might define a buyin profile where....
Amount = (formula) buyinCost
Starting Stack = (formula) chipsReceived
Points = (formula) pointsForBuyin

Early Buyin might define a buyin profile where....
Amount = (formula) buyinCost
Starting Stack = (formula) chipsReceived + 1000
Points = (formula) pointsForBuyin + 0.5
 
and so on.

Sorry if this is not making sense, it's late and I'm trying to finish work commitments while I'm writing this.....

4
Suggestions / Streamline the buy-in process
« on: January 30, 2012, 05:51:41 PM »
Haven't v3 yet so I'm not sure if any of this has been addressed yet...apologies if I'm repeating.

  • Add a 'New Player' button to the buy-in dialog.  That way I can add a new player on the fly without having to quit the buy-in screen.  It slows down the process when I have to quit the buy-in dialog to add a new player, then right-click on their name in the player list and buy them in, re-enter the initial chips received etc. Then re-open the buy-in dialog
  • Allow selection of re-buys/addons in the buy-in screen.  For re-buy tourneys where players can do a re-buy upfront I either have to use a custom amount/initial chips (which messes up the Buy-in/Re-buy/Add-on counts) or write down when someone double buys upfront and then enter them en-masse before I can start the tournament.
  • This one is a bit of a stretch - we offer players bonus chips if they show up 30 mins before the posted start time and penalize players if they show up after the posted start time (it's amazing how well this gets us started on time now!).  It would be awesome if we could get an option on the buy-in screen to reflect this.   Yes - I realize you can customize the initial chips received but this is cumbersome since I will often have the late players mixed in line with guys who were on time (or those who showed up within 30 mins of game time - they get a standard stack)

Thanks in advance.

5
Suggestions / Buy-in/Addon using magstripe card reader
« on: June 04, 2010, 05:10:53 PM »
I'm looking at issuing my players with league ID cards that have a magstripe.  Using a magstripe reader/writer attached to my computer, it would great if the TD software was able to initiate a player buy-in or add-on/rebuy and then read the player ID from swiping the ID card.

I've been thinking how to do this using the current release as a workaround in the meantime.  What I'm thinking is to setup the game before hand and then save it.  I will have a seperate interface application that I run during player sign-up that will read a card swipe and then modify the TD game file directly.  That will solve the buy-in problem but I doubt it will be possible to easily solve the buy-in/add-on.  I'm guessing that will have to be done the manual way.


6
General Discussion / Re: Rebuy's
« on: February 06, 2007, 01:05:03 PM »

If you're playing a doubles tournament (which we do every now and then) you might want to think about running the first 4 or 6 levels as a limit game.  This gives both partners a chance to play some poker without the risk of getting knocked out (unless of course both play too fast and loose).  Then switch to no-limit for the remaining rounds.


Kind of a goofy set up, but it is a couples tourney and I don't want somebody to have to go home after 15 minutes (and/or have to wait for their significant other to bust out).  It is T2000 buy-in.  We allow 1 rebuy (if busted) OR 1 add-on (if <T1000 chips).  Rebuy or add-on has to occur by finish of 4th round.

So, we have one rebuy - but it is a reduced rebuy for a reduced amount of chips -  T1500 for rebuy for 75% of the buy in cost.  This kinda-helps people being reckless because they won't be back to full stack.

Then, if you haven't busted out and have <T1000 you can add-on (if you didn't do a rebuy), but the add-on is only T1000 and is for 50% of buy-in price.  In effect, I try to allow all people to have near buy-in stack towards the end of 4th round. 

Doesn't always work well, sometimes people end up with a bit over T1000 near end of 4th round and get kind of reckless trying to either win a pot or fall less than T1000.

I am kind of preferring not to allow anyone to add-on who hasn't done a rebuy, because then everybody would and it would just prolong the tourney. 

It is kind of a friendly game, so I am trying to keep people in for about 1.5 hours, then finish up by about 2.5 - 3 hours so that spouses can go home together.

Still trying to refine this.

7
Suggestions / Multiple Prize Pools to support multi-level buy-ins
« on: February 06, 2007, 11:52:10 AM »
This is a request that I mentioned in the Help Me section here: http://thetournamentdirector.net/forums/index.php?topic=600.0.

I run a tournament where we allow different levels of buy-in and players get paid out relative to how much they paid in.  It would be nice if TTD could support multiple prize pools.  Let me demonstrate using a simple example...

Level 1 Buy-in = $60 (minimum buy-in)
Level 2 Buy-in = $40 (making $100 total buy-in)

Let's say I have 20 players - 10 buy-in at level 1 and 10 buy-in at level 2.  I now have two seperate pools...
20 x $60 = $1200 (Everyone pays the minimum)
10 x $40 = $400

Level 1 pool pays out 4 places from the $1200 pool
Level 2 pool pays out 3 places from the $400 pool

This, in effect, is allowing multiple prize pools which is probably a big change the current architecture but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway....

PS: At the moment I'm only ever using two levels but I'm getting requests from players to add more levels.  I would imagine I'd probably never have more than 4 levels but who knows.

C. 

8
Help Me / Re: Multi-Tiered Buy-ins
« on: January 31, 2007, 08:30:44 PM »
Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think that's gonna do it.  Using points is no good because we also track points throughout the season.  Once you use an add-on, the total prize pool is updated as well so it will also throw out my cash accounting.  I was hoping that there was some way to do this using the current cash/buy-in fields but after playing with the program today I just can't see any way to make it work without having to manually adjust the payouts once the tourney is over.

One thing I notice is that the players screen allows you to enter different buy-in amounts but the prize payout calculation does not calculate the prizes relative to how much you put into the pot.  If only it did my problem would probably be solved....

9
Help Me / Multi-Tiered Buy-ins
« on: January 31, 2007, 12:55:35 AM »
Hey All, hope someone can help me out here and tell me if this can be done before I go asking for enhancements...

I run a tournament where we use a multi-tiered pool structure.  Here's how it works; the standard, minimum buy-in is say $60 but players can buy-in for an additional amount, let's say another $40.  For example, say I have 20 players.  Each player pays their $60 for the tourney.  Of these 20 people, let's assume 10 of them also pay the additional $40.  We now have two pools - one at $1200 (20 x $60) and another at $400 (10 x $40).  I now want to be able to award the first pool to the top 4 finishers and the second pool to the top 3 finishers from those who paid the extra 40. Kind of like two seperate games rolled into 1.  Problem is, it appears there's no way to do this automatically.  At the moment I have to record the minimum buy-in using the standard fields, track the extra buy in using a spreadsheet and announce the second pool prizes after the game begins.  Once the game is over I have no record within TTM of who paid the additional buy-in.   

Note: The reason I do this is to cater to both the minimum amount players and the higher rollers in one game.  Since I started doing this I have some players asking if I can add another tier.  This gets me to thinking it should be possible to add any number of tiers if only the software could handle mutliple by-in levels. I'm hesitant to add another tier right now because of the complexity of calculating the additional prize pool and tracking who finished where and how much they should get by hand.  The players, by the way, love the arrangement and I for one have not noticed any difference in the way anyone plays no matter what amount they bought in for. 

Any ideas...?


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