How to organize a WSOP fantasy league, Gen Z edition
Spring has sprung, and that means that the World Series of Poker is Just around the corner. Fantasy sports is a major part of sports viewing culture, but one rarely sees it talked about as much as people talk about fantasy football or basketball. This is a surprise as fantasy sports pools remind me of home poker tournaments. Everyone puts in some amount of money and is paid respectively to their performance, with about 10-25% of people getting paid for their efforts. However, even in televised poker, I rarely hear people talk about fantasy. However, if you have a home game already going, it can be a fun way to add another layer of competition to poker.
As a preface, fantasy sports, including poker, do not need to be played for money. I would recommend that your first league is played for no buy-in because fantasy sports are not friendly to those without experience, and above all you want this to be a fun event for all involved. However, if you are all comfortable with parting with your money, you should have it handled by someone you all trust, like the host of your home game if you have one going. After the buy-in is agreed upon, then decide what the payout structure will be. Some leagues are winner-take-all, which I don’t recommend, as only one person leaves satisfied. Instead, pay around 20-25% of the people, with the highest prize for first place, and make your way down. This is a structure depending on how many participants there are.
If there are 4 or fewer people: only pay first place.
5-8: pay 1st two-thirds and 2nd one-third of the prize pool.
9-13: pay 1st 50%, 2nd 30% and 3rd 20% of the prize pool
14-19: pay 1st 40%, 2nd 30%, 3rd 20% and 4th 10% of the prize pool
20+: pay 1st 40%, 2nd 25%, 3rd 17%, 4th 12%, and 5th 8% of the prize pool.
Have someone good at math figure out how much everyone is owed based on the prize pool to the nearest dollar, or make one up yourself, and when the league is over, have the host pay everyone from the money they were given at the start.
Next, what are the criteria for winning? The basic rules are that everyone picks a certain amount of players to represent them in the series. For groups of 8 or fewer, you should hold a snake draft, meaning the picks go A, B, C, D, D, C, B, A, and repeat until everyone has selected 6 players in the World Series. For groups of 9 or more, have everyone submit their draft of 6 players individually and have each player represent them. But what does it mean to have a player represent you?
In the WSOP, a player can enter as many events as they like, given they have the money and none of the event schedules conflict with each other. In a fantasy league, a player’s performance in an event will grant points to the person or people who picked them. The following is a list of official rules for the 25K fantasy for the WSOP.
1st: 50
2nd: 45
3rd: 40
4th: 35
5th: 30
6th: 25
7th: 20
8th: 15
9th: 10
10th-18th: 5
Any other cash: 1
“* In order to receive points, a player must cash.
* An additional point per 100 entries is awarded to players who finish in the top 18. No rounding off. An event with 87 players gets no point bonus, a 105 player field gets a 1 point bonus, a 265 player field gets a 2 point bonus, and a 1451 player field would award a 14 point bonus to all players in top 18.
* For every 1000 players 9 more players get the field bonus.
* All Points 0.5x in events with less than a 1k buy-in
* All Points are worth 1.5x in events with a 5k buy-in
* All Points are worth double in events with a 10k buy-in or higher
* The Main Event is worth 3x points.
* Events with a buy-in of less than 1k will have the field size bonus capped at 9 tables (81 players) and the field size bonus is capped at 100 points.
* In a heads up or shootout event, players finishing in the same position would split the points for that spot. For example, 5th through 8th would get 22.5 points (plus field size bonuses) and be rounded up.
* Points will only be awarded in open events, no Tournaments of Champions will count. As of 2022, Tag Team events no longer count.
* Results are final as long as one event runs.
* Only events on the schedule before the draft count.
* If an event is cancelled, any results from that event do not count.
* If an existing event is rescheduled and plays to completion, it will count.
* As of 2023: Ladies, Seniors, and Employee events will count.
* The field bonus is capped at 100 points.”
Have someone make a spreadsheet with all participants and the players they drafted. The scores of the players in the 2024 World Series will be available when the series starts on May 28, and finalized when it ends on July 17. I recommend continuing your home game during the series and putting it on the TV if any events are being livestreamed. But now is the time to start recruiting, because there’s only a month left before the series starts.
