Project Mayhem - Season 12

Fight Club was the beginning, now it's moved out of the basement, it's called Project Mayhem."

— Tyler Durden

Project Mayhem is the name we use for our completely voluntary league. PM has existed since Season 5, and is linked to our Saturday evening tournaments (which we call our Regular Season). The net effect of Project Mayhem is to have a big Final Tournament after the season is over and to crown a champion.

As of Season 9 we raised the buy-in price per event to $5 (doubled on the nights when we only run one tournament).

Summary

The gist of Project Mayhem is that participating folks pay an extra $5 per tournament into the prize pool. How many Saturday night tournaments you enter (and to a much lesser-degree, how well you do during those tournaments) will dictate your starting chip stack at the final table. At the end of the season, all the PM participants set up a time and date for the Final Tournament (the "PMFT"), and we all play for the big money.

Goals

We have a few motives in setting up Project Mayhem. First up, we think having a big prize-pool tournament with deep stacks and a longer structure is a lot of fun. Secondly, we are motivated to have a more consistent set of participants showing up for our weekend games (recruiting is probably right up there with cleaning up the next day as being the least-fun aspect of hosting poker night) and PM is set up to reward folks for showing up more regularly.

Participation

There is room at the Final Tournament for up to twenty players, so we can only accept that many Project Mayhem members. The first twenty folks to physically buy into a Season 12 tournament will be entered into Project Mayhem. Project Mayhem events are part of our Saturday night Regular Season tournaments.

PM-eligible tournaments happen on our Episodic (regular season) Saturday nights. Members of Project Mayhem have the option to play as PM-eligible for our regular Saturday night tournaments (1 tournament in the case of a Standard Tournament weekend, or any of the 2 tournaments when we have a Quick Tournament and a Main Event). To be PM-eligible you have to pay the $5 fee (for the two-tournament nights) or $10 (Standard Tournament nights) at the time you're playing and all that money goes into a separate envelope. Playing eligible in a tournament earns you two types of points: 1) you get one Attendance Point (which ultimately gets used to determine your starting chips in the final tournament, see below for more details), and 2) you earn Project Mayhem Points (a.k.a. "PiMPs") based on how well you perform in the tournament. PiMPs also get you some starting chips, and they also have one other specific use for the final table which will be explained below.

If you've already established yourself as a member of PM you can decide to not buy-in to a tournament as PM-eligible. If that's the case, then it's just like you didn't show up for that particular tournament: you don't get an Attendance Point, nor would you earn any PiMPs.

For our Standard Tournament nights a Project Mayhem entry costs $10 and all associated Attendance and Project Mayhem points are doubled for that tournament. If it's a Standard Tournament night and you only need one more entry to get capped for your starting stack at the PMFT you can buy in for $5 and earn standard PM points.

If you're not a member of Project Mayhem, you can attempt a direct buy-in to the PMFT assuming any seats are remaining (which as of Season 12, there aren't — though as of 19 March 2019 we do have a player looking to sell his seat). Details are below.

Players for Season Twelve

1. Shannon

2. Neal

3. Dan S

4. Rich

5. Barb

6. Tom

7. Bronc

8. Michael

9. Andy

10. Shawn

11. John (looking for a buyer for this seat!)

12. Rachael

13. Tory

14. Kim

15. Doug G

16. Brad

17. Dave — Seat going to Michael G

18. Rich I

19. Charlie H

20. Nancy

Points

As indicated above, you need to buy into a PM-eligible tournament to earn Attendance Points and PiMPs. Money up front, 100% of the time. If you pay to enter a tournament after-the-fact (as in, that same evening), you will only earn attendance points for that tournament, no PiMPs.

Attendance Points and Starting Stacks

Attendance Points are earned for each eligible tournament you enter. Each tournament is worth T2000 chips to your starting stack at the final table. Additionally, if you hit certain attendance thresholds, you get T2000 additional bonus chips (occurring at the 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15-tournament thresholds).

Before the Final Tournament starts, folks will have the option to buy additional starting chips at the cost of T2000 chips per $5 spent. The maximum starting stack, however, is capped at T50,000 chips. Obviously this money all goes straight into the prize pool.

APs are doubled on the evenings we only play a Standard Tournament, and PM entries cost $10.

PiMPs

Things which earn you PiMPS:

1 PiMP.... Enter a tournament

1 PiMP.... Per player that finishes worse than you in a tournament (they do not have to be Project Mayhem-eligible players, players who chop prizes all finish one spot ahead of the last person not included in the chop)

1 PiMP.... Per knockout you put on a fellow tournament player (not affected if they rebuy: does not have to be a permanent KO; note that for the Add-on Extravaganza, making someone use a rebuy token does not qualify as a knockout)

1 PiMP.... For finishing in the money (based on prize allotment on Structure page, alternative pay-outs such as Bounty money do not affect this PiMP)

2 PiMPs.... For finishing in first place [Change new to Season VIII — was 1 PiMP in the previous seasons]

All PiMPs are doubled on the evenings we only play the Standard Tournament (with $10 PM entries).

Note that we will issue partial PiMPs in the case of folks chopping a tournament before it would be considered in-the-money (say 4 people chop a tournament which has 3 pay-outs: each PM participant who is part of the chop would earn 3/4ths of a PiMP), and also for the two winner PiMPs as well.

PiMPs are good for two things. First, for every 15 full PiMPs earned (no rounding: 29 PiMPs is just as good as 15), you get another T2000 to your starting stack, so even if you don't make all 20 tournaments, if you can make it to 14 or 16, chances are pretty good you'll start with the max starting stack. Second, seating at the final table tournament will be based on the order of PiMPs. Whomever finishes with the highest number of PiMPs will have their first option of seats at the table, with the option to defer if they so choose. Each time someone selects a seat at the table, we will scroll back up to the top of the PiMP list and allow the top remaining person their option of seats. Once you've picked a seat, there's no changing your mind.

Past Champions

Tiebreaks among PiMPs first go to the person with the fewest total tournament entries (if someone gets 47 PiMPs in six tournaments, then they beat out someone who got 47 PiMPs in eight tournaments). The next tiebreak would be to add 1 extra PiMP per category starting at the bottom of the above list (so starting with the number of first place finishes) to see if that makes a difference. If there's still a tie after that, then we'll high-card to break the tie.

I won't be calculating PiMPs for everyone on the fly (between tournaments), but will update a spreadsheet and post it here between Saturdays.

One way to think about the Project Mayhem Final Tournament starting chips is in terms of "bundles." Each bundle is T2000 chips. Every time you buy into a tournament you get one bundle of chips. For certain thresholds you get a bonus bundle. And for every 15 PiMPs you've earned you get a bundle. For a max stack at the final tournament, you should be trying to earn 25 bundles.

Final Tournament (PMFT)

Structure

The PMFT is run using our Standard Tournament structure with these modifications:

1. longer levels,

2. bigger initial stacks,

3. no add-ons, and

4. one rebuy available through the first 16 levels.

We've settled on 15 minute levels in the general case, but depending on the number of participants (and the number of chips in play) this number may be adjusted with a target of having the PMFT run for about six hours (give or take).

Folks will have up to 50,000 chips in their starting stack. The details for PM participants are listed above in Points. For non-PM participants who would like to direct buy-in, the cost is $5 will get you 2000 starting chips, up to $125 which would get you a capped stack of 50,000 starting chips. This is the same rate that non-capped PM members can add chips to their starting stack.

Rebuys can be made for any amount of chips up to that person's starting stack. The cost for a rebuy is $3 for every 1000 chips.

Percent Starting Stack by AP vs PiMPs

Here's the breakdown of the total percent of starting chips which come from just showing up vs. performance by season. Note that our ratios were set up a bit differently in Season 5 (by design). Seasons 6, 7, and 8 were all just scaled versions of each other, so should be directly comparable.

Season 5: 87.8%

Season 6: 83.7%

Season 7: 82.6%

Season 8: 80.1%

The PMFT is the only tournament run on that date. Generally we try to schedule the Regular Season events such that the PMFT happens in the Spring before the end of the school year. We will negotiate a date that works for PM participants well in advance of the end of the Regular Season (generally sometime around Episode 8 or 9), though as hosts we have to reserve the right to modify (or even cancel in extreme circumstances) this event. If you cannot make the PMFT, you will not have your contributions refunded.

It's never too early to begin negotiating for a Final Table date. If Neal and Shannon aren't doing a good job with kicking off that conversation, please initiate it yourself.

Seating

PMFT seats are awarded based on the number of PiMPs you have earned. A ranked list of participants in the PMFT will be created based on PiMPs, then based on direct buy-in amounts (tie-break for those will be based on when you email me that you would like to participate). Seat selection will be in rounds starting at the top of the list. Someone can defer each round to someone lower on the list and if the list makes it all the way to the bottom, the last person is forced to make a selection. After each round, the next selection begins with the remaining person at the top of the list.

Potential Schedule (Season XII & PMFT)

Events subject to change on the whims of the organizers.

August 25, 2018: WSOP Final Table (not affiliated with Project Mayhem)

September 8, 2018 S12Ep1: Standard Tournament

September 29, 2018: S12Ep2: Preliminary, WSOP Final Table Tournament

October 20, 2018 S12Ep3: Standard Tournament

November 17, 2018 S12Ep4: Quick (Short Deck Hold'Em), Progressive Knockout Tournament

December 15, 2018 S12Ep5: Standard Tournament

January 19, 2019 S12Ep6: Quick (Crazy Pineapple), Add-on Extravaganza

February 16, 2019 S12Ep7: Standard Tournament

March 2, 2019 S12Ep8: Quick (Longmont Hi-only), Ante-only Tournament

March 23, 2019 S12Ep9: Standard Tournament

April 20, 2019 S12Ep10: Quick (Omaha), Cheap Rebuy Tournament

May 11, 2019: S12 Project Mayhem Final Tournament

Results

Summary

At the end of Season 12 we finished with 20 entries, and a prize pool of $1310 (Season 11 finished with $925 as prize money).

PiMPs

Rebuy Example

Let's say you attended 8 tournaments (8 APs, which cost you $5 each, so you're in for $40) and earned between 60 and 74 PiMPs in that time. This would get you 16,000 + 8000 = 24,000 starting chips. Say you wanted to bolster your starting stack with an additional 8000 chips (which costs you $5 for each 2000, so an additional $20). Your original stack is then 32,000 chips.

If things go sour for you and you bust out, you would have the option to rebuy up to 32,000 chips. You could buy in for less if you so chose, but you only get the one rebuy (and it has to be prior to the end of the 16th level). The rate for rebuy chips is $3 gets you 1000 chips.

So your first 32,000 chips cost you $40 + $20 = $60. If you wanted to rebuy up to that same amount that would cost you $96.

Finished Rank is calculated from the sum total of the number of folks you've finished ahead of.

KOs is calculated from the sum total of knockouts you've performed.

Avg/Tot is the average per entry for that column (if centered), or total amount (if shifted to the right).

Final Table Chips

Here's where we stand after our ten Saturdays of pokering. A very impressive group of 17 folks have accumulated full starting stacks, and three additional slots have a bit of topping up to do if they are interested in starting with a full 50,000 chips.

By Tournaments

S12Ep01 - Standard Tournament (9/8/2018)

If you like action, you'd have loved the Season 12 kick-off event at our new home in Firestone. There were an amazing 30 rebuys (and 6 add-ons)! Congratulations to John and Tom for outlasting at least 15 people, and Rachael and Shawn who were my fellow 3-way chop partners. Also a shout-out to Mike H, a new guest to our game. Note that Dave bought into Project Mayhem after the tournament, which means he earns attendance points but nothing additional towards his PiMP totals.

S12Ep02 - WSOP Preliminary Tournament (9/29/2018)

For the first time I can recall, we had 16 attendees and 16 members of Project Mayhem. We picked up Rich I, bringing our total number of PM members to 18. Dave beat out Rachael in the heads-up battle for who would start the Final Tournament with the most chips (and, as it turns out this year, sit out of position the majority of the time). Shannon and Rich held on for the final two positions with token stacks of less than 200 chips.

S12Ep02 - WSOP Final Tournament (9/29/2018)

Everyone from Tom on down on the list had paid to enter both tournaments this week, but failed to make it to the FT. Rich made the FT, but failed to earn any additional PiMPs. Rachael continued her great run and took first place, beating Bronc in a lengthy heads-up battle. Dave did some work in the final tournament, knocking out half his competitors and taking down third place, while Shawn continued his winning ways with a nice fourth-place finish. Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone for a fun evening of cards.

S12Ep03 - Standard Tournament (10/20/2018)

We've filled Project Mayhem with 20 players, with Charlie H and Nancy taking our last two spots. And what an introduction to PM for Nancy, with 13 knockouts and a topsy-turvy heads-up battle with Rich that saw her take down the top prize. Congrats also to Shawn (our Project Mayhem PiMPs leader) and Brad for their cashes, and laments to Shannon for her bubble (it took 70 minutes for us to go from 5-handed to 4-handed).

S12Ep04 - Quick Tournament: Short Deck Hold'Em (11/17/2018)

We welcomed back two players new to our new home (great playing with you again, Ken and Holly) and a new player entirely in Heather (also great playing with you). The quick Short Deck tournament saw a five-way forced chop among Rich I, Shawn, Neal, Barb, and Ken. Overall I think the most negative comment I heard about short deck was "meh, not that different than Hold'Em" and the positive thoughts were basically that folks could play more hands and take a few more chances. My impression was that this is a fine game for our Quick Tournament, but it doesn't quite have enough body to it to dedicate a full-blown deep structure to it. It was fun, I'd play it again, but I wouldn't design an evening around it.

S12Ep04 - Progressive Knockout Tournament (11/17/2018)

At the end there was a three-way chop of the prize pool for first place—congrats to Rich I, Holly, and Shannon. Finishing in the other two money positions were Rachael and Barb. The three-way chop was interesting because the Progressive KO tournament has a smaller actual prize pool, but a much larger progressive bounty for each player at the end, and chop participants negotiated to keep their bounty money as their own. As Shannon pointed out on her always fantastic Facebook Felt Club post, there were two partner pairings for top spots in the first two tournaments (with the wives winning the bigger second tournament, and the husbands winning the smaller quick tournament). With our having a reserve player participating in both tournaments and the Progressive KO tournament taking a bit longer for me to dole out winnings with each knockout, the final tournament ended at 2:02 am, which is a bit later than most of us want. Next time we do the Progressive KO tournament, I think we'll experiment with using a running clock (no actual clock pauses for bust-outs, but tables will be governed so that folks don't get hosed for being at Neal's table). I think that would get us closer to the much more manageable 12:30/1am threshold.

Finally, if you weren't around at the end of the night you probably missed out on the most entertaining competition of the evening as our top two Project Mayhem performers, Shawn and Rachael, heaped smack talk on each other with extreme gusto. After Episode 3, Shawn held a 22 PiMP lead in the standings over Rachael, and after Episode 4 he's still on the top of the chart but Rachael has brought the overall lead down to 16 points. Keep an eye on these two as the season progresses.

S12Ep05 - Standard Tournament (12/15/2018)

Ho Ho Ho, what a evening of cards. First up congratulations to Brad, Rachael, and Rich K for their money finishes (and a shout-out to our Birthday Bubble Boy {sorry about that}, Rich I!). Shannon and I need to apologize for being two of the last three rebuys, during Level 10 (you know when the big blind is 2400 chips and the rebuy gets you 15,000 chips) and then proceeding to winding our ways into the final three-way chop. Based on the monster stack she accumulated by knocking out the sweetest of bullies (Rachael, of course), Shannon took the top of the chop ($495 compared to listed 1st place prize money of $650 {$155 back}, compared to an even three-way chop {$1195/3 = $398.33} which made for a 39% reduction of the 4 points she'd have got for first place outright, earning her 2.44 First Place PiMPs {#mathnerd}). I somehow managed to sneak my way ahead of Shawn in the PiMP race (you know, by me playing 25% more tournaments than he) and Shannon's nipping on his heels. Hope the Disney holiday trip with the family was worth it!

We also had a silly fun night of holiday celebrations with everyone. We got to sing to Rich I and meet his lovely wife Doris, who faught her way into our place after she was (inadvertently) locked out—she's welcome back any time. We warmed our insides with a round (or two) of limoncello shots directly from the Amalfi Coast. We had some wonderful photos taken of our home, the hosts, and selected guests. Shannon got everyone (I hope) to personalize an ornament for our Poker Tree. And we all got to enjoy Shannon's Santa Baby outfit (until she switched over to her Minions unitard for the winner's photo). Holiday cheer abounded and we couldn't thank everyone enough for it.

S12Ep06 - Quick Tournament: Crazy Pineapple (1/19/2019)

e welcomed back Norm [All: "Hi Norm!"] and Ken and Holly dropped by to play some cash game and jump into our Crazy Pineapple tournament. Note that Neal entered the CP tournament, but didn't buy into Project Mayhem (I was sick this week and didn't think I was going to earn very many PiMPs). Our six-way chop for first place was between Shannon, Charlie H, Tom, Kim, Barb and Stefan (really great to see that guy back after a pretty terrible finish to 2018 for him off the felt) — congratulations to you! Despite getting knocked out relatively early, there was a very jovial attitude the in basement for the first (and second) tournament as folks know that the Quick structure is just there to get the chips moving and having a bit of fun. Crazy Pineapple is a great game to get everyone to stretch their poker legs.

Between tournaments Rachael showed up (after working her day job) with a delicious birthday cake for Tory and Michael, our January birthday crew. We sang, nobody danced, and everyone made merry. Thanks to Charlie for grabbing some pictures!

S12Ep06 - Main Event: Add-On Extravaganza (1/19/2019)

I also participated in this tournament and didn't buy into Project Mayhem. Tom and I chopped first place, so while some of my decision making skills were good in this tournament, some of them weren't quite on point. Nancy, Rich I, and Barbara also converted another money finish to bolster their results. Congratulations! The AOE is a fun tournament for everyone to figure out their own strategy for using the add-on lammers. A handful of folks expended them right away to start out with monster stacks (capable of doubling up huge through the correct opponent), while roughly 50% of the field hedged their bets and expended one lammer right away to have more chips sitting in front of them right from the get go. And a decent number of us held onto all our lammers at first to get maximum knock-out protection (and give ourselves a bit more flexibility in making aggressive early game all-ins). Bonus kudos to Tom for taking top money in both tournaments tonight!

S12Ep07 - Standard Tournament (2/16/2019)

In addition to those listed, Shannon and Rachael both participated. We ended up with 24 (necessitating us opening a third table, which I thought went rather well, but I'd love to hear your feedback — Tom had some really sharp ideas for improving our space situation even more). Four players chopped: Michael G, Rachael, John, and Michael took the top of the chop. Tory also made a bit of scratch, coming in fifth place. We sang happy birthday to Rich, we got to welcome Christina to the basement, and I have to give a special shout out to Tory, John, and Rachael for helping set up, running the tournament table, and providing real food for everyone. Apparently this is a good things come to those who help situation (I'm not sure how the Michaels ended up cashing in the tournament). We also incorporated plain white chips as additional 1000 chips, but I thought those made the pots look depressing with a distinct lack of color. Hopefully I can figure something better out the next time we have so many participants.

S12Ep08 - Quick Tournament: Longmont Hi (3/3/2019)

In addition to those listed, Neal and Shawn also participated. The five-way first place chop was between Andy, Ken, Tom, Holly, and Neal (with Shawn on the bubble). We had a slightly smaller group of 14 to start the evening as the snow was flying and a handful of regulars had health issues of their own or spouses to take care of, but it was a really good time. The basement saw a bit of a makeover as we pushed tables around and Shannon took over software duties for her own table. Between tournaments we feted Charlie and John for their early March birthdays. We also managed to see what has to be a new Felt Club record set, as from the time I started the software until the time her second buy-in was all wrapped up, Shannon managed to last a full 5 minutes and 59 seconds in the first tournament. Yes, she busted out on consecutive hands, and since the Quick Tournament only allows for one rebuy, that was her for her early evening. (She did okay on the evening as a whole, however...)

S12Ep08 - Main Event: Ante-Only Tournament (3/3/2019)

In addition to those listed, Rachael, Shawn, Neal, Michael and Brad also participated. Shannon and Tom chopped first place with Rachael and Shawn also cashing. (Holly was our direct bubble and Ken was two off the money finish.) With a smaller group in the basement it was a more intimate evening of poker, and the hosts were happy to announce we were all out of the basement by the stroke of midnight (had Shannon and Tom not chopped the prize pool, though, things could've easily gone another hour). Roads were slick but the beds were warm and we were happy that Jason decided to spend the evening at The Stangis Manor. Doughnuts, brownies, and cinnamon rolls were served for breakfast.

S12Ep09 - Standard Tournament (3/23/2019)

It's always sad at the end of the Season to see the abbreviated list of players who were participating in Project Mayhem. With 25 total players, there were many other Project Mayhem players in attendance. It's maybe easier to list who wasn't able to make it: Tory (out of town), Kim (sick kids), and Rachael (sick herself). We also welcomed two new players to our basement (hi Rob and Erik!) and saw one long-timer make his first visit to western Kansas (hi Kirk!). Food was off-the-charts awesome, so thank you to everyone who put their soul into providing a wonderful food item to share with the gang. Rich I was our bubble boy and the tournament ended at 1am with a 5-way chop between Rich, Dan S, John, Bronc, and Neal (who took a little bit more of the chop while sitting on a pile of chips). This was our first 3-table night in the new configuration, and there was consensus that it's definitely a better configuration for the tables in the room, but that the octagon is certainly a little bit cozier than preferred. Finally, a thank you to John for running the show on the octagon (including doing bust-outs and rebuys), and an especially thankful thank you to Shannon for basically doing *everything* to help set up for poker. She was also saddled down with a wonky computer that was frequently rebooting, but she kept it locked in on the tournament screen with nary a complaint. Big kisses to her!

S12Ep10 - Quick Tournament: Omaha Hi (4/20/2019)

We had a crew of 21 to close out our Season 12 regular season. Paying six for the Quick Tournament, we had a double knock-out on the bubble with Shannon knocking out both Michael and Neal. Fortunately for me, I had more chips at the start of the hand, giving me a sixth-place finish and a share of the prize pool. Michael will have to bide his time for the Project Mayhem Final Tournament. The full list of choppers in the Quick Tournament were Barb, Doug G, Neal, Rich I, Shannon, and Tory. Congrats to you and thank you to all for making a wonderful evening.

S12Ep10 - Main Event: Cheap Rebuy (4/20/2019)

Shannon and Rachael were neck and neck down the stretch for the PiMP championship for Season 12, and Shannon's result in the Quick Tournament prompted Rachael to jump in the mix to stake her claim at the top spot. Unfortunately for her, quick exits for both meant that Shannon takes down the title of Top PiMP! Congratulations to Shannon. More germane to folks getting money pay outs, however, was the five way chop in the Cheap Rebuy Tournament. With 21 Rebuys and 19 Add-Ons, we managed to get the prize pool into the four-figure mark, and that was split among Barb, Bronc, Cindy, Shawn, and Stefan. Cindy, in her first appearance to our West Kansas basement, took down the top of the chop (as Shannon put it, despite Dan's tutelage). Congratulations to all winners, and to everyone who made our Season 12 basement games as much fun as humanly (humanely?) possible. Thank you all, and keep your eyes peeled for the post-Season 12 survey some time in early Summer, and maybe some cash games or spontaneous tournaments in the warm months.

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Previous seasons of Project Mayhem can be found:

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