Working With Betting Schedules

Overview

Dr. Neau's Tournament Manager supports virtually any kind of betting schedule you'd want to create.

This mentor topic walks you through everything you need to know about working with a betting schedule.

The following topics are covered in this mentor:

Where You'll Find Betting Schedules

As you'd expect, each tournament has it's own betting schedule. You'll find the betting schedule for a tournament on the tournament's betting schedule designer.

As you run more and more tournaments, you'll probably find that you end up using the same betting schedule (or schedules) over and over. For that reason, Dr. Neau's Tournament Manager also lets you save betting schedules as "reusable components", stored in the component library, that can be loaded into tournaments as you create them. This (along with other types of reuseable components) greatly reduces the time it takes to create a new tournament. Betting schedule components are managed on the application's betting schedule library panel.

The Aspects of a Betting Schedule

The primary purpose of a betting schedule is to describe the levels of a tournament and the various bet amounts for each level. More specifically, a betting schedule defines:

The following table denotes the attributes of the various types of betting schedule segments. An "X" in the table means that the attribute applies to that type of segment.

Attribute Pre-Tournament Play Standard Break Fixed Break Ad-Hoc Break
Level/ID - A short, unique identifier for the segment (auto-generated) x x x x x
Name - The name of the fixed break (applies *only* to fixed breaks) x
Duration - The planned duration of the segment x x x x x
Start - The start time of the segment (editable for fixed breaks, calculated for all others) x x x x
End - The calculated end time of the segment x x x x
Game - The game being played at that level, if you need to denote it x
Limit - The limit type used for that level, if you need to denote it x
Ante - The value of the ante, if used for that level x
Bring-In - The value of the bring-in, if used for that level x
Small Blind - The value of the small blind, if used for that level x
Large Blind - The value of the large blind, if used for that level x
Small Bet - The value of the small bet, if used for that level x
Large Bet - The value of the large bet, if used for that level x
Chips to Remove - What, if any, chips should be removed at that level x x
Pause at End - Whether or not the tournament clock should pause at the end of the level x x x x x
Map Key - A hint as to what console dashboard should be displayed at the level, used by the console dashboard map x x x x x
Add-ons - Which, if any, add-ons are available at that level x x x
Rebuys - Which, if any, rebuys are available at that level x x x

A betting schedule also has several other parameters:

Creating a New Betting Schedule

There are two places you can create a new betting schedule: From the betting schedule library and from within a tournament. Let's quickly cover how the two are different:

Creating a new betting schedule from the betting schedule library

If you're creating a betting schedule in the betting schedule library, you're doing it because it's a betting schedule you plan on using over and over again. We call this creating a new "betting schedule component". It's a component because it can be reused by being copied over and over again into new tournaments.

To create a new betting schedule component, navigate to the betting schedule library and click the "New" button. You will be asked to name your betting schedule. Once created, you can edit it by clicking on the "Edit" button which brings up the betting schedule designer.

Creating a new betting schedule from within a tournament

Tournaments are actually initialized with a fresh, blank betting schedule...so there's no need to create one. All you need to do is fill it out.

Creating a new betting schedule from an existing betting schedule

You can also create a new betting schedule using an existing betting schedule or betting schedule component as a base. This can be done multiple ways:

Populating a Betting Schedule

Once you have a betting schedule to work with, you can add content to it. Whether the betting schedule is a component or part of a betting schedule, the process is the same: You use the betting schedule designer.

From the designer, there are multiple ways to populate the betting schedule:

The following sub-topics are primarily concerned with working with "standard" segments: pre-tournament, play and standard break segments. Fixed break segments get their own sub-topic at the end of this section.

Adding segments to the betting schedule

Assuming your betting schedule is blank, the first thing you need to do is add segments.

Utilitize the six buttons below the schedule that let you add new pre-tournament segments, new play segments and new standard break segments. The buttons let you add new segments at any point in the schedule by selecting an existing segment and clicking the appropriate button to add a new segment before or after the selected segment.

All fields of the segment you add are initially blank, except for duration. The duration is automatically set to either a default value (if it's the first segment of that type you've created) or set to match the value of the last segment of that type in the schedule (if another of the same type already exists).

As you add segments, you'll notice that the "Level", "Start" and "End" attributes are updated automatically.

Moving segments within the schedule

You can move segments up and down by selecting a segment (or segments) and clicking the appropriate "Shift Up" or "Shift Down" buttons.

As you move segments, you'll notice that the "Level", "Start" and "End" attributes are updated automatically.

Deleting segments

At any time, you can delete segments by selecting them and clicking the "Delete" button.

Setting segment attributes

You can edit any of the attributes of any segment right within the table that displays the schedule. You also have buttons below the schedule that will prompt you to enter values...but if you are only editing a single segment it's simplier to edit the value right in the schedule.

You'll notice that the "Start" and "End" times of segments are updated automatically as you change the duration of segments.

Setting attributes for multiple segments at once

The buttons below the schedule provide the ability to set attributes for multiple segments at once.

This is useful when you want to, for example, clear the ante for all segments at once.

You have multiple options for selecting multiple segments:

Once you've selected the segments you wish to change, you can use the "Modify Selected Segments" button below the table to change attributes for the selected segments, including:

Calculating the points for chipping up

Clicking the "Recalculate Chip Consolidations" button will pop up the "Chip Consolidation Calculator". This calculator lets you specify options for how the chip-up points will be calculated as well as how they will be noted in the schedule and on the console.

Note: For performance reasons, this is not calculated dynamically as your schedule changes. You must explicity invoke the calculator.

Graphing the progression of your betting schedule

The betting schedule designer provides a facility that lets you determine whether or not your betting schedule progresses at an appropriate rate.

In the upper-left of the designer, you'll see a tab labelled "Graph". Under that tab is a graph that displays the bet progression for you tournament. This graph gives you a good view into whether or not your bets are progressing at a consistent rate.

Below the table you can control the following:

Finally, the data in the graph is only current as of the last time you press the "Refresh" button. This is for performance reasons.

Adding and editing fixed breaks

Fixed breaks are breaks that occur at a pre-determined time of day (unlike a "standard" break that occurs at a certain point in the schedule).

You can add fixed breaks to your schedule in the upper-right of the designer. To add a fixed break, click the "New" button in the fixed break panel. This will pop up a dialog asking you for the name of the break (example: If dinner is at 8:00, name the break "Dinner"), the start time of the break (in 24-hour format) and the duration of the break. Note that the end time of the break is calculated.

Editing the fixed break is done via the buttons in the table. Since changing the time and duration of the fixed break causes a lot of recalcuation, I've limited the editing of those fields to the doing it through the dialog.

Using the Betting Schedule Wizard

The betting schedule wizard provides two main functions:

Creation of a new schedule using the wizard

The main function of the wizard is to create a new schdule for you that meets your needs.

To initiate the wizard, click on the "Wizard" button and click the button for "Create new schedule" if not already selected. Then select the appropriate wizard for your type of tournament.

Note: At the time of writing this topic, the following wizards are available: Hold'em (Limit), Hold'em (Pot-Limit), Hold'em (No-Limit), Hold'em (Mixed - Limit/No-Limit), H.O. (Limit), H.O.R.S.E (Limit), Omaha (Limit), Omaha (Pot-Limit), Omaha (No-Limit), Omaha Hi-Lo Split 8/b (Limit), Omaha Hi-Lo Split (Pot-Limit), Omaha Hi-Lo Split (No-Limit), Razz (Limit), S.H.O.E. (Limit), Stud (Limit), Stud Hi-Lo Split 8/b (Limit). Please submit additional wizard ideas to Dr. Neau. Also note that if you don't see a wizard that exactly matches your tournament, you can probably use one of the existing wizards and then tweak the schedule after created.

The wizard type you select is tailored to your tournament. For instance, the HORSE wizard will create five alternating games and only apply the appropriate bet amounts to each of those games.

Once you've selected your wizard type, initiate the wizard.

The wizard prompts you for several parameters. The parameters are grouped logically. Regardless of your wizard type, the parameter options are the same, except where noted.

Once you've entered the information, click "OK" and the wizard will go to work. Here's the process it goes through (patent not pending):

  1. Clear the schedule - That's right, it removes all standard segment information. Fixed breaks are left intact.
  2. Create the segments and the breaks with the appropriate durations
  3. Apply the limit types and games per the settings of the wizard you selected
  4. Calculate the initial bet (starting stack size * deepness percentage)
  5. Calculate the target end bet (chips in play * aggressiveness percentage)
  6. Calculate the rate per level that we need to increase. The goal is a standard rate of increase.
  7. Calculate the bets for all levels based the level's game, the level's limit type, the calculated rate of increase, the target chip case and the chip rounding factor.

If you don't like the results of the wizard, you can re-run the wizard and tweak parameters. Your settings are remembered from the last time you ran the wizard. You can also just manually edit the schedule produced by the wizard.

Mass change to all bet amounts using the wizard

This is just a straightforward way to, for instance, multiply all bets by "2". Saves a LOT of time if you ever have to use it.

Managing a Betting Schedule During a Tournament

You can edit the betting schedule you your heart's content during a tournament, but you'll primarily manage it from the tournament clock.

Normal operations

From the clock, you can:

Note that these functions are also available on the console.

As the tournament progresses

As the tournament progresses, the clock keeps running. When time runs out on a level, the next level activates and the clock is reset to the duration of that level. If a level is marked to "pause at end", the clock stops.

If you have a fixed break defined, it will activate automatically at the appopriate time.

You can also create an "ad-hoc break" at any time by clicking the "Play" button on the ad-hoc break panel. An ad-hoc break is a great alternative to pausing the clock for 10 minutes. It lets everyone know what's going on and how long until you plan to start again.

What happens when fixed or ad-hoc breaks occur

When a fixed or ad-hoc break occurs, the schedule will remember where it left off and attempt to resume from that point when the break completes.

The "Resume point" field in the designer represents the point at which the schedule will resume once the fixed or ad-hoc break is completed. You can change the resume point or time remaining in the resume segment while the break is in progress. You can also end the break immediately by clicking the "Play" button in the resume point panel.

Color indicators in the betting schedule

The first column in each table of the designer (standard segments, fixed breaks and ad-hoc break) indicates the status of the segment. Here is what the various colors mean:

Printing a Betting Schedule Report

The "Report" button at the bottom of the panel will produce a very fine-looking report, tailored to your schedule, that you can save off or print and hand out to your players.

You can also generate this report from the betting schedule library panel, the tournament report panel, the tournament library panel and the league tournaments panel.

See also