Battle of the Donkeys Round 2: New Structure, New Tournament, New Prizes!

Published on 15 Sep 08 14:29 by SoyCD

We have revamped the BOD concept and are starting in a new round with a new structure, a new tournament and additional prizes!



With the first round of the Battle of the Donkeys being completed, we are changing several aspects of the format around. These changes are due to a variety of reasons and are aimed at making the BOD more accessible and fun for all users. The most extensive of these changes is moving the BOD to a different tournament and adding additional prizes for the best players: Battle of the Donkeys: New Structure - Feedback

THE NEW Tournament
While we previously held the Battle of the Donkeys in the 200k Guaranteed on PokerStars, there are several pressing reasons for switching the battle area to a different tournament.

  • Payout structure: Several weeks ago, PokerStars changed their payout structure to become much more top-heavy. For the 200k, this means that unless you get to the top 1% of the field the most you receive is twice the buy-in – while in other tournaments you receive 3 times your buy-in if you reach the top 8%.
  • Time: Although the time of the tournament is convenient for a lot of the American players – the European players need to stay up till very early in the morning if they are planning on competing for the money ranks. 
  • Blindstructure: With 22,000-25,000 participants, PokerStars needs a fast blind structure (10 minutes) to ensure the tournament ends within a specific time frame. Combined with the large amount of participants in the tournament – the late phases require a lot of luck and are extremely variance heavy.

For now, we have chosen the 15k ($5 + 0,50 buy-in) GTD tournament on PokerStars, which takes place 2,5 hours earlier than the 200k (13:00 ET/PokerStars Time). It has a flatter payout structure, slower blind levels, and less participants. Due to the lower buy-in, we have also chosen to change overall team and payout structure.
THE NEW TEAMs
In the past, the Battle of the Donkeys focused mainly on the battle between the two admin teams and the accompanying staking deals. In the new format, there will be more than just two admin teams – and even more incentive to play as all back-deal winnings will be added into a pot which can be won by the best players of the winning teams!

There will be a total of 5 ranked teams with 4 members each which the users can play in.  As always the best 6 players from the community qualify for the admin teams.  The exception from this is that if they managed to cash while in another team - they are automatically qualified to play there again.  Even if they did not cash - the move to the admin teams is an option and not a must. 

The Teams
Team SoyCD
The admin team based around its captain SoyCD. You can qualify for this team by placing among the top 6 members of the community or by winning in staking promotions held by SoyCD.
Team Tribun
The second admin team, captained by TribunCaesar. Just as for all admin teams, you can qualify for this team through a top 6 placement in the previous week or via special promotions
Mod Team (Name to be decided)
The Moderator team is run by moderators from the community. Cannell555 and Chiller3k will lead the team and give away stakes for the team on a weekly basis. Keep your eyes open and qualify for a spot!
Content Team (Name to be decided)
Currently captained by the hand judges frzl and ysessa - this team represents the content section of PokerStrategy. To qualify, you will need to win one of the promotions that the captains will host each week.
The Reporter Team (Name to be decided)
The final ranked team is the reporter team. Here players that decide to help out in the tracking of scores, moderating of the thread or the interviewing of members, can qualify for fixed spots. In order to apply for a position in the team, which is currently being captained by Velak, go here: application thread

In addition to needing logos for all 5 teams, the names of 3 new teams still need to be decided. Be sure to check the forums for staking give-aways involving the naming decision and the creation of team logos!
THE NEW STRUCTURE
As usual, we will be giving players, who decide to play in the teams, the possibility to accept staking offers. Yet, this time around, we have decided to put all money that is won through back-deals into an additional prize-pool which will be distributed at the end of the season.

That means: from now on all money that the team captains get back from staking deals, will go into an extra pot that builds up through-out the weeks. As soon as the pot reaches a specific amount, it will be distributed in the form of tournament buy-ins among the top players of the top teams according to a predefined payout structure.

Season 1:
  • Goal: 1 ticket to the Sunday Million and 5 Buy-ins to the Daily Eighty Grand ($50+5) = $490 pot size
  • Payout Structure: 1 Sunday million ticket to the top cashing player of the top ranked team and 2 Daily Eighty Grand buy-ins for 2nd and 3rd of the team, 2 further Eighty Grand buy-ins for the top 2 cashing players for the second ranked team, and 1 DEG buy-in for the player who got highest finish no matter in which team (even community team).

The team ranking is based on how many points a team has collected up until the week during which the predefined pot size is reached ($330). In order to determine the top cashing players of a team - the amount of money won while being part of the specific team is counted.

Points are awarded at the end of every battle, with 1 point being given to:
  • The team which has cashed for the most money
  • The team which has the best average finish
  • The team which has the player that got the furthest

Those players that are not in a team but still decide to play will once again play in the community team. This will give them the chance to qualify for one of the two admin teams, and to win the buy-in for the $50+5 tournament by getting to the top of the individual rankings.


In order to qualify for one of the other teams, keep your eyes open for the promotions that will come during the course of the week! Some have already started!