Ideas to make contests more interesting

[pokerforme]

One daily contest monthly where the player chooses what he wants to play from all the different games offered. Does not matter how many lines, just how many hands you get to deal. Would be interesting to see what games were winners vs others. And it would be nice to play the game you seek out in the casino vs other players favorite version or game.

[New2vp]

Recycled from Jan 2011Webman responded "I like it; are your fingers tired?"  No problem this time with finger-fatigue since I used copy/paste function. Ok, Webman, I recognize why my "5th best score" idea won't work well. 
While it may be superior at rewarding skill and persistence, your
critique is spot on in terms of customer satisfaction, which is way more
important.Here's a much better idea than what I proposed before
that will still reward skill and persistence a bit more than luck and
would NOT devalue the big scores so much.  I offer it with my most
sincere, non-whining rhetoric.  Since I know it's boring to read every
word of long posts, I bolded the salient portion of the idea and offered details in regular font.Instead
of using an AVERAGE of the top 5 scores, which will be just as out of
reach as the top score is (possibly requiring 3 or 4 big hits in 1000
plays rather than two monster dealt hands in 200), use the RANK of the top 5 scores.  Whoever has the best scores according to the relative ranking would win the prize.This can be accomplished in various ways with various weightings, but the simplest might be take the top 1000 scores and award:1000 points for the highest score,999 points for the 2nd highest score, and so on, down to1 point for the 1000th highest score.Give prizes based on most points accumulated throughout the contest.Then
someone could still win with only 1 game played if they had the highest
score and no one ended up with more than 1000 points, but people would
always have a reasonable chance to improve their contest standing and
would be incented to continue play.  Even though the highest scoring
games would still be the result of a couple lightning-strike hits that
others could not reasonably expect to duplicate, anyone would still
stand a chance by posting more games with high scores even if they were
not monster top-10 hits.You may or may not wish to limit the number of games in which you could accumulate points; you could use someone's top 5 ranks
or allow people to accumulate as many top-1000 finishes as they could. 
And, since you have so many participants, you might want to use the top
10,000 scores rather than the top 1000 scores.  With 10,000, even more
contestants could score points more often, even if they didn't win
prizes from it.You would probably still want to have tiebreakers
like "first to post a score" or incorporate a "highest single-game
score" for those who had identical points accumulated.To let
people know how they stand, you would want to post the top 10 scores
like you do and then maybe somewhere else #100, #200, up to #1000.Pros:  - Continued play helps each contestant's standing with reasonable probability.  - Rewards high scores even if a person is not lucky enough to hit a dealt royal.  -
With the "problem" of dealt royals solved, you could offer 5-play or
10-play games that people enjoy more rather than always offering 3-play.  - This would be a change in the current contests.Cons:  - Someone different would win the contest than who would ordinarily win under current rules.  -
This would be a change in the current contests.  (Yes, I know I listed
that as a Pro as well, but some people don't like change!)

[edog743]

I think the biggest change that has to be made is you can only win once. Whether that be a random entry or a win in the monthly or daily contest. One would think VP.com would want as many people in the TOC as possible. I have discussed this subject in the past with WM. He doesn't see it my way.

[New2vp]

I agree with Webman.  You do not want to have a situation where a winner in January does not have any reason to play the rest of the year.

[edog743]

They can play even win again. but the entry goes to the runner up. Once you win you are no longer elligible for a random entry. So a winner in january still has something to play for. Only one entry per person in the TOC.

[grammie]

I agree with Edog... an average score would even out the odds a little since not everyone is dealt perfect hands.

[OTABILL]

I agree with the idea of one game to choose from be it JOB, TDB, etc. I also believe single line is more equitable than multiple line in that someone dealt a royal or equivalent paying hand does not have an advantage over another player who draws a similar hand. Finally, I think the hours one can play in the daily contest should be expanded, say from 4:00 am PST/PDT to 2:00 am PST/PDT. There have been multiple times when I have been unable to play more than one or two games before time ran out and one should be allowed to finish and submit a game started before the deadline.

[dbldbl scotty]

something along the lines of;

play 5 contest sessions (or more if monthly). you drop the high and the low score of the five (or more) sessions - giving you your average score. prizes based on best average.

this removes the fluke dealt royal with multiplier, and is based more on correct play / strategy.

still have something for the highest overall score though on the side...

[Royals2mm]

Idea - mainly for a NEW VP game-If not available.DREAM-CARD:  Is there a "Joker" poker VP game format for this game?If so - it wasn't available in the current (end of August) contest....Just curious.....Royals2MM

[neebraska]

Contest should be on total net winnings (or losses) throughout the contest and therefore account for coin in. This would reward smarter play.