What methods do you use for assigning seats and moving players from table to table?
Each player is assigned an initial table and seat number by a random drawing. As the tournament progresses and players are eliminated we try to keep the minimum number of tables necessary to accommodate the remaining players.
As seats become vacant at the various tables we will move players to keep the number of players at each table approximately equal. Sometimes one or two seats may become vacant at many tables simultaneously. When this happens we may shut down an entire table and relocate its players to fill the vacancies.
When we move players, we strive to 1) move any indivdual player as seldom as possible, 2) move a player into a vacant seat that affords the player the same relative position the player had at the old table (relative to the button), and 3) select players to be moved using a random method (usually selecting the player to the immediate right of the button whenever possible).
When a moved player joins a new table, we try to place them into a vacant seat as close as possible to the immediate right of the button. If however, the vacant seat is to the immediate left of the button, or is to the left of the seat to the left of the button, the new player will NOT be dealt any cards until the button moves past the new player. This is done as a courtesy to the moved player because 1) the player already had to bear the inconvenience of being moved, and 2) we do not want to force them to post a mandatory blind as soon as they join a new table.
Generally, we shut down higher numbered tables first, working down to the lowest numbered tables. Players who purchase their tickets early are more likely to be seated at lower number tables and therefore less likely to move.
Sometimes multiple players will be eliminated from a table in one hand. Occasionally, if two tables develop multiple vacancies in a short period of time, we may merge the two tables into one by moving players from the table being shut down to the table being augmented. At the table being augmented, players to the right of the button will shift in a counterclockwise fashion, maintaining their relative position, and fill all vacant seats to their right, so that all the vacated seats are to the right of the button and to the left of the existing players. Players arriving from the table being shut down will fill these vacant seats in the order of position they had at the table they left, starting with the small blind. Example:
(Seats are numbered in a clockwise fashion)
Table 14 has 4 vacant seats and 5 players.
Seat 1 vacant
Seat 2 button
Seat 3 small blind
seat 4 vacant
seat 5 big blind
seat 6 vacant
seat 7 player
seat 8 vacant
seat 9 player
Table 12 has 5 vacant seats and 4 players.
Seat 1 vacant
Seat 2 button
Seat 3 small blind
seat 4 vacant
seat 5 vacant
seat 6 vacant
seat 7 vacant
seat 8 big blind
seat 9 player
Table 12 will be shut down and the players moved because it has fewer players than table 14. (If both tables being merged had an equal number of players, the highest numbered table would be shut down first.)
The players at table 14 vacate a contiguous span of seats, moving counterclockwise around the table towards the button. The button does NOT move. Now table 14 looks like this:
Table 14:
Seat 1 vacant
Seat 2 button
Seat 3 small blind
seat 4 big blind
seat 5 player
seat 6 player
seat 7 vacant
seat 8 vacant
seat 9 vacant
Seats 7, 8, 9, and 1 are vacant.
Players from Table 12 fill the empty seats in the following order and the resulting Table 14 looks like this:
Table 14:
Seat 1 from Table 12; Seat 2 (button)
Seat 2 button
Seat 3 small blind
Seat 4 big blind
Seat 5 player
Seat 6 player
Seat 7 from Table 12; Seat 3 (small blind)
Seat 8 from Table 12; Seat 8 (big blind)
Seat 9 from Table 12; Seat 9 player
The next hand begins with the player on the button at Table 14, Seat 2; Seat 3 posts the small blind, seat 4 posts the big blind.
The players at the merged table keep their old relative positions. The moved players are placed to right of the button.