There seems to be a vicious circle here. I was wanting to enter a Christmas Grand tournament but each time I look at the tournaments page a new tournament has become fully subscribed and I've missed out again. Looking at the forums, it seems this happens to lots of players.
My suggestion is that each new tournament is listed with the details as usual then everyone who is interested enters their name. The tournament is left open for a week and then Russ sets up as many tournaments as necessary with the original criteria. This will ensure that everyone that is interested gets a place without having to check the tournaments page five times a day and a couple of times in the night. It would also stop some people (mentioning no names) from entering multiple tournaments of the same type and give the rest of us a place.
I think it would work well for banded, themed and festive tournaments.
What does everyone else think?
DM.
I had the same problem with the Xmas tournaments. I PMed Russ and requested III - he kindly set it up (i'm sure there were others asking as well), but by the next time i logged in it was already full. then i requested IV and managed to get in at last. i think that as well as something along the lines of what you have suggested, it would be good if we were emailed when a tournament is announced, just like we currently are when it starts up.