How do partners determine who gets on which deal?

Hello fellow PE professionals,

Could you please share how do partners compose the deal team?

I recently joined a new PE firm as a second-year Analyst and it seemed the founder has his favorite analysts, whom he had been working for quite sometime. Obviously, the founder seemed to work on the most exciting deals ie. large ticket size, high-profile.

I have been tasked with small ticket-size and with a manager that tends to make quite a lot of mistakes. I am afraid her performance would reflect mine as well.

Does favoritism occur to you as well? Would be nice to understand the thought-process behind team composition for deals.

Many thanks!