It may seem insignificant, but doubling the blinds at any time during a tournament has a huge effect. Please note that I said doubling the blinds, not doubling the big blind. There is a huge difference.
Let's look at the beginning levels of several different tournament structures, each of which features ~200BB starting stacks. For ease of comparison, all will assume 10 players, 15-minute blind levels, and no antes, but the conclusions will hold true for any number of players or blind level lengths. Adding antes (pro/con/size/when) is another topic outside the scope of this post, and will not be addressed here.
Before we get started, let's also look at how the number of total blinds (big blind plus small blind) relates to the starting stack size (important because total cost of the blinds is more relevant to stack size than just the cost of the big blind):
- For starting blinds of 25/50, a 10K starting stack contains 200 big blinds or 133 total blinds (BB+SB).
- For starting blinds of 50/100, a 20K starting stack contains 200 big blinds or 133 total blinds (BB+SB) -- the exact same relationship as 25/50 blinds with a 10K starting stack.
- For starting blinds of 25/25, a 5K starting stack contains 200 big blinds but only 100 total blinds (BB+SB). Even though the number of big blinds is the same as the two previous structures, this one will not play nearly as 'deep'.
- For starting blinds of 25/75, a 15K starting stack contains 200 big blinds and 150 total blinds (BB+SB). In essence, the 15K stack at 25/75 is 'deeper' than any of the other structures, when taking into account the actual total blinds represented by each.
Of the four choices above, 15K stacks with 25/75 starting blinds allow players more overall maneuverability and deeper play, even though the starting stacks in each example all contain 200BB.
When comparing the different structures below, we will be tracking the following:
- bbp: the number of big blinds per player at any given point in the tournament
- abp: the number of all blinds (BB+SB) per player at any given point in the tournament
- bbt: the total number of big blinds in play at any given point in the tournament
- abt: the total number of all blinds (BB+SB) in play at any given point in the tournament
In addition, we will also track:
- %bb: the percentage increase in the big blind from one level to the next
- %ab: the percentage increase in all blinds (BB+SB) from one level to the nextal
- %avg: the average increase in blinds at any given point in the tournament
Lastly, before we begin, let's look at how asymmetrical small blind amounts (those that are not 50% of the big blind size) interact and can affect things like the average blind increase and total number of blinds per player. A typical blind structure might look like this:
sb bb %bb %ab
L1 50 100 0 0
L2 75 150 50% 50%
L3 100 200 33% 33%
L4 150 300 50% 50%
but by changing the relational values of the small blinds, we can still mimic the 50-33-50 blind progression using smaller starting blind amounts:
sb bb %bb %ab
L1 25 25 0 0
L2 25 50 100% 50%
L3 25 75 50% 33%
L4 50 100 33% 50%
Note that even though the big blind percentage increases differ, the percentages of total blind increases (%ab) are identical in both structures. In addition, note how it can also be acheived using small blind amounts that are equal to the big blind:
sb bb %bb %ab
L1 25 25 0 0
L2 25 50 100% 50%
L3 50 50 0% 33%
L4 50 100 100% 50%
Again, even though the big blind increases vary widely, the percentages of total blind increases (%ab) are identical.
So what's the best structure to use? Well, that depends a lot on the availability of chips, time, skill, and patience.
Each structure below lists the first six blind levels (totaling 90 minutes of play), displaying the small blind, big blind, number of big blinds per player (bbp), number of all blinds per player (abp), total number of big blinds in play (bbt), total number of all blinds in play (abt), percentage increase of the blinds - big blind (%bb) and total blinds (%ab), plus the average increase in blinds for the tournament at each of the given blind levels.
Structure #1 (s1) - 10K stacks and 25/50 opening blinds:
sb bb %bb %ab bbp abp bbt abt %avg
L1 25 50 0 0 200 133 2000 1333 0.0%
L2 50 100 100% 100% 100 67 1000 667 100%
L3 75 150 50% 50% 67 44 667 444 75%
L4 100 200 33% 33% 50 33 500 333 61%
L5 150 300 50% 50% 33 22 333 222 58%
L6 200 400 33% 33% 25 17 250 167 53%
Players drop from 200BB to 100BB immediately (or 133ab to only 67ab), and are shortstacked by the end of L6.
Structure #2 (s2) - 20K stacks and 50/100 opening blinds:
sb bb %bb %ab bbp abp bbt abt %avg
L1 50 100 0 0 200 133 2000 1333 0.0%
L2 75 150 50% 50% 133 89 1333 889 50%
L3 100 200 33% 33% 100 67 1000 667 42%
L4 150 300 50% 50% 67 44 667 444 44%
L5 200 400 33% 33% 50 33 500 333 42%
L6 300 600 50% 50% 33 22 333 222 43%
Superior to s1, this structure allows players more depth at all levels and has both a more uniform and lower average blind increase.
Structure #3 (s3) - 10K stacks and 25/50 opening blinds with one asymmetrical SB amount (25/75):
sb bb %bb %ab bbp abp bbt abt %avg
L1 25 50 0 0 200 133 2000 1333 0.0%
L2 25 75 50% 33% 133 100 1333 1000 33%
L3 50 100 33% 50% 100 67 1000 667 42%
L4 75 150 50% 50% 67 44 667 444 44%
L5 100 200 33% 33% 50 33 500 333 42%
L6 150 300 50% 50% 33 22 333 222 43%
Also superior to s1, this structure mimics the progression of s2, but actually improves playability during L2 (100abp vs 89abp with s2). Note that this can also be accomplished using 50/50 blinds during L2 in lieu of 25/75:
sb bb %bb %ab bbp abp bbt abt %avg
L1 25 50 0 0 200 133 2000 1333 0.0%
L2 50 50 0% 33% 200 100 2000 1000 33%
L3 50 100 100% 50% 100 67 1000 667 42%
Structure #4 (s4) - 15K stacks and 25/75 opening blinds with one asymmetrical SB amount (25/75):
sb bb %bb %ab bbp abp bbt abt %avg
L1 25 75 0 0 200 150 2000 1500 0.0%
L2 50 100 33% 50% 150 100 1500 1000 50%
L3 75 150 50% 50% 100 67 1000 667 50%
L4 100 200 33% 33% 75 50 750 500 44%
L5 150 300 50% 50% 50 33 500 333 46%
L6 200 400 33% 33% 38 25 375 250 43%
Superior to all three previous structures -- it plays deeper initially due to a higher total starting blinds per player, but also plays deeper at L4 (50abp vs 44 with s2/s3, or just 33 with s1) and L6 - plus this expands into the later levels (L7+) as well.
Overall, the 20K structure (s2) has the lowest average blind increase over the life of the event (39%), vs 41% with S3/s4 vs 43% with s1. The s1 structure will finish sooner, but if a shorter duration tournament is desired, it's better to shorten the blind level times of a better schedule than to compromise the integrity of the event by doubling the blinds.
And there's certainly nothing wrong with using a 25/75 blind level when used properly, imo.
- - - - - - - - - Updated - - - - - - - - -
Some may have taken a glance at my post above and thought, "Holy crap -- why is ANY of that stuff important?"
Well, here's why. The advantage of deep-stack tournaments is not that players start with huge amounts of chips. The real advantage comes from still having large amounts of chips (relative to the blinds) later in the tournament -- and not just for a couple of levels, either.
For example, it's pretty senseless to start with 1000BB when the blinds double every round. Players end up at the same place after six levels as if they had started with 200BB using a structure with 40% increases, but most of those early levels were at stakes so low that very little chip movement occurs between players -- making them essentially a waste of time. Worse, as blinds continue to double, the event quickly escalates into a shove-fest as nearly everybody becomes simultaneously short-stacked:
L1 - 1000BB
L2 - 500BB
L3 - 250BB
L4 - 125BB
L5 - 62BB
L6 - 31BB
L7 - 15BB
L8 - 7BB
That's the extreme end of the scale, but lessons are there that apply to more reasonably-fashioned blind structures as well. As stated earlier, it may seem insignificant, but doubling the blinds at any time during a tournament has a huge effect.
The advantage of 100BB to 200BB stack tournaments where blinds do NOT double is that the early rounds are all played with stacks that contain a meaningful number of big blinds, and those stacks continue to be meaningful for a reasonable amount of time before becoming short-stacked. Where exactly is that sweet spot? With NLHE, it is typically stacks that range between 40BB and 150BB where the most skillful play is both allowed and required.
