Tourney First Tournament Setup Questions (1 Viewer)

[BillyNasty]

Greetings, I am looking to host a super small tournament ($10 Buy in) and I would like the tournament to last 2 hours. Now I know the buy in is small and the length is short but my buddies like to play poker but do not like to play for much money or for that long. I have 100 $0.50 chips, 250 $1 chips, and 50 $5 chips. What would you suggest for blinds? Keep in note that it is also an 8 person table. Would you allow rebuy's up to a certain point? I know this is probably not optimal but would like to still make it work. Lastly, any suggestions on way's to keep track of the blinds (i.e. apps)?

Thanks so much in advance.
- Billy

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Eh, that's fine. It'll be quick but fun.
8 people starting stacks:

10 0.50
20 $1s
5 $5s

Starting stacks are $50, means it starts with $400 total and 100 BB/person in play. Allow rebuys until whenever you want, first hour is fine because then you're still getting 25 BBs.

Blinds go up every 15 minutes
00:00 .50/.50
00:15 .50/1
00:30 1/1
00:45 1/2
01:00 2/4
01:15 3/5
01:30 4/8
01:45 5/10
02:00 6/12

Should end before the 2 hour mark and uses your chips just fine. This starts more shallow than many would like but for a quick casual tournament works great. If you want to ensure it ending before 2 hours get rid of the levels that have the same blind (.50/.50 and 1/1), but that would increase the blinds pretty quickly and feel fast.
For rebuys, just use the $1s and $5s, give them $50.

As for blinds, I use Tournament Director, but there's a simple phone timer or apps, someone else can help more there.

For this small of a tournament, just pay 2nd place $20 and winner gets the rest. If you want more winners, can do 3rd place $10, 2nd place $20, winner gets $50 (plus any rebuys).

 

[Salbino]

A good formula to learn is - the total number of chips in play divided by "20" = the blind level that game *should* end. Here is a random example: 10k x 20 players = 200,000 / 20 = 10,000; Therefore, this made up game *should* end when the big blind reaches 10,000

Let's use NotRealNameNoSir suggested stacks and blinds for your game as another example, with no rebuys -> 50 x 8 stacks (players) = 400 / 20 = 20 so the game should end when the big blind is 20.

Using the suggested blind schedule we can calculate the following:

02:00 6/12
02:15 7/14
02:30 8/16
02:45 9/18
03:00 10/20 ** Game should end here but may end earlier if people are playing loose or later if people are playing tight.

You can get more aggressive by decreasing the blind levels to 12 minutes, or increasing the small blind by 2 each level instead of 1 or you can just set a timer for 2 hours and at that point whoever has the most chips is 1st, second most chips is 2nd, and so on.

Also, there is a type of tournament called a "double up" which is where you play until half of the players are knocked out, then the remaining players receive double the buy in back and then you can start another tournament right away if you want. Or you can try a turbo structure where everyone only starts off with 40 BB ($20 instead of $50)

 

[BillyNasty]

Eh, that's fine. It'll be quick but fun.
8 people starting stacks:

10 0.50
20 $1s
5 $5s

Starting stacks are $50, means it starts with $400 total and 100 BB/person in play. Allow rebuys until whenever you want, first hour is fine because then you're still getting 25 BBs.

Blinds go up every 15 minutes
00:00 .50/.50
00:15 .50/1
00:30 1/1
00:45 1/2
01:00 2/4
01:15 3/5
01:30 4/8
01:45 5/10
02:00 6/12

Should end before the 2 hour mark and uses your chips just fine. This starts more shallow than many would like but for a quick casual tournament works great. If you want to ensure it ending before 2 hours get rid of the levels that have the same blind (.50/.50 and 1/1), but that would increase the blinds pretty quickly and feel fast.
For rebuys, just use the $1s and $5s, give them $50.

As for blinds, I use Tournament Director, but there's a simple phone timer or apps, someone else can help more there.

For this small of a tournament, just pay 2nd place $20 and winner gets the rest. If you want more winners, can do 3rd place $10, 2nd place $20, winner gets $50 (plus any rebuys).

Thank you so much i'll give this a go! I appreciate it!

 

[BillyNasty]

A good formula to learn is - the total number of chips in play divided by "20" = the blind level that game *should* end. Here is a random example: 10k x 20 players = 200,000 / 20 = 10,000; Therefore, this made up game *should* end when the big blind reaches 10,000

Let's use NotRealNameNoSir suggested stacks and blinds for your game as another example, with no rebuys -> 50 x 8 stacks (players) = 400 / 20 = 20 so the game should end when the big blind is 20.

Using the suggested blind schedule we can calculate the following:

02:00 6/12
02:15 7/14
02:30 8/16
02:45 9/18
03:00 10/20 ** Game should end here but may end earlier if people are playing loose or later if people are playing tight.

You can get more aggressive by decreasing the blind levels to 12 minutes, or increasing the small blind by 2 each level instead of 1 or you can just set a timer for 2 hours and at that point whoever has the most chips is 1st, second most chips is 2nd, and so on.

Also, there is a type of tournament called a "double up" which is where you play until half of the players are knocked out, then the remaining players receive double the buy in back and then you can start another tournament right away if you want. Or you can try a turbo structure where everyone only starts off with 40 BB ($20 instead of $50)

Thank you for the background info on how those blinds get decided. I like the idea of that double up tournament, I think my table would like that idea a bunch. I'll let you know when we have our first tournament!

 

[BillyNasty]

Thanks for all the help, @Salbino & @NotRealNameNoSir . Going to be playing our first tournament tonight. Will snap some photo's and let you know how it goes! Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Salbino]

Thanks for all the help, @Salbino & @NotRealNameNoSir . Going to be playing our first tournament tonight. Will snap some photo's and let you know how it goes! Thanks so much for the help!

Awesome! Remember, the first couple of times you are probably going to have some speed bumps, just keep calm and you’ll be fine