Tourney NL 2-7 : how to estimate the tournament duration ? (2 Viewers)

[Kid_Eastwood]

Hi,

For NLHE, the general rule of thumb, when there is no ante, is that you shall expect your tournament to end at the level where the big blind represents the total number of chips in play.

This Friday, I'll run a small NL 2-7 tournament and for most players it'll be their first lowball tournament.
Here's the structure I'll use :

5 players / T10,000 / 20 min levels / Freezout

Level	Time at the end of the level	Small blind	Big blind	Big blind ante
1	0:25	25	50	75
2	0:50	25	75	100
3	1:15	50	100	150
4	1:40	75	150	225
5	2:05	100	200	300
6	2:30	150	300	450
7	2:55	200	400	600
8	3:20	300	600	900
9	3:45	400	800	1200
10	4:10	600	1200	1800
11	4:35	800	1600	2400
12	5:00	1000	2000	3000

I expect the tournament to end at max by level 9. Do you think it's a fair assumption ?

Kid.

 

[FDLmold]

Almost any tournament you can estimate the end by figuring out the TOTAL chips of everybody in the tournament and comparing that to the blinds (or bets in a limit game like a stud tournament). You obviously know that.

So let's say you are at a blind level where the TOTAL big blinds on the table is 10-15, you're at the end or close to it. It's not one total big blind on the table, the tournament will be way over by then.

You have 50,000 on the table. Your level 11 has a 4,000 big blind basically. If that's not the end, it's close.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Almost any tournament you can estimate the end by figuring out the TOTAL chips of everybody in the tournament and comparing that to the blinds (or bets in a limit game like a stud tournament). You obviously know that.

So let's say you are at a blind level where the TOTAL big blinds on the table is 10-15, you're at the end or close to it. It's not one total big blind on the table, the tournament will be way over by then.

You have 50,000 on the table. Your level 11 has a 4,000 big blind basically. If that's not the end, it's close.

But look that there is a pretty big BBA.

That's why I thought that by end of level 9 it should be it. But again, I'm not very experienced with BBA structures (nor NL2-7).

 

[DaneWoj]

In 2-7 NLSD you could find the tournament will end faster than you expect due to the nature of the game. Hands sometimes just play themselves.

make sure you play like WSOP does where you must raise to open the pot. No first in limping. Makes for interesting dynamics when the hands are folded to the blinds.

The longest part of the game will be the actual pitching of the cards.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

make sure you play like WSOP does where you must raise to open the pot. No first in limping. Makes for interesting dynamics when the hands are folded to the blinds.

That's exactly what I'll do. Open-raise only (no limp) and a large ante (= SB + BB).

 

[Legend5555]

Remember that there are only 2 rounds of betting. So starting stack size should be 25-50% smaller compared to the starting stack of NLHE with the same blinds. Despite NL2-7 being one of my favorite games, I've never played it in tourney form.

With inexperienced players, it's hard to tell if they are going to play too aggressive or too passive in this game. Or if they are going to size their bets appropriately. Post draw bet sizes from experienced players err on the larger size compared to similar pot sizes in NLHE. With betting larger than pot being somewhat common for a polarized hand.

All this is to say that, given the big ante in this game, people should be willing to get it in on 20bb stacks fairly liberally especially when in position. So I'd imagine that it would end sooner stack size to blinds ratio wise, than it would in NLHE.