Given your conditions of a) charity with maximum player $$ expenditures, and b) 3-hour time limitation, I recommend the following format and structure. Some quick notes:
- Allowing re-buys when player stacks are at or below T7000 encourages initial double buy-ins and double re-buys.
- Structuring the re-buy stacks 40% larger than the initial buy-in stack sizes encourages re-buys.
- Structuring the add-on stacks 200% larger than the initial buy-in stack sizes encourages add-ons.
- Having a uniform cost for buy-ins, re-buys, and add-ons minimizes staff work/errors and is easily understood by players.
- Having fewer chip denominations (three maximum) in play makes for faster play and minimal player confusion, and less staff work/errors during chip sales and color-ups.
This format works well with any preset donation amount, but keep in mind that the lower the cost to buy-in/re-buy/add-on, the more re-buy/add-on purchases will be generated. The blind increases range mostly from 50% to 67%, averaging 55% over the duration of the event, so plenty of opportunity to play and maneuver without encountering blinds shock.
I have used this format successfully in multi-table charity events with donation amounts ranging from $20 to $100. Only you can determine if a $200 donation level will be successful for your specific crowd.
30-player T5000 re-buy/add-on charity tournament structure
$200 buy-in = T5000 starting chips (10 x T100 and 8 x T500)
$200 re-buy = T7000 re-buy chips (7 x T1000) until break
$200 add-on = T10000 add-on chips (2 x T5000) at break
Conditions:
Unlimited re-buys during first hour (first three blind levels)
Players may choose to re-buy immediately, prior to start ($400 = T12000 starting chips)
Players may re-buy between hands whenever stack is less than or equal to T7000 chips
Busted players may single re-buy ($200 for T7000) or double re-buy ($400 = T14000)
Structure:
L1-L3 = 20 minutes
L4-L8 = 15 minutes
L9-L16 = 10 minutes
lvl sb bb
L1 100 100
L2 100 200
L3 100 300
~ end 7k re-buys, offer 10k add-ons ~
L4 200 400
L5 300 600
L6 500 1000
L7 800 1600
L8 1200 2400
~ remove T100 and T500 chips ~
L9 2000 4000
L10 3000 6000
L11 5000 10000 **
L12 8000 16000 **
L13 12000 24000
L14 20000 40000
L15 30000 60000
L16 50000 100000
** estimated tournament end at L11/L12 (approximately 3 hours with two breaks), depending on number of re-buys/add-ons. Note that a player who busts on the last hand of L3 can still double re-buy and add-on, creating a stack for L4 that is equal to 60BB.
Chip Set:
300 x T100
240 x T500
420 x T1000 (up to 60 re-buys)
90 x T5000 (up to 30 add-ons, plus 30x to color-up T100 and T500 chips)
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1050 chips
Alternately, you can use 2xT1000 and 1xT5000 for
half of the 60x T7000 re-buys, and get by with the following:
300 x T100
240 x T500
270 x T1000
120 x T5000
--------------
930 chips
Or use 2xT1000 and 1xT5000 for
all of the 60x T7000 re-buys, requiring only these chips:
300 x T100
240 x T500
120 x T1000
150 x T5000
--------------
810 chips
Recommended payouts (of available prize pool):
<15 players - pays 1 (100%)
15-21 players - pays 2 (65% / 35%)
22-28 players - pays 3 (55% / 30% / 15%)
29-35 players - pays 4 (50% / 30% / 15% / 5%)
36+ players - pays 5 (50% / 30% / 10% / 5% / 5%)
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