Tourney Tournament Blind Schedule - thoughts? (1 Viewer)

[Frode789]

So I'm running a home tournament for 8 people this weekend. I have done a few before, but this is the first time I'm doing deep stack. Thoughts on start stack, chip distribution and blind levels? Looks okay? Just want to be sure it looks good before I start

I have a 500 chip set with:
5 - 200 pcs
25 - 150 pcs
100 - 100 pcs
500 - 50 pcs

Start stack: 2000.
Blind levels: 30 min.
Est. length of tournament: 4,5 hours - 5 hours.

Starting Chips:
5 - 25 each
25 - 15 each
100 - 10 each
500 - 1 each

Blinds are: (except 2 early level 100% increases I'm at 50-65% pr. level)
5-10
10-20
15-30
30-60
- Chip Race 5 -
50-100
75-150
125-250
- Chip Race 25 -
200-400
300-600
500-1000
800-1600

Thanks!

 

[Trihonda]

Calling @BGinGA

He's the ex-Bert

IMHO, I don't mind a 100% jump in the first level (most ppl don't mind when the blinds are low), but BG will advise against it whatsoever. That said, I really don't like it for the 4th level... You might consider adding a 25/50 level before-hand. That puts 5 lvls until the first break, and smooths out the lvls.

This brings me to my next point.. The 30 min levels might be too long? That makes me think this will run way longer than you think it will, and puts you at 2 hours + between breaks. My gut is telling me to run lvls closer to the 20 min realm, but BG will have it nailed down more accurately if he weighs in.

 

[Frode789]

Calling @BGinGA

He's the ex-Bert

IMHO, I don't mind a 100% jump in the first level (most ppl don't mind when the blinds are low), but BG will advise against it whatsoever. That said, I really don't like it for the 4th level... You might consider adding a 25/50 level before-hand. That puts 5 lvls until the first break, and smooths out the lvls.

This brings me to my next point.. The 30 min levels might be too long? That makes me think this will run way longer than you think it will, and puts you at 2 hours + between breaks. My gut is telling me to run lvls closer to the 20 min realm, but BG will have it nailed down more accurately if he weighs in.

Thanks for the input!

Yeah considering we start with 2000 chips I think a 100% increase in the start is acceptable. I can understand it being at lvl 4 being a bit more problematic.. I can agree with that. Yes I can add a 25-50 level, but then I would be in a clunky situation as to where to place the next level before the 5s are supposed to be removed from the game (and I don't want to keep the 5s for half the tournament). I can't jump right up to 50-100, that would be another 100% increase, and going
25-50
40-80
----Chip race----
50-100? That's just a small 25% boost.
75-150? That is again too high, about 90%.

I guess having 30 min levels does limit my options quite a bit yes. My thought process with 30 min levels is because it is a home game (so quite a bit of talking between hands), and no dedicated dealer. So there is quite a bit of less hands per level as per a casino tournament with 20 min levels. But 20 min levels would give me more flexibility in terms of levels and estimating the blind length. Okay cool, I'll wait and we'll take it from there

 

[Trihonda]

I run a home game tourney regularly with 17 min levels, self dealt, and have no problems at all. And no complaints. So long as your blinds don't increase drastically, the increases won't be as noticeable/harsh. If people want a tourney with 30 min levels, they should plan on it running way longer than 4-5 hours.

 

[Bigkyle]

I suggest 20 minute levels, T2000, and 10-10-7-2 starting stacks. Use these blinds:

5-10
10-20
15-30 *remove T5
25-50
(you could throw a 50-75 level in right here to make it more gradual)
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300 *remove T25
200-400
300-600
400-800
500-1000

I doubt this goes past four hours, and you could probably even extend level time to 25 minutes and be done in around that time.

 

[Frode789]

I suggest 20 minute levels, T2000, and 10-10-7-2 starting stacks. Use these blinds:

5-10
10-20
15-30 *remove T5
25-50
(you could throw a 50-75 level in right here to make it more gradual)
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300 *remove T25
200-400
300-600
400-800
500-1000

I doubt this goes past four hours, and you could probably even extend level time to 25 minutes and be done in around that time.

Thanks for the response. Hmm. Why 10-10-7-2? That's just 29 chips. You'd have to make change all the time with so few 5s early on as well. And having more chips is more fun I think 25-15-5-2 or 25-15-10-1 is maybe better.

The schedule you listed could definitely work, though the jump from 50->100 BB was a bit too steep. And getting another level between 50 and 100 BB would make a too small increase per level. (like 50-60-100 or 50-80-100) Especially since there are just 20 min levels. Or?

I'm thinking maybe this:
5-10
10-20
15-30
25-50
40-80
60-120
-- Remove 5s
75-150
100-200
125-250
-- Remove 25s
200-400
300-600
400-800
600-1200
1000-2000

 

[Bigkyle]

Playing with a bunch of the smallest denomination is a huge pain. If you want a lot of chips on the table load up on 25s and 100s and leave the 500s for color ups.

I think the schedule above has some tiny increases early (when stacks are still huge) and giant jumps later on. Lots of people seem to think that blinds should creep up, then make bigger jumps later, but I've always believed it should be the opposite, with smaller increases later on when the stacks are, relative to the blinds, shorter. You know your group, so go with what works for you.

 

[dew4au]

Since BG hasn't dropped by, I'll summon his spirit from the blue wall...

Starting with 5/10 blinds requires that the blinds be immediately doubled to 10/20 on the following level -- something that I feel should be avoided at all times if possible. No sense in starting with a large stack if you are going to effectively cut it in half after only one round of play.

T2000 starting chips with 10/20 opening blinds (100BB) is significantly better than T1000 starting chips with 5/10 opening blinds (100BB). With the former, you have 67BB at the beginning of L2, but with the latter, you only have 50BB - half of what you started with.

Single table, 9 players
10/20 opening blinds
T2000 stacks (100BB)
13-minute blind levels

Starting stack:
20 x T5
20 x T25
9 x T100
1 x T500

Blind structure:
rd sb bb
L1 10 20
L2 15 30
L3 20 40
L4 25 50
BREAK
L5 30 60
L6 40 80
L7 60 120
L8 80 160
REMOVE T5 CHIPS
L9 100 200
L10 150 300
L11 200 400
L12 250 500
REMOVE T25 CHIPS
L13 300 600
L14 400 800 **
L15 600 1200
L16 800 1600
REMOVE T100 CHIPS
L17 1000 2000
L18 1500 3000
L19 2000 4000
L20 2500 5000

Use T500 chips for color-ups, and use T500 and/or T1000 chips for re-buys. A 9-player event using 13-minute levels should end around L14 (about 3 hours plus breaks). Add 1/2-hour to the tournament length for every 2-minute increase in blind round times (15-minute blinds = 3.5 hours, 17-minute blinds = 4 hours, etc.)

Now if you wanted to run the same tournament deep stacked, I'm assuming you would add 4x T500 to make it a T4000 and you're good to go.

 

[Frode789]

Thanks for the input dew4au!

5-10 level has been promptly removed as per suggested. Would you alter any levels when it is 8 players? We pretty much always play with 8, not 9.

I think we will go with 18/19 min levels then, as we aim at about 4.5 hours length. And T4000.

 

[dew4au]

Thanks for the input dew4au!

5-10 level has been promptly removed as per suggested. Would you alter any levels when it is 8 players? We pretty much always play with 8, not 9.

I think we will go with 18/19 min levels then, as we aim at about 4.5 hours length. And T4000.

I've played that exact structure as a T2000 with 8, 9, and 10 players and it seems to play about the same. In the above example, BGinGA estimated that it would end at L14 with 9 players. There's a formula to determine approximately when the tournament will end.

There are two different formulas to determine how long a tournament will last. One is when Antes (A), Small Blind (S), and Big Blind (B) added together equals 5% of the total amount of chips in play (T), the tournament will end. This is expressed in several ways, but one is A+S+B = T*.05. A second formula is when B equals 5%, expressed as B=T*.05.

Considering that, your 8 person T4000 tournament will have 32,000 chips in play. When blinds equal 5% of 32000, the tournament should be close to done. .05 * 32000 = 1600. Blinds at L14 = 1200 and L15 is 1800, so expect your tournament to end around L15.

Not considering breaks, that accounts for 3.25 hours of play. Going from L14 to L15 should reduce blind time from your estimate of 18/19 minutes. 15 levels at 16 minutes is 4 hours even. Add thirty minutes for breaks (a bit optimistic) and you've got 4.5 hours.

Oh yeah, and put an "@" before someone's name when you mention them so they will get an alert! Just do it like this, @Frode789.

 

[Frode789]

Okay, I will give this schedule a spin on Thursday. Thanks @dew4au.

 

[upNdown]

I wonder if a hijack would be appropriate to get a blind schedule for a T1500 of similar parameters - single table, 3-4 hours

 

[dew4au]

I wonder if a hijack would be appropriate to get a blind schedule for a T1500 of similar parameters - single table, 3-4 hours

10 players?

 

[upNdown]

10 would be nice. More likely 8.

 

[dew4au]

Well you would be better served by bumping it to a T2000 and using the above structure, but for T1500 you could do:

Level SB BB
L1 5 10
L2 10 20
L3 15 30
L4 20 40
BREAK
L5 25 50
L6 30 60
L7 40 80
L8 60 120
REMOVE T5
L9 80 160
L10 100 200
L11 150 300
L12 200 400 ***
REMOVE T25
L13 250 500
L14 300 600
L15 400 800
L16 600 1200
REMOVE T100
L17 800 1600
L18 1000 2000
L19 1500 3000
L20 2000 4000

With 8 players, expect that tournament to end at L12. 18 minutes per level plus two ten minute breaks comes out to 3 hours 55 minutes.

If you have 10 players, the end would be at L13, so blind times would need to drop to 17 minutes.

 

[upNdown]

Thanks.
I'm gonna go ahead and call L9 75/150

 

[BGinGA]

Thanks, @dew4au -- seems my work here is complete. (y) :thumbsup:

 

[dew4au]

Thanks, @dew4au -- seems my work here is complete. (y) :thumbsup:

Ha! No problem @BGinGA. I figured I could help field some of the soft balls.

 

[Frode789]

@BGinGA Would you change anything about the blinds for 7 players?
The one posted by dew4au earlier:
http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/tournament-blind-schedule-thoughts.15910/#post-282450

 

[BGinGA]

@BGinGA Would you change anything about the blinds for 7 players?
The one posted by dew4au earlier:
http://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/tournament-blind-schedule-thoughts.15910/#post-282450

Should be fine either way.

 

[Frode789]

We ended up with the schedule above with 17 min levels. 7 players T4000. Finished at L14 with total time (which included about 20 min break time) at 4 hours sharp. I wanted ideally ~30 more minutes so will bump it to 18 or 19 min blind level next time. But the schedule worked good.

 

[Frode789]

For my new set I'm going for a deep stack T15k tournament starting with 25-50 blind level.
Duration without pauses: 4.5-5 hours. (*L16*) 8-10 players.
I am planning on allowing a rebuy up until X level, but I'm not expecting many rebuys though.

How long is it normal to allow rebuys? First 5 levels? More?

Blinds (18 min per level):
L1 25-50
L2 25-75
L3 50-100
L4 75-150
L5 100-200
L6 150-300
-- Remove T25 --
L7 200-400
L8 300-600
L9 400-800
L10 600-1200
L11 800-1600
-- Remove T100 --
L12 1000-2000
L13 1500-3000
L14 2000-4000
L15 2500-5000
-- Remove T500 --
**L16 3000-6000 **
L17 4000-8000
L18 5000-10 000
L19 7000-14 000
L20 10 000-20 000

 

[BGinGA]

With your structure, I'd allow re-buys until the color-up break. Even somebody busting out and re-buying at the end of L6 will have 37+BB after play resumes.