Tourney URGENT HELP NEEDED blind structure help T25 running too long (4 Viewers)

[MrE]

Hey Guys,
Urgent help needed for game in 2 days...

I had run a game for over a year and had my structure pretty dialed in for what i was looking for but not long ago my computer crashed and I lost it... I played the structure below but it ran longer than I'd like so I'm looking for suggestions please. We play mainly 2 tables about 11-18 players, T25, 10,000 starting. We start at 5pm, take one dinner break about 30 min and then 2 quick other breaks to color-up maybe 5-10 min ea. With the structure below, our last game ran from 5:00pm to 12:30am. I'd prefer to try to end around 11:30ish including breaks.

Any suggestions to change/modify the structure below to accommodate (we like the 20min levels at least early on)? Open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance everyone!

25/50 20min
25/75 20 min
50/100 20min
75/150 20 min
100/200 20 min
Dinner break 30 min +-
100/200 (25 ante) 20 min
150/300 (25) 20 min
200/400 (50) 20 min
300/600 (75) 20 min
400/800 (100) 20 min
600/1200 (150) 20 min
Color up 10 min +-
800/1600 (200) 20min
1200/2400 (300) 20 min
1600/3200 (400) 20 min
Color up 10min +-
2000/4000 (500) 20 min
3000/6000 (500) 20 min
4000/8000 (1000) 20 min
6000/12000 (1500) 20 min
80000/16000 (2000) 20 min
12000/24000 (4000) 20 min

 

[allforcharity]

Limit rebuys.

I prefer 20min levels, but you can try 17-18 minutes.

Or bring down to 15min levels once half the players eliminated.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Limit rebuys for sure.

You say you like the first two levels, but losing them will save 40 minutes of game time. If dropping (or limiting rebuys) doesn't help, lose the first level at least. That's 20 minutes right there.


Here's another question... how strict are you with level end times? If you aren't militant strict with that, a 20 minute level can quickly become 23 or 24 as "oh, but we already placed the blinds" or "did Steve restart the clock" and those add up to a level or more worth of "play" with those slips. A break that leaks beyond the scheduled time because "Alan and Joe aren't done with their smokes yet" or "Dave's still taking a piss" add on time in a sneaky way.

20 minute level is 20 minutes. 10 minute breaks are TEN MINUTES. Keeping those as planned and "on time" can easily save a lot of time that you think you might otherwise be OK on.

 

[Muschen]

Hey maybe you can try this:

25/50 20min
25/75 20 min <- remove this level
50/100 20min
75/150 20 min
100/200 20 min <- raise the level to 150/300
Dinner break 30 min +-
100/200 (25 ante) 20 min <- remove
150/300 (25) 20 min <- remove
200/400 (50) 20 min <- start here after dinner
300/600 (75) 20 min
400/800 (100) 20 min
600/1200 (150) 20 min
Color up 10 min +-
800/1600 (200) 20min
1200/2400 (300) 20 min
1600/3200 (400) 20 min
Color up 10min +-
2000/4000 (500) 20 min
3000/6000 (500) 20 min
4000/8000 (1000) 20 min
6000/12000 (1500) 20 min
80000/16000 (2000) 20 min
12000/24000 (4000) 20 min

This should not feel like any turbo or something but it should speed up your tournament, I removed 60min total which was your goal and you have a little bit more aggresive blinds early on which might knockout a player or two quicker if their early game is bad.

 

[Mojo1312]

Hey Guys,
Urgent help needed for game in 2 days...

I had run a game for over a year and had my structure pretty dialed in for what i was looking for but not long ago my computer crashed and I lost it... I played the structure below but it ran longer than I'd like so I'm looking for suggestions please. We play mainly 2 tables about 11-18 players, T25, 10,000 starting. We start at 5pm, take one dinner break about 30 min and then 2 quick other breaks to color-up maybe 5-10 min ea. With the structure below, our last game ran from 5:00pm to 12:30am. I'd prefer to try to end around 11:30ish including breaks.

Any suggestions to change/modify the structure below to accommodate (we like the 20min levels at least early on)? Open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance everyone!

25/50 20min
25/75 20 min
50/100 20min
75/150 20 min
100/200 20 min
Dinner break 30 min +-
100/200 (25 ante) 20 min
150/300 (25) 20 min
200/400 (50) 20 min
300/600 (75) 20 min
400/800 (100) 20 min
600/1200 (150) 20 min
Color up 10 min +-
800/1600 (200) 20min
1200/2400 (300) 20 min
1600/3200 (400) 20 min
Color up 10min +-
2000/4000 (500) 20 min
3000/6000 (500) 20 min
4000/8000 (1000) 20 min
6000/12000 (1500) 20 min
80000/16000 (2000) 20 min
12000/24000 (4000) 20 min

Shenanigans! Sticking by your schedule, the tournamnet ended near the end of the last level posted.

Not accounting for the ante, 36 buy-ins leaves leaves the final two players with a total of 15BB's for the final twenty minutes of the game.

Elimate the ante and levels 1 and 6. Increase the starting stacks to T12000. Readjust level 14 to 1500/3000. The removal of the antes, along with the other changes will help increase the pace of the game. Problem solved.

 

[MrE]

I'm very sorry everyone but I should have also mentioned we offer rebuys until the first break and add ons of an additional 10,000 in chips at the dinner break. Normally everyone adds on and we typically see between 0-5 rebuys.

 

[Natskule]

Hey Guys,
Urgent help needed for game in 2 days...

I had run a game for over a year and had my structure pretty dialed in for what i was looking for but not long ago my computer crashed and I lost it... I played the structure below but it ran longer than I'd like so I'm looking for suggestions please. We play mainly 2 tables about 11-18 players, T25, 10,000 starting. We start at 5pm, take one dinner break about 30 min and then 2 quick other breaks to color-up maybe 5-10 min ea. With the structure below, our last game ran from 5:00pm to 12:30am. I'd prefer to try to end around 11:30ish including breaks.

Any suggestions to change/modify the structure below to accommodate (we like the 20min levels at least early on)? Open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance everyone!

25/50 20min
25/75 20 min
50/100 20min
75/150 20 min
100/200 20 min
Dinner break 30 min +-
100/200 (25 ante) 20 min
150/300 (25) 20 min
200/400 (50) 20 min
300/600 (75) 20 min
400/800 (100) 20 min
600/1200 (150) 20 min
Color up 10 min +-
800/1600 (200) 20min
1200/2400 (300) 20 min
1600/3200 (400) 20 min
Color up 10min +-
2000/4000 (500) 20 min
3000/6000 (500) 20 min
4000/8000 (1000) 20 min
6000/12000 (1500) 20 min
80000/16000 (2000) 20 min
12000/24000 (4000) 20 min

Drop the first two levels and the 10/200 (25 ante) level and you just lost your hour you were over.

 

[BGinGA]

Hey Guys,
Urgent help needed for game in 2 days...

I had run a game for over a year and had my structure pretty dialed in for what i was looking for but not long ago my computer crashed and I lost it... I played the structure below but it ran longer than I'd like so I'm looking for suggestions please. We play mainly 2 tables about 11-18 players, T25, 10,000 starting. We start at 5pm, take one dinner break about 30 min and then 2 quick other breaks to color-up maybe 5-10 min ea. With the structure below, our last game ran from 5:00pm to 12:30am. I'd prefer to try to end around 11:30ish including breaks.

Any suggestions to change/modify the structure below to accommodate (we like the 20min levels at least early on)? Open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance everyone!

25/50 20min
25/75 20 min
50/100 20min
75/150 20 min
100/200 20 min
Dinner break 30 min +-
100/200 (25 ante) 20 min
150/300 (25) 20 min
200/400 (50) 20 min
300/600 (75) 20 min
400/800 (100) 20 min
600/1200 (150) 20 min
Color up 10 min +-
800/1600 (200) 20min
1200/2400 (300) 20 min
1600/3200 (400) 20 min
Color up 10min +-
2000/4000 (500) 20 min
3000/6000 (500) 20 min
4000/8000 (1000) 20 min
6000/12000 (1500) 20 min
80000/16000 (2000) 20 min
12000/24000 (4000) 20 min

• keep most of the existing blind structure
• eliminate the antes (and thus ditching the repetitive 100/200 level)
• change 1600/3200 level to 1500/3000.
• change the 10k add-on to 5k
• color-up T25 chips after 150/300
• color-up T100/T500 chips after 1500/3000
• start 15-minute levels after last color-up

That's 5:00 hours play time plus a 30-minute dinner break and two 10-minute color-up breaks. If starting at 5:30 pm, end time will be 11:20 pm at latest.

 

[Legend5555]

IMO, doing shorter levels earlier and later ones longer makes more sense. You want more time when the decisions matter more.

Also, antes tend to speed up play assuming everyone understands how to adjust to antes. If they don't, then whether you have it or not doesn't really matter. But if using ante, BBA is much faster.

 

[MrE]

Do you think the attached would work for what I'm trying to do?

 

[drdr]

I'd still ditch the second redundant 100/200 level. That times better used smoothing the later blind jumps a little. Or just to save 20 mins.

 

[BGinGA]

Do you think the attached would work for what I'm trying to do?

No.

 

[Preditor]

Some ideas from me. Some echo what others have said. Just ideas. Take or leave what you want.

• Move to a Big Blind ante. Individual antes can slow down play (Did Steve put it in this time?!) compared to just having the Big Blind do it.
  • This will also allow for earlier color-ups, reducing the time players need to stack mountains of T25 chips.
• Lose the 25/75. One double up is ok for a home game. Consider the first round the "Let's get used to this again" round.
• Lose the 100/200 double level. Just have the antes kick in (or have them kick in earlier).
• Make the 1600/3200 level 1500/3000. If you transition to a BBA, you can move your color up for your 100s and 500s after the 1500/3000 level. You now have one color-up break for both the 100 and 500 chips
• Go to 15 minute levels once the 500s and 100s are colored-up.
• See if anyone is willing to volunteer to dedicate deal at your table. More hands per hour.
• Make your Add-On smaller.

 

[MrE]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I appreciate the insight.

Some had mentioned a big blind ante instead of a regular ante. I understand how a big blind ante works but I'm not too familiar with how much it should be? Is the ante the same amount as the Big blind?

 

[Preditor]

Thanks everyone for the responses, I appreciate the insight.

Some had mentioned a big blind ante instead of a regular ante. I understand how a big blind ante works but I'm not too familiar with how much it should be? Is the ante the same amount as the Big blind?

It is usually the same amount at the Big Blind. So if big blind is 100? BBA is 100.

It's one of the beauties of it. It's just simple.

Some tournaments will halve the BBA at 6 players and/or remove it heads up.

Personally, I would keep it to the end to start, and then see how short it goes.

 

[ValueTown]

I would drop to 17 min blinds. Then after the final break, drop to 15 mins.

 

[Timmah]

We shoot for a 2-2.5 hour tourney so there’s time for a cash game. We only do 100bb and have 15 blind levels.

 

[Legend5555]

It is usually the same amount at the Big Blind. So if big blind is 100? BBA is 100.

It's one of the beauties of it. It's just simple.

Some tournaments will halve the BBA at 6 players and/or remove it heads up.

Personally, I would keep it to the end to start, and then see how short it goes. Then

I usually just keep it the whole way through for simplicity and because that's how the vast majority of casino tournaments do it. It can seem crazy to have such a big ante short handed, but you just adjust when playing.

 

[justsomedude]

I run a similar structure but no antes.

- remove antes
- remove 25/75 level
- change 1600 level to 1500/3000
- reduce level time to 15min once the game is 6-handed (you don't have to tie it to a specific level; just announce it up front so everyone is aware)
- reduce dinner break to 20min
- reduce all other breaks to 8min

 

[Preditor]

I usually just keep it the whole way through for simplicity and because that's how the vast majority of casino tournaments do it. It can seem crazy to have such a big ante short handed, but you just adjust when playing.

Yea, that is what I do as well. I was just telling him his options.

But for simplicity, I would keep it all the way through as well.

 

[stuamurr]

Reading through the responses and my suggestions are pretty much the same.

1. Switch to a BBA, to save repeating same level to introduce ante have first two BBA’s at 1/2 and 2/3rds of BB then from there in match the BB. Antes are essential to smooth out the game so I would not ditch.
2. BBA is quicker and easier - especially if it's a self deal (I prefer a per person ante but only good if competent players and a non-playing dealer in my experience)
3. 8000/16,000 starts at 5h58m in the below structure and the end should be in sight at this point.
4. 1500/3000(3000) can be replaced with 1000/3000(3000) if you want to get the 500's off at the same time as the 100's and you can then shorten the third break as you won't need to colour up/race off during it.
5. First 10 levels at 20min then down to 18min - you should adjust this to suit your own players
6. No ante during heads-up play
7. Less chips = more play - are players starting with 20 x 100 for example or 10? if you want a nice slow game give each player a big starting stack with lots of each colour. If you want more action limit the amount of each colour on the table and frequently colour up as players drop out to keep the action going
8. The other consideration is your payout structure which you haven't posted. If it is top heavy then players will 'dig in' whereas a flatter payout structure tends to generate looser play and quicker finishes.