I've been running fundraiser tournaments for a few years now, having tweaked my blinds schedule as I go I've finally got a structure that works for 5 hours for 60+ players. However, the schedule is very, very aggressive towards the end. I need this schedule to be done in 5 hours, typically we start at 7pm and the customers have the rental hall until 1am, so the game must finish by midnight to allow for the game to run a bit late if necessary plus cleanup time. Plus we usually start late, closer to 7:15 or even 7:30.
This is the schedule I've used for the last year which as mentioned, works but I get lots of complaints towards the end. I let everyone know that we have a time limit and most are understanding about the situation, but not all.
Blind Structure:
$5000 starting stack
Time SB BB
7pm
15 25 50
15 50 100
15 75 150
15 100 200
8pm
15 150 300
15 200 400
15 300 600
15 400 800
9pm
20 Break - chip up 25's -- End of rebuys - Add ons
15 600 1,200
15 800 1,600
15 1,200 2,400
10pm(ish)
15 1,600 3,200
15 2,500 5,000
15 5,000 10,000
Blinds reduce to 10 minutes. 11pm ish at this point.
10 10,000 20,000
10 25,000 50,000 (big jump here)
10 50,000 100,000
10 100,000 200,000
Blinds double every 10 minutes.
I do not want to introduce antes because these are large self dealt tournaments. Also keep in mind that these are not all regular poker players, there can be some very weak play towards the end where it's just a fold-a-thon, dragging the game even longer.
These games typically have lots of rebuys and add ons, so it's not abnormal to have over 1M in chips in play.
Thanks in advance.
This is the schedule I've used for the last year which as mentioned, works but I get lots of complaints towards the end. I let everyone know that we have a time limit and most are understanding about the situation, but not all.
Blind Structure:
$5000 starting stack
Time SB BB
7pm
15 25 50
15 50 100
15 75 150
15 100 200
8pm
15 150 300
15 200 400
15 300 600
15 400 800
9pm
20 Break - chip up 25's -- End of rebuys - Add ons
15 600 1,200
15 800 1,600
15 1,200 2,400
10pm(ish)
15 1,600 3,200
15 2,500 5,000
15 5,000 10,000
Blinds reduce to 10 minutes. 11pm ish at this point.
10 10,000 20,000
10 25,000 50,000 (big jump here)
10 50,000 100,000
10 100,000 200,000
Blinds double every 10 minutes.
I do not want to introduce antes because these are large self dealt tournaments. Also keep in mind that these are not all regular poker players, there can be some very weak play towards the end where it's just a fold-a-thon, dragging the game even longer.
These games typically have lots of rebuys and add ons, so it's not abnormal to have over 1M in chips in play.
Thanks in advance.