Tourney 500 chip 5/5 blind structure (1 Viewer)

judgeanjury

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So the good old "does this structure" work post?

8 players

Starting stack - 500
$5 - 10
$25 - 10
$100 - 2

Blinds would be every 30 mins with the goal to be done around 3 hours

5-5
5-10
10-20
15-30
25-50
35-70
50-100

If I started it at 5-5 it would save me the headache of finding $1's for my very mixed chipset. However, I don't know if that kills the structure or if I should start with smaller stacks and use the $1's. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?
 
You should get out the $1s if you dont have any $500. How about this one? Replace the T10 with T100

Wow, tall order. Here's my best shot:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/how-to-with-peanuts.27891/post-519448

T500 stacks (125bb)
5 x T1
13 x T5
13 x T10
12 x T25
--------------
43 chips = T500

15-minute levels, avg 33% increases
lvl sb bb
L1 2 4
L2 3 6
L3 4 8
L4 5 10
L5 5 12
L6 8 16
remove T1 chips (requires 1x T50)
L7 10 20
L8 15 30
L9 20 40
L10 25 50
L11 30 60
L12 40 80
remove T5/T10 chips (requires 6x T100 and 2x T500)
L13 50 100
L14 75 150
L15 100 200 ***
L16 150 300
L17 200 400
L18 250 500

All seven chip denominations get into play, with up to 344 starting chips and 105 chips on the table at tournament end.

An 8-player event with 15-minute levells should last no longer than L15, or 3:45 plus two color-up breaks. You can also use this structure for 4 players with 17-minute blind levels (3:41 plus breaks), or 16-minute levels for 6 players (3:44 plus breaks).. Cut the blind level times in half for a 2-hour event, or use the structure below..
 
Others will chime in with better advice, so listen to them.

T500 x 8 players is 4,000 chips on the table. I would expect that to end between 100/200 and 150/300... possibly 200/400 if the last 2-3 guys get very nitty.

IMO 3-hour "turbo" tournaments mean you have to bite the bullet and accept that it is not going to be a "normal" tourney structure. 4 hours is a lot easier.
For 3 hours, you have 3 basic choices (1) start out with short stacks (2) make the blinds extremely short, like 15 minutes (3) make the progression very aggressive.

IMO, it is perfectly do-able with 5s, 25s, and 100s with some compromises, we used to do that all the time. It wasn't the most serious poker, but no 3-hour tourney is going to be serious poker.

I don't like the 35/70 level b/c the BB of "70" requires 6 chips. I would personally go 50/75 but I know that tilts some folks.

If you don't have a second table and guys will be waiting around for the turbo to finish, I also like setting the length of the later blind levels to "5 minutes times the number of players at the start of the level". So 3 players = 15 mins, 2 players = 10 mins.

If I had your chipset and wanted a 3-3.5 hour turbo, I'd do this. T400 (400 chips per player = 3,200 on table) Expected end at level 9.
(Others will disagree. Probably vehemently.)


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I should have added: the bit about reducing blinds length pushes the turbo to a swift end while helping the hands played per level similar. If you have the “spare” guys shuffle & deal you can still play way more hands in a 10- minute level & 2 players than you can in a 20-minute level with 5.

Also, sometimes folks say “about 3 hours” when they rally mean “4 hours plus breaks”. If that’s you, you can go with a much more normal schedule.
 
If you're doing this as a tournament among friends you might want to look into accelerating the blinds every time a player goes bust.

Or make sure a cash game starts as soon as 3-4 people have dropped out of the tournament, that way your final table can be as nitty as they want without boring the other 6 people to death.
 
If you're doing this as a tournament among friends you might want to look into accelerating the blinds every time a player goes bust.

Or make sure a cash game starts as soon as 3-4 people have dropped out of the tournament, that way your final table can be as nitty as they want without boring the other 6 people to death.
I have seen this implemented and spoke of many times... I don't hate it but not really a fan either. We typically run 2 -3 turbos a night, or 1 followed by cash. But is it fair for those who push their way to the finale, to be rushed because others want to get back in? Now once everyone is in the money and at least getting their buy in back, I can see it. Another factor to think about is what is the buy in? If its $100 buy in and a grand on the line that is much different than a $20 buy in and splitting up a couple hundred bucks! Larger buy ins (typically deeper starting stacks) typically means more time to grind it out and pick your points of attack!

Typically we chop at 3 for a STT to get the next game going, but every person has the right to play it out, radically increasing time periods for blinds could easily be viewed as unfair, but if the structure is discussed and laid out ahead of time, I don't see any issue with it. Also keep in mind the other end of that big ole table could be wide open to start cash while the tourney is finishing as well! Just my 2 cents on that one!

Fellow Chipper Ben
 
I have seen this implemented and spoke of many times... I don't hate it but not really a fan either. We typically run 2 -3 turbos a night, or 1 followed by cash. But is it fair for those who push their way to the finale, to be rushed because others want to get back in? Now once everyone is in the money and at least getting their buy in back, I can see it. Another factor to think about is what is the buy in? If its $100 buy in and a grand on the line that is much different than a $20 buy in and splitting up a couple hundred bucks! Larger buy ins (typically deeper starting stacks) typically means more time to grind it out and pick your points of attack!

Typically we chop at 3 for a STT to get the next game going, but every person has the right to play it out, radically increasing time periods for blinds could easily be viewed as unfair, but if the structure is discussed and laid out ahead of time, I don't see any issue with it. Also keep in mind the other end of that big ole table could be wide open to start cash while the tourney is finishing as well! Just my 2 cents on that one!

Fellow Chipper Ben

Oh, I agree it's far from ideal, but to me the biggest difference is context: if this is a regular tourney in a card room, I'd be furious over rushing the final couple players.
I just get the vibe from OP that this is a rather short tourney with a bunch of friends, and to me that signals it's less about the cash and more about providing everyone with some good old cardplaying fun, in which case I totally find it acceptable :)
 
I think doing base T5 for a T500 tournament is good and I like the 10/10/2 starting stacks. I would avoid the 25-50 and 35-70 levels and instead play 20-40 and 30-60 and wait on the color up until after 50-100.

15 minute levels (for 9-10 handed tables I prefer levels of 18m or more, for 8 handed, 15 mins should be good)

5-5
5-10
10-15
10-20 (entry ends at end of this level)

15-30
20-40
30-60 (color up T5)
50-100

75-150
100-200 (expected EOT with no re-entry)
150-300 (expected EOT with 50% entry, color up T25 after level if tournament continues)
200-400

300-600
400-800

(Your expected tourney end is 11 or 12 levels so right at 3 hours)
 
@JustinInMN I like this one. Very well thought out. Thanks for going back to this even though it is a few days old. I decided I am going to go for 1K starting stacks but still need to get the chips for it. So I will stick with this structure until I can find the extra $100's
 
@JustinInMN I like this one. Very well thought out. Thanks for going back to this even though it is a few days old. I decided I am going to go for 1K starting stacks but still need to get the chips for it. So I will stick with this structure until I can find the extra $100's

Good idea. You can keep this structure and start form 5-10 if you want to do T1000 starting but still have 100BB. With T1000 though an 8 player tournament would go until the BB reaches 400. (20 BB rule)

And yes, it is extra T100 chips you need. Adding T500 chips to this would cause problems with change making and not enough T100 chips on the table.

Good luck.
 
So the good old "does this structure" work post?

8 players

Starting stack - 500
$5 - 10
$25 - 10
$100 - 2

Blinds would be every 30 mins with the goal to be done around 3 hours

5-5
5-10
5-15
10-20
15-30
25-50 20-40
35-70 30-60
40-80
// color-up T5 with T100

50-100
75-150
100-200 * your tourney shall end here for 8 players T500
150-300

If I started it at 5-5 it would save me the headache of finding $1's for my very mixed chipset. However, I don't know if that kills the structure or if I should start with smaller stacks and use the $1's. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice?

In bold, the adjustments I would do in your structure. It's really important imho to have a progressive structure.
This means 11 levels of play.
30' would mean 5:30 of play.
20' would mean 3:40 of play.
17' would mean approx. 3:00 of play.

I would personnally go with 20' levels.

For the starting stacks, you can have per player :
10 x T5
10 x T25
2 x T100

So for 8 players :
80 x T5
80 x T25
20 x T100 (incl. 4 chips to color-up the T5).
--> 180 chips in total.

NB: just realized I'm in line with previous post from @JustinInMN ! :)
 

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