Tourney Gut check: T10k ≈3.5 hrs (1 Viewer)

[DJ Mack]

Since the Browns have again showed that they have nothing to offer but misery, I've been asked to host a tournament this Sunday during the game to kick off the poker season. Hey any excuse for gambol, right? Guys are looking for a 3.5-4 hour tourney (with 10 min breaks) which is a bit faster than our usual 4-5. If everyone shows it will be eight players.

One rebuy on bustout in L1-L4 will be allowed as is our custom but usually there are zero or one takers with this group so it's almost not a factor. Any thoughts on the structure below? I'm leaning towards 13 minute levels and shooting for it to end somewhere around L14. Thanks in advance!

T10k Starting Stacks:
T25 x 12
T100 x 12
T500 x 9
T2000 x 2
-------------------
L1/25 - 50
L2/25 - 75
L3/50 - 100
L4/75 - 150
** Break: Remove T25

L5/100 - 200
L6/200 - 300
L7/300 - 600
L8/400 - 800
** Break: Remove T100

L9/500 - 1000
L10/1000 - 2000
L11/2000 - 4000
L12/3000 - 6000
** Break: Remove T500

L13/4000 - 8000
L14/6000 - 12000
L15/10000 - 20000

 

[upNdown]

I find 13 minute levels fly by, especially in a self-dealt home game situation. Do you give any thought to longer levels with larger increases?

 

[DJ Mack]

There's something psychological about this particular group of players. When the levels have large increases they blast through the first hour and then slow play every hand from then out, until the next level is a minute or two out then things pick up so they can start the next hand at the lower level. It's very weird. I've not put a stopwatch to it but I did do a few hand tallies during last year's season and when the increases are large we played about 15% fewer hands per hour. Obnoxious.

 

[BGinGA]

L1/25 - 50
L2/25 - 75
L3/50 - 100
L4/75 - 150
** Break: Remove T25

L5/100 - 200
L6/200 - 300
L7/300 - 600
L8/400 - 800
** Break: Remove T100

L9/500 - 1000
L10/1000 - 2000
L11/2000 - 4000
L12/3000 - 6000
** Break: Remove T500

L13/4000 - 8000
L14/6000 - 12000
L15/10000 - 20000

Expect that^ structure to end no later than L11 (so about 3 hours including breaks), but I really dislike the unnecessary 100% jumps at L7, L10, and L11 -- especially when combined with just a small 25% increase at L9. There is simply no reason for such a wide and random variance in the amount of the blind increases.

I think something that maintains some consistency in the blind increases is much better:

T10K stacks (200bb)
15-minute blind levels
lvl sb bb
L1 25 50
L2 25 75
L3 50 100
L4 75 150
L5 100 200
L6 150 300
BREAK - remove T25 chips
L7 200 400
L8 300 600
L9 400 800
L10 600 1200
L11 800 1600
L12 1100 2200
BREAK - remove T100 chips
L13 1500 3000
L14 2000 4000 ***
L15 3000 6000
L16 4000 8000
L17 6000 12000
L18 8000 16000

All blind increases range from 33% to 50%, averaging 40% overall. Even with 15-minute blind levels and two 10-minute breaks, the event will very rarely exceed L14, or four hours total time including breaks.


The average blind increase of your proposal is 58% -- and there are much better structures that maintain consistency if you want something that aggressive and wish to stay under four hours total time:

T10K stacks (200bb)
20-minute blind levels
lvl sb bb
L1 25 50
L2 50 75
L3 75 125
L4 100 200
BREAK
L5 150 300
L6 250 500
L7 400 800
L8 600 1200
BREAK - remove T25/T100 chips
L9 1000 2000
L10 1500 3000
L11 2500 5000 ***
L12 4000 8000
L13 6000 12000
L14 10000 20000

All blind increases range from 50% to 67%, averaging 59% overall. Even with 20-minute blind levels and two 10-minute breaks, the event will very rarely exceed L11, or four hours total time including breaks.

 

[DJ Mack]

Thanks. Definitely gives me some good ideas for maintaining time. The initial thought was to have the blind increases get larger at the end to ensure things wrap up quickly but using that second structure I think it's possible to have an aggressive structure without making the play seem rushed. Probably going to try that one.

I'm excited to get the T2ks back in play!

 

[pedrofisk]

Thanks. Definitely gives me some good ideas for maintaining time. The initial thought was to have the blind increases get larger at the end to ensure things wrap up quickly but using that second structure I think it's possible to have an aggressive structure without making the play seem rushed. Probably going to try that one.

I'm excited to get the T2ks back in play!

How did this structure work out for you? I am looking at doing a relabel job to add T2ks to my Horseshoe Cleveland set to make it work for tournaments.

 

[DJ Mack]

How did this structure work out for you? I am looking at doing a relabel job to add T2ks to my Horseshoe Cleveland set to make it work for tournaments.

On the whole it has worked well. BSing during breaks has been the big delay but in the end it’s only an extra 15-20 mins or so. I’m hoping to run a larger tourney over the holidays so we will see how it holds up with bigger crowds. I’ll have to be more diligent about policing breaks though.

 

[Josh Kifer]

The browns have broke my heart again....

...... Dorsey isn't a bad backup, but sushi was going the right direction IMO....

 

[DJ Mack]

The browns have broke my heart again....

...... Dorsey isn't a bad backup, but sushi was going the right direction IMO....

Funny. City Hall got raided by the FBI and the IRS last night and all the a’holes in the Cleveland media can talk about is Sashi Brown getting the axe.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Funny. City Hall got raided by the FBI and the IRS last night and all the a’holes in the Cleveland media can talk about is Sashi Brown getting the axe.

Hahaha... I'm an asshole, but I'm not in Cleveland!

 

[HO HO HO]

How many players did you have? This seems like a good blind level

 

[DJ Mack]

How many players did you have? This seems like a good blind level

8, 13, and 6.