Tourney Help with 60 min turbo structure (1 Viewer)

[Blind Joe]

Thinking of trying out a turbo night with my group (usually 6—9 handed) where instead of playing one 4+ hour rebuy tournament we play 4 or 5 x 60 minute freeze out turbos, essentially giving everyone a few chances to play throughout the night and only having to sit out for a limited time if and when they are eliminated.

Below is what I've come up with so far. I've seen another thread suggesting shorter levels but I would be worried about only managing a couple of hands before the blinds increase if we have a full table, so as it stands I've opted for 6 x 10 minute levels with pretty sharp increases.

Starting Stack T10K, T100 base

Level	SB	BB	Increase	Length
1	100	200	100%	10:00
2	200	400	100%	10:00
3	400	800	100%	10:00
4	800	1500	87.5%	10:00
5	1500	3000	100%	10:00
6	3000	6000	100%	10:00
			97.5%	60:00

Anyway, let me know what you think, as well as your suggestions for starting stacks. As always, all feedback is welcome.

 

[aaronroch]

I love the idea of multiple mini super-turbos for a “beer and pretzels” lighthearted poker night.

Flop games are so position-dependent though... and you will only make 2-3 circuits of the table per game.
Are any of your players competitive enough to play very slowly in an effort to “time” things such that they are in late position for the later blind levels? I would think that could make things less fun...

 

[Blind Joe]

I love the idea of multiple mini super-turbos for a “beer and pretzels” lighthearted poker night.

Flop games are so position-dependent though... and you will only make 2-3 circuits of the table per game.
Are any of your players competitive enough to play very slowly in an effort to “time” things such that they are in late position for the later blind levels? I would think that could make things less fun...

Definitely light hearted and I wouldn't expect anyone to manipulate the game like that. But now you mention it...

 

[Frogzilla]

Thinking of trying out a turbo night with my group (usually 6—9 handed) where instead of playing one 4+ hour rebuy tournament we play 4 or 5 x 60 minute freeze out turbos, essentially giving everyone a few chances to play throughout the night and only having to sit out for a limited time if and when they are eliminated.

Below is what I've come up with so far. I've seen another thread suggesting shorter levels but I would be worried about only managing a couple of hands before the blinds increase if we have a full table, so as it stands I've opted for 6 x 10 minute levels with pretty sharp increases.

Starting Stack T10K, T100 base

Level	SB	BB	Increase	Length
1	100	200	100%	10:00
2	200	400	100%	10:00
3	400	800	100%	10:00
4	800	1500	87.5%	10:00
5	1500	3000	100%	10:00
6	3000	6000	100%	10:00
			97.5%	60:00

Anyway, let me know what you think, as well as your suggestions for starting stacks. As always, all feedback is welcome.

10 minute levels are good. I would start even shallower though with a 6k or 8k start stack.

 

[Blind Joe]

10 minute levels are good. I would start even shallower though with a 6k or 8k start stack.

By my reckoning 8—9 handed with a 10K starting stack should finish at level 6 so would a lower starting stack really work?

 

[Frogzilla]

By my reckoning 8—9 handed with a 10K starting stack should finish at level 6 so would a lower starting stack really work?

I think the lack of hands played per level will catch up to you, and the tourney run longer than expected. But you could try it out...is it a big deal if the tourneys avg 75-80 min and you end up with one less tourney?

 

[Blind Joe]

I see what you mean now @Frogzilla it wouldn't be the end of the world if it ran over slightly but I had planned on a 60 minute cut off with the chip leader winning when the buzzer goes. That said if it's likely to run over I'd rather reduce the starting stack.

 

[Gobbs]

In all honesty, I would never play in a tournament designed to only last an hour. Not that there isn’t always a fair amount of luck involved in a tournament, but an hour tournament would be barely short of a crap shoot with very little to no skill actually involved in determining overall results, even over several months or years of play.

I’d stick to the four-hour tournament or at the very least come up with more time and try to have two 150 minute tournaments.

 

[Mr Winberg]

Your tourneys "should" end buy level 5, but @Frogzilla makes a good point that the lack of hands might make it drag on longer.

As far as a 60 minute buzzer, I'd be a bit worried that it might cause some controversies. When heads up, if the chip leader starts tanking a lot people might start suspecting that he/she is angling just to get the win at the buzzer. I'd rather have a rule that the final two always split the money according to an ICM calculation. That should allow a somewhat less aggressive blind structure since you need to get down to two, not one.
(Also, it's common courtesy to split the money with your heads up opponent if your friends are eagerly awaiting the start of a new tourney, so why not make it a rule?)

Just to give you an alternative, back in the day I used to host poker nights for 10 players where we played two or three 2h tournaments. We started with 3k each, 12 minute blind levels, and the following structure:
SB BB
25 50
50 100
75 150
100 200
150 300
color up T25
200 400
300 600
400 800
600 1200
800 1600
1k 2k
etc

They usually ended when the BB was between 800 and 1600. We considered these to be turbos.

 

[JustinInMN]

I see what you mean now @Frogzilla it wouldn't be the end of the world if it ran over slightly but I had planned on a 60 minute cut off with the chip leader winning when the buzzer goes.

This is not a good idea. What will happen is everyone outside of the money will just shove on the last hand with nothing to lose and create a mess of a pot.

The problem with structuring turbos is it is tough to structure because you can only schedule 4-5 levels tops in 60 mins.

So if you are thinking 10K start and 90K in play you are looking for a big blind about 4500 to end the tournament.

So if the first level is 200-400 that's at 25bb start at least

15 minute levels.
200-400
400-800

10 minute levels
800-1600
1500-3000
2500-5000

All further levels double every 8 minutes. This should get you done around an hour most times. Reducing the levels later accounts for fewer players. But either way, something has to give.

 

[JustinInMN]

Or you know, play cash for 5 hours and let everyone play as long as they want.

 

[Blind Joe]

Or you know, play cash for 5 hours and let everyone play as long as they want.

I'd be up for that. Just need a pounds sterling cash set and the money to buy it

 

[Legend5555]

You just can't play hands fast enough to expect to actually end in 60 min. If you want to do 4 mini turbos, I'm curious why you wouldn't just play micro stakes cash where the buy-in for the same 4 mini turbos was 200-300bbs.

 

[BGinGA]

turbo night with my group (usually 6—9 handed)

I've opted for 6 x 10 minute levels with pretty sharp increases.

Starting Stack T10K, T100 base

Level	SB	BB	Increase	Length
1	100	200	100%	10:00
2	200	400	100%	10:00
3	400	800	100%	10:00
4	800	1500	87.5%	10:00
5	1500	3000	100%	10:00
6	3000	6000	100%	10:00
			97.5%	60:00

Not my cup of tea, but 50BB starting stacks should work fine for a 60-minute turbo shove-fest. I'd leave L4 at 800/1600 -- no reason to get fancy (or waste time with color-ups, either).

By my reckoning 8—9 handed with a 10K starting stack should finish at level 6 so would a lower starting stack really work?

9-handed puts just 15BB total in play during L6, almost ensuring that it will end there (if not sooner). Smaller starting stacks really not necessary, and certainly not desired.

I think the lack of hands played per level will catch up to you, and the tourney run longer than expected.

The number of hands played is rather irrelevant, if there simply aren't enough BBs in play at a given level. With super-nits left, it might run an extra 10 minutes, but that really doesn't have anything to do with the duration of the levels (or number of hands played). You can run that structure with 30-minute levels and it will still typically end no later than L6.

I had planned on a 60 minute cut off with the chip leader winning when the buzzer goes.

This is a horrible idea.

You just can't play hands fast enough to expect to actually end in 60 min.

Not true, see above.

 

[BGinGA]

come up with more time and try to have two 150 minute tournaments.

This is a solid suggestion. You can run two 2+ hour tournaments (59% average blind increases) and optionally do an ICM chop once heads-up in the same time frame as four 60-minute super-turbos, with a lot more meaningful play and probable player enjoyment. We use this format a lot for single-table satellites for the main event at PCF meet-ups:

10K starting stacks (100BB)
15-minute blind levels
lvl sb bb
L1 50 100
L2 75 150
L3 125 250
remove T25 chips
L4 200 400
L5 300 600
L6 500 1000
L7 800 1600
L8 1200 2400
remove T100/T500 chips
L9 2000 4000
L10 3000 6000
L11 5000 10000

Typically finishes by L9 (2:15), but would be shorter if you're ICM-chopping heads-up.