Tourney HELP with structure for Meet-Up Main Event (3 Viewers)

[cpac54]

I'm hosting my first ever meet-up at the end of January and on the Saturday I'll do a big "Main Event" tournament. My only challenge? I never host tournaments!

Some info:
- 2 tables (16 players is the most likely number)
- Will be a $75 buy-in. Freezeout format. No re-buys. No bounties. No antes.
- Start time early afternoon around 2:30-3pm
- Deepstack format. Was thinking 25k starting stacks (12/12/5/6/2) but open to suggestions.
- Would like the levels to allow for comfortable play without turning into a shove fest too early.
- Dinner break of 1 hour around 6pm (give or take)
- Breaks of 15min to allow for nature breaks and colour-ups.
- Duration: not too short, but shouldn't run until midnight either. I had thought 5-6 hours of play not incl. breaks sounded reasonable, but I'm open to suggestions.

Chips:
- assume a T25 base set with no restrictions on chip quantities. Set options: (T25/T100/T500/T1k/T5k) or (T25/T100/T500/T1k/T5k/T25k)

Payout:
- happy for guidelines on payout structure here. Likely 16 players, but let's assume anywhere from 14-18, depending on last minute sign-ups or cancellations.


Thanks for your help in advance! Any and all suggestions re: the above, or tips and tricks for running a great meet-up tournament in general are very welcome!

I'll also just get it out of the way and just tag @BGinGA now!

 

[Mesnik44]

This is what I used for my Christmas Tournament that was similar to what you have.

 

[Mesnik44]

The second break was to remove a free rebuy chip, so not necessary to have.

 

[buzzmonkey]

• I'd drop the breaks to 10 minutes. That's usually more than enough. Also include the stipulation that breaks can be ended early if agreed on by all remaining players.
• 300 bigs is more than enough. For a T25, that would be 15k starting stacks. You could also do 10k stacks and have a nice game.
• I think 20 minute levels with slow increase would be fine, and if your time allows 30 minutes would be even better.

Here's a sample structure. 10k starting stacks, 20 minute levels, insert breaks as you see fit. Add BB Ante if you see fit. Just under 6.5 hours without breaks:

Level	Blinds	Time
	Small	Big	BB Ante	Round Length	Time Elapsed	BBs
1	25	50		20	0.33	200.0
2	50	100		20	0.67	100.0
3	75	150		20	1.00	66.7
4	100	200		20	1.33	50.0
5	150	300		20	1.67	33.3
6	200	400		20	2.00	25.0
7	250	500		20	2.33	20.0
8 - color up 25s	300	600		20	2.67	16.7
9	400	800		20	3.00	12.5
10	500	1,000		20	3.33	10.0
11	600	1,200		20	3.67	8.3
12	800	1,600		20	4.00	6.3
13 - color up 100s	1,000	2,000		20	4.33	5.0
14	1,000	2,500		20	4.67	4.2
15	1,500	3,000		20	5.00	3.3
16	2,000	4,000		20	5.33	2.5
17	2,500	5,000		20	5.67	2.0
18	3,000	6,000		20	6.00	1.7
19	4,000	8,000		20	6.33	1.3
20	5,000	10,000		20	6.67	1.0
21	6,000	12,000		20	7.00	0.8
22	8,000	16,000		20	7.33	0.6
23	10,000	20,000		20	7.67	0.4
Number of Players:	16
Starting Chips:	10,000
Total Chips in Play:	160,000
Est. end of tourney (BB):	8,000

 

[allforcharity]

12/12/5/6/2 is 20k BTW, which is probably enough at 400BB.

Top 4-5 payout ok. If 14 then 4, if 18 then 5.

 

[cpac54]

12/12/5/6/2 is 20k BTW, which is probably enough at 400BB.

Top 4-5 payout ok. If 14 then 4, if 18 then 5.

Math is hard. Lol.

Thanks, total brain fart on my part there

 

[JoeBGo]

We play a 16 man tournament on Super Bowl Sunday morning.
50k starting stack
T100
20 minute blinds
100-200
200-400
300-600
400-800
500-1000
600-1200
800-1600
1000-2000
1500-3000
2000-4000
2500-5000
3000-6000
4000-8000
5000-10000
6000-12000
8000-16000
10000-20000
15000-30000
20000-40000
250000-50000

 

[Sparkynutz]

This is what I used for my Christmas Tournament that was similar to what you have.
View attachment 1252904

What app is that?

 

[Mesnik44]

What app is that?

Tournament Director

 

[BGinGA]

T25-base, T40k stacks (12/12/5/11/5) with 50/100 opening blinds (400bb).

The structure below features moderate blind increases between 33% and 50%, averaging ~41%. For two tables (11-20 players), it will typically run no longer than the times listed below (including four breaks totalling 1:40):

7:40 to 8:00 using 20-minute levels
7:00to 7:15 using 18-minute levels
6:10 to 6:25 using 15-minute levels

With a 2:30 p.m. start, the event should end no later than 10:30 p.m. if using 20-minute levels. That's roughly 3.5 hours of play (plus breaks) prior to a 6:30 pm dinner break, and up to 3 hours of play (plus break) afterwards.

lvl sb bb
L1 50 100
L2 75 150
L3 100 200
L4 150 300
~ 15 min break ~ (remove T25 chips)
L5 200 400
L6 300 600
L7 400 800
~ 10 min break ~
L8 600 1200
L9 800 1600
L10 1100 2200
L11 1500 3000
~ 60 min dinner break ~ (remove T100/500 chips)
L12 2000 4000
L13 3000 6000
L14 4000 8000
L15 6000 12000
L16 8000 16000
~ 15 min break ~ (remove T1000 chips)
L17 10000 20000
L18 15000 30000 *eot (11-15 players)
L19 20000 40000 *eot (16-20 players)
L20 30000 60000

Use T5000s for the T25, T100, and T500 color-ups, and use T25k chips for T1000 color-ups.*

T25-base chip set (20 players):
240 x T25
240 x T100
100 x T500
220 x T1000
117 x T5000 (17x for color-ups)
9 x T25000 *

* You can also color-up the T1000 chips using an additional 44x T5000s in lieu of using the T25k chips.

 

[cpac54]

T25-base, T40k stacks (12/12/5/11/5) with 50/100 opening blinds (400bb).

The structure below features moderate blind increases between 33% and 50%, averaging ~41%. For two tables (11-20 players), it will typically run no longer than the times listed below (including four breaks totalling 1:40):

7:40 to 8:00 using 20-minute levels
7:00to 7:15 using 18-minute levels
6:10 to 6:25 using 15-minute levels

With a 2:30 p.m. start, the event should end no later than 10:30 p.m. if using 20-minute levels. That's roughly 3.5 hours of play (plus breaks) prior to a 6:30 pm dinner break, and up to 3 hours of play (plus break) afterwards.

lvl sb bb
L1 50 100
L2 75 150
L3 100 200
L4 150 300
~ 15 min break ~ (remove T25 chips)
L5 200 400
L6 300 600
L7 400 800
~ 10 min break ~
L8 600 1200
L9 800 1600
L10 1100 2200
L11 1500 3000
~ 60 min dinner break ~ (remove T100/500 chips)
L12 2000 4000
L13 3000 6000
L14 4000 8000
L15 6000 12000
L16 8000 16000
~ 15 min break ~ (remove T1000 chips)
L17 10000 20000
L18 15000 30000 *eot (11-15 players)
L19 20000 40000 *eot (16-20 players)
L20 30000 60000

Use T5000s for the T25, T100, and T500 color-ups, and use T25k chips for T1000 color-ups.*

T25-base chip set (20 players):
240 x T25
240 x T100
100 x T500
220 x T1000
117 x T5000 (17x for color-ups)
9 x T25000 *

* You can also color-up the T1000 chips using an additional 44x T5000s in lieu of using the T25k chips.

Thanks everyone who's contributed so far. I really like the idea of being able to get the biggest denom (25k) chips into play. I realize that I wrote, "assume no restrictions on chip quantities," however for the set with the T25ks, I actually have a different breakdown vs. the above

220 x T25
220 x T100
160 x T500
210 x T1000
110 x T5000
50 x T25000

My 2 table tournament will have 16-17 players max. What would a reasonable adjustment to the above starting stacks and colour-ups look like? 12/12/9/9/5?

 

[JustinInMN]

My suggestion is somewhat similar to @BGinGA with a couple tweaks.

Stick to 20K stack, 200BB start at 50-100
Use 20 Minute levels
Used 1200-2400 and 1600-3200 instead of 1100-2200 and 1500-3000 (edit to add, using 1000-2000 and 1500-3000 is fine here too)

Levels 1-4
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300
** Remove T25 (15m)

Levels 5-8
200-400
300-600
400-800
600-1200
** Break (15m)

Levels 9-11
800-1600
1200-2400
1600-3200
** Remove T100 & T500 (long break, 60m)

Levels 12-16
2K-4K
3K-6K
4K-8K
6K-12K
8K-16K (Likely EOT)

Levels 17 and beyond (if necessary)

** Remove T1000, reduce levels to 15 or 16 mins
10K-20K
15K-30K
20K-40K
30K-60K
40K-80K

So 16 levels at 20 mins each is 5h20m of play + 1h30m of breaks gets you in just under 7 hours all total.

I still like 15 minute breaks in a multi table tournament, especially early. Will take players a little longer to make their stops and it will take the TD a little longer to do a color up with two active tables.

If you leave the breaks as I have them you will have likely 1h20 - 1h40 of play after the long break. If you swap the long break to after 600-1200 and do a short break on the T100 & T500 color up, then you will have roughly 2h30m of play after the long break. So it just depends on where you want that to fit. But this won't go to midnight unless you start after 5pm .

 

[cpac54]

My suggestion is somewhat similar to @BGinGA with a couple tweaks.

Stick to 20K stack, 200BB start at 50-100
Use 20 Minute levels
Used 1200-2400 and 1600-3200 instead of 1100-2200 and 1500-3000 (edit to add, using 1000-2000 and 1500-3000 is fine here too)

Levels 1-4
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300
** Remove T25 (15m)

Levels 5-8
200-400
300-600
400-800
600-1200
** Break (15m)

Levels 9-11
800-1600
1200-2400
1600-3200
** Remove T100 & T500 (long break, 60m)

Levels 12-16
2K-4K
3K-6K
4K-8K
6K-12K
8K-16K (Likely EOT)

Levels 17 and beyond (if necessary)

** Remove T1000, reduce levels to 15 or 16 mins
10K-20K
15K-30K
20K-40K
30K-60K
40K-80K

So 16 levels at 20 mins each is 5h20m of play + 1h30m of breaks gets you in just under 7 hours all total.

I still like 15 minute breaks in a multi table tournament, especially early. Will take players a little longer to make their stops and it will take the TD a little longer to do a color up with two active tables.

If you leave the breaks as I have them you will have likely 1h20 - 1h40 of play after the long break. If you swap the long break to after 600-1200 and do a short break on the T100 & T500 color up, then you will have roughly 2h30m of play after the long break. So it just depends on where you want that to fit. But this won't go to midnight unless you start after 5pm .

Thank-you! So, the biggest difference between starting stack size here (20k vs 40k) is the effect on overall duration of the tournament, correct?

What starting stacks would you use given my set breakdown (see post above yours)?

 

[JustinInMN]

Thank-you! So, the biggest difference between starting stack size here (20k vs 40k) is the effect on overall duration of the tournament, correct?

What starting stacks would you use given my set breakdown (see post above yours)?

Yeah, if you did 40K you would expect the tournament to run a couple additional levels past where I marked. Level duration also has an impact. @BGinGA gave you total tournament times for 3 possible choices of level duration, 15m, 18m, or 20m. I specified 20m in my suggestion because that is my favorite choice. I think 18m should be considered the bare minimum for a self dealt tournament, and I would sooner shorten the starting stack to fit a time frame than play 15m levels.

Again our rule of thumb is that tournament will likely end on or before the level where all chips in play represent 20x BB. (And my personal experience is this is a late estimate, often tournaments wrap up a level or two before this.)

I figure at 2 min per hand a level that's 18 mins, meaning there is a good chance everyone deal will deal at least one hand during that timeframe. If levels move faster than orbits, I personally think the game feels too slow, it may be my opinion, but I don't think I'm alone.

As for starting stacks, I liked your plan of doing 12/12/5/6/2 of T25/100/500/1000/5000 in your first post. With the quantities you have given you can support 18 such stacks easily, after that, do all color ups with T5Ks.

If you do a 20K starting stack, you probably won't need to get T25K chips in play. (Your entire tournament would be about 320K at 16*20K, covered by 13 T25K chips) If you do a 40K starting stack, you might and would probably introduce them at the T1000 Color-up. (You could also consider introducing them on the combined 100 & 500 Color up.)

Or just to open the can of worms, if you really want to get the T25K chips in play, you probably could look at doing at base T100 setup with say a T60K starting stack starting at 100-200 blinds. (300BB starting stack.) Starting stacks of 10/6/6/5/1 of T100/500/1000/5000/25K and then use additional T25K for all the color ups.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[cpac54]

Yeah, if you did 40K you would expect the tournament to run a couple additional levels past where I marked. Level duration also has an impact. @BGinGA gave you total tournament times for 3 possible choices of level duration, 15m, 18m, or 20m. I specified 20m in my suggestion because that is my favorite choice. I think 18m should be considered the bare minimum for a self dealt tournament, and I would sooner shorten the starting stack to fit a time frame than play 15m levels.

Again our rule of thumb is that tournament will likely end on or before the level where all chips in play represent 20x BB. (And my personal experience is this is a late estimate, often tournaments wrap up a level or two before this.)

I figure at 2 min per hand a level that's 18 mins has a good chance of having everyone deal one hand during that timeframe. If levels move faster than orbits, I personally think the game feels too slow, it may be my opinion, but I don't think I'm alone.

As for starting stacks, I liked your plan of doing 12/12/5/6/2 of T25/100/500/1000/5000 in your first post. With the quantities you have given you can support 18 such stacks easily, after that, do all color ups with T5Ks.

If you do a 20K starting stack, you probably won't need to get T25K chips in play. (Your entire tournament would be about 320K at 16*20K, covered by 13 T25K chips) If you do a 40K starting stack, you might and would probably introduce them at the T1000 Color-up. (You could also consider introducing them on the combined 100 & 500 Color up.)

Or just to open the can of worms, if you really want to get the T25K chips in play, you probably could look at doing at base T100 setup with say a T60K starting stack starting at 100-200 blinds. (300BB starting stack.) Starting stacks of 10/6/6/5/1 of T100/500/1000/5000/25K and then use additional T25K for all the color ups.

Just a few thoughts.

Thank-you for the detailed explanations. I think longer levels would be the preference. What seems to be the preference in general? Is there any reason to consider longer levels (25min for example)?

The 20x BB rule of thumb you brought up is helpful - allows me to play a little bit with starting stacks, blind levels, etc. in Blind Valet and see what affect that has on duration of the game. Personally, I would like to avoid a tournament that runs too short and turns into a shove-fest early, but I'd also like to wrap up before midnight i.e. still have plenty of time for cash afterwards.

What seems to be the "standard" length for these type of Meet-Up Main Event tournaments?

 

[JustinInMN]

Thank-you for the detailed explanations. I think longer levels would be the preference. What seems to be the preference in general? Is there any reason to consider longer levels (25min for example)?

I have occasionally done 25m levels and the feedback from my players was that felt a little long. But your mileage may vary. Bear in mind if you are in the neighborhood of playing 16 levels, an extra 5 minutes each will add 1h20m to your tournament. That can be good or bad depending on how you are making the time work.

Personally, I would like to avoid a tournament that runs too short and turns into a shove-fest early, but I'd also like to wrap up before midnight i.e. still have plenty of time for cash afterwards.

If you follow a pretty smooth blind progression, you certainly avoid the early shove fest. Note the structure both @BGinGA and I have proposed have no level doubles and the blind increases level over level are 50% or less. If you settle on a good blind progression, then you can focus your adjustments on stack size and level duration to make it fit how you want.

 

[cpac54]

I have occasionally done 25m levels and the feedback from my players was that felt a little long. But your mileage may vary. Bear in mind if you are in the neighborhood of playing 16 levels, an extra 5 minutes each will add 1h20m to your tournament. That can be good or bad depending on how you are making the time work.



If you follow a pretty smooth blind progression, you certainly avoid the early shove fest. Note the structure both @BGinGA and I have proposed have no level doubles and the blind increases level over level are 50% or less. If you settle on a good blind progression, then you can focus your adjustments on stack size and level duration to make it fit how you want.

Thanks! That all makes good sense. I will stick to a smooth blind progression as suggested above and play around with duration. In my mind, I feel like 7-8 hours incl. all the breaks seems reasonable, but I have played in exactly ONE tournament in the past 6 years, so it's hard to say what the normal expectation is.

 

[buzzmonkey]

I used to do 45 minute levels for our annual deepstack, but once we had more than a table the games were running 12+ hours. The longest I do now are 30 minutes and most of the time it's 20 minutes.

The thing I like about some of the schedules people posted more than the one I did, is the smaller jump from L1 to L2.

 

[JustinInMN]

I used to do 45 minute levels for our annual deepstack, but once we had more than a table the games were running 12+ hours. The longest I do now are 30 minutes and most of the time it's 20 minutes.

The thing I like about some of the schedules people posted more than the one I did, is the smaller jump from L1 to L2.

I would agree, I think 18-20 minutes are really the best choices for MOST home games. Nothing wrong with going longer occasionally if the players understand the duration when they commit. But players that don't observe structure and just think "home game" probably would expect somewhere between 15-20 minute levels. I have my reasons for disliking the low end of that range as I said above .

 

[BGinGA]

Our events typically use either 15-minute levels, 20-minute levels, or a combo of the two. Most 16-player events end within a 5+ hour window.

Our league championship uses 25-minute levels, and usually completes in 8+ hours, including an hour dinner break.

 

[cpac54]

Thanks everyone for the inputs - PCF rocks.

I'll play around with some formats based on the feedback and come back if I have any more questions.

 

[inca911]

Here is an option with increasing lengths per level, so a bit more time at the end. Used last weekend with OJs.

Level	Length	Small	Big	% Increase	Total (hr)	Notes
1	15	50	100	N/A	0.25	Rebuy
2	15	100	200	100%	0.50	Rebuy
3	15	150	300	50%	0.75	Rebuy
4	15	200	400	33%	1.00	Rebuy
5	15	300	600	50%	1.25	Rebuy
6	15	400	800	33%	1.50	Rebuy
BREAK	10				1.67	Remove T25
7	16	600	1,200	33%	1.93
8	16	800	1,600	25%	2.20
9	16	1,100	2,200	27%	2.47
10	16	1,500	3,000	27%	2.73
11	16	2,000	4,000	25%	3.00
BREAK	10				3.17	Remove T100
12	17	2,500	5,000	20%	3.45
13	17	3,000	6,000	17%	3.73
14	18	3,500	7,000	14%	4.03
15	18	4,000	8,000	13%	4.33
BREAK	0				4.33
16	20	5,000	10,000	20%	4.67	T15K End
17	20	6,000	12,000	17%	5.00
18	20	7,000	14,000	14%	5.33	T25K End
19	20	9,000	18,000	22%	5.67
BREAK	10				5.83
20	22	10,000	20,000	10%	6.20
21	22	12,000	24,000	17%	6.57
22	22	14,000	28,000	14%	6.93
23	22	16,000	32,000	13%	7.30	T50K End
24	22	20,000	40,000	20%	7.67

 

[Mojo1312]

I have always appreciated tournaments with a rebuy period ever since my friend, who travelled 30 miles, got felted hitting a set against a flopped straight less than 20 minutes into a two table freeze-out game that I got him an invite to. Re-buys also inflate the prize pool, making the journey to the finish line more worthwhile.

As a host, I implemented a 90 minute single re-buy period. Worked well, and everybody had a good time.

 

[cpac54]

So, I've been playing around with formats for my meet-up based on all of the above info. I like the idea of getting the T25k chips into play and am now considering a starting stack of 50,000 (12/12/5/6/3/1) for 17 players (current registration, capped at this amount). Do those starting stack amounts make sense given the set breakdown, or would you tweak?

Set breakdown:
220 = T25
220 = T100
160 = T500
210 = T1k
110 = T5k
50 = T25k

Looking at 17 players with the above starting stack and the following blind schedule, I should expect the tournament to end somewhere around lvl 19/20 (8-8.5 hours total incl. breaks), correct?

Does that seem too long for a 2TT? Or about okay?

Level	Time (Start 2pm)	SB	BB
1	20 (0:20)	50	100
2	20 (0:40)	75	150
3	20 (1:00)	100	200
4	20 (1:20)	150	300
	15 (1:35)	Break - Colour Up T25 chips
5	20 (1:55)	200	400
6	20 (2:15)	300	600
7	20 (2:35)	400	800
8	20 (2:55)	600	1200
	15 (3:10)	Break
9	20 (3:30)	800	1600
10	20 (3:50)	1100	2200
11	20 (4:10)	1500	3K
	60 (5:10)	Dinner Break (6:10pm to 7:10pm) - Colour Up T100 & T500 chips
12	20 (5:30)	2K	4K
13	20 (5:50)	3K	6K
14	20 (6:10)	4K	8K
15	20 (6:30)	6K	12K
16	20 (6:50)	8K	16K
	15 (7:05)	Break - Colour Up T1000 chips
17	20 (7:25)	10K	20K
18	20 (7:45)	15K	30K
19	20 (8:05)	20K	40K
20	20 (8:25)	30K	60K
21	20 (8:45)	40K	80K

In terms of chipping up, what would be the most efficient way of colouring up given my set breakdown? 1k chips for the T25, T100 and T500? 5k for the 1k? I figure that would leave approx 85 x 5k and 17 x 25k heads up (total 102 chips). (See set breakdown above)

Does that sound right? I'm definitely no expert here, so appreciate any advice for doing the colour ups efficiently and leaving enough chips in play near the end.

Anything else I'm missing here? Thanks again for all the help and feedback!

 

[JustinInMN]

I don't think I would put a T25k in a starting stack that's only 50k. With only 3*T5k per person on the table, it's going to put the players in tough spots when it comes to breaking T25k chips.

I would instead suggest introducing the T25k chips on the T100 color up or for re-entries that follow the T25 color up. At that point there will at least be enough T5k chips on the tables to make change.

 

[buzzmonkey]

I don't think I would put a T25k in a starting stack that's only 50k. With only 3*T5k per person on the table, it's going to put the players in tough spots when it comes to breaking T25 chips.

I would instead suggest introducing the T25k chips on the T100 color up or for re-entries that follow the T25 color up. At that point there will at least be enough T5k chips on the tables to make change.

I use a 25k this but it's a challenge. I'm planning to get another rack and a half of 5ks.

 

[inca911]

With your set, I recommend the following for T50k:

For color-up, you have plenty of chips. Reminder to ask chip leader at each table to buy the smaller chips being colored-up at their table to save the host time. After the chip leaders buy the majority of chips being colored up (i.e., those not being rounded-up), ask the players to have nice little stacks in front of them that round up to T1k or T500 so you can quickly drop a chip and pull off the extras. You should only spend appreciable time with the chip leader at each table (unless you really want to race instead of round chips at color-up).

When coloring later, start with the big stacks and exchange 5xT5k chips for a couple T25k and you will have plenty (i.e., as you are just n=9 chips short of max T5k target). Recommend saving T25k for players who rebuy and the final color-up. It makes those chips more special. With 12/12/X starting point, you have lots of chips, so avoid adding lower denom chips that are removed later.

For structure, I'd add a few levels between some of your larger blind increases (i.e., SB 2k to 8k) to avoid a rushed feel to the late tourney. I'd also slightly accelerate the lower level timing in exchange for more time at the higher levels where decisions need more time.

Have fun, and post lots of pics!

 

[cpac54]

I don't think I would put a T25k in a starting stack that's only 50k. With only 3*T5k per person on the table, it's going to put the players in tough spots when it comes to breaking T25k chips.

I would instead suggest introducing the T25k chips on the T100 color up or for re-entries that follow the T25 color up. At that point there will at least be enough T5k chips on the tables to make change.

Good point with the T25k, I hadn't considered the potential issues with making change!

With your set, I recommend the following for T50k:
View attachment 1259267

For color-up, you have plenty of chips. Reminder to ask chip leader at each table to buy the smaller chips being colored-up at their table to save the host time. After the chip leaders buy the majority of chips being colored up (i.e., those not being rounded-up), ask the players to have nice little stacks in front of them that round up to T1k or T500 so you can quickly drop a chip and pull off the extras. You should only spend appreciable time with the chip leader at each table (unless you really want to race instead of round chips at color-up).

When coloring later, start with the big stacks and exchange 5xT5k chips for a couple T25k and you will have plenty (i.e., as you are just n=9 chips short of max T5k target). Recommend saving T25k for players who rebuy and the final color-up. It makes those chips more special. With 12/12/X starting point, you have lots of chips, so avoid adding lower denom chips that are removed later.

For structure, I'd add a few levels between some of your larger blind increases (i.e., SB 2k to 8k) to avoid a rushed feel to the late tourney. I'd also slightly accelerate the lower level timing in exchange for more time at the higher levels where decisions need more time.

Have fun, and post lots of pics!

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Thanks, Forrest. I'm short on T5ks for your recommended starting stacks. What would you suggest there? Would you just give a couple players T25ks in their starting stacks instead (12/12/7/10/2/1) and the rest 12/12/7/10/7?

 

[cpac54]

Thanks, Forrest. I'm short on T5ks for your recommended starting stacks. What would you suggest there? Would you just give a couple players T25ks in their starting stacks instead (12/12/7/10/2/1) and the rest 12/12/7/10/7?

Alternatively, I could do 45k starting stacks if keeping everything the same is preferable (12/12/7/10/6)?

 

[BGinGA]

45k starting stacks (12/12/5/11/6 or 12/12/7/10/6) are definitively preferable to 50k stacks that contain T25k chips.

You will have plenty of T1000s in play already with those starting stacks, so color-up the T25, T100, and T500 chips using T5000s, and color-up the T1000 chips with T25000s. Add T5k and T25k chips with 5-chip re-buys (4xT5000 +1xT25000).

For 17 players, that will put roughly 125 total chips in play at tournament finish (plus any re-buy chips), which is a perfectly acceptable amount.