Help with tournament structure (1 Viewer)

fredo

Pair
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I’m helping a friend run a tourney this weekend and would like some advice to ensure that the structure is providing max value while still adhering to a particular time frame.

Expecting 15-20 players
Allowing up to 2 rebuys per player until the end of the first break (not expecting many rebuys it’s just in case there are bad beats early on)
20k starting stack
25min blinds

2pm 50/100
2:25 75/100
2:50 100/200
3:15 150/300
3:50 Break-10min-remove 25’s
4:00 200/400
4:25 300/600
4:50 Dinner Break-60min
5:50 400/800
6:15 500/1000
6:40 600/1200
7:05 800/1600
7:30 break-10min-remove 100’s
7:40 1000/2000
8:05 1500/3000
8:30 2000/4000
8:55 3000/6000
9:20 break-10 min-remove 500’s
9:30 4000/8000
9:55 5000/10000
10:20 6000/12000
10:45 8000/16000
11:10 break
11:20 10000/20000
11:45 12000/24000
12:10 15000/30000
12:35 20000/40000

With 15 entries I’m thinking this should end around 6000/12000 blind level. Does this sound reasonable?
If there are more entries I am prepared to skip 500/1000 and/or 5000/10000. At many how entries should I expect to have to do this?
The goal is to end between 10 and 11 but must be done midnight.
Also going to give 2k bonus to players who register before 2pm.

Any input is greatly appreciated.
 
I’d get rid of the dinner break and add
250/500
2500/5000
Levels
Eat pizza while you go
 
How long do you want the tourney to take? That's always my first concern. Is offering a ton of play really worth it to the crowd you are catering to? As much as I love playing, a low buyin tourney that takes an eternity isn't good time value to me.

Also FWIW, I find 200+bb tournament play to be rather pointless in this kind of setting. Starting at 100bb and having the first level jump push that to 67-75bb is my general philosophy. It makes pots interesting from the get go. Also, have you considered using a BB ante, or is this not a good crowd to do that with?
 
I’d get rid of the dinner break and add
250/500
2500/5000
Levels
Eat pizza while you go

The host is not provinding a meal and wants to give players ample time to get food, eat, and enjoy the pool. We are playing outdoors under a tent.
 
I’d get rid of the dinner break and add
250/500
2500/5000
Levels
Eat pizza while you go

The host is not provinding a meal and wants to give players ample time to get food, eat, and enjoy the pool. We are playing outdoors under a tent.
So what is the focus of the day? The poker or enjoying the day and the pool? Scheduling a tourney to take over 4 hours when it's more of a social gathering seems not optimal to me.
 
How long do you want the tourney to take? That's always my first concern. Is offering a ton of play really worth it to the crowd you are catering to? As much as I love playing, a low buyin tourney that takes an eternity isn't good time value to me.

Like I said in the op ideally I’d like the tournament to end between 10 & 11pm-but it must be done by midnight.
This crowd is looking for a ton of play. I am trying to maximize value while still adhering to the timeframe.
 
With 15 entries I’m thinking this should end around 6000/12000 blind level. Does this sound reasonable?
If there are more entries I am prepared to skip 500/1000 and/or 5000/10000. At many how entries should I expect to have to do this?
The goal is to end between 10 and 11 but must be done midnight.
As-is, with a 2:00 p.m. start time, your structure will typically finish no later than L18 with 15 players (~ 11:00 p.m. including breaks), and no later than L20 with 20 players (~ 11:50 p.m. including breaks).

Personally, I'd just eliminate two blind levels (L8 500/1000 and L16 5000/10000) which will put the tournament end solidly within your desired 10-11 p.m. time window (with almost zero chance of it running past midnight), plus it smooths out the structure a bit by eliminating the two 20% blind increases (everywhere else is either a 33% or 50% jump).
 
As-is, with a 2:00 p.m. start time, your structure will typically finish no later than L18 with 15 players (~ 11:00 p.m. including breaks), and no later than L20 with 20 players (~ 11:50 p.m. including breaks).

Personally, I'd just eliminate two blind levels (L8 500/1000 and L16 5000/10000) which will put the tournament end solidly within your desired 10-11 p.m. time window (with almost zero chance of it running past midnight), plus it smooths out the structure a bit by eliminating the two 20% blind increases (everywhere else is either a 33% or 50% jump).


Thanks for the advice. I’m going to go ahead and eliminate those 2 levels just so I don’t have to worry about it ending late on the of the tourney.
 
So what is the focus of the day? The poker or enjoying the day and the pool? Scheduling a tourney to take over 4 hours when it's more of a social gathering seems not optimal to me.

I guess we are a weird bunch? We want to hang out and play lots of poker. There’s also going to be a low-stakes cash game once enough players have busted.
 
As-is, with a 2:00 p.m. start time, your structure will typically finish no later than L18 with 15 players (~ 11:00 p.m. including breaks), and no later than L20 with 20 players (~ 11:50 p.m. including breaks).

Personally, I'd just eliminate two blind levels (L8 500/1000 and L16 5000/10000) which will put the tournament end solidly within your desired 10-11 p.m. time window (with almost zero chance of it running past midnight), plus it smooths out the structure a bit by eliminating the two 20% blind increases (everywhere else is either a 33% or 50% jump).
I guess we are a weird bunch? We want to hang out and play lots of poker. There’s also going to be a low-stakes cash game once enough players have busted.
And that's fine. That's why I'm asking these questions. If the focus is the poker then it's all good.
 
Pretty sure that's just a typo (75/150). But it did catch my eye. ;)
 
21 confirmed now. Made changes @BGinGA suggested and stretched out the last break. If there are more rebuys then expected I’m prepared to delete 6000/12000 and/or 12000/24000. This is what I have now (typo fixed lol)

20k starting stack
25min blinds

2pm 50/100
2:25 75/150
2:50 100/200
3:15 150/300
3:40 Break-10min-remove 25’s
3:50 200/400
4:15 300/600
4:40 400/800
5:05 Dinner Break-60min
6:05 600/1200
6:30 800/1600
6:55 1000/2000
7:20 1500/3000
7:45 break-10min-remove 100’s & 500’s
7:55 2000/4000
8:20 3000/6000
8:45 4000/8000
9:10 5000/10000
9:35 6000/12000
10:05 Break-10min
10:15 8000/16000
10:40 10000/20000
11:05 12000/24000
11:30 15000/30000
11:55 20000/40000
12:20 25000/50000
 
If there are more rebuys then expected I’m prepared to delete 6000/12000 and/or 12000/24000.
Deleting only 12k/24k works. Deleting 6k/12k gives you the transition 4k/8k -> 5k/10k -> 8k/16k -> 10k/20k. IMO, the increase by 6k (5k/10k -> 8k/16k) followed by an increase of 4k seems a bit odd. I would remove 5k/10k instead, that would give you 4k/8k -> 6k/12k -> 8k/16k -> 10k/20k. To me it looks more structured, if that matters.
 
Agreed, I'd remove 5000/10000 and 12000/24000 -- that should keep you in the time window even with a larger field. Both are only 20% increases.
 
Ok thanks guys I’ll remove 500/10000 instead of 6000/12000. Your input is greatly appreciated!!
 
We started with 21 players and have 5 rebuys.
Just b4 9pm there were 2 players left who decided to split.
Tournament ended much earlier than I had anticipated but everyone had a good time.
Highlight of the evening was when a storm rolled in very quickly and blew the tent out of the ground. For the next 10-20 minutes everyone was running around in a torrential downpour trying to gather everything. Will def go down as one of my favourite poker memories.
Ended up playing cash inside until 1am. Lol
So much for timeframes.
 
Dialing into that perfect structure takes a bit of trial and error, sounds like you were almost where you wanted to be.
 

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