Tourney I Busted My Game Hosting Cherry - Structure Help (1 Viewer)

[QuiQuog]

I hosted a fathers and sons tourney last night with our 15-16 yo kids and dads. We started with 2 tables of 6 and joined at one table when it was down to 9. It went well and all had fun. We also broke out a 5/10¢ cash game at the losers table. It came about because we were talking about poker at the kids basketball game on Friday. I got a text after the game suggesting a tourney on Saturday. So after my daughter’s basketball tournament on Saturday, I had to set up for poker at 6:00. That left me virtually no time to work anything out.

The idea was to have a couple 2 hour games to keep everyone playing. I had one of the other dads use BlindValet to work out a structure for a 2 hour tourney since I didn’t have time to really think about it. I didn’t really look at it or question it, I just punched in the levels on my blind timer and used it. Unfortunately, it lasted about 4 hours so we only played the one game. I’m glad I had the micro stakes cash chips.

So I’m wondering if anyone has a tournaments structure for quick 2 hour games.

 

[JustinInMN]

What chips do you have work with?

I typically like to do blinds that are multiples of 2-4, 3-6, 4-8, 6-12, 8-16 repeated.

Probably do 18 minute levels and a 50bb starting stack to keep it around two hours.

But knowing what denominations you have and in what quantities would probably help pick a starting point and ensure we settle on a structure your chips can support.

 

[JustinInMN]

I probably overestimated the starting stack you could use. I think you are really looking at 20BB if you are looking to hit two hours.

So for example if you have T25/T100/T500 chips:

T2000 starting stack (8/8/2 or 12/12/1)

Expect 12*2K or 24K in play, expect tournament to end with about 1200 in BB

18 minute levels:

50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300, 200-400, 300-600, 400-800, 600-1200*, 800-1600

*Expected end. 2h06-2h24.

A little longer than 2 hours but it fits and the levels stay long enough so everyone should deal once during the level.

If you need to raise the starting stack you would have to shrink the level times accordingly. I personally have a bias toward making the starting stack fit the constraints and not the level times.

 

[QuiQuog]

I’ve got a couple of sets to use. I’d like to use my Avalon hotstamps
T25 x 200
T100 x 200
T500 x 100
T100 x 80
T5000 x 20

Last night we used the Argosy solids because BlindValet had starting stacks of 1500
T1 x 100
T5 x 200
T25 x 430
T100 x 430
T500 x 340
T1000 x 140
We didn’t use the T1 chips. Blinds started at 5/10 and increased 1.5x for about half of the schedule.

 

[JustinInMN]

Perfect, the schedule I posted should work fine for the Avalon's.

Last night we used the Argosy solids because BlindValet had starting stacks of 1500

Yeah, you probably needed to be in the 200-300 range to get in two hours, the more you do this the better feel you will get.

The rule of thumb is when the total chips in play are 20x the BB the tournament ends give or take a level.

 

[QuiQuog]

Thanks for your help Justin.