Tourney Mixed Game Tournaments (1 Viewer)

DeeVee8

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Please forgive the newbness, but I've never played a mixed game tournament. My players are still clinging to NLHE.

I've always wondered how a mixed game tourney works in relation to the blind structure? Say you have a 4 game mix. Does each game get its own level (level 1 is game "A", level two is game "B", etc), or do you play "level 1" four times so each game gets the same exposure?
 
In the mixed-game tournaments that I've run, game changes (orbits) are independent of levels. When a player moves or a table breaks, the game being played on the new table continues even if the player(s) were playing a different game.
 
do starting stacks need be altered for mixed game tournies? i.e. Would 8/8/4/7 even be playable for a 10k mixed game, as opposed to 12/12/5/6, etc?
 
We've done it both ways -- changing games at preset blind level changes, and changing games by orbit (pending table size).

Either works fine, so long as the games have compatible blinds. Switching from a limit Stud8 or Razz game to a NLHE or PLO8 game is best done by blind level vs orbit, since the amounts involved can vary significantly for comparable limit and big bet stakes. Longer blind times (20-25 minutes minimum) are better if switching by blind level.

When switching games by orbit, we use the following system (each game is always played at least six hands, and no more than ten):
6-8 players - change game every 1 orbit
3-5 players - change game every 2 orbits
heads-up - change game every blind level increase

I've also run variations where the game changed by blind level, but some complex games that take longer (SOHE, Dramaha, O8, etc.) ran for two levels vs just one level for less complex and quicker games (NLHE, PLO), in order to help balance out the number of hands played per game.
 
So in a mixed game, which I would love to play, let’s say your moving to level 4 and started with a T10k (T100 base) stack. Now at level 4, the blinds go up to 200/400 and the game now changes to stud.

What would be the ante and small/big bet sizes?

Does playing a mixed game affect the denominations or quantities in the chip set you should have? or is this offset by capping games to 7 or 8 players?
 
Looking at WSOP mixed schedules, the ante and bring-in combined usually equal what would be the small blind, divided in a ratio between 1:1 and 1:2 depending on the number of chips. So a 200/400 level would be ante 100, bring in 100 or make a full bet of 400. (If T25 chips were on the table, ante 75 and bring in 125 would also be an option, but obviously not with a T100 base.)
 
Bump with a question from earlier: are more starting chips required in stacks for mixed games? Would 8/8/4/7 even be playable for a 10k mixed game, as opposed to 12/12/5/6, etc?
 
Bumping an old thread.

Any advice for starting stacks?

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Last edited:
Bumping an old thread.

Any advice for starting stacks?

View attachment 731765
@BGinGA replied that 12/12/7/5 is preferred over 12/12/5/6 for 10k stacks along with some other breakdowns when I had a similar question. Hope these help!
12/12/5/6 is certainly playable, as is 12/12/7/5 (which is even more so for fixed limit or mixed games). I strongly recommend avoiding 'smaller' stacks such as 8/8/4/7 or 8/8/6/6, since having ~50% more early 'working chips' (29-30 vs just 20-22 per player) noticeably improves game play and psychologically promotes action. Although they play a very minor role initially, color-ups should use T1000 chips to ensure that enough are in play once they become needed in the second half of the event.

Stack size vs set size and playability vs efficiency are always at odds to some degree, especially when factoring in cost. But if game play is the primary consideration (and cost/efficiency are discounted), then bigger stack sizes can easily be justified.

Several larger 'non-standard' starting stacks containing 37 to 42 early 'working chips' each -- 12/17/8/4, 12/17/10/3, 16/16/8/4, 16/16/10/3, and even 20/20/15 (with 55 chips!) -- all offer improved game play during the first half of fixed-limit and mixed-game format tournaments, without the associated downsides involved when trying to use similar stacks for big-bet no-limit and pot-limit events.
 

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