Tourney Seeking additional tournament gear recommendations - T25 (20k starting stack) for >40players (1 Viewer)

MC_CPA

Sitting Out
Joined
Oct 2, 2024
Messages
36
Reaction score
34
Location
Toronto
Howdy friends, thanks for having me on this forum. I wanted to get a sense on whether any additional items are available to improve the quality of a large tournament. I see lots of tournament directors and experienced hosts on this forum and would appreciate any feedback.

Just some background, my local University has a poker club for their students, and its open to alumni, so I bought a poker set for them to use for their large events. They had a turnout of ~40 players on opening night. The structure is a 20k starting stack tournament with no antes & no rebuys that has to wrap up in four hours, we all play for fun and there's no prizes (other than bragging rights). Starting stacks are the 8/8/6/6/2 breakdown for 25/100/500/1k/5k. The set-up is a step up from the dice chips and the bicycle cards they've been using, and I just wanted to give these guys the poker experience I wish I had while at University.

What other gear would you guys recommend buying? I'm in Canada but have both US and CAN addresses so shipping is not an issue.
  1. I'm considering adding some of those triangle "all in" buttons I see on TV.
  2. Also considering a few more sets of cards so they can play with two good decks per table (the current setup is one KEM deck and one used bicycle deck). We do have cut cards.
  3. I'm planning on upgrading the plaques to the Majestic plaques from Apache but they are out of stock on their 25k plaques. I expect these to come in as the group grows.
  4. I only have enough starting stacks for 43 people, it got close to that on opening day so I might buy more greens/blacks/purples to get it to 50 equal opening stacks. This might be a trap though, maybe I could hand out (4) pink $5ks to latecomers and request them to make change at the table.
  5. Budget is maybe another few hundred dollars, so not enough to convert these to Tiger Palace chips. Maybe one day in the future lol.
  6. For tables they just use random classrooms on campus, but there are nice tables that can seat up to 9. Maybe I can consider table toppers.
I'm also open to critiques on the tournament structure, would rather not haul around so many greens if it can be helped. But I feel like I'm already committed because I bought so many greens.

Thanks for your thoughts.

(1) Torin 21" toolbox (carries up to 2,000 chips)
(18) chip racks
(350) Green $25
(350) Black $100
(425) Yellow $1k
(200) Pink $5k
(25) Plaque $25k (to be replaced by Majestics once in stock)
(10) Plaque $100k (Majestics replacements ordered)
(~60) Black/Purple chips (might use these as bounty chips)
(6) decks of KEM Cards
(6) cut cards
(5) dealer pucks (might need more as group grows)


Collection.jpg
StartingStack.jpg
 
always use plastic cards. You can get some of the broken arrow ones for a good deal.
Make sure people like and can read the font tho.
My guys prefer the cheap plastic cards from Casino4U around $3 a deck.
 
I would suggest starting stack tubes from Uline. They make it really easy at the beginning of the night to just hand each player a tube of chips. Especially if you ever do rebuys. I'm sure I can dig a link up somewhere for them.

20240512_165126.jpg
 
Howdy friends, thanks for having me on this forum. I wanted to get a sense on whether any additional items are available to improve the quality of a large tournament. I see lots of tournament directors and experienced hosts on this forum and would appreciate any feedback.

Just some background, my local University has a poker club for their students, and its open to alumni, so I bought a poker set for them to use for their large events. They had a turnout of ~40 players on opening night. The structure is a 20k starting stack tournament with no antes & no rebuys that has to wrap up in four hours, we all play for fun and there's no prizes (other than bragging rights). Starting stacks are the 8/8/6/6/2 breakdown for 25/100/500/1k/5k. The set-up is a step up from the dice chips and the bicycle cards they've been using, and I just wanted to give these guys the poker experience I wish I had while at University.

What other gear would you guys recommend buying? I'm in Canada but have both US and CAN addresses so shipping is not an issue.
  1. I'm considering adding some of those triangle "all in" buttons I see on TV.
  2. Also considering a few more sets of cards so they can play with two good decks per table (the current setup is one KEM deck and one used bicycle deck). We do have cut cards.
  3. I'm planning on upgrading the plaques to the Majestic plaques from Apache but they are out of stock on their 25k plaques. I expect these to come in as the group grows.
  4. I only have enough starting stacks for 43 people, it got close to that on opening day so I might buy more greens/blacks/purples to get it to 50 equal opening stacks. This might be a trap though, maybe I could hand out (4) pink $5ks to latecomers and request them to make change at the table.
  5. Budget is maybe another few hundred dollars, so not enough to convert these to Tiger Palace chips. Maybe one day in the future lol.
  6. For tables they just use random classrooms on campus, but there are nice tables that can seat up to 9. Maybe I can consider table toppers.
I'm also open to critiques on the tournament structure, would rather not haul around so many greens if it can be helped. But I feel like I'm already committed because I bought so many greens.

Thanks for your thoughts.

(1) Torin 21" toolbox (carries up to 2,000 chips)
(18) chip racks
(350) Green $25
(350) Black $100
(425) Yellow $1k
(200) Pink $5k
(25) Plaque $25k (to be replaced by Majestics once in stock)
(10) Plaque $100k (Majestics replacements ordered)
(~60) Black/Purple chips (might use these as bounty chips)
(6) decks of KEM Cards
(6) cut cards
(5) dealer pucks (might need more as group grows)


View attachment 1397420View attachment 1397419
I think table toppers are probably gonna be the next best step without breaking the bank. There is a seller (@rjdev7) on here that makes custom ones for about $130 a piece, you may be able to get some deals on a bulk order. It’s probably more pricey than you were looking to spend as for 40-50 people I imagine that’s anywhere from 4-6 tables depending on size, so ~$500 for an average. But I think the money will be much better spent on that rather than all-in buttons or other stuff of that nature.
 
How many $500 chips in the set?
 
That's fantastic how you are supporting the cause!! Kudos!

I am curious about your blind levels. Trying to keep a 40 person tournament down to 4 hours with 20k starting stacks sounds like a chore. Curious how aggressive your jumps are for your blind levels.
 
Make something for seating cards. People always get confused finding their seat in the beginning. Have 2 per seat. You put one at each seat and you give them the other when they buy in. I used a cheap Amazon laminator to make mine
View attachment 1398502
They make a HUGE difference.
Agreed! I got seating chips, but it would be really helpful to have something on the table matching them. This is a great idea.
 
No one ever thinks this until they run a tournament and it bites them in the butt. Try your best to find out if you have any players at this event who are handicapped. At my monthly union tournament I have one player who is confined to a wheelchair. I reserve him a seat at the main table. With him starting at the main table, he never has to relocate during the tournament. It makes things so much easier when you can figure out these things ahead of time.
 
That's fantastic how you are supporting the cause!! Kudos!

I am curious about your blind levels. Trying to keep a 40 person tournament down to 4 hours with 20k starting stacks sounds like a chore. Curious how aggressive your jumps are for your blind levels.
We ran the first event at 25/50, but I'm thinking of switching to T100. I'd rather not have to haul around and have to color up the 25 chips. The black bar is a break in case we order food or people want to use the restroom. Also worth noting that players who win a tournament win a one-time use "rebuy" they can use at a future tournament.

Structure.png

I would suggest starting stack tubes from Uline. They make it really easy at the beginning of the night to just hand each player a tube of chips. Especially if you ever do rebuys. I'm sure I can dig a link up somewhere for them.

I think my chips are China Clays and they're not sitting properly in the racks (a barrel fits where it should but sits too high). Starting stack tubes seem like a great alternative thank you for the recommendation.

Make something for seating cards. People always get confused finding their seat in the beginning. Have 2 per seat. You put one at each seat and you give them the other when they buy in. I used a cheap Amazon laminator to make mine
Fantastic point! People are generally lost finding their seats no matter how easy you make it.

Next time I'm at staples I'll get a basic laminate set of these. Also considering physical buttons thank you for the idea.
 
We ran the first event at 25/50, but I'm thinking of switching to T100. I'd rather not have to haul around and have to color up the 25 chips. The black bar is a break in case we order food or people want to use the restroom. Also worth noting that players who win a tournament win a one-time use "rebuy" they can use at a future tournament.




I think my chips are China Clays and they're not sitting properly in the racks (a barrel fits where it should but sits too high). Starting stack tubes seem like a great alternative thank you for the recommendation.




Next time I'm at staples I'll get a basic laminate set of these. Also considering physical buttons thank you for the idea.

Not sure why the structure is in a spoiler, but I'll play along :).

The only level you have where T25 chips are necessary is level 2. Change that to 100-300 and it works without T25 chips. (On an aside, level 9 can be 1500-3000 instead of 2000-3000 since you have not removed purples quite yet.)

My only concern with switching to T100 this is whether or not you have enough T25K plaques to support your endgame considering you plan to color up T10K worth of chips from each player at some point or another, that would take nearly all available T25K plaques eventually. Also realistically you can really only support about 35 starting stacks, not 43 having to give 10 black chips to each player.

If you were to keep base 25 you continue to do 8/8/6/6/2 stacks supporting 43 starting stacks, instead of being cut to 35 with a presumed 10/6/6/2 base T100 stack.

I would re work the structure to start at more like 25-50, 25-75, 50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300, 6 reasonable levels of play before the T25s would have to come off.

If you get 60 entries the tournament would likely end when the big blind reaches 60K
So consider these blind levels
50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300 (remove T25)
200-400, 300-600, 400-800, 600-1200, (remove T100 and T500)
1K-2K, 1K-3K, 2K-4K, 3K-6K, 4K-8K, 6K-12K (remove T1000)
10K-20K, 15K-30K, 20K-40K, 30K-60K (expected end)

18 levels at 12 minutes still puts you under 4 hours. Though you probably need to add some breaks for color ups and such. That said T20K start with 25-50 blinds is a massive starting stack for a relatively short window. You might cut it back to T10K start for now and then you are more likely to play 16 levels. 12 minutes is a really short interval, I really prefer 18 minutes if possible, but even that would put you closer to 5 hours than 4.


To the original question, +1 to having seating chips for players to draw. That's a must for multi tables.
 
Last edited:
Hi friends, I just finished busy season and did some retail therapy.

The kit is now able to accommodate 60 people at the 8/8/6/6/2. With that being said I did buy some extra black chips in case I drop the green chips entirely.

(1) Torin 21" toolbox (carries up to 2,000 chips)
(20) chip racks
(550) Green $25
(600) Black $100
(375) Purple $500
(500) Yellow $1k
(250) Pink $5k
(25) Plaque $25k (to be replaced by Majestics once in stock)
(10) Plaque $100k (Majestics replacements ordered)
(~60) Black/Purple chips (might use these as bounty chips)
(8) decks of KEM Cards
(16) cut cards
(5) dealer pucks (might need more as group grows)
(5) All in acrylics

For seating chips I can't believe I was only a few months away from these beautiful seating chips. Is it rude to ask the people from the group buy if they're willing to sell their seating groupbuy chips? I'd get the ABC Gift & Award ones but they only have 5 colors and I want to be able to expand to +6.

 
Plastic cards and a few custom table toppers would be great. Chips are plenty nice for now it seems
 
To the original question, +1 to having seating chips for players to draw. That's a must for multi tables.
A very cheap option I've used for seating is little blackboard signs off Aliexpress that are intended for use at functions, 10 per table (so 30 for me) or otherwise adjusted for your seating plan -> wrote table and seat numbers on them with different coloured chalk markers in a nice big size. Light and easy to mix and shuffle into a facedown stack for drawing seats, and distinct from any other accessory.

They also come with stands so can be used to mark the tables themselves. Gets everything done.

With Aliexpress products you have to be sure to do some hunting because there are many similar listings at varying prices.
 
Last edited:
A very cheap option I've used for seating is little blackboard signs off Aliexpress that are intended for use at functions, 10 per table (so 30 for me) or otherwise adjusted for your seating plan -> wrote table and seat numbers on them with different coloured chalk markers in a nice big size. Light and easy to mix and shuffle into a facedown stack for drawing seats, and distinct from any other accessory.

They also come with stands so can be used to mark the tables themselves. Gets everything done.

With Aliexpress products you have to be sure to do some hunting because there are many similar listings at varying prices.
Not a bad idea :).
 
Will follow Justin's recommended structure with 15~18 minute blinds, depending on how breaks are scheduled. Happy to share that this set will be felted tomorrow & next Friday on the main campus's poker club (I was an alumni at one of the satellite campuses). Have more time to work with this time around, 6PM to midnight is ~6 hours to play with. Might make the last levels 10k/20k, 15k/30k, 20k/40k, 25k/50k, and 30k/60k as needed.

I would re work the structure to start at more like 25-50, 25-75, 50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300, 6 reasonable levels of play before the T25s would have to come off.

If you get 60 entries the tournament would likely end when the big blind reaches 60K
So consider these blind levels
50-100, 75-150, 100-200, 150-300 (remove T25)
200-400, 300-600, 400-800, 600-1200, (remove T100 and T500)
1K-2K, 1K-3K, 2K-4K, 3K-6K, 4K-8K, 6K-12K (remove T1000)
10K-20K, 15K-30K, 20K-40K, 30K-60K (expected end)

Currently distributing the 25/100/500/1000 chips as follows, for up to 77 people.

*62 8/8/6/6/2
*1 (4/4/1/9/2)
*10 0/10/4/3
*2 0/0/10/2 (hopefully not needed)
*2 0/0/5/3 (hopefully not needed)

  1. Budget is maybe another few hundred dollars, so not enough to convert these to Tiger Palace chips. Maybe one day in the future lol.

On a side note I have began to collect Tiger palace chips for building a ~40 person MTT T1 set, will make a separate post about these later next month once I finish ordering all the pieces. This forum needs a warning on signup that this hobby is expensive.

CHIPS.jpg
ACCESSORIES.jpg
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom