Tourney The Dreaded Tourney Structure Question (My Thoughts) (1 Viewer)

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It appears to me that if I wanna run a T10,000, single table tourney limited to 9 players with one rebuy, I should probably go with a set of chips that includes a t25. I've see some other threads in here where T10,000 stacks have the 1st level of blinds starting at 25/50 or 50/100 -- I've even seen 25/25 as the first level. My initial thoughts were to get a set of 500 chips broken down like this:

200 x 100 (black)
150 x 500 (purple)
100 x 1000 (yellow)
50 x 5000 (grey)

With the chips above I could set the first blind level to 100/100 with stacks at T10,000 (15 x 100 / 13 x 500 / 2 x 1000). Now we're 100BB deep. The blinds would look like THIS.

Now I'm thinking about getting a tourney set with a t25 chip because it's more flexible. I can remove the t25 chip after the 75/150 level then color up the t100 chip after the 900/1800 level. All this according to the chip calculator on this site.

200 x 25 (green)
150 x 100 (black)
100 x 500 (purple)
50 x 1000 (yellow)

Blind Structure:
25/50
50/100
75/150
Break 1: Remove t25 chips
100/200
200/400
300/600
Break 2
400/800
500/1000
600/1200
800/1600
900/1800
Remove t100 chips
1000/2000
1500/3000

Which have you been successful with? Both, or is one better than the other? Seems like have a t25 chip is a lot more flexible.
 
Hmm chip count seems off... I don't see your starting stacks... optimal T10,000 from my experience starting stacks of 12/12/7/5 are best with a single rebuy for each player... those stacks we usually do 8/8/6/6

In essence before chipping up you need (180) 25s. (180) 100s (117) 500s and (99) 1000s

Chipping up $25s when no longer in use = 180x25= 4,500 ÷ 100= (45) - 100s I add + 8 for the possibility of extra 25s so... (53) 100s

Chip up #2 no 100s in play (original 180) + (53 from last chip ups) = 223x 100 = 22,300
So up that to 22,500 ÷ 500 = (45) - 500s + (6) for odd hundos left over (51) ok now say we add (10) 1ks and get rid of (20) of those 500s that nobody wants... we need (31) 500s

Chip up #3 no more 500s total (117 original + 31 from last chip up) = 148 total 500s = 74,000 which is 74 - 1,000s plus (4 for odd 500s) so 78 + 10 from last chip up + 99 original= 187 total 1000s

Chip count
25s - 180, 100s - 223, 500s - 148, 1000s - 187

I would recommend adding a 5 000 chip... many will say you don't need all of the rebuys or allow larger chips for the rebuys... depending on rebuy cut off you could just use hundos and skip the 25s in the rebuys... a few 5,000 chips also would definitely cut down on the 1,000s needed as well... this is an optimal chip count.. you have 100 ways you can change the configuration but there should definitely be more 100s than 25s.

I hope that helps... just my general breakdown! Feel free to send me a PM or ask any questions.. there are tons of others here that can also weigh in on their opinions as well! Good Luck!! Fellow chipper Ben
 
Based on the feedback from Ben and the link provided by Legend555, I think I found the issue in my calculations. I need the following chip set up:

Edited to correct the t100 (green) to reflect t25
125 x t25 (green)
125 x t100 (black)
100 x t500 (purple)
100 x t1000 (yellow)
50 x t5000 (grey)

The breakdown per player would be 12 x t25 / 12 x t100 / 5 x t500 / 6 x t1000 for T10,000 starting stack (35 chips). My 2 highest denomination chips will easily cover the total chips in play, so now I think I'm all set.
 
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Trial and error is the best way to learn this stuff, but if it causes you to buy chips you don't need (or to have to go buy more) then it isn't efficient. There's enough variables (chip denoms, blind schedule, level duration, starting stack size) that you can make lots of things work. I'd just take a look at those variables and decide what you really want, and if you're making any assumptions that you haven't thought through. The assumption you might be making is the 10,000 starting stack. If that's the most important thing to you, then yeah, you probably want T25's.
But if you don't want T25's, you could easily go without them and just tweak your starting stack to 15,000. Or you could stick with 10,000 and with the smallest chip being t100 and just play longer levels in the beginning. You can start your tournament with 2 or 3 levels or 100/100. Don't be afraid to be creative, to see what works best for you. But try to put some thought into all your options with each variable before you greatly reduce one of them by buying your chips.
 
Based on the feedback from Ben and the link provided by Legend555, I think I found the issue in my calculations. I need the following chip set up:

125 x t100 (green)
125 x t100 (black)
100 x t500 (purple)
100 x t1000 (yellow)
50 x t5000 (grey)

The breakdown per player would be 12 x t25 / 12 x t100 / 5 x t500 / 6 x t1000 for T10,000 starting stack (35 chips). My 2 highest denomination chips will easily cover the total chips in play, so now I think I'm all set.
You only need 50x T500s. Getting more T1000s and T5000s with those extra 50 chips will be much more useful. Use T1000 chips to color-up T25s and T100s, and use T5000 chips to color-up T500s (if needed).
 
Hmm chip count seems off... I don't see your starting stacks... optimal T10,000 from my experience starting stacks of 12/12/7/5 are best with a single rebuy for each player... those stacks we usually do 8/8/6/6

In essence before chipping up you need (180) 25s. (180) 100s (117) 500s and (99) 1000s

Chipping up $25s when no longer in use = 180x25= 4,500 ÷ 100= (45) - 100s I add + 8 for the possibility of extra 25s so... (53) 100s

Chip up #2 no 100s in play (original 180) + (53 from last chip ups) = 223x 100 = 22,300
So up that to 22,500 ÷ 500 = (45) - 500s + (6) for odd hundos left over (51) ok now say we add (10) 1ks and get rid of (20) of those 500s that nobody wants... we need (31) 500s

Chip up #3 no more 500s total (117 original + 31 from last chip up) = 148 total 500s = 74,000 which is 74 - 1,000s plus (4 for odd 500s) so 78 + 10 from last chip up + 99 original= 187 total 1000s

Chip count
25s - 180, 100s - 223, 500s - 148, 1000s - 187

I would recommend adding a 5 000 chip... many will say you don't need all of the rebuys or allow larger chips for the rebuys... depending on rebuy cut off you could just use hundos and skip the 25s in the rebuys... a few 5,000 chips also would definitely cut down on the 1,000s needed as well... this is an optimal chip count.. you have 100 ways you can change the configuration but there should definitely be more 100s than 25s.

I hope that helps... just my general breakdown! Feel free to send me a PM or ask any questions.. there are tons of others here that can also weigh in on their opinions as well! Good Luck!! Fellow chipper Ben
Sorry Ben, but using T25/T100/T500 chips for color-ups is unneccessary and pretty wasteful, since those chips will be added and subsequently removed from play. Better to use chips for color-ups that will be needed in the later levels and will also remain in play after being added.
 
You only need 50x T500s. Getting more T1000s and T5000s with those extra 50 chips will be much more useful. Use T1000 chips to color-up T25s and T100s, and use T5000 chips to color-up T500s (if needed).
So something like this:

125 x t25 (green)
125 x t100 (black)
50 x t500 (purple)
125 x t1000 (yellow)
75 x t5000 (grey)
 
So something like this:

125 x t25 (green)
125 x t100 (black)
50 x t500 (purple)
125 x t1000 (yellow)
75 x t5000 (grey)

Yep, that would work fine.

How your game plays will depend a lot on your players. I host a monthly game which is unofficially Friday night "after you put the kids to bed" which means that not everyone is able to show up on time. So I start with a 25/50 and 25/75 or 25/100 initial blind levels lasting 30 mins each and then switch to 15 minute levels after that. It means that we get to start play, have some fun and people who are late because their kids gave them trouble are not penalized. It also means that the game lasts until about midnight and generally most people are still in by the last hour (with rebuys). Also, most of my guys won't play cash after so there is no incentive to shorten the tourney duration. This works well for a social game of poker but may not work so well for a more serious game.

What works for my game may not work for yours so as @upNdown recommends, have an experiment and see. The breakdown you have arrived at will give you lots of flexibility to run a single table tourney as it suits you and your players.
 
Yep, that would work fine.

What works for my game may not work for yours The breakdown you have arrived at will give you lots of flexibility to run a single table tourney as it suits you and your players.
Awesome! Thank you.

AC
 
You only need 50x T500s. Getting more T1000s and T5000s with those extra 50 chips will be much more useful. Use T1000 chips to color-up T25s and T100s, and use T5000 chips to color-up T500s (if needed).
So I got my set of 500 Royals

125 x t25 (green)
125 x t100 (black)
50 x t500 (purple)
125 x t1000 (yellow)
75 x t5000 (grey)

You are the second person who mentioned using the T1000 chips to color up T25s and T100s. Why wouldn’t I color up the T25s with the T100s first? Is it because I won’t have enough T100s? I’m not understanding but let me take a crack at it.

If I do a 9 player STT, each player gets 12xT25 chips for a total of 108 T25 chips in play. Each player also gets 12xT100 chips for a total of 108 T100 chips in play. So that leaves us with only 17 T100s left (125-108=17). There’s 108 T25s left and 108/4=27. If my calculations are correct, I need 27 T100s left in the bank to chip up the T25s and I only have 17. Is that correct?
 
Edit.. Nope that was more confusing

Ok one more time! The idea is why have more chips than really needed. So putting additional low denom chips in play can be viewed as pointless since they inevitably will be taken out of play anyways. Even though you are taking the 25s out of play the (12) per person on the table should be enough for the game...

The tourney director can buy T100s from the chip leader and exchange for T1000 chips and now use those T100s to chip up the shorter stacks exchanging for the T25s. So the original amount of T100s can stay the same.

The next step when you trade in your T100s... there will not be enough T1000s in play to make up for the Balance. Still some T1000s can be bought from the chip leader in exchange for T5000s. Players with less than 500 worth of T100 add a T500 and they get a T1000 in return!

Basically instead of the (base) set paying low denoms for chip ups each time, and only adding high denoms that will stay in play longer. Keeping the set requirements lower and also keeping the speed of play up without the need of counting out smaller denoms for larger bets!

Your set break down looks great! I hope this helps!! Fellow Chipper Ben
 
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I think I can get this one right this time!! So at chip up time have everyone at each table sell their $25s to the chip leader with the most hundreds. The person chipping up will buy all of the $25s that add up to $100 from one person with larger chips even if its $875 he would ask that person to add a $100 chip and give them a $1000 chip... everyone left with $25, $50 or $75 will be given a $100 chip by again the chip up person buying (10) $100s from someone else who has enough 100s to cover with another $1000 chip.

Close, but I've never seen individual players chip up odd amount of chips, couldn't they end up in a situation where they have less?

I've always had the player with the most of the denom being chipped up and decent bank buy up the chips (so in your example, the player with the most $25), I would have them use the largest chips possible to chip up and leave odd amounts to chip race.

But yes, the idea is to not introduce chips that will then need to be removed at the next chip up.
 
You are the second person who mentioned using the T1000 chips to color up T25s and T100s. Why wouldn’t I color up the T25s with the T100s first?
the idea is to not introduce chips that will then need to be removed at the next chip up.
^^ This.

You already have a sufficient number of T100 chips in play (from the starting stacks), so no need to introduce more during color-ups. The T1000 later becomes the workhorse chip, so adding more via color-ups puts additional T1000 chips in play when they are needed.
 
Not that this will make a difference, but I’m getting an additional 50 T500 and 125 T1,000 chips from @ThinkingFold, so I’ll have 100xT500 and 250xT1,000 chips. I guess I can host a bigger tournament and that’s about it. Might need a few more T5,000s though.

AC
 

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