Posting this to get a sense of the average round lengths people use in their tournaments—both before the rebuy break and after (for those that are rebuy tournaments).
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Tourney Tournament Round Length (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter horseshoez
- Start date
daddylongleg6666
Two Pair
I host occasional tournaments and I've stuck with 15-20 minute round lengths but this can vary based on how long you want the tournament to run. The 15-20 minute round lengths had my tournament last 5-6 hours. The round lengths get shorter (~10 minutes) once blinds get very high and there's only 2-3 people left.
You can pretty accurately make the tournament a certain length if you're strategic about blind levels, breaks, etc.
You can pretty accurately make the tournament a certain length if you're strategic about blind levels, breaks, etc.
We used to have 20 min rounds but as our tournaments grew in size, we went to 18 and then settled on 15 min rounds. Most of our long time players never have made a big deal about the slightly shorter rounds. It does shave off a good amount of time by the end of the night though.
BluffShove
Waiting List
18-20 min for early levels, 10-15 for the later levels seems to work well with my group
This should have been a poll!
I like 20min Levels & the Rebuys end at the 1st Color Up which happens to be after the 4th Level.
I like 20min Levels & the Rebuys end at the 1st Color Up which happens to be after the 4th Level.
OP
OP
I thought about making it a poll but didn’t want to overwhelm everyone with too many options. Still, I’ll add one now so people can give quick answers if they’d rather not dive into the details.
BPTDirector
Full House
20 minutes works great for us.
OP
OP
The reason I asked is that we’re also trying to keep the total length of the tournament around the 5–6 hour mark. For the past year, we’ve been starting with 15-minute levels pre-break, then dropping down to 12 minutes post-break. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve noticed this tends to create a spike in tight play followed by a shove-fest once we enter 12 minute territory. I figured this thread would be a good place for everyone to chime in with their own experiences.
18 w dealers
20 if passing the deck
20 if passing the deck
rrobyrrroby
3 of a Kind
25'...20'...18'.
We do 20 minutes for the first 9 levels, 15 minutes starting with level 10. With 14-18 players there's usually 5-6 players left at that point (3 hours of play time in) and the hands start going quicker. Re-entry period is through the 4th level.
Also works to break after levels 4, 8 and 13, so 80 minutes of play before a break.
Also works to break after levels 4, 8 and 13, so 80 minutes of play before a break.
Last edited:
OP
OP
Not as important as the main question in the OP, but what time do the cards usually fly in your games?
daddylongleg6666
Two Pair
5:00-7:00PM
rrobyrrroby
3 of a Kind
h20.00
jamesjkim
Flush
STT. 18 min levels. 2 or 3 fifteen min breaks. Rebuys only for the first hour (after level 4, at color up break). Start at 7:30, end by 11:30.
As per normal, I’m an outlier. I run longer levels, but fewer of them, so works out to be about the same total time. This is calculated on 24 players with an average of 36 total rebuys. 50k starting stack. No rebuys after dinner break. Start time at 3pm, dinner break at 5:30, cash games by 6pm-6:30pm on side table(s), tournament over by 8pm and usually play cash until 1-2am. $100 buy-in for tournaments. Obviously time and PO adjusts as buy ins change.
If anyone is interested, I use the app on the left for tournaments and push it to my televisions. It’s pretty slick for $6 or whatever it costs in the App Store. The app on the right isn’t available just yet. I’m hoping to be beta testing it very soon for RSVPing to all games and be done text blasting, FB and Discord posts. I can’t seem to get players in one spot, but once the My House Poker app is live, if you want an invitation to a game at my place, that will be required. Especially since it’s free for the players.
Between 7 and 7:30. Game usually lasts until between 11 and 12:30. Cash game if there is one usually starts at 10:30 to 11 and goes until I kick everyone out at 1.
We say 4:30 pm (1630) but it's often closer to like 4:50 once everybody gets sat settled and we coordinate the two tables, but that's something we're working on. Our structures finish a 2-table tournament in 4-5 hours. Leaves plenty of time for some players to head to the sports bar for a late dinner or evening wobbly pops that aren't too too late but after the weekend dinner rush.
OP
OP
We started one of our tournaments at 4pm and it was probably the best decision we made. Not sure why we haven’t stuck with it since. By 8:30–9, a cash table had already formed with all the bust-outs, and they got to play for a solid 4–5 hours. Meanwhile, the tournament wrapped up around 9:30. Couldn’t have worked out better.
For context, our tournaments usually draw three tables about 90% of the time, so I get why we need to be mindful of how long things run. That said, I still don’t think dropping the post-break blinds to 12 minutes is the right move. After a couple of levels, post-flop playability just evaporates and to me, that takes away from the fun of it.
OP
OP
Thanks for the info. I use the one on the left to test out blind schedules and shuffle things around but the club itself resorts to BlindValet.com. Does a pretty good job.
Nice to see you're working on another app. Keep us posted once that's up and running. Home games have been chomping at the bit for something like this!
Unless it was a heads-up event, I'd never do 12 minute levels.
I never want the average stack to have fewer that 30-40 BBs.
OP
OP
I completely agree, but our club’s “tournament director” flat-out refuses to revert back to 15 minutes. In fact, any suggestion to do so just seems to set him off, lol. It’s pretty bizarre.
This was a good question. We do 15 min levels and start at 7pm in an STT of 10 peeps. Start with 100bb. We are usually done by 11:15 pm. We allow rebuys up to the 2nd break, usually 500/1000 level. Also we do 4 levels between start to first break and 1st to second break. The players like to be able to rebuy up till as long as possible so the they don't have to go home early. And we also allow "surrender your stack" up to 2nd break. I like 20 min levels but the tourney would go on too long. Also no cash game after usually.
I do like trying 4pm start, as that might allow the game to finish and peeps might stick around for a cash game after. Something to consider.
I do like trying 4pm start, as that might allow the game to finish and peeps might stick around for a cash game after. Something to consider.
Tell me more about your "surrender your stack" guidelines. Essentially for a reentry they can get a full stack? I thought about adding this right before the break where we cut off re-entries.
Would help build the pot but I'm on the fence. It would be like it didn't matter what you did for the first four levels because you'd have a starting stack at the start of the 5th. I may say if you can only do this if you haven't already re-entered. Putting more chips in play would probably send us way past that 5-hour mark.
OP
OP
We do this as well. As long as a player has less than the starting stack of either 10k or 20k, you're allowed to surrender what you have in exchange for a "new one" when rebuying.
To answer your question, this incentivizes two things: it builds up the pot and helps players feel like they’re starting with a full stack rather than entering the elimination period at a disadvantage with fewer chips than everyone else.
Jeevansluck
Royal Flush
Personally, I’ve used 20mins then scaling down to 15mins.
I vary the scale depending on how big a tourney I might run. Tournament director is very helpful with the displaying the Tournament elapsed time, as you make changes, adding breaks, etc etc.
I’m running what I would call a deep stack in coming weeks, that will be 40K stacks, so 400BB for my game, and I’ll start the blind levels at 23mins.
I especially find longer blind levels helpful in the first 3-4 levels. Mostly, my crew is friendly and everyone likes to enjoy conversations and game is self dealt, so it’s nice to allow peeps that social element, and get the game going, at the same time. By the time it’s the final 4-5 levels, I’m at 15mins.
I vary the scale depending on how big a tourney I might run. Tournament director is very helpful with the displaying the Tournament elapsed time, as you make changes, adding breaks, etc etc.
I’m running what I would call a deep stack in coming weeks, that will be 40K stacks, so 400BB for my game, and I’ll start the blind levels at 23mins.
I especially find longer blind levels helpful in the first 3-4 levels. Mostly, my crew is friendly and everyone likes to enjoy conversations and game is self dealt, so it’s nice to allow peeps that social element, and get the game going, at the same time. By the time it’s the final 4-5 levels, I’m at 15mins.
What we do is until rebuy ends, allow players to rebuy for when their stack is below 10bb. At the end of rebuy, we do what @horseshoez says. Give them the chance to turn in their stack and get a fresh full one. They will only do this if they are at reasonable disadvantage to the others, and their rebuy/reentry makes sense for the cost.
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