Tournament structure

Finally there is an organized NLHE tournament in my city. It´s going to be on Friday 28th. The buy in is very small, just $10, but that´s because is the first tournament and we want to see if it´s going to work, so in the future we can make a big successful tournament. The poker phenomenon is not very massive here, so we need to know if there are any players interested. I´m planning to play because the organizer is a friend and i want to increase the poker phenomenon here, but i´m not sure i like the tournament structure.
Please read the payout and blinds structure and tell me your opinion:

The payout is this:
1st: $74
2nd: $44
3rd: $26
4th: $16

That is based on 24 players.

It´s a freezeout. Every player starts with
$5000 chips. The tables are of 9 players.

If you realized, the diference between the money of the entries and the total money in the payout is of $80. That money is to pay some of the professional tables and chips that we need. The organizer doesn´t get any money from this tournament. There isn´t any fee (althought there is money extracted from the pool prize that is going to be used to buy chips, but this is going to be just for this tournament, because is the first).

The blinds structure is this:

and will this be a slumber party as well? Will you have parental supervision? :hello:

Are there going to be side games of Happy Families?

I would suggest halving the Tiempo to 10 mins per level. Otherwise you'll be on 150/300 after 2 hours (probably be apporaching end with 24 players). Good luck.

With 5000 chips to start i think the blinds are fine at 20 minutes, i like the structure of this tourney, if i lived there i would definately be in it, hope it goes well for ya. buckster436

The Payout Structure is just how I would do it. Nailed that right on the head! With only 120,000 in total chips however you will not need to set the blinds all the way to 50,000 100,000. I would consider putting a cap on them around 20,000 or 30,000 BB!

Sammyv1 said:

With only 120,000 in total chips however you will not need to set the blinds all the way to 50,000 100,000. I would consider putting a cap on them around 20,000 or 30,000 BB!

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You´re completely right, i didn´t think about that. Thanks, i´m going to tell it to the organizer.

robwhufc said:

I would suggest halving the Tiempo to 10 mins per level. Otherwise you'll be on 150/300 after 2 hours (probably be apporaching end with 24 players). Good luck.

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buckster436 said:

With 5000 chips to start i think the blinds are fine at 20 minutes, i like the structure of this tourney, if i lived there i would definately be in it, hope it goes well for ya. buckster436

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I agree with buck. 20 minutes is ok. Actually, i would prefer something like 30 minutes.

xdmanx007 said:

Will you have parental supervision?

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lol, actually my mother doesn´t like the idea that i´m gambling because she thinks that i can have addiction problems and lose a lot of money (she´s afraid of that because her uncle lost his house gambling). Anyway after seeing that i´m making a little money at FTP and Titan, she´s going to give me a credit card in few time.

I played a tourney with the EXACT same structure yesterday. Freezout approx 60 players, i finished in 3rd after FIVE AND A HALF hours of play. If you want nearly a full working day of poker to pay someone 74 bucks be my guest. But dont expect much thanks in the end !!!

I would seriously suggest upping the blinds to once every 10mins, or leave it at 20 mins and up the blinds more. But then again if its a poker marathon your after leave it as it is.

I leave the blind levels at 20 minutes a pop.

You also might want to introduce an ante as well. Antes can be anywhere from 1/10-1/3 of the amount of a small blind. The normal amount is 1/4 or 1/3 the SB. So for example the 200/400 level would have an ante of 50. Or the 300/600 level would have an ante of 100, etc.

I would actually cap the blind levels at a smaller # than has been suggested. You don't want the tournament to turn into a crap shoot at the end because of colossal blinds. With 120,000 chips in play, I would cap the blinds at 2000/4000 (ante 500)...just my opinion. If both players have the 'average' stack of 60,000 when it gets to heads up, that still is only 15BB which gives the players some room to manuver without them pushing every hand.

So you are starting with 3 tables of 8 I assume...are you then combining when you reach 18 and 9? Or are you keeping the 8-a-table concept and combining at 16 and 8?

Just a small note...if you are looking for a computerized "tournament director" that keeps track of the blind level times, average stack, etc. google for "The Tournament Director" and download the program to check it out.

Chicubs, thanks very much for your ideas.
Now it´s a 27 players tournament. 3 tables of 9 each one.

tenbob said:

I played a tourney with the EXACT same structure yesterday. Freezout approx 60 players, i finished in 3rd after FIVE AND A HALF hours of play. If you want nearly a full working day of poker to pay someone 74 bucks be my guest. But dont expect much thanks in the end !!!

I would seriously suggest upping the blinds to once every 10mins, or leave it at 20 mins and up the blinds more. But then again if its a poker marathon your after leave it as it is.

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Once i an 8 players SNG for 8 and half hours. I really enjoyed it because i won and it was really fun. It was just a $5 buy in (1st $35 ; 2nd $5).
I don´t play poker for the money, i play for the fun (of course more money means more fun). So i like the 20 mins blinds.
Anyway thanks.

tenbob said:

Yea i like the longer blind levels myself and i enjoyed sundays tourney, but i was just giving you the opnions of the majority.I run tournies all the time and if i were you id pick a system and stick to it for the first one anyway, and adjust accordingly for the following nights.

You just need to bear in mind starting times if your running your suggested structure. There is not much point starting a tournie at 9pm if it wont finish till 5am for example. Just something to bear in mind.

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Ok, thanks for your opinion. The start time won´t be a problem. The tournament starts at 3pm

Jesus Lederer said:

Once i an 8 players SNG for 8 and half hours. I really enjoyed it because i won and it was really fun. It was just a $5 buy in (1st $35 ; 2nd $5).
I don´t play poker for the money, i play for the fun (of course more money means more fun). So i like the 20 mins blinds.
Anyway thanks.

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Yea i like the longer blind levels myself and i enjoyed sundays tourney, but i was just giving you the opnions of the majority.I run tournies all the time and if i were you id pick a system and stick to it for the first one anyway, and adjust accordingly for the following nights.

You just need to bear in mind starting times if your running your suggested structure. There is not much point starting a tournie at 9pm if it wont finish till 5am for example. Just something to bear in mind.

Here is a good website just to browse if you are interested...

I would not change your current structure, I´m just putting this site out there for other readers to go and check out...

www.homepokertourney.com