6 players enough for a tourney? (Quick response needed please)

I hold a bi weekly home game, and we either play limit hold'em cash or a no-limit tourney depending on how many people we can get. I had 7 lined up for tonight and was leaning towards a tourney. One guy just dropped out and we now have 6.

Is that enough people to have a decent tourney? Does it make a difference if we started with larger stacks? I just don't want the thing to end really early. Game starts in a couple hours. Any opinions are welcome. Thanks.

[Kaeser]

Six people doesn't seem any worse then seven. If it ends to early just run another one.

Thanks for the quick response. My only concern with the tourney ending too quickly is that most of these guys will head home after. They aren't exactly hard core players. Even so, I'm going to do it anyway. Just have to see how things go. Thanks again.

I did a night of 3 mini tournaments a few weeks ago and everyone enjoyed it. The blinds go up very fast but you start with a fairly deep chip stack so it isn't too bad. By making each tournament around an hour and a half people are more likely to stick around for the next one instead of just taking off.

2500 chips start, 6 players. 10 minute rounds.
Blinds:
25-50
50-100
100-200
200-400
300-600
500-1000
700-1400
1000-2000
2000-4000


Good luck!

-d

[JonPKibble]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the quick response. My only concern with the tourney ending too quickly is that most of these guys will head home after. They aren't exactly hard core players. Even so, I'm going to do it anyway. Just have to see how things go. Thanks again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Allow rebuys in the first hour, or maybe even two hours.

[Hedge Henderson]

Hell, we've done a couple of nights with four-player tourneys. We had three tables running and, as soon as you busted, you got in line for the next one open. We ran at least 10 tournies each night.

Let us know how it went. The WPT gets by with a 6-player "final table". I figure 6 players worked for you as well.

We always play mini-tournaments with no demoninations.

50 chips/person

blinds 1/2
blinds progress after someone busts out (or if it takes waay too long, ie everyone keeps folding)

1/2
2/4
3/6
4/8
etc.

We've done this with 5-10 people. It always works fairly well with each one lasting 60min to 90min. So we get about 3-5 games in depending on how fast they are. Plus people are forced to wait for the next game so they don't leave or they won't gamble away their bankroll for the night. They just watch tv, chat, or watch the game.

I would purpose to change it to T1000 but seems like that would make it more complicated for some. What does everyone else think of this setup?

[ QUOTE ]
Let us know how it went. The WPT gets by with a 6-player "final table". I figure 6 players worked for you as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

It went ok. One guy (who's been playing on Party too much lately) was out in the first set of blinds. The entire tourney lasted 3 hours and everyone had a good time (which is the important thing). Predictably, they all left right after.

My only remark on the structure was that it felt like we could have used a few more levels of blinds (I used the standard blind structure on homepokertourney.com). Things seemed to get kind of crazy towards the end, although that may have just been my perception as I was short-stacked for a long time. Since there was only %60 of the money in play as at a 10 person tourney I think it would have made sense to either start with larger stacks or make the blinds increase more gradually.

On a side note, one guy got a straight flush, so that was pretty cool.

[Hedge Henderson]

[ QUOTE ]
It went ok. One guy (who's been playing on Party too much lately) was out in the first set of blinds. The entire tourney lasted 3 hours and everyone had a good time (which is the important thing). Predictably, they all left right after.

My only remark on the structure was that it felt like we could have used a few more levels of blinds (I used the standard blind structure on homepokertourney.com). Things seemed to get kind of crazy towards the end, although that may have just been my perception as I was short-stacked for a long time. Since there was only %60 of the money in play as at a 10 person tourney I think it would have made sense to either start with larger stacks or make the blinds increase more gradually.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah. I hear ya. I have never personally used homepokertourney.com's blind structure. I'd take their numbers (or anyone else's) as a rough guide.

We mainly play ring games, but we've been doing the occasional tournament for about three years now. We've done everything from limit razz to NL hold 'em. I learn something new every tournament, and adjust the structure for the next one accordingly. The longer you host, the better you'll know what works for your game and your players, whether you have six or sixty.

I'm glad everyone had a good time. That is the most important thing.

[stevea]

I used to play like that too but I don't like it now. I found that as more people busted out and waited for the next tourney, the remaining players felt pressured into making stupid plays and the quality of game play was really poor.

Also, 1/2 blinds with $50 doesn't give you much room to play. I actually started with 1/2 blinds with $100 in chips, but recently increased the starting chip amounts to $150.

steve
<font color="orange">North Shore Low Rollers</font> (http://www.homepokerclub.net/clubhome.php?clubid=1)

[varoadstter]

Even five will work. It's certainly more fun to have more people, but yes, you can play with a small table. I do it all the time and we have fun. Make sure you only pay top two players, though.

[maddo]

My home game is always 5/6 players. We normally have 3 tournies. Starting chips are 1500, blinds 25/25, 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, etc, doubling each level. Levels start at 20 minutes but will decrease as people are eliminated (to speed it up for those waiting for the next game). The games usually last around 80 minutes.

It's just a pain if you go out early.

[JonPKibble]

[ QUOTE ]
My home game is always 5/6 players. We normally have 3 tournies. Starting chips are 1500, blinds 25/25, 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400, etc, doubling each level. Levels start at 20 minutes but will decrease as people are eliminated (to speed it up for those waiting for the next game). The games usually last around 80 minutes.

It's just a pain if you go out early.

[/ QUOTE ]

You should try doing a cash game. That way everyone gets to keep playing, and there is more skill involved.

[FrankLu99]

70/30

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
Hell, we've done a couple of nights with four-player tourneys.

[/ QUOTE ]Do you guys never play heads-up? At work, we play tiny heads-up freeze-outs all the time. The standard setup is NL with 40 chips each, playing 1/2 blinds. We don't bother to increase the blinds, because 20BB isn't so much anyway. It means there's no clock, which is nice.

We keep a tally of wins and losses on a marker-board. I'm currently BARELY ahead. /images/graemlins/smile.gif
-Sam