Home Tourney Structure Help!

[Stew]

OK everybody, I need some help here. My buddies and I are deviating from our monthly limit hold 'em game to play a No-limit Texas Hold 'Em Tourney in honor of the WSOP Big One.

We're having difficulty figuring out how to structure the blinds and the beginning chips to try to make the tournament last 4-5 hours or so.

There are going to be at least 6, possibly 8 guys involved.

We have a real dollar buy-in amount and we'll probably pay first, second and third (50%, 30% and 20% respectively).

The question is what is a good amount for starting tournament chips and what is a good structure for the blinds and possibly antes?

We have a set

Our goal is to allow everyone to play comfortably for about 2-3 hours, then hopefully have this done around 5 hours or so.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Playing a one table tourney, it's going to be sketchy trying to make it last 5 hours if it's no limit. The chances of someone getting busted are going to be high, regardless of the initial antes and/or blinds. You might consider playing limit for a couple hours, then switching to no limit.

I'd start with at least a couple grand in chips each, with small blinds to start, like 5+5 or 5+10, if you want it to last that long.