Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

Looking for experience and opinions here:

I've been playing in a semi-regular 8-10 handed game for a year now, but we can never agree on the proper starting chip stacks and blind structure for a good one-table tourney.

Lately, we've started with 500-600 chips, with blinds starting 10-20, 15-minute levels. I feel like this isn't enough chips to establish a good strategy, or see enough hands. Others like having smaller stacks to increase the number of tourneys a night. My ideal is 1,000 chips, same blinds.

Anyone have good guidelines here?

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

We play a 7-14 person unlimited re-buy tournament every week. We start with 5000 chips. 30-minute levels. Blinds go like this:
25/50; 50/100; 100/200; 200/400; 300/500; 500/1000; 1000/2000; 2000/4000; 4000/8000

It usually lasts about 3.5 - 4 hours. 30 minutes is a good amount of time for a level we find. Ours would be be better (but longer) if we added a 75-150 and a 400/800...but we don't for time considerations.

Also check out homepokertourney.com. And here's a link to the blind structures from the various events at the World Series of Poker. We're trying them out in a mega-tournament in a couple of weeks. You can adjust the level time to make a tourney finish in whatever time frame you want.

<font color="red">LINKY WINKY </font>

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

Our Monday Night Poker game is usually 9 to 11-handed (although sometimes we do have enough to start with two tables). We do a $30 freezeout, with T10000 starting chips:

4 T25 chips
9 T100 chips
8 T500 chips
5 T1000 chips

Blinds are 20 minute levels: 25/50, 50/100, (race off T25), 100/200, 200/500, (race off T100), 500/1000, 1000/2000, (race off T500), 2000/4000, 3000/6000 (3k/6k is the max level, we create the action). Usually goes 2-3hrs, and we usually either play a $20 buy-in cash game or a $5 Omaha tourney afterwards.

If we do rebuys, we start with T5000 chips for $20, and each player may do either a rebuy or an add-on, T5000 more for $10.

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

I run a Wednesday night tourney:
3K in chips, 20 minute rounds. Usually lasts just under 3 hours with 10 players.

Chips:
8 $25
8 $100
4 $500

blinds:
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400 * Color up, Get rid of $25
300/600
500/1000 * color up, rid of $100
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/6000

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

Everyone replying is missing the important point here:

"Others like having smaller stacks to increase the number of tourneys a night"

The players depending on luck want more chances to play when their luck goes sour. They're not looking for one decent tourney where they have to sit around after busting out badly in round #2.

OP- Yes, the tourneys are a crapshoot with the existing structure. Use that as practice for playing when your stack is short in relation to the blinds.

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

[ QUOTE ]
OP- Yes, the tourneys are a crapshoot with the existing structure. Use that as practice for playing when your stack is short in relation to the blinds.

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent advice, thank you. This is definitely the case, as half of the players are generally busted by the third round.

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

[ QUOTE ]
I run a Wednesday night tourney:
3K in chips, 20 minute rounds. Usually lasts just under 3 hours with 10 players.

[/ QUOTE ]

And here's another question: Has anyone observed a difference in play depending on the starting stack size?

For example, take the 3K chip stacks described above, and cut the values by 1/3, keeping the same # of chips. Would players make fewer bad bets? Or more? It's a question of chip values vs. chip quantity.

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

Here's the link to Home Poker Tourney. You could also try the structures at Tex's TEARS, which is used by a lot of B&amp;M cardrooms.

To eliminate the problem of having people knocked out early, have them start up a cash game so they are still doing something while the others are in the tourney.

Re: Chip stacks and Blinds for Home NL Hold\'em Tourney
 

We play a similar structure to that and it last about 60 - 90 minutes. But our game is usually limit hold em with one our two mini tournaments with small buy ins. We tweak the blind structure, but you are basically forcing a faster conclusion to avoid people sitting around longer.