Help me with SB/BB levels, and antes

[TheCroShow]

Ok, I have been running a home game for a few months now. We seem to have a decent sb/bb lvl going on, but I would like your input. A lot of the guys that play are on a schedule and some of the games drag out WAAAAY too long. Last weeks game took nearly 6 hours, and our quickest game was 3 hours with the same number of players....

the format: $10 buy in, each player gets around $450 in chips (10 ppl) or around $550 (8 ppl) and it's played much like a Sit and Go tournament No Limit. Most of the time we have 8 guys show, other nights it's 10. We start with really low blinds so ppl are not eliminated right away. We raise the blinds every 30 minutes. (I was thinking of 20 or 25 minutes) We do skip a few of your standard lvls, but this is to speed up the game as best as possible.

lvl 1= 1/2
lvl 2=2/4
lvl 3=5/10
lvl 4=10/20
lvl 5=25/50
lvl 6=50/100
lvl 7=75/150
lvl 8=150/300
lvl 9=200/400

I believe the lvls are good enough, but there seems to be a lot of delays during the game. Some nights it runs late when someone shows up 30 minutes late, and nobody wants to play because that player has an "advantage." We have settled that issue and are going to start exactly at the time we set and that person posts blinds when it's their turn, whether they are there or not.

Other times the guys take up a lot of time with chatter and bs'ing which is totally fine, it's just that it cuts into the game and by the end of the night some guys go all in just to give away their chips and go home.

I was thinking of introducing antes at the following levels, tell me if these are suffient, not high enough, too high or whatever...

lvl 1-3=$0 antes
lvl 4 10/20= $1 Ante
lvl 5 25/50= $3 Ante
lvl 6 50/100= $5 Ante
lvl 7 75/150= $10 Ante
lvl 8 150/300= $20 Ante
lvl 9 200/400= $25 Ante

I want to introduce antes to help speed upt he game a little and to encourage guys to play a few more hands. Your input would be appreciated. The guys have told me they wanna speed up the game a little bit and I do not blame them. Some nights are ridiculous.

[faith]

take a look at www.homepokertourney.com
He's put together some excellent charts for blind suggestions. most start at 10/20 but I figure you can divide by ten without too much trouble... also many links and much advice to help improve home tourneys.

[CaptLego]

+1 for homepokertourney.com

In my home tourneys, it seems that the blind structure determines the game length. If there's a lot of chatter, that would reduce the number of hands played at any particular level, but it wouldn't have much affect on the length of the game.

Raising the blinds every 30 minutes means you'd be at level 12 or 13 after 6 hours.... and with your blind structure, that would put the big blind at more than 1/2 of the total amount of chips on the table --- the game should end after about 1 hand of that...

Is there something else going on? Do you take long breaks (and stop the clock during those breaks)? If so, you need to take the breaktime into consideration when structuring your game. We usually take a break for 1/2 hour at some point to eat. That adds directly to the total game time.

[Holden97]

+2 for hompokertourney.com

in order to start on time and limit any advantage for people showing up late, go ahead and set up their chips and take out blinds until they show up. post and fold for them like online tourneys.

[fishfeet]

I based my structure from homepokertourney.com as well... but adjusted to our liking a little bit.

We give out $500 for any buyin (39 chips total)
Blinds go as follows:
3/5
5/10
10/15
15/30
20/40 (or 25/50 depeding on how large the tourney is)
30/60
40/80
50/100
by 50/100 is usually over. Very rarely does it go beyond.
We enjoy our time at the table, so we dont raise them too high too fast. Get the most time in for our money. Levels go up anywhere from 30 min - 40 min. An 10/11 person single table will last about 4-6 hours.
Our recent 20 person lasted about 7 hours.

[Scotty O]

Just follow a Casino's schedule like Foxwoods. Rule of thumb When the BB = 5-10% of the total chips in play, the tourney will be over.

[fishfeet]

I dont like Casino style blind structure.
They move up too fast (time and amount.. antes come in too soon)
It seems as if there is more luck involved casino tournys. If you get an hour of very cold cards and cant pick up a pot, your stack is half or more gone.
Blinds moving up a little smaller allow for the cards to even out a bit more and the better players will have a better chance of winning.

That is just my opinion though.
Then again, I also just like the games to last a long while. More value for my money [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Scotty O]

The casino structure can be changed. I would keep the same blind schedule and just extend the time. Remember, If you want a 5 hour tourney make the last level where the BB=5-10% of the total chips.

I like using 25/25 to start because it make chips easier to give out 4 Green, 9 Black, 2 Purple for 2000 in chips. I think Using the 5/10 structure make for a lot more chips I think

Scotty O