Multi-Tables

[mrmookid]

Sorry for the all the questions - just looking to run games as smooth as possible.

We're at the point now where we usually have a minimum of 8 players. Usually it's 9+

If we have 9 players we usually keep it all at one table - some people argued that having one table with 5 players and one table with 4 players is unfair.

If we have 10 players we usually split into two tables of 5.

If we have 11 players we end up having one table of 5 and one table of 6. (Yes, I know, contradicts the 9 person table example but 5 is better than 4)

Once we are down to 8 players we usually combine into one table.

Does anyone have any comments/suggestions to improve this?

Thanks!!

[Big Country]

Depends how big your tables are and how many people you can comfortably sit there.

Standard casino table can hold 10 players, but most home tables that is just way too many.

I too do not like to get to a point where there are multiple tables going with 4 or less people at them.

In the home tourney that iplayed at for the first time last month, I was able to suggest and get unanimously accepted the idea to havethe final table start when we were down to 9 players. We started with 15 this time, and generally thay expect 14-18 players each month. It was my contention that it become a definite disadvantage for those at the 4 person table compare to the 5 handed table because of how fast the blinds would go when it was easy to comfortable seat everyone at one table.

basically, we started with a table of 8 and a table of 7. If one table had two more players than the other, they would draw cards to balance the tables out to an even numberof players, and this hapened until we were down to 9 handed, when we all combined into one table with new random seat assignments.

I found that this worked out very well, and since it seems like we are dealing with a similar sized group of people, I think it would work real well for your group too.

[mrmookid]

We have one custom built table that can easily fit 10 people and another office-like fold-up table that can hold between 6-8 (though 8 is tight)

Ok so your final table has 9 players. Is there a reason to do it at 9? I've seen it done at 9 before also. If we have 10 people (2 tables of 5) we usually wait until we have 2 out making the final 8. I soopse if we had 11 or 12 people in the game we could do 9 people. One guy who came to our games for the first time suggested 7 at the final table.

[Big Country]

We did 9 because we could not comfortably fit 10 players at the table and all agreed thatthe table of 4 players would have a distinct disadvantage to the table of 5 at that point becasue of how fast the blinds would hit the players, so making the "final" table at as great a number of players as possible seemed to make the most sense to reduce the shootout affect of having the blinds hit the players so much quicker, plus most preferred the challenge of having to work through a full table.

If you can easily fit 10 at the table, I would say condense the players to one table as soon as possible. Reducing the speed with which the blinds are hitting the players will increase the skill required for the tournament and reduce the luck of hitting it big early so it is easier to survive the blinds coming around so fast.

Again, just my opinion.