Our Blinds Schedule & Homegame Thoughts

[Bawlmer_Flats]

My home game uses a T3000 initial chip count with 20 minute blinds levels as follows:

Initial Chips:
Green ($25) x 20 = $500
Black ($100) x 25 = $2500
$3000 Initial Chip Count

20 Minute Rounds:
25-25
25-50
100-200
150-300
200-400
Race off $25 Checks
Color Up $500 Lavender Checks
300-600
400-800
500-1000
600-1200
800-1600
Color Up $1000 Checks
1000-2000
1200-2400
Race off $100 Checks
1500-3000
2000-4000
2500-5000

This gives you an initial chip count that is 120x the first big blind. The schedule is also not a revelation of any sort and is very similar to those used by many people.

While this may seem like a generous initial amount when compared with the starting blinds, it is CRITICAL to a good homegame to pay attention to ensuring that hands are dealt in an efficient manner. This means having two decks so that one deck is shuffled and ready to deal once the pot is awarded to the player from the previous hand. I'm not saying you have to be a tyrant about dealing speed, but you must try to minimize delays between dealing hands.

I've played in several home games other than my own and this is now my number one pet peeve.  In a 20 minute round, you are pressed to get one full round of the table in, even with efficient dealing.  Once people start too much talking and delaying, some homegames only get about 7-8 deals per blind round, which in my opinion is not fun or fair.

The reason this is so important (and using my blinds round structure as an example) is that by the third round most players are approaching being in trouble without even knowing it.  Assuming you did not have to post a blind and assuming you played no hands, you are already down to only 10x the bliinds by round three (100/200 blinds = $300 total.  T3000 initial chipcount/$300=10).  While this may seem irrelevant, you could be in deep trouble if you consistently wait to get in this position.

Good players recognize this, but with only 20 minute rounds the situation is still very much a crapshoot. So, while the focus is on fun and our games are very much so and a lot of strategy is involved, there are still a lot of reasons and room for luck to play a much larger roll than is probably fair in many homegames.  Lengtening the round lengths and/or making the blinds more gradual would help, but who has time for an 8+ hour game all the time?

Any thoughts?

[agalvan]

Have you thought about using a decreasing level lenght schedule?  I start the tournament with three 30 minute levels.  I follow this with four 20 minute levels.  Every level after this is only 15 minutes.  I found this works well becuase it allows people to get settled in to start the tournament.  During the 20 minute levels, people tend to get eliminated more often.  When the rounds are only 15 minutes there are typically only a few players left and the action is fast and furious.  People typically complain about the 20 and 15 minute rounds, but I'm with you about the 8 hour tournaments.  A 5 hour tournament is just fine for me.

[4ceps]

i second agalvan's suggestion of decreasing round lengths.  i start my tourneys with 3X30 minute rounds, with all subsequent rounds being 20 minutes. the 30 minute rounds allow the deal to go at least one orbit.  by round 4, a lot of the tight passive players are short stacked and some are eliminated already so 20 minute rounds are enough to get the deal around the table.

the max i play is a 2 table tourney, so when the tables combine, some players are already short stacked so a 20 minute round is still plenty of time.  if i played a larger tourney i'd have to tweak the rounds a bit.

another option is to keep a 20 min round, but cap your tables at 8 players each.  8 player tables at 20 minute rounds is a good compromise.

on a side note about your blinds:
you don't necessarily race off chips and colour up at the same time.  why not combine those steps (especially the 2 later races and colourups?)

you also race off the $25 checks one round AFTER they're needed. shouldn't they be raced off after the 150/300 round?

4ceps