BigKyle's T5,000 Structure

[BigKyle]

The Game:  No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em Freezeout Tournament
Buyin:   $25
Add-ons:  None
Rebuys:  None
Bounty:  Occasional $25 bounty on previous winner
Players:  10-20 (average 16)
The Payouts:  1st-50%  2nd-25%  3rd-15%  4th-10%

The Chips!:
Each player receives 8x25, 8x100, 4x500, 2x1,000.  We use a set of ASM customs to run the tournament, with 200 green, 200 black, 120 purple, and 80 yellow.

The Blinds Schedule:
All blinds levels are 20 minutes long
Small     Large
25        50
50        100
100      200
150      300*
200      400
300      600
400      800
600      1,200
800      1,600**
1,000   2,000
1,500   3,000
2,000   4,000
2,500   5,000
3,000   6,000
4,000   8,000
* break and remove green chips
** break and remove black chips
The tournaments typically run about four hours (4:00), and typically end at about the 1,500-3,000 level, or the 2,000-4,000 level.

Tables and Seating: We use two full-sized, 8'x4' oval hold 'em tables, both handmade custom jobs (one by me, one by acesandfaces).  At the start of the tournament, after everyone buys in, all players select one card out of a pile containing the same number of cards as there are players.  Half the cards are red and half are black, and those drawing the red card go to the red table, the black cards to the black table.  After that, the cards ace through "x" are drawn for table seating, with "x" being the number of players at that table.  For example, if nine players are at that table, ace through nine are drawn for seats, with the player drawing the ace sitting immediately to the left of where the dealer spot would be, and proceeding clockwise around the table.  These card drawing procedures insure randomness in seating; no one complains about one table being stacked, or having a certain player on their left, because it is all randomly drawn.

Inviting Players and Late Players:
We have a regular group of players and a few usually bring friends.  If a regular player arrives before the first hand of the third level (100-200) is dealt, he is allowed to join.  Our tournaments are not, however, a league, so missing them is not a big deal.

Cards, Dealing, and Shuffling:
We use two setups of Copag plastic cards per table; a blue/red setup with a criss-cross backing and a blue/red setup with a more traditional backing.  All four decks are easy to tell apart.  While one player deals the hand, the player in the small blind shuffles the second deck and, upon conclusion of the current hand, offers a cut to the previous hand's dealer.  The player who was the small blind but is now the dealer then deals the hand and the procedure repeats.  We have never had a problem with fishy dealing (fishy poker play is a different story!) but we are mostly all friends, so I am not surprised by that.  As the host/tournament director, I make all decisions regarding tournament play, but I have a backup T.D. to make decisions about hands I am involved in.  We have Robert's Rules of Poker on hand to aid in these decisions.

Competition and Fun:  We have a mixture of novice to good players, though most everyone in the group knows all the rules and procedures of the game.  Some players take it more seriously than others, but the main thing is just hanging out, drinking, and having a good time.  If you want to really play a serious poker game, play for higher stakes than a $25 buyin.  If you want to play a relaxed, fun game, play a $5 tourney or a nickels-dimes-quarters cash game.  I like to think that our tournaments are somewhere in-between.  If you have any questions on running a tourney, please PM me.  Thanks and enjoy!

[mac40k]

This is very similar to the structure I use for my T5000. With the addition of a 75/150 blinds level that is my blinds structure, except my first two levels are 30 minutes and all the rest are 20. I like big stacks though so starting chips are 20xGreen, 20xBlack, & 5xPurple for up to 16 players. If more I hand out 16xGreen, 11xBlack, 5xPurple, and 1xYellow.

I use a formula for payouts that someone else here posted to ensure 2nd gets 1/2 1st, 3rd gets 1/3 1st, so four places works out to 48%, 24%, 16%, and 12%. Since I use Tournament Director and it handles the math, it's no big deal using odd numbers, but yours is easier if you have to figure the prizes yourself. I have payouts for 2, 3, 4, and 5 places using the formula stored which we use for 8, 12, 16, 20, or more players respectively.

My group prefers the rebuy format. Even though TD supports rebuy and add-ons, I got in on a group buy for Rebuy chips and I wanted an excuse to use them. So I give everyone a rebuy chip along with their starting stack. The initial buy-in is $30 and players busting out before the 6th level (200/400) can rebuy a full 5000 in chips for another $30. Anyone that still has a rebuy chip at the end of the rebuy period can add-on 2500 in chips for $15. This gives players that don't play like maniacs during the rebuy period a use for the rebuy chip and doesn't leave them short stacked to another player that rebuys near the end of the rebuy period. Since players that rebuy can't add-on, they have to be more careful with their second buy-in. We also do a $10 bounty chip per player.

My house rules state we'll post blinds for players that responded, but haven't shown by that start of the tourney. If they show before the end of the first blinds level (half hour), they can buy-in and start playing with the next hand. Chips are removed at the end of the first level, but if a player shows up after that and it's before the end of the rebuy period, they can rebuy just like a player that has busted out. In effect, they pay $60 to start at that point with 5000 in chips.

I have a full size 10-seat oval I built and a store bought 8-seat octogon. I have two toppers if I need additional seating, but haven't yet had enough players show up to need them.  I just let TD randomly seat the players, but I've seen other people use your method. One idea to speed things up is to take the A-J spades and A-J Hearts from one deck and put them at the seats on each table. Then take the same cards from another deck and have players draw both table and seat assignment at the same time. For example, for 17 players you would have players draw from A-9 spades and A-8 hearts. Players then take the seat with the matching card.

I have 3 setups of Copags and we also use 2 decks per table with the same shuffling/dealing procedure. I drop to 1 deck when it gets down to the final 4 unless another player who has already busted out agrees to shuffle the "waiting" deck. This is because so many hands end pre-flop at the later stages, the small blind doesn't get a chance to shuffle and the players end up waiting anyway, so it no longer makes sense to keep using two decks at that point unless someone else is dedicated to the task.

I have small cards printed out for each seat. The hand ranks and blind schedule are on one side and my top 12 rules are on the other. I took HPT's hand rank cards and modified them. The top 12 rules are the ones I want to make sure I cover for new players. I no longer hand these out to my regulars, but new players appreciate them. In addition, I have my house rules printed out which are a combination of Robert's Rules, HPT Rules, and various ettiquette posting taken from here and chiptalk in case we need to refer to them.

We usually have a cash game going on the side once enough players have busted out of the tourney.

[Diamond Don]

Mine is pretty much the same thing. I added to rounds.

25/25
75/150

rounds are 25 min.

[Made in Detroit]

Used your structure last night. Thanks for posting Big K.

[Detroitdad]

I used the structure you gave me for a T20,000 tourney a couple of days ago for 20 players. Thanks, it ran great.

I ended up winning first which made it even better............my wife won 2nd, first time she ever placed.

Bill