[Lottery Larry]

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hopefully it won't be the only reply.

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SOOO impatient...

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But at any rate, this tournament is an annual event, which has has always had re-buys (not sure about add-ons, I always just assume they go together), and people seem to like that aspect. I just don't think the whole event has always been optimally run/planned in the past - it sounds like it was one of those deals where blind levels and timing would be made up as they went along.

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So, this is the first time you've been involved, or just the first time you've organized it?

Do you have any data on rebuys and blinds in the past? I haven't been in that many rebuy tourneys, but I'd assume 20-40% more chips in rebuys?

Estimate the total chips that will be in play, then set two benchmarks:

Final table (8-10?) and make the BB about 10% of the average stack
3-way and HU: estimate average stack, set the BB to 5% of the total chips in play. See how much play that will give, adjust accordingly (but be prepared for extended time if you tweak too much)

Work your way backwards, with 3-handed blinds set for your last round, to the rebuy period and down to Round 1

It won't make for a great amount of play, but time end is more important than that.


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-should end at a decent hour for working folk to get some sleep for the next day (end time of 10pm or so?)

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Make it 10:45-11? How far will people travel? Who's cleaning up, and how many helpers? Based on your other comments, maybe 6:30-10:30, with an announced start seating time of 6 p.m.
NO one gets blinded off without being there. If they buy in late (after the tourney starts), knock down their starting stack instead:

- 5% Round 1
- 15% Round 2
- 35% Round 3
- 60% Round 4

You can have a policy of "in late with short stack? Buy back up to your full starting stack.... for an extra $5-10"

This becomes less important to enforce if you as TD are NOT playing. Late players are a distraction if you are playing and getting blinded off.

Who are the dealers- players, or independent? 2 decks per table if players deal. No one shuffles and deals own deck- someone else shuffles.

Buy extra two decks for final table, to sub in. Crack them open as table is forming up.

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-Would expect to have about 30-40 players, but really, attendance is hard to predict...could be as low as about 20.. so we'll probably need to have multiple structures available depending on attendance?

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Multiple structures (one for 22, one for 35) would be good. Use whichever is closest to the numbers.

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Buy in $20, re-buys $20, add-on $10. 1000 chips.

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Trying to encourage rebuys? Then sell chips at a discount. $15 or $10 for 1000, or $20 for 1500 or more chips (Pick one or the other). Take this into account with total chips, for structure setup/end.

Another fund-raiser- allow add-on before the cards are dealt. Change the buy-in to $15, which means people will probably spend $30 to start the tourney.

The more rebuys, the more brutal the blinds will have to jump.

Don't draw for seats when consolidating tables, until the final table. Moving a player- check for the open seat closest to the right of the button at the short table, grab the same seat # from the must-move table.

When are you scheduling a break? Over four hours, you might want 2, especially with the company provided munchies.


Structure- what kinds of chips do you have- $5 reds through $500 purples? Greater denoms? You'll need some higher denoms to color up for final table, so plan for that.

round 1- 50 BB (50x the big blind). Lower increases rebuys, but may feel like a push-fest early if you go TOO low.
round 2- 25 BB
round 3- 15 BB
Round 4- (before rebuy/add on ends) 10-12 BB

... and go from there. This is with the idea of encouraging rebuys.

Adjusting your earlier structure:
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round 7 100/200
round 9 200/400
round 10 300/600
round 12 500/1000
round 13 700/1400
round 14 1000/2000
round 16 1500/3000
round 17 2000/4000
Round x 3000/6000
round 18 5000/10,000

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If you have problems at the end, just double the blinds in the next round and/or shorten the rounds, arbitrarily, to end it.

Given T1000 for $20 to start, 30% rebuys at $15 for T1000, 50% add-ons at $15 for T1500 and 30 players, you should have about 67K in play.

So, final table blinds (9 players? 8?) should be around T400/800 and heads up blinds will be T1500/3k. You can decide how long you want that final table period to last, by controlling the blinds progression.


Given your $50 bar comment, maybe $10 buy-in and $5 pregame add-on of 1k = T2k to start, with T25/50 blinds in Round 1.
$15 rebuys T2500 and $10 add-on, at end of rebuy period, for T2500.

30 players, 70% double buy-ins to start.... 30% rebuy.... 60% add-on = 110k in chips, final table blinds of T600/1200 and final round blinds of 3k/6k

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round 1-3: The blinds start out high but flat to encourage both early action (get people out and re-buying) and to reward skillful play.

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Early rounds are not where skillful play can usually come in, when you're trying to encourage rebuys.

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The add-on is significant in relation to starting stack (50%), which raises more money, but doesn't allow for too big of stacks (5 big blinds).

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Unless they already have 15BB stacks, you're in push-fest territory.


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-Is the end (rounds 12+) too aggressive? My concern is that people will be hesitant to play at all if it means staying up until midnight on a worknight (we expect to play on a Thurs. evening), but then again, this thing carries some decent bragging rights and some desireable prizes, so I don't want to make it a complete circus.

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With large numbers of players, price limitations and time factor limits, your rebuys will force you to make this a bit of a circus. But, maybe people with more experience running fast rebuy tourneys will have something better...



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maybe this is why add-ons exist so allowing the re-buy would just be overkill?

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I think this is your ticket. You can change it to allow double add-ons to anyone, or limit a double add-on to those who didn't have to rebuy, or allow a rebuy if under T500 in chips (and then an add-on)..... think of the implications and see what makes sense.