[GoldHawk]

First post... I think this is a great site!
I have a question about small tournaments blind schedules and chip quantities needed. I play with a group of friends (10-16) comprised of couples that currently play in the following manner:
Timer is set for 20 minutes. If a player busts, the timer is reset. Whenever a player busts or the timer goes off, the blinds increase and they use this schedule:
1/2
2/4
3/6
4/8
5/10
6/12
...
you get the idea... up by 1 each time. It is tedious and takes a long time. Of course, we are there more for the social aspect (and pride in winning) than any positive gain.
I am not exactly sure of how much we start with, but I think it's something like:
$ qty
1 20
5 10
10 7
25 2
I want to get the game going a little faster when I run it. I was thinking of modifying the schedule to:
1/2
2/4
3/6
4/8
6/12
8/16
10/20 color out ones
15/30
20/40
...

And I want to get the right quantity and denominations for chips. I just ordered 1100 Faux Clay chips (600 white, 300 red, 200 gray) and I plan on dyeing some of the white for a fourth color of higher value (100? 150? 200?) I also plan on printing labels with denominations on them.
So here are my questions:
1. Does my schedule look alright? What schedule would you use for a game such as this?
2. If I use these values/colors
1 White
5 Red
25 Gray
100 Blue
500 ?
how many chips of each color should everyone get? Or are there better denominations to use and do I need a fifth (or more) color?

I want to keep the game fun, but shorten it from 5 hours to 3.

I am completely open to ideas.
Thank you!

[wafflestomper]

This article was quite helpful for me when I was trying to decide what to do:

Home Poker Tourney - How to Set Up a Poker Blinds Schedule or Structure for a Poker Tournament

A rule of thumb that you want to start following (especially if you think your tourneys are running too long) is:

The total amount of chips a player should start with should be 50 to 100 times the first big blind. So you are starting with 1/2 blinds. You want the total amount of chips that every starts with to be 100 or 200. 100 will of course make the tourney go faster. Also, you could increase how often you increase the blinds, from 20 minutes to every 15 minutes.

[wijwij]

I recommend you set the time for the blinds (20 min or 15 min) and not raise blinds if someone goes out.

When you get your faux clays, you will have plenty to do some tournaments with better structures without even needing to dye some of them.

Idea 1: Use the grays like quarters.

gray = T.25
white = T1
red = T5

Do a T50 tournament that will play like a T5000 tournament. No need for a fourth chip if you just have two tables of players.

Starting stacks:
8/8/8 = T50 or
12/12/7 = T50

Blinds:
.25/.50, .50/1, .75/1.50, 1/2, 1.50/3, color up gray,
2/4, 3/6, 5/10, 7/14, color up white,
10/20, 15/30, 25/50, using just red.

Use 10R for rebuys if you allow them.

Idea 2: Use the grays like greens.

white = T1
red = T5
gray = T25

Starting stacks:
10/8/6 for T200
15/12/9 for T300

Blinds:
2/4, 3/6, 5/10, 7/14 color up T1
10/20, 15/30, 25/50, 35/70 color up T5
50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 150/300

I think 12 levels will probably be sufficient for a two table tourney.
Those would probably play around 3 or 3.5 hours depending on breaks.

Idea 3: Dye some chips green.

If you decide you want to dye some chips, maybe do 200 of your 600 whites and make them greens. Then they can be T25 and gray can be T100 chips.

400 white T1
300 red T5
200 [green] dyed T25
200 gray T100

Starting stacks:
15/12/9/1 for T400
10/8/6/3 for T500
10/8/6/4 for T600 (stacks look nice)

Adjust the blind schedule to add a few more levels like
200/300, 300/600, 500/1000, if necessary.

The T100 chips would be useful for rebuys if you allow them.

--wij

[GoldHawk]

wafflestomper,
Thanks for the link and the info!

wijwij,
Great details in your post! That's exactly what I was looking for... thank you!
I will take your suggestion #2, not increase the blind on busts, use T300 (unless we have a large party and would back down to T200), and the blind schedule you posted. I might start with 1/2 (instead of 2/4) the first game since everybody who plays is used to that... I don't need complaints from the peanut gallery.

I think we'll run 20 min timers through the first color up, then shorten it to 15 mins thereafter.

Thanks again for your help!
GoldHawk

[wijwij]

If dyeing goes well, you can also do another 100 white chips to make lavender or purple T500 chips. I envision you never really needing more than 300 white chips.

300 White T1
300 Red T5
200 [Green] dyed T25
200 gray T100
100 [Purple] dyed T500

Then you could do things like this:

T1000 tournament with 5/10 blinds to start.
See homepokertourney.com for blinds schedule.
15R/9G/7gr = T1000
Use 2P = T1000 for rebuys.

T3000 tournament with 25/25 blinds to start.
8G/8gr/4P = T3000

T5000 or T10000 tournaments with 25/50 blinds to start.

Letting white = T1000 and red = T5000 (if unlabeled),
you could do T5000 or T10000 tourneys.

8G/8gr/4P/2W = T5000
8G/8gr/6P/6W = T10000
Use 1R = T5000 or 2R = T10000 for rebuys.

P.S. Yes, I forgot to put 1/2 as the first blind level for the T300 tournament. It's good to start people off slow so everyone can get used to things, and would make your tourneys start out very similar to what they have been used to.

P.P.S. Note that you can change 7/14 to 7/15 and change 35/70 to 35/75 in your blinds structure if it makes it easier for people to post the big blind (three chips). The only drawback is that the big blind would not always be exactly two times the small blind. Just tell people that the small blind is getting a discount in those levels.