[TrivialPiper]

Is 200 times the BB for 8 people a ridiculously high starting stack? I'd like the game to last about 4.5 to 5 hours. I'd start the blinds at 50/100 and go to 100/200, 200/400, 400/800, 800/1000, etc... changing every 30 minutes and I have the starting stacks built so that it is a T20,000. Anyone?

[Wylecoyo]

200 times the big blind might work, depending on how aggressive your players are. Most of what I have seen recommends starting stacks of 100 times the big blinds. It is all up to you. If you raise the blinds quickly and/or your players do a bunch of raising and re-raising then 200 times the bb may work for you. The best way to see is to just try it out and see how the game goes and then make adjustments from there.

I used to play a T5000 with starting blinds at 25 and 50 and things were too crazy, so now I have settled back to a T2500 with starting blinds of 5 and 10 raising every 30 minutes for the first two hours, the 20 minutes for an hour, and then 15 minutes for an hour, and then 10 minutes from there. Probably not what others may find optimal, but for my players it works very well.

[TrivialPiper]

Thanks Wyle....I'll try it this Friday, we'll see how it goes. I am always amazed at how fast you get a reply on this site. I love it!

[beekeeper]

Trivial,

You're not going to get much use out of your 25 or 50 chip with those blinds.

I run a tournament that lasts about 2 to 2 1/2 hours with 12 minute blinds. With 30 min blinds it could easily stretch to 4-5 hours.

Starting stack: T5000
Breakdown: (12) $25, (12) $100, (5) $500, (1) $1000
Blinds:
25/50
50/100
75/150
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/4000 etc

[TrivialPiper]

Originally Posted by beekeeper

Trivial,

You're not going to get much use out of your 25 or 50 chip with those blinds.

Thanks, I should have mentioned that we use 5 colors (my new Pharaoh NCVs)....50,100,200,500,1000. I am thinking of the following starting stacks:

20 Blue $50
25 Red $100
20 Green $200
15 Black $500
5 Orange $1000

For a total of $20,000 per player (85 chips to start). We don't do any rebuys, and I have more orange and purples (presumably $5K) to use for color ups later on.

[beekeeper]

Great chips. With beauties like those, you really do want deep stacks!

[TrivialPiper]

Originally Posted by beekeeper

Great chips. With beauties like those, you really do want deep stacks!

Tell me about it!! I got some (good natured) flack about starting with all 5 colors on the table, but my feeling is that I spent enough on these chips, I want to see them all out at the same time!! Except for the $5K purple of course. Although I still can't decide if I should use it as a $5K chip or a $2K chip....

[Flyin J]

They are nice chips, but why buy such nice chips and not use the correct denoms?

[umbkcshah]

Wyle makes a good point. As there are fewer players you can also shorten the rounds because hands typically take less time (especially if using two decks)

Modify the structure some if you want to do the double the blind thing. This will be over before 4 hours. Just aim for a little more conservative structure at some point. You can see that blinds will get to people well before I expect this to end at the latest between 3:30 and 4 hours as set up. If you want this spreadsheet, let me know. it's not the best, but it works pretty well for trying to figure things out for 10 man freezeouts. If I was more clever I'd get back into programming to have a nice worksheet.

[TrivialPiper]

Originally Posted by Flyin J

They are nice chips, but why buy such nice chips and not use the correct denoms?

That's the whole point of buying the NCVs! The group I play with has been together for about a year and a half now and those are the denoms we have always used. If I tried to change it now I would be lynched!!! Seriously though, every time we used my chips I'd ahve to hear all night..."What are the reds worth again?". I like the denoms we use, they work for us, so that is what I went with.