[bolgenmod]

So after the fiasco of my college paying over a thousand dollars to some idiot to run a tournament last spring (there is a long post about that somewhere -- suffice it to say that the idiot did not even have a BLIND SCHEDULE!), I volunteered to run the tournaments next academic year, that is, starting this fall. I knew that for a thousand bucks the student union could buy the equipment needed; I would run the tournament, and everyone would be happy.

On WEDNESDAY, a poster goes up on campus saying there will be a poker tournament on Monday, September 11th. I am a little confused, but figured they had changed their minds. TODAY -- FRIDAY -- I find out they have not -- they want me to run the tournament on Monday!!

Luckily, I had already bought a bunch of copags and mouse-pad table tops, so we are set for that. But I never bought the CHIPS -- they were going to cost around $500 (faux clays of course), and I didn't want to spend my own money before I knew I would be reimbursed.

Now of course I have many, many chips, but no way am I going to let the students use my Pharaohs. Luckily, the home game has a bunch of chips. They are crappy suited dice-type chips and in bizarre colors, but they are chips.

WHAT I HAVE TO WORK WITH:

500 white
650 red
300 blue
150 black

THE PARAMETERS:

50-60 people playing
2 and a half hours playing time

Please don't make fun of the chips or the breakdown -- it is what it is. Can anyone suggest a blind schedule and chip breakdown that would work? The chips obviously have no denoms printed on them, so they can be worth whatever I say they are.

One final thing -- is there any free tournament software I can download to use as a blind clock? I wanted to project the clock on the wall (which we have the equipment to do). I was going to buy tournament director (or whatever it is called), but I don't have the money at the moment.

I am flummoxed -- I suppose I could try to figure this out myself, but I figured it would probably be faster and easier to just ask all you tournament gurus for help.

HELP!!!

[panthershutch15]

I use the free pokerroom tourney director...

link added"
http://www.pokerroom.com/main/page/p...dies/organizer

[the_ozmeister]

Hi

For a 60 player tournament, I would probably denom the chips as follows, purely based on the quantities you have and the fact that more lower denom chips are required than higher denoms.

With that said, I would propose a T-5000 with the following colour-values:

Red - $100
White - $500
Blue - $1000
Black - $5000

I would have a starting stack consist of the following chips:

$100 x 10
$500 x 6
$1000 x 1

I would use the following blind schedule with 10 minute levels for a 2.5 hour tourney:

$100-$200
$200-$400
$300-$600
$500-$800 / $100
$600-$1200 / $200 - - - - - - - - 1 hour
$800-$1600 / $200
$1000-$2000 / $300
$1200-$2400 / $400 - - - - - - - - -colour-up $100 chips
$1500-$3000 / $500
$2000-$4000 / $500
$2500-$5000 / $500 - - - - - - - - -2 hours and colour-up $500 chips
$3000-$6000 / $1000
$4000-$8000 / $1000
$5000-$10000 / $1000
$6000-$12000 / $2000
$8000-$16000 / $2000
$10000-$20000 / $3000 - - - - - - - 3 hours

When heads-up, the chips average would be 150k so the later blind levels are built reasonably slow for more play, but ultimately the last two levels will be sufficient to end the tourney.

Hope this help!

[BigKyle]

I would do this

red = 25
white = 100
blue = 500
black = 1,000

give out 8x red, 8x white, 4x blue for T3,000

blinds are 12 minutes
25-50
50-100
100-200
200-400
300-600
500-1000
1000-2000
1500-3000
2000-4000
2500-5000
3000-6000
5000-10000
10000-20000

you can use the blacks to color up as you go.

I recommend no antes because it is hard to remeber for novice players and double checking that the antes are in is hard and time consuming.

good luck!

[Coop]

Tournament Director includes a 30 day trial license with no restirctions in the software, you could download it and use it for your tournament on Monday.

[Devilboy]

Here's a more conventional structure for those chips - supports 60 people:

8 x White ($25)
8 x Red ($100)
2 x Blue ($500)
2 x Black ($1000)

T4000 with enough extras to colour up the $25s and $100s.

Go for 15 min blind levels:

25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
200-400
300-600
500-1000
700-1400
1000-2000
1500-3000
2000-4000 <-- Likely finish time: about 2.5 hours
3000-6000
5000-10000

EDIT: Dammit Kyle, you beat me to it!

[tomb1]

1. Definitely get the free PokerRoom Home Game Organizer. See Panther's link above.

2. Assign your values like this:
$25 = White
$100 = Red
$500 = Blue
$1000 = Black

3. Hold a T$5000 that uses the 2005 WSOP starting chip stack (without the 5th denomination).

4. Starting stack for 60 players (100xBB):
8 x $25 White
8 x $100 Red
4 x $500 Blue
2 x $1000 Black
Total 22 chips each player (not a bad-sized stack)

5. You will be able to color up all the $25s into $100s. Then you can color up all the $100s into $500s and $1000s whenever that's convenient, and finish the tourney with just those two denoms. Your chipcount fits 60 players x $5000 exactly.

6. Blind schedule below. Play should be over about levels 10-11-12. If you use 15 minute blinds, that should be within 3 hours or probably less. If the tourney is taking too long, you can always invoke "professor privilege" and skip every other level, or something like levels 5, 9, and/or 11.

Level...SB.......BB
1.......$25......$50
2.......$50......$100
3.......$100.....$200
4.......$200.....$400
5.......$300.....$600
6.......$500.....$1,000
7.......$1,000...$2,000
8.......$2,000...$4,000
9.......$3,000...$6,000
10......$5,000...$10,000
11......$7,000...$14,000
12......$10,000..$20,000
13......$15,000..$30,000
14......$20,000..$40,000
15......$25,000..$50,000

[smoore]

Devilboy wins the thread.

[Captn_All_In]

Originally Posted by smoore

Devilboy wins the thread.

Yeah thats a pretty good set up....I would just get some more blacks, and make it a T5K. Gotta be more of those on campus somewhere!!!

[Lucky Louie]

I think the previously mentioned blind schedules will work nicely. I just wanted to add that I think that the 2 1/2 hour timeframe might be a little optimistic. Its gonna be a bit of a crapshoot.

Good luck with everything.