[Serpico]

Hi Guys,

I wonder whether you can advice me on the following. I want to start a home game but to be honest I'm a bit clueless.

I'm aiming for 8-10 players, ~3hr total time.

I've read this excellent site and I'm thinking of the following:

Buy the following 500 chip set:

T25 x 120
T100 x 220
T500 x 100
T1000 x 60

Each person starts with: T5000
T25 x12
T100 x 22
T500 x 3

Total chips = 37

T5000 10 players 8 levels of 15 minutes

Blinds:
25/50
50/100
100/200
200/400 (color/race out T25)
300/600
500/1000
800/1600 (color/race out T100)
1000/2000

Any comments would be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.

Serp.

[links_slayer]

Welcome to ChipTalk!

I'd say your chip set is a little heavy on the 100s and a little weak on the 500s.
Here's what I have (and found it quite useful):
140 x T25
180 x T100
130 x T500
50 x T1000

Also, unless I'm missing something your starting stacks add up to T4000. Here's my T5000 breakdown using the above chip set:
8 x T25
13 x T100
5 x T500
1 x T1000

You could also use 12-12-5-1 or 8-8-4-2

15 minute blinds can make things turn into a push-fest relatively quickly especially in the later stages. But if you're under a time constraint, this is better than not playing at all!! Your blinds increase too fast for my taste (doubling the first 4 levels). Here's the schedule I use (20 minutes at each level):

25 50
50 100
75 150
100 200
150 300
Break and Color Up
200 400
300 600
400 800
600 1200
800 1600
Break and Color Up
1000 2000 (With 10 players, should end around here)
1500 3000
2000 4000
2500 5000
3000 6000

Sometimes we don't even make it to the 800/1600 level and we made it to 2000/4000 once.

Best of luck and again, welcome aboard! Say goodbye to your paychecks!

[Serpico]

Thanks for the welcome!

Well spotted, I was cutting n pasting various info to come up with a starting structure and I cut n past T5000 but decided to cut it down to 4000 to reduce the total tournament length.

I wanted to keep it around 3hrs give or take a bit.

For the same reason I went with 15 minutes which I saw on some structures rather than the 20 minutes on others...however, I'd prefer to give people enough time to play poker so I think I will go with your suggestions and see what the guys think.

Thanks for the help,

Serp

[philhutchings]

if you have the time definately go with 20 mins as a minimum blind length or you'll find you won't even get full table rotations at times for a particular level.

[BCR_9er]

Originally Posted by Serpico

I'm aiming for 8-10 players, ~3hr total time.

I'll assume for 10 players.

10 players X 5,000 chips per person = 50,000 total chips x 4% = 2,000 (Big blind at the end of the game.

Blinds go:
25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
150-300
200-400
300-600
400-800
600-1200
800-1600
1000-2000 <---should end here
1500-3000
2000-4000

It should last 11 blind levels. I would do 20 minute levels for the first 3 levels. then do 15 minute levels for the rest. That should last 3 hours.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Serpico]

Thanks, I like the idea of changing the blind times.

Personally, I'd play all night, but I need to accommodate a lot of people, some with no prior poker experience (I've only got an internet SnG background).

I dont want the first few touneys lasting too long as some may find they dont actually like poker that much. When I get regulars returning I'll see if they want to add to the length.

So far I've had a lot of interest from various people - it's hard to tell if that interest will be converted to players in seats but at the moment I'm confident of getting 8-10 players.

Now I have an idea about the set up I need to order some chips, get hold of a poker table (just a top to start with), a few packs of cards, knock up a flyer and cross my fingers...

Might take a few more weeks to get everything together but I'll report back with how it goes.

[Chiproll]

I agree with BCR_9er for a couple of reasons:

his blind schedule uses the t25 for more than just the first couple of blinds, to me that is better value than say a chip that is only in play for an hour.

20 minute levels are nice early. i prefer the first two hours 20 mins, break, then 15 mins after that (unless you gotta tight group some should have dropped off by then therefore it should go around once per level). even after the third hour it would not be unheard of to change the blind levels to ten minutes. i don't mind ten minute levels when its down to the last two or three its still several hands a level.

and to agree with you yeah i'd rather play all night and have 30 min levels but my preference is the cash game too where patience and play style can have a greater impact over aggression and favorable cards.

btw when i had a home game, i was doing well if 25% of the people who said they were strongly interested actually showed up.

[99%evil]

Get some good cards, dal Negro or Copag are nice, they'll last well longer than the cost of the paper cards you'd use. If you've got the money, buy a decent set of chips to start...unless you're never visiting here again. Get a bunch of samples to help you decide.

[Diamond_Don]

My chip breakdown for 5,000 is

8 @ 25
8 @ 100
6 @ 500
1 @ 1000

[99%evil]

We do a T3000 that lasts from 2-3 hours

T25 - 12
T100 - 12
T500 - 3