[action_hack]

I was wondering if anyone has created some type of poker tournament formula for a no limit texas hold-em tourney. Some type of device that lets you put in a aprroxamate time you want it to end by, how many players, how many chips to start and something that will tell you what your starting stacks should break down to.

Thanks

[Quads]

Tournament Director does what you are asking. As do several other tourney management programs.

[action_hack]

Is there any free software out there?

[Quads]

Tournament Director 1.3.4 is free.
Church of Google should get you an old DL link or check here

There are pros and cons to the older version. Personally, I'm a fan of it, and not so much a fan of the later releases. Others prefer the later releases.

You can also check the software / download links area at homepokertourney.com. Read up as much as you can there. Barry has taken a lot of time to put together a wealth of info which is invaluable.

[djexacto]

Also, if you can use Utorrent, I hear Mininova has version 2 somewhere

[_Hogjowls_]

you can download the Tex's Tears software here Tex's TEARS Software, Inc.
It does a good job of estimating the time FREE

[WalkFar]

If you want to work it our by hand the best advice I found is the Chiptalk.net Article in the Poker Chip Advice thread

See especially the original post by jmc and post #3 from Dimes. Now that I reexamine the thread, I also want to (but haven't yet) look at the link posted in #13 by jackace.

[WalkFar]

also should mention that from the info in the Chiptalk Article I was able to construct a spreadsheet so I could play with various starting stacks and structures.

Of course everything really "depends" on the group you are playing with, how many people, and how long they want the tourney to last, time constraints, allow rebuys, etc.

[hachkc]

Check out the spreadsheet in the linked post. It will do some of what you are asking but in reverse. Basically, you fill in the stack size, round length, blind schedule and number of players and it will calculate a rough estimate as to how long the tourney will last.

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/tourna...dsheet-v3.html

[jojobinks]

i recommend working backwards. figure out your chipstacks upfront, and how long you want it to last.

let's say you have 10k stacks, 9 players, and a desired 3 hour tourny.

10k * 9 = 90k chips in play.

take the total number of chips in play, divide by twenty to get the BB at which the tourny is likely to end. 90k/20 = 4.5k. my estimate, then, is that you'll end at 2k/4k or 3k/6k.

put in your first round of blinds (25/50?), your last round (3k/6k) and then fill in the middle based on how long you'd like your rounds to last. bada bing bada bang.

for instance, if i wanted to do this:
25/50
50/100
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
500/1000
750/1500
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/6000

that's 12 levels in 180 minutes. so you can use that structure with 15 minute levels. or lengthen the rounds and eliminate a few levels.

this has always worked out for me and isn't really all that complicated. good luck.