HORSE Structure

[abby99]

We played a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at the Windy City Blowout II meet-up last weekend and used the following structure, which worked well for 12 players.



The tournament should end when the total chips in play are 9-10 times the big bet. As predicted, the WCBII tournament ended during round 15.

Here are screen shots of the first hold'em and Razz rounds. We used a modified version of Ten's excellent custom Tournament Director layout. Thanks, Ten! The red text made it very easy to see at a glance the game being played.

[AceDeuceNoUse]

Hi Abby,

Would you mind posting the chip breakdown for the HORSE tourney? We're close to booking the SoCal HORSE meetup, and I'm thinking of using your structure, which looks perfect for what we need (1 table, 8 players, around 4 hours).

I'm also curious what you did as far as moving the button during RSE - just like normal, with the button falling on whomever at the time H resumed?

Here's what I thinking, I'd appreciate anyone's feedback:

[abby99]

We started with one of the following:

15 x 5 = 75
13 x 25 = 325
11 x 100 = 1100
3 x 500 = 1500

20 x 5 = 100
20 x 25 = 500
14 x 100 = 1400
2 x 500 = 1000
(I found this one in my notes but don't recall whether we actually used it.)

Instead of freezing the button during RSE, we used a different marker (a completely different chip in a ring-type Air-Tite) to designate the player who is due to be the first BB on the next flop round. If that player is elimated during the RSE rounds, the marker would advance to the next player. As TD I thought it was more important to maintain consistency in the the progression of the BB rather than the button, ensuring that the BB would not skip a player. We did not rotate the deal; instead, dealing chores were handled by the two players at the center of the oval table. During RSE the person with the dealer button would pull it back toward the rail, and the person dealing would deal the first card to the player on his immediate left. At the start of the next flop game, the button would be positioned at the second seat behind the BB marker. This system worked well and was easily understood by all the players.

We burned a card before dealing each street (starting with 4th street) in the stud games, per Robert's Rules of Poker.

The schedule itself was very comfortable and gave everybody lots of play for the first full round. I considered making the two split-pot rounds longer than the others in an attempt to have a more even distribution of hands per round, but ultimately rejected that idea. Some people like the idea of playing a fixed number of hands for each blind level (8?), which would work for a STT, but it wouldn't have worked for a two-table tournament. If this idea appeals to you, check out the HORSE threads on HPT.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I need to refresh my memory anyway in preparation for the ChipTalk Lone Star Roundup.

I'm so jealous that you found enough people for a regular HORSE tournament! Good luck, and have a great time.