I really don't think that everyone will ever agree on the structure of any tournament. Either the blinds are driving the action or the game is moving to slow and you can't get the cash game going. Online the games move extremely fast but even at 10 or 15 minute blinds, you're still seeing alot of hands per level and there's always a clock. Around town, there's not always a clock and the dealer could be slow or if you have a side pot late in the tourney where 2 or 3 people are all in and you're trying to figure out the pot if it splits. Those few minutes mean everything to a short stack getting close to the money.
The other night, I experimented with 4,000 in chips with blinds every 15 minutes starting at 5/10, doubling up to 40/80 then it went to 50/100 and doubled after that. I think it worked great b/c even though I had the monster chip stack until a horrible call and lucky river (I raised preflop w/ K J, 2 callers, flop comes K 10 8 , I push all in to take the pot down then and there since I have everyone covered, Coach insta-calls with J 9 and gets lucky on the river as always). Still, after that miracle catch (I'm still pissed about it) we still had enough chips to play with. You didn't fee that you had to go all in every hand. We ended up at 800/1600 and when I got head's up (top 2 pay out) I just went all in to end the game and get the side game going. So it ended with a little over 2 hours of play which was nice b/c everyone knocked out didn't have to wait forever to play some cash.
Anyway, I wanted to find out what everyone else did. I like keeping the blinds cheap to start with, allowing more play at the beginning and let the guys have a good time. I also think that the switch from 40/80 to 50/100 makes a big difference in allowing more play since it was more like an extended level with an ante almost. That's another thing, I never put in an ante that way the shorter stacks didn't feel pressure to go all in every road. When you start forcing the action, the more bad beats occur and it just becomes a luckbox fest on who's hand doesn't get unlucky.
Let me know what you guys do for single and multi tables.
Thanks.
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I start my tournaments with each player having 60 times the big blind. Blinds increase every 20 minutes. Players start with 12K in chips with blinds at 100/200, but only increase in increments on 100/200 for the first six levels. Only in hour three do the blinds really shoot up. But even after round 9 the blinds are only 2K/4K. Still playable for a 10 player tournament. (60k average stack.) After hour 3 it's pretty much time to wrap up though assuming you have a cash game afterwards if it's just a small tournament IMHO. There is a website with some other ideas @ http://www.homepokertourney.com/blinds.htm
Thanks for the info.
I hope to make it to your tourney very soon just to play with some different people. Its nice playing with the same guys, but after a while it's not much of a challenge.
I like quick, low-stakes tourneys. So people at my place start with 4K in chips.
Blinds are 25/50, 50/125, 125/250, 250/500, 500/1000, 1K/2K, etc., (without antes).
Blinds increase every 20 minutes, so most tourneys take less than 2.5 hours.
People play poker for the first hour. Luck and chip stacks become the main factors during the second hour.
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