Home
poker tournaments can be a hoot!
A home poker
tourney can be very rewarding for all concerned.
At a home poker tournament, players are
often
only half-concerned with the money at stake (unless your buy-ins are
set at a very high price).
Mostly, they want to have a fun,
memorable time.
I’ve
talked in previous articles about general ways to make home poker games
fun. Hosting a home poker tournament is more difficult than running a
cash game, but really once you’re in your stride
it’s a piece of cake.
The chips are down
There is one very important logistical
consideration. Do you have enough chips to support a
home poker tournament? 
With some creative thinking,
cash chips can be converted into points values based on colour.
If you have a typical larger set of chips
with
values from 25c to $100, with plenty of each value, that should
suffice. I have outlined a suggested cash chip points value scale for
home poker tournaments later in the article.
Sit-and-Go (SNG) or multiple
table
tournament (MTT)?
Simple
decision. If you can seat everybody around one table, your home poker
tourney is a SNG. If not, it’s a MTT. Note that SNGs could be
structured with rebuys or add-ons if desired.
To keep your home poker tournament running
smoothly, it might be best to split an oversize table into
two smaller tables. Fifteen guys around one table is going to
make for a very slow game: a MTT with two tables of eight and seven is
much simpler and quicker.
Remember
to balance players in MTTs as they get knocked out. In the above
example, should the table of seven be reduced to six, wait for the
current hand to finish, then move a player at random from the table of
eight to make two tables of seven.
You
will end up with two tables of six and five. Once that is reduced to
ten, break up one table and seat everybody in their 'final' table
positions!
Keep it to a freezeout,
or allow rebuy(s) and/or an add-on?
A freezeout is a home poker
tournament which allows no rebuys or add-ons. Freezeouts will be
completed in much less time. It also makes the playing field level.
People with more money in their wallet enjoy no advantage if they are
not allowed to buy more chances to be lucky.
Rebuys are simply the
chance
to re-enter the tourney if you have run out of chips. The player hands
over another cash amount and receives the same number of chips he began
with.
The more rebuys you
allow, the longer the home poker tournament will take to complete. Most
tourneys have a fixed period of time for the rebuys (one hour is
usual), or a fixed number per person (usually a maximum of two for more
expensive tournaments).
Fixed
number rebuys are harder to administrate, as you have to keep track of
who has bought in and how many times.
An
add-on occurs only once, when the rebuy period has
ended. All players, regardless of chip count, have the option to
add-on. Sometimes add-ons are worth double the original starting chip
amount. For simplicity's sake, I would leave it equal. So, if you allow
an add-on and the starting chip total was 2000 points, give another
2000 for an add-on.
Important
note: you will also need more chips available if you allow
rebuys or an add-on.
Starting
stack level
The more
chips each player has, in theory the longer your home poker tournament
will take to complete. This depends on the skill of the players. Obviously,
if the blinds begin at 5-10 and you give everybody 5000 points, it will
take longer than if you give people 2000 points.
I would recommend at least 2000 points per
player. 3000 might be better. This depends on the real dollar amount it
costs to start: a low price encourages a faster game, while an
expensive admission price makes a slower game more appropriate.
Keep an eye on the time!
If
players have a curfew, consider speeding up your home poker tournament
by offering no rebuys or add-ons and starting with 1000 or 1500 chips.
If it ends too soon, you can start a second tournament.
Your final consideration should be the
players.
Are they in this for the experience, or the money? If
it’s
the money, make the starting stacks smaller, to encourage a quicker
resolution. If it’s the experience, make starting
stacks
larger, to encourage ‘correct’ play.
Blind structure?
Traditionally, blinds increase every 20 to
45
minutes. Blind amounts usually double at each level. The slower the
blinds increase, the ‘purer’ the gameplay remains.
You will hear
seasoned Texas Holdem tournament players complaining about a
‘crapshoot
structure’, which means the blinds have got too large to put
a premium
on skillful play.
In a
crapshoot finale, most players will be forced all-in with any
hand they play, due to the large blinds in relation to the
size of their stacks.
It's
unlikely that your players will complain too much though: after all,
it's your poker game and they are guests, if not friends! Ensuring a
structure eventually forces a crapshoot between the remaining players
is one way to guarantee that your home poker tourney ends within your
time limit, so bear that in mind.
A blind structure might look like this:
| SB |
BB |
Ante |
Cash |
chips |
equivalent |
| 5 |
10 |
0 |
25c |
50c |
0 |
| 10 |
20 |
0 |
50c |
$1 |
0 |
| 20 |
40 |
0 |
$1 |
$2 |
0 |
| 50 |
100 |
0 |
$2.50 |
$5 |
0 |
| 100 |
200 |
0 |
$5 |
$10 |
0 |
| 200 |
400 |
0 |
$10 |
$20 |
0 |
| 200 |
400 |
25 |
$10 |
$20 |
$1.25 |
| 400 |
800 |
25 |
$20 |
$40 |
$1.25 |
| 400 |
800 |
50 |
$20 |
$40 |
$2.50 |
| 500 |
1000 |
50 |
$25 |
$50 |
$2.50 |
| 500 |
1000 |
100 |
$25 |
$50 |
$5 |
| 1000 |
2000 |
100 |
$50 |
$100 |
$5 |
| 1000 |
2000 |
200 |
$50 |
$100 |
$10 |
| 2000 |
4000 |
200 |
$100 |
$200 |
$10 |
| 2000 |
4000 |
300 |
$100 |
$200 |
$15 |
| 3000 |
6000 |
300 |
$150 |
$300 |
$15 |
| 3000 |
6000 |
400 |
$150 |
$300 |
$20 |
| 5000 |
10000 |
400 |
$250 |
$500 |
$20 |
| 5000 |
10000 |
500 |
$250 |
$500 |
$25 |
Once
you’ve hosted a few tourneys, you
will be able to make adjustments to the above structure. Ask your
players for input. They might have sensible suggestions for improving
the structure.
You'll
notice that the low-value chips become useless at the end. So,
if you begin to run out of high-value chips, 'cash in' the
low-value chips (e.g., 25c value) and assign them as $500, or whatever
you're short of.
The
clock
You’re
going to need a clock to keep track of your home poker tourney's blind
raises. Anything with a relatively accurate alarm will do. Something
like a digital alarm clock, stopwatch or kitchen timer is fine. One
person should be in charge of ensuring that the timer is reset after
each level.
Above
all, have fun!
Once
you have hosted a home poker tournament, you will see that
it’s pretty
straightforward. The mechanics of it will take care of themselves,
allowing you and your guests to enjoy the night.
More info on
home poker tournaments and sit-and-goes
