Blinds

First decide the blinds. Here is an example of a single table tournament blind structure (800 chips) in use:

• $ 10 - $ 15
• $ 15 - $ 30
• $ 20 - $ 40
• $ 30 - $ 60
• $ 40 - $ 80
• $ 50 - $ 100
• $ 75 - $ 150
• $100 - $ 200
• $200 - $ 400
• $300 - $ 600
• $400 - $ 800
• $500 - $1000
• $700 - $1400

Next to be decided is how often we should raise the blinds. Raising the blinds as often as they do in an online tournament is not comfortable in live play as you just aren't dealing the hands nearly as fast as is done online and players aren't getting the same amount of play in ten minutes offline. Twenty minutes is a nice quick pace while a half-hour is a bit more leisurely. An hour is painstakingly slow, unless you are planning an all day event.

There are several different places online to pick up "Blinds Schedules" for poker tournaments, one I use for a 14 - 16 man tournament (starting with 800 chips) is:

• $ 10 - $ 20
• $ 20 - $ 40
• $ 30 - $ 60
• $ 50 - $ 100
• $ 75 - $ 150
• $ 100 - $ 200
• $ 150 - $ 300
• $ 200 - $ 400
• $ 300 - $ 600
• $ 400 - $ 800
• $ 500 - $1000
• $ 600 - $1200
• $ 700 - $1400
• $ 800 - $1600
• $1000 - $2000

Using this and raising the blinds every 20 minutes, the tournaments usually last between three and four hours. When you have fewer players you may want to increase the blinds more slowly as there are fewer chips in the tournament. Finally, you will have to adjust the blind schedule and timing to reflect the type of players you regularly play with in order to have the tournament run the way you want it to run.

One last thing, while I don't generally run tournaments with antes they are an effective way of bringing things to an end should a tourney begin to run too long. We set an ante "time" for our weekday tournaments, and set them at 25% of the small blind.

No One Escapes the Big Blind
One confusing thing in a home poker tournament happens the first time someone on a blind is knocked out of the game. When the player on the small blind is knocked out, the blinds are posted as usual, and the same dealer deals again. It's ok to deal twice in a row, but the big blind escapes no one. If the player on the big bind is eliminated from the tournament, the big blind moves one seat forward, and the dealer button moves one seat forward. No one posts a small blind (that would have been on the fellow who just got busted out of the tourney, and he's no longer there). The following deal, the Big Blind moves along to the next player as it should. The small blind posts and someone is the dealer twice in a row. It's ok to deal twice in a row, but remember, the big blind escapes no one.

Should both blinds get knocked out of the tournament, the big blind moves to the next player, no one posts the small blind (that guy got knocked out), and the same player deals twice. On the next hand, the big blind moves down one, someone posts the small blind, and the dealer deals a third time.

The crux is the big blind never skips anyone, and you work backwards from there. If a player is present, they post the small blind. If they aren't there, no one posts it. The same player keeps dealing until things are back to normal, with both blinds being posted.

This method of play is called the "Dead Button Rule". According to "Robert's Rules of Poker", another method of play is possible, the "Moving Button Rule". Feel free to consult the Robert's Rules for more information on playing under the "Moving Button" rule.

Coloring Up
As the blinds increase along with the size of the bets some of the poker chips become less useful. For example; with blinds at $400-$800 and betting in the same range the $5 chip is not used. Odds are the remaining players not only have them they have stacks and stacks of them so you remove them from play. The process of removing these chips from play is called "coloring up" smaller chips are simply "cashed in" for larger chips.

When it is time to color up not everyone will have the proper quantity of chips to cash in without s remainder. For example; a player with seven $5 chips can trade five of them in for a $25 chip, but that leaves them with two $5 chips. In the tournaments I run, we just keep them. Either a player will collect three more $5 chips and cash them in later in the tournament, or the last bet will include some $5 chips. We deal with it at that time.

Chip Races
Larger tournaments perform chip races. This is a process whereby ALL of the outlived chip denominations are removed from the tables.

After the players have converted all the chips they can the remaining outstanding chips are totaled. Suppose there are 9 $5 chips outstanding and the tournament is coloring up to $25 chips, this leaves $45 in chips to be replaced. You can replace five of them with a $25 chip, but that still leaves four $5 chips in play. That's not acceptable. Since the $20 in outstanding chips is more than half the value of the new lowest chip on the tables, the $25 chip, the tournament director will add a second $25 chip to the tables. When the value of the outstanding chips is less than half the value of the new lowest chip, the $25 chip, they are retired with no additional chips being put into play.

Now that the decision has been made as to how many new chips are put into play, the next decision to make is who to give them to? Each player is dealt a card from the dealer for each $5 chip they had, and the highest two cards each win a nice $25 chip (Highest card is Ace of Spades, using the ranking of suits).

A chip race can never eliminate a player from a tournament. If a player does not win a chip race, and that would eliminate them, they are automatically awarded one of the chips they were racing for.