You're a Bunch of Factors

Over a recent home cash game with friend we decided to stage a multitable NLHE event. There has been huge interest and was going to make it 3 tables, but I reckon for the first time i'll just make it two, 16-18 players.

It seemed like a good place to ask the 888 guru's about what I need to think about when running this tourney, also considering that I'll be playing in it. So far I have worked out:

Buy in,Payout structure,3k start stack,relaxed blind structure, should last 4 hours/ breaks every hour,Tournament Director software, seating allocation, chips required & distribution, rules (based on 888 rules)

A) Is there something else I need to think about? I just want to have all bases covered, especially when there is money involved.

B) Is there an objective way to move players? Obviously if one table gets low I'll need to rebalance.

Make sure you have plenty of chairs and wicked food.

When a space fills up on a table, head over to the other table and pick whoever is supposed to be moved over. Ie if there is an odd number of players on two tables and there's a spot for utg on table 3 (let's assume utg is known as number 2) then pick the number 2 from table 1/2 and move him/her over.

gjp33 wrote:

A) Is there something else I need to think about? I just want to have all bases covered, especially when there is money involved.

Security with shotguns like in 2M2MM.

Seriously, sounds like you have already thought through this game more than any home tourney I have ever played, should be sweet! Are we talking big money? Any seats left?

sounds like you have it pretty sorted.

ill give you a rundown of how i run my tourneys (people seem to like them, so i keep the same formula)

2-3 tables - make sure you have plenty of chairs.

buyin: i like to put on pizza etc. so to make sure that everyone pays up, make it easier etc, i usually charge buyin + $5. then i use 100% of this money to buy pizza, and if there is any left over, it goes to the prize pool (usually its about $20 more out of my own pocket, but i dont care that much)

tourney structure: i usually have a 10K stack, first 4 levels are 30 min, after that they go to 20 min. my tourney usually runs for about 7 hours, including a break for pizza. break every hour is prolly too excessive. i found 1 break for pizza was good enough.

make sure you have some killer tunes as well! nothing worse than a deathly quite room, even if you are playing poker.


with regards to moving people, when a seat is available, just go and find the person in the corresponding position on the other table and move them.


how many chips do you have in your set? i found that it was good to make the tourney pretty long, but then set up the other table for a cash game once there is a full table knocked out. that way, people aren't waiting around for the tourney to finish. so if it was me, i would go to at least a 5k start stack, but i guess that depends on how long you guys play. (i dont have a regular night at my joint, so when i do have one, they usually go till at least 5am)

Need another tourny at Bennys ASAP.

AceLosesKing wrote:Need another tourny at Bennys ASAP.

I did enjoy that night

Really, I wouldve hated folding into the money

I am the bruce.

BionicMike wrote:

gjp33 wrote:

A) Is there something else I need to think about? I just want to have all bases covered, especially when there is money involved.

Security with shotguns like in 2M2MM.

Seriously, sounds like you have already thought through this game more than any home tourney I have ever played, should be sweet! Are we talking big money? Any seats left?

haha no seats left, cutting it down to see how it runs the first time... buy will prob just be 50-60 for the first one

bennymacca wrote:sounds like you have it pretty sorted.

ill give you a rundown of how i run my tourneys (people seem to like them, so i keep the same formula)

2-3 tables - make sure you have plenty of chairs.

buyin: i like to put on pizza etc. so to make sure that everyone pays up, make it easier etc, i usually charge buyin + $5. then i use 100% of this money to buy pizza, and if there is any left over, it goes to the prize pool (usually its about $20 more out of my own pocket, but i dont care that much)

tourney structure: i usually have a 10K stack, first 4 levels are 30 min, after that they go to 20 min. my tourney usually runs for about 7 hours, including a break for pizza. break every hour is prolly too excessive. i found 1 break for pizza was good enough.

make sure you have some killer tunes as well! nothing worse than a deathly quite room, even if you are playing poker.


with regards to moving people, when a seat is available, just go and find the person in the corresponding position on the other table and move them.


how many chips do you have in your set? i found that it was good to make the tourney pretty long, but then set up the other table for a cash game once there is a full table knocked out. that way, people aren't waiting around for the tourney to finish. so if it was me, i would go to at least a 5k start stack, but i guess that depends on how long you guys play. (i dont have a regular night at my joint, so when i do have one, they usually go till at least 5am)

cheers for the info!

yeh i'm thinking about increasing the start stack now. 7 hours is a bit long for the crowd though, i'm trying to limit to 4.. and make it 1pm to about 5, so after lunch to before dinner so dont have to worry about food.

How did you work out your structure... i read online in many places to make the 12th blind level the same as the start stack... ie start stack 3000, then 12th blind level will be 1500/3000 and then fill in the gaps making them as long as you need them. Is that how you did it?

my set is 1000 chips so have worked out that it should be fine. and yeh, i intended on running a cash game as soon as we break the first table