I'm adopting this format for a game in a couple weeks. I'm from the much lower stack crowd previously (1500). How long did you find your games go for by adjusting to this 20K starting stack with one rebuy format? I just wanna be sure it doesn't go all night.
I think as long as you get the blind structure moving according to how long you wanna play that’s what matters. 3 hours into my main structure the blinds are at 4K/8k so that’s when people really start getting out. But it usually goes about another hour after that.
Hi, Im now trying to customise my second poker set, and Ive seen this video, comments like yours. Ive decided to go with 25-100-500-1000-5000 denominated chips. I will buy a 300 set, and I excluded 1-5-10s from that. Im customizing a set proper for this set up. 75 - 25$ 75 - 100$ 50 - 500$ 50 - 1000$ 25 - 5000$ this is what Im gonna buy but here is the problem: this whole set makes 275 chips and I must choose one roll of 25 for any denomination. I cant decide which one to go, 25$ or 100$ ? one of them will be 100 chips and the other will be 75. We generally play as 6 men, but sometimes maybe 7. what do you suggest as a person who hosts tournaments? 100 pieces of 25$ and 75 of 100$ or opposite? (or another suggestion of yours) Id appreciate if you help me.
@@Librarian85 I would personally recommend leaning towards more chips of a higher denomination for tournament play. For your situation I'd suggest the extra 25x 100$ chips. This is for 2 main reasons 1. if people want to buy back in or you have an extra person or 2, you can always give out a smaller amount of higher value chips yet still create the same overall value (for example 1x $100 chip can be given out instead of 4x $25 chips) and 2. if you are going to color up as you go through the tournament the smallest denomination will be colored up first meaning they will be played with the least.
@@Rageinggames1 Thank you, Ive just placed an order and did just as you said. 75x 25$ and 100x 100$. I think it will be much better like this, because of the reasons you said. Thanx again.
Chris, not sure how your video popped up on my channel but I’m so happy it did. Before the pandemic hit, I was asked to run a charity poker tournament with 80 players. This event would include re-buys in the first hour and I’m struggling to determine how many chips I need. Watching your video gives me some sort of idea but my OCD to get this right is killing me. Your expertise and experience would really be appreciated.
Hi Chris. I hosted our first tournament this weekend. 19 guys. It went great. A few small hiccups, but very smooth. It's all because of your videos! Ty!
Update after using your stack for several months now. I love it. The only problem I run into is with newer players not throwing out their chips smarter. Example being that if someone wanted to make a 200 bet they would instead throw out all their 25s. Again, not a problem with your stack method just a problem with the players being inexperienced. But would love to see a sort of vlog of one of your tourney nights and highlights, would love to see those gorgeous hot stamps in action
I used to implement a nearly identical structure in my friend's home game tournament. I think it worked perfectly. Then one day, a new player convinced him to change up the entire format. Now, the starting stack is lower, the on-time bonus has been removed, the rebuys are unlimited, and there's an add-on at the cutoff. It's warped into a turbo shovefest, which I think takes away a good chunk of strategy. I no longer attend this game.
Thanks for sharing Chris! I discovered your channel by this video and I must say that I am impressed with all these chips, Your collection is the envy of many ;) I've played a few 2-table tournaments with this structure and I have to say it works really well. For a one table game however (6-9 players), I've change the denomination to 12/12/8/7/2 (22500) as there are less chips in play and players love to have more chips in front of them. I've also change level 9 to 700/1400 (16bb) then which I find is by far the level where everyone comes out at the same time taking unecesseray risk with the recommended 800/1600 (14bb) (works well with multiple tables but finds it just too much for a single table game). I also increased the level time to 30 minutes and left the antes as they are. Tournaments usually last 5-6 hours, maybe 7 hours with a group of 9 more tight players. If you want 7 hours with 6-7 players, get rid of the ante. Anyway, hope this helps anyone trying to set up a one table tournament and again thanks for sharing this valuable information. I would also love to have your thoughts on this, maybe you have different perspective that may even more improve a one table game, as I believe is the most played format by everyone as multiple table home game takes much more time, organisation and ressources. Thanks!
Thanks for the great feedback. Yes, I have found over the years that a single table is a different animal than a mult-table event. We dispense with the ante but keep everything else with a single table and it seems to work fine. We are def aiming for more of a 4 1/2 - 5 hour tourney and not a longer event.
Great video man, thanks for sharing all the details of how you run your home tournament games in your garage plus how many chips people would need etc. that's awesome!
this was so helpful i am planning a poker torny as well, and before seeing this video i was kinda surprised just how similar everything i had was to yours
Just getting into Poker and I ran across your channel. Just wanted to say Thank You! Very informative and full of information explained clearly. You've helped me immensely! Great Channel Chris!
@@Ross-fo2vw these were never made for the public, it was a single buy by about 30 people from Paulson directly. Don't know the full story on the boat chips but that original purchase is all that's made it to the general market.
@@prototypep4 oh wow I didn’t know that . So 30 people went in and bought millions of chips then sold them on the secondary market? And now what you need a casino license to purchase?
Hi Chris, love the videos. I’ve patterned my hime games after yours including the 8, 8, 6, 6, 2 $20,000 starting stacks. How do you manage your rebuy chips? Seems I remember you mentioning in another video rebuys get you a large denomination chip? How’s that work at the table. Does the rebuy player then sit down and begin to make change with the big stack? What do you give rebuyer in chips in this tourney as well as a similar $40 cash came rebuy chips? Thanks in advance.
Yeah that's what we do at our university tournaments! The structure is a lot faster annoyingly as the place is only open for five hours and there's usually 80-100 players (max. 130 entries, rebuys close either then or at first break) - 100/200 first level and doubles once 20 mins in (so down to 25bb average at level 2 as we only get 10k chips) But that's usually how it works, we give the rebuys 2x5000 chips, and they change with the big stack when they need to, there'll always be enough change to go around!!
Great videos! Thank you for being informational. Looks like a good structure. What tables are you using or did you build them? Also would like to see a video on how you host and run a game night including tips for beginning players.
Newbie...trying to set up a friendly game with my co-workers. Decided to set up a tourney...to cut time...cause 3/4 of us have to work the next day. Thank you!
Question about buying back in. Suppose a single table, 10 player tournament. If you buy the number of chips you suggest, then all the 25s, 100s, 500s, and 1000s are in play, but there are extra 5000s. So when someone busts and buys back in, do you give them the exact composition of their starting stack again (meaning you would need more chips) or do you just give them the value of their buy-in a larger denom and have them make change at the table?
I just give them 4 5k chips and they can make change at the table. Makes it easier later on. If it’s really early in the tournament, I might give 5 1k chips and 3 5k chips
Great vids, Chris. Ppl like Tourneys bc it limits their expenditures. They bring a buy in and 1-2 rebuys and they’re comfy w that. Others, like me, look for games where a cash game follows the tourney as people bust, and use the tourney as a gate to a profitable cash game. If Incash in tourney, great. If not, I try to make my buy in and more, through the cash game. But you know this, I’m sure.
As a tournament director I stand behind this video. Very informative and the 5 hour estimation for this structure is correct although im curious as to the restrictions you put on the re-entry.. can you use it at any time? I mean theoretically if they became heads up and lose but havent used their optional rebuy can they use it and get another chance? That would seem a bit wrong in my opinion and i would suggest the optional rebuy for everyone needs to be used before a certain blind level or before the money or something along those lines
Thanks so much for the kind words! Yes you are absolutely correct about ending re-entry after the first break, I can’t believe I forgot to mention that!
@@chrismanzoni3586 Well you had a lot of things to go over in this video, its an inevitability to miss a small detail. Keep doing what your doing your home games sound epic.
Maybe I missed it in the video… Do you payout cash for the (show up on time and exact change) bonus chips or do you just redeem them at the end of the game. I’m trying to figure out where the buy in covers the monetary value of the bonus chips. A breakdown of your payout structure may explain this better.
Hey Chris, would you make any adjustments to the structure if it were only a single table tournament, say 9 players? Great video, I'm so glad I found your channel! cheers
Structure works as is very well with a single table, the tournament will be about an hour or so shorter with just 9 players- if you prefer it last as long as a 3 table tournament then the best way to achieve this is to have 25 minute levels instead of 20.
My advice would be do neither. I don’t know where you are, but in California raking a home game is illegal. I imagine charging a monthly fee would amount to the same thing.
Hey Chris glad I found your channel. Enjoying watching your videos. If you have a table of 3 and for argument sake they're all staring even, how do you determine who to pull from which table if you lose players. Do you consolidate into two at 20 people or wait for 10 people and make one? You very well may have a video explaining this but I haven't found it yet. Thanks!
So glad I found this, I just learned the game and got my first set, 300 chips and then thought I needed a ton more. I think one more sleeve of chips and I can hold my first single table tourny next month! Unfortunately my set consists of 1s(100),5s(100),25s(50),100s(25) and 500s(25). Using your setup im thinking to buy 25 more 100s and distribute 8-10-6-6-3 respectively. Should work? ( I could return the set and search for a 500 )
Just found your video. Mr. Jon Hobby also is a fan of Poker Chip Forum. Its great to get this new perspective. Now, I need to find your videos on these poker chips. They look great.
Hey Chris! Super helpful video! I have a follow up question for you. If I’m running a tournament (10 people) with an option for one re-entry: a) when should I cut-off re-entries? and b) taking into account re-entries and coloring up how many extra chips would I need on top of your recommended 320? Seriously thanks again! This has really added a lot of structure to our home games 🙏🏽
I would say that if a starting stack would give a player 20 big blinds or more, then it's ok to allow a re-entry. Any amount less than that, is a waste of their money. I believe my cutoff is closer to 30 big blinds (off the top of my head) I wouldn't feel great about letting players re-enter with 25 big blinds or less. If you feel that you're going to have more than a single re-entry per player potentially, I would get an extra barrel or two of the biggest denominated chip (the 5Ks). When players re-enter give them four 5K chips (or whatever will make them a starting stack). You can adjust to three or more extra barrels of 5Ks depending on the gambling nature of your players. For some groups you may need an entire extra rack or more!
@@chriskoch2200 Removing both at the same time is a bit tricky. Have your players help you by having one player buy up all of the 100s, and then also have that same player by most of the 500s. When you arrive at the table, color up all the 100s entirely first. Then move onto the 500s. I give myself 15 minutes for this break with multiple tables.
Good amount and perfect number too IMHO. Only thing I do differently is I use plaques for the 2 5k chips. If you're the one buying the chips plaques can add up $$$ quickly, but you shouldn't need a ton of them. I also do a 5k reload and whoeever chooses just gets another plaque. I don't know tourny etiquette for add-on's, so maybe 5k's too low. But on the normal game it's a $25 buy-in for 20k in chips, then there's a $10 reload for 5k at the end of round 6 for anyone still in who wants a bit more chips. But I know not everyone likes plaques. To me though there's something satisfying about tossing one into the pot instead of 1, or a couple regular chips. And just my opinion but having a stack of plaques can make you look like a more menacing player lol. If you have a stack of 6+ big plaques you means business. BR Poker Pro has some awesome chips with matching plaques for a lot of them. For dramatic effect I'm thinking about having some custom all-in plaques made. Only downside to plaques aside from price, unless you have Shaq sized hands you won't be able to shuffle them lol.
Yes, I believe my single table breakdown gives you a spare 20 barrel of 5K chips which is enough for 5 re-entries, which should be sufficient for a normal group with a single re-entry format. If you have an especially gamble-y group or if you’re doing multiple or unlimited rebuys I would recommend extra 5K barrels for sure.
VERY helpful video. Thank you! I have one question: If you do a bounty and single rebuy tournament, I assume a person who rebuys get an additional bounty chip on reentry? If so, how do you handle the bounty situation when someone surrenders their stack and reenters?
Your assumption is correct, when you reenter after being felted you reenter for the full amount which includes the bounty chip. If you surrender your stack, which I allow both in play and at the break, you retain your bounty so you only pay the entry fee minus the bounty amount
Hi Christopher M. I need some advice for dummies here. See my friends and I are all beginners (we still need a chart of hand rankings handy to see what beats what) and I'd like to host a simple home game for us. I have an ok set of poker chips and when I watch poker on tv I can follow what's going on, but as far as setting up and running a game myself I don't have a clue how to do it. Unfortunately I'm the most knowledgeable in my friend group about this so if I can't get this going it'll never happen. Anyway here's what we'd hope for: a game that we can come together to play (maybe 5-6 ppl, def not more than 10), a game that'll last about 2 to maybe 3 hours tops to finish, and everyone would pitch in $5-$10 to play if they even want to pay to play at all. most likely it'll be a free event. Just a fun poker night with the guys, but I want it to feel official. If you already have a video that suits my situation please link it here, or if you know where I can find info on how to run it that would be welcome too. Right now everything I find online is too complex for what we'll be doing, because we aren't serious players. Also if anyone in the comments can provide help I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!
This video is probably the one of mine that most applies to your situation - I think a tournament is likely your best bet with a very new group. Low entry fee, with a cheap re-entry, is always a great way to go and get people coming back.
I've been using your videos as a guide for years now, one thing that I often get stuck with is determining payouts, especially when people re-buy due to early felting. I try to keep it percentage based but as soon as the total prize pool amount changes it makes the diatribution awkward. Any advice on this?
Great video! I was wondering if you could help me with my poker tournaments. I have chips with 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, and 1000. Can you help me with a starting stack and blind structure?
you dont need to worry about chip values, just recreate his numbers as "number of blinds" and go from there, i.e. 20k @ 50$ BB is 400 Big Blinds, so for a $1/$2 tournament; the starting stack would be 800
A good and proven blind structure for a T1 base or a T5 base is not something that is readily available on the internet - I have looked and had limited success. I also haven't been motivated to really dial it in as I don't have a T1 or T5 base set. I do plan to eventually take time to really think through it and figure it out, as I know this info would be helpful for a lot of people!
It just seems like, to me, you would run out of low value chips really fast?! I don’t know tho... I host a poker night and I’m trying to make it a little more serious. But I feel that there is too few low value chips. Your thoughts on this comment?
Use the larger denomination chips when people have to rebuy or it’s time to color up. Don’t give a reentry/rebuy a full five denomination starting stack, give them four 5K chips and they can make change at the table.
Love your insights! And all the details you share from your own experience. This makes figuring it out so much easier. I wonder if you have any tips on how to modify it to 1-table tournaments that should take something between 75-90 minutes. We play 6-max sit and go and we try to play 2-3 in one evening (approx 5 hours total). I went with your structure and 60 BBs starting stack as a starting point, but I wonder if you have any experience in this area as well. I bet there are more people who run home games as a few sit and gos (how to write that in plural?) per evening.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I've really never given much thought to hosting an evening with several shorter tournaments instead of one longer one - but I know the idea has lots of appeal for a lot of people. I think you are already on to the best way to make it work - start with less big blinds. A 20K stack with blinds starting at 25/50 gives players 400 big blinds to start with. Starting at a higher blind level or with less chips in the starting stack would for sure do the trick and make the tournament faster. Having never done it myself, I would be reluctant to give specific numbers - but I think you are already well on your way to dialing it in.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Thanks for your answer. After the first try, I feel like I need to switch it to turbo structure. So basically the opposite of what you did here. Nevertheless, your video is great, cheers!
I am hosting a tournament for the first time in a very long time and am trying to reacquaint myself with things. I like the bonus chips idea. Also, you said you allow players with micro stacks to forfeit their chips and participate in the one rebuy. What constitutes a micro stack? Is it the number of blinds they have available or something like that? Thanks!
I don't have a chip count requirement for someone to surrender their stack and re-enter, it's a personal choice of the player and they are free to surrender their stack and re-enter at any amount. Obviously they won't if they are close to having a starting stack.. But because it's only a $45 tournament some players will surrender if they have as much as half their chips remaining, or even a bit more than that. Others are more economical and won't surrender and re-enter until they have just a couple of big blinds. It really varies from player to player, the important thing is that they have the option if they feel they are too far behind to catch up with what chips they have left.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Great. Thanks. That's the conclusion I came to. If someone is willing to forfeit what they have and restart, who cares if they gain 100% or 10%.
Wow Chris, Thank you SO much for sharing these great insights! Finally going to take the plunge and invest in some really nice Poker gear (table, chips etc) and start hosting a monthly Poker Night with my friends. This video gave me SO much inspiration and great tips! I also do videos here on UA-cam, but on Personal Finance, Investments and Real Estate - So a far short from your content! Feel free to drop by some time😃 Loved the Perfect Starting Stack breakdown, so smart (I hadn’t even thought of that)!!
Great video! If I wanted to keep the game close to 4-5 hours would I add the antes even on a single table? or add antes after a specific Break? Thanks in advance.
I believe a single table wouldn't need the ante to finish in 4 to 5 hours, you should be good without it. Try it both ways and see what works best for your group. I suggest going without it the first time through. If it goes beyond 5 hours, which I doubt it will, then you know you can use the BB ante next time.
Trying to start my own game this video has been great. Love the chips. 3 questions. 1. When coloring up which chips are going out for each break. (25s exchange for what chip value? 100/500?, 1000s) When do you send out the 25k’s? 2. When you say “ big blind ante” you mean a forced bet to every seat or a 3rd big blind. 3. What chips go out with rebuys? Are 2nd bounty chips included with rebuy?
For your first question, I need to do a second video on coloring up! In the meantime here's a short answer to your question - Short answer - the 25s go away in the first break, the 100s AND 500s in the second break. The 1Ks towards the end when you reach the 10K/20K level. But I really need to do a video, stay tuned! Second question - the big blind ante is posted by the big blind as a "second" big blind, in the middle of the table. This is dead money that represents an ante for the entire table. Example, if blinds are 200/400 with a big blind ante - the small blind posts 200, the big blind posts 400 and also puts another 400 in the middle. This is roughly equivalent to the entire table each posting T50 individually. (8 handed it would equal T400, ten handed T500, nine handed T450) Third question, you don't need to remove chips for a rebuy unless the player is surrendering their stack. In any case, this re-buy is just four T5Ks. I don't introduce smaller denoms with re-entries. Yes, in my tournament a bounty chip is included with a rebuy, if it's a stack surrender they can keep their current bounty and don't need to purchase another one. (I prefer to call a re-buy a re-entry, I try to emphasize to everyone that it's not a re-buy tournament, the re-entry is in case someone gets coolered early).
Re-read question 1 - you buy up the smaller denoms on the table with the bigger denoms. Bring a new 5K to the table, make change using the stacks already there if you need to, then exchange the T25s for the bigger chips in your hand. More details coming in the video - I will try to shoot this weekend!
@@chrismanzoni3586 @Christopher M. how does this surrender thing works?they physicaly give you their chips they keep what ever bounties they have collected, and rebuy and get 20K plus another bounty chip?
Good info here. Thank you for sharing. One question: Is there a different between "re-entry" and "re-buy"? You say you don't like re-buys, but you permit 1 re-entry. Can you clarify please?
It’s not a very big distinction, it’s mostly semantics, but a rebuy implies that you stay in your seat and get fresh chips (which could be a different amount than your initial entry) by putting in money that’s not necessarily the same amount as your initial buy-in. For example, if you paid $60 for 20K in chips, you might be able to re-buy for $40 for 25K in chips and stay in the same seat. A reentry means you are treated like a completely new player, which means you redraw for any new seats that are available and don’t necessarily stay where you are, and you pay the exact amount of the entry fee that you originally paid and you get exactly the same amount of chips. So for $60 for 20K in chips, say you bust and re-enter, you would potentially draw for a new seat and pay $60 for 20K in chips. The distinction is not that great, but the point of a re-entry is to give players who get unlucky a single second chance to pay full price and come back in, whereas the purpose of a re-buy is to encourage action and let players keep playing for a bit less money and even potentially more chips.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Thanks for the quick response. This is very clear. A subtle, but not insignificant difference. A few years ago I started getting together with friends for a twice-monthly game night. Quickly became poker-only night. Progressed to a $1 buy-in, winner takes the entire $5-$10 at the end of the night. Recently moved to $5 buy-in and now I'm consistently getting 10+ every month. I don't anticipate moving past $5 for a while, but we definitely need to get more organized and formal to keep the chaos under control. Thanks again for sharing, this is great info.
Chris, great video and thank you! What is your suggestion for the minimum bet to be made during any part of the game? Ive played where the minimum bet is either the SB or BB. Just wondering your thoughts. Thanks
Chris, Is it possible for you to make a video like this, but just with 600 poker chips? I'm going to do my first home texas hold'em tournament and I have 600 poker chips but I have 10 different colors: 100, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 50, 50, 50 and 50. what do you suggest me to do?
Another great video thank you. You spoke about bounty chip, could you explain more and can someone buy a bounty chip a place on another player? Thank you for your time.
Great video, thank you for sharing your knowledge. It is very helpful in my search of an ideal tournament set. Would it be possible to host a single table 10 hand with only 300 chips with the proposed stacks?
So glad I found you have already wanted to run a gentleman's card game I plan to use your videos as a Bible to follow as I like your setup and teaching Im totally green but with experience and time perfection is learned Any suggestions other than studying everyone of your videos TABLES RULES SETUP REQUIREMENTS and so forth Thanks look forward to watching all 21 videos
its basically everyone has it and if you get someones bounty chip than you get $5 for each bounty chip you end with. even if you loose if you have bounty chips you will get some money
@@factualprod8758 so 2 persons go all in one wins, the loser hands over their bounty chip, right? ok now the winner has two, the winner goes all in with another player and losses, they just hand over one bounty chip and cash the other or how ever many they have for the $5each? and if they rebuy can they loss another bounty chip is they loss thier stack again?
That’s an awful lot of chips in play throughout the tourney. Damn we used to just give 20 out! Rebuys were usually in large denominations. People may like more chips but from a practical standpoint to many are a PITA. As for late players, we stopped that by saying you couldn’t play if you were late. We had a group of four guys that hosted 8-9 tournaments a year from 2003-2010 with 30-40 players each time. We had $50 buying with $50 add ones and $50 rebuys (modeled after the Tropicana AC tournaments at the time) until the end of the third round. +$5 to the house to cover food and beer. We only payed 4 for 30 and 5 for 35-40 and people liked that since the payouts were bigger. It was very popular and usual had a wait list within 8 hours of announcing the game.
Have you seen the rest of my channel lol! I'm a bit of a chip crazy person - that said, there are others on Poker Chip Forum that would say that I don't have enough chips in my starting stack! They like to go with x12 T25s and x12 T100s!
@@chrismanzoni3586 haha. I get you. I’m on that forum and understand I’m in the minority. But I’m a very practical person, and as much as I like nice chips, I like efficiency more. I’ve debated this before and the only defense most give is “because moar chips”. 🤦🏻
Chris I tried to read through the comments to see if you answered this. I'd like to skip the 25s and start with a base of 100. Is the starting stack now 10-6-6-2 and do you now only need 100-100s 60-500s 60-1000s and 40-5000s?
Yes I mentioned in the video there’s an alternate blind structure with no quarters, it’s a great way to save on cost of chips, plus it eliminates a whole color up. Your breakdown seems correct. Might want to get one more barrel of 5000s just in case you have a gambling group that re-enters a lot.
How long do you normally allow a re-entry for? Maybe until the 100s and 500s get coloured up? And how many re-entries do you expect from... say... a single table? It seemed like your chipset breakdowns didn’t account for people re-buying in as there was only 200k worth of 5k chips there in the set.
I do have a question and I hope I’m not going a bit far. What is you thinking about hosting a tournament that has a good handful of tables, lets say 10 tables for example(just as an example) how many chips MINIMUM would I need to get and how the structure should be and what should be the table number cutoff for hosting tournaments at home?
@@johnnyfulton4755 that is a lot of money in chips form. What if there was a $5,000 starting stack of 8/8/4/2? Would that work with the chip amounts that Chris has it in the video, or does it need to be bigger?
Chris you’ve got a sick garage going on there buddy. Love it. Your videos have gotten me back into chips. Already trying to find the Paulson private card room chips that I sold like an idiot back In the day. Rn I just have some cps chips. Here’s my predicament. I want to play tourneys with 9-10 players but I don’t have 25, or 100’s. I have 500s-1000s, 5k and 25k. Could you help me figure out a starting stack and blinds structure with this setup I have until I get ahold of some 25s and 100s
Yo, you have 4 different denominations. They can be 5s, 25s, 100s, and 500s. They can be 25s, 100s, 500s, and 1000s. The numbers are up to you, not dictated by some outside force. From there you can make it work I'm sure.
Thanks for the video. I recently bought some new chips and have been struggling to find a good starting stack. This helped a ton. I’ve been running a monthly game with friends for over a year and attendance is not always as great as I would like. I’ve been thinking about trying to set up a year long league to spark more interest. Do you have any experience with a league or have any advice for starting one. Is there a program you could recommend to help me keep stats and points in order?
For how long can you rebuy in to the tournament? When i played with your blind structure we played with buy in available until second break, what do you prefer?
Myself I prefer ending rebuys (or re-entry) after the first break, because if you allow them until the second break you have people buying back in with as little as 12 big blinds, or even ten big blinds if they reload during the second break. This is not great because people aren’t getting very good play value for their money. But if you and your players are ok with it then who am I to say that it’s not? If it works for you and your group then it works!
These days I have switched to a T100 base, I have to admit it’s a lot easier for a host. If I was to update this video I would put that in as the first recommendation. If you watch this video closely, you will see that it is an option.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Im just about to put together a T100 set and see if I can start gathering some friends for a friendly tournament every 4-6 weeks or so. Did you do any revision on the blind structure posted in the video? (Id probably start off with a single table, so in my case I'm guessing I can leave antes out of the game). And by the way, thanks for creating such great content. Good quality and very inspiring!
I think you mean payouts - I always pay 3 people for a single table tournament, with a money back for 4th place if I have a single re-entry or more. If I have more than a single table then it's a sliding scale payout, with approximately 30% of the prize pool going to 1st place and sliding down from there. This is MUCH flatter than card rooms and casinos, who typically award 40%+ to first place.
How many chips will be needed of $5k or $25k for color ups later on? Do you have a recommendation for that? I watched your video on color ups but it only discussed coloring up green 25s and I would like to know how many $5k or $25 chips are needed to own for color up when the tournament gets later on. Thx!
Software I use only Lets me choose “blond increase” the default is 25% each level which seems low and really deep stack oriented. Should I choose something like “30” or “50” percent? What is recommended for only 8 players?
Hey Chris, have you ever disclosed your blind structure and chip/color count for your high stakes tournaments as you suggested you sometimes have with the 43mm Apache clays that you use 500-1000-5000-25000-100000 ??
Hey what’s up Chris, hope all is well. I’m watching in 2024. I find your videos very informative. I’m hoping you can help me out with something. I like your T20k chip distribution. How can I make it work to where my tournament will last 4 hours. Hope to hear from you soon.
Do we use the highest denomination to reload? also I would use 8-8-6-6-4 meaning a 40k starting stack, but i would have a $40 dollar buy in rather than 20-25
These videos where very helpful, not related but only issue we ran into was when 3 or more people where in the pot and someone went all in and there were was still more betting. Got a little confusing at the end
There is no way he will know that. But I'd go look at the structure sheets for the WSOP 7CS events as a starting point, and then take appropriate ratios from there.
Thanks for this video. The stack and structure is a frustrating part of running a tournament. Do you use any particular software/program to keep track of the blind levels?
I use an app called PokerTimerPro, can’t remember how much it was, but it gets the job done well enough. I’ve yet to find the perfect timer, still searching!
Poker Timer - free and excellent I like to give my tourneys a different feel by having different starting stacks…sometimes we start with 40+ chips in our stacks….the larger the group the more minimal the stacks are. Another angle that I like is to include a reload chip for everyone as a part of their buy-in. Have to use it if they bust, must cash it in when you’d normally stop rebuys. Helps you manage your tourney chips AND lightens up the play knowing you can bust once without having to come up with rebuy funds. Also a nice way to justify bumping up your buy-in price….everyone gets two stacks!
@@prototypep4 I used Blinds Up for a time, pretty good program. I like the current one I use ProPokerTimer because it allows me to use my phone as a remote control.
Is the needs for chips still gonna be the same if you don’t do any rebuys at all, or should you still get the same in the video as insurance I’m case something does happen?
Hi Chris! Love this video, gearing up to host a first tournament among friends. In regards to payouts, do you treat re entries as another player? For example, if you had 10 players who all re-entered, do you still calculate payouts as paying 25% of a field of 10 or 25% of a field of 20?
Mattias Åkesson see my poker chip video #7, these are very difficult and expensive chips to acquire! The classified section of PokerChipForum.com is your best bet, but be prepared to search for many moons and then pay top dollar if you do find some.
All my games are self dealt, meaning all players take turns dealing in line with every time they are behind the button, See my recent video (#28) on playing cards for a thorough explanation of how we do it. I don’t make money at all hosting my games beyond having good results in the game itself. For me this more about hanging with my good friends in my home (garage) than it is about making money. I have a day job for that lol.
@@chrismanzoni3586 (I made this comment quickly and after only watching one of your videos.) But I have now watched almost all your videos and totally understand what's going on! And I love your method for 2-deck dealing/shuffling-looks like it will work perfect!!!
PLO for sure, we’ve done it and it works great! Fixed limit Hold-Em would also be fine. Stud however, since it’s played with antes and a bring-in, would have a different structure.
I want to host a tournament with friends and neighbors. I think I have enough chips for 10 players + 5 rebuys, but thats at a starting stack of only 100. Breakdown could be T1 x 10, T5 x 10, T10 x 4. To color up I have T25 and T100's. Do you see any obvious issues with this small starting stack size or breakdown? Any recommendations for blind structure, with the small starting stack?
Great videos btw. 1 question though - why do you need 40xT5000 in the single table 10 handed chip total? Isn't the total based on the starting stacks 20? Or are the 20 extra T5000 useful later in the tournament?
my next tournament (a company team building/thank you event) im going to with this break down, but i will go with an exact change bonus of 4 green and 4 black...i guess my question is how many people out of 25 buy in with exact change (on average)
Dude this was exactly what I needed!!! I have a question about the payouts... You said you pay 25% of the field. How would this look for places and amounts? Thank you!!!
First place usually gets around 45% Second around 30% third 15% 4th 10% For a 20 player game this is 20% of the field and about the best kind of prize structure, you can move the percentages around as you like but bear in mind not to try and please everybody to pay more people as the ones who win or get second will feel hard done by or feel its they didnt get what they should have for winning. Good luck with your home games bud
Yes, I pay out MUCH flatter than card rooms or casinos because I find in a home game the more people cash the happier everyone is and the more likely they are to come back. Merrik here is correct for standard casino payouts, it's a good way to do it with more serious tournament players. You have to take the pulse of your own group and see what everyone prefers, don't be shy about asking for feedback!
@@chrismanzoni3586 Im working on my 1st tournament and im going for 3 tables 30 pplayers was thinking on payout having a bubble boy/girl once 10players left one full table the 1rts player eliminated will be the bubble no cash, rest of players make the money 1-9th (1st 30% )(2nd20%)(3rd 15%)(4th 10%)(5-9th 5% each) how does that sound ?
The entry fee for my tournament is $45, so when a player buys in if they give me exactly the right amount and I don’t have to make change, I reward them with a 500 chip bonus. If I didn’t offer this bonus I’m sure I would get lots of people handing me three $20 bills and then I would have to make change. With a bonus incentive it’s much less work for me.
Physically Creating starting stacks: I read a lot of the comments but didn’t get through all of them. I run an 11 game tourney , this is my third year and it runs very smoothly. But with 24 players, creating the starting stacks is a drag. Is there a way to do it versus matching up 24 stacks of each? A counter, or trick with the plastic chip holder, etc? After the stacks are created I pit them in small canvas bags and hand out with buy-in. This saves a ton of time and it’s easier to carry your chips before game time. But how long is it taking you to create stacks?
@@Trephining when 24 players show up and you need to check them in, in a 15 minute window (which I do), you want all of the chips counted, and bagged ahead of time. Surprised there isn’t some type of machine to do it. With WSOP they do it all by hand?
Hello chris. I have a question about the re-entry, i like the format with just one "if they have micro stacks they can surrender and re-enter" So no Add-on, just give their chips to the bank and get another 20k?
These are not available for sale, join pokerchipforum.com, and after a certain number of posts you can purchase from individuals in the classifieds, sometimes these chips become available. At this point they are very expensive.
Thanks to this video I have hosted around 20 tournaments this last year ranging from 6 to 14 guys and it has been a blast. The 20K structure is great!
I'm adopting this format for a game in a couple weeks. I'm from the much lower stack crowd previously (1500). How long did you find your games go for by adjusting to this 20K starting stack with one rebuy format? I just wanna be sure it doesn't go all night.
I think as long as you get the blind structure moving according to how long you wanna play that’s what matters. 3 hours into my main structure the blinds are at 4K/8k so that’s when people really start getting out. But it usually goes about another hour after that.
Hi, Im now trying to customise my second poker set, and Ive seen this video, comments like yours. Ive decided to go with 25-100-500-1000-5000 denominated chips.
I will buy a 300 set, and I excluded 1-5-10s from that. Im customizing a set proper for this set up.
75 - 25$
75 - 100$
50 - 500$
50 - 1000$
25 - 5000$
this is what Im gonna buy but here is the problem:
this whole set makes 275 chips and I must choose one roll of 25 for any denomination. I cant decide which one to go, 25$ or 100$ ? one of them will be 100 chips and the other will be 75. We generally play as 6 men, but sometimes maybe 7. what do you suggest as a person who hosts tournaments? 100 pieces of 25$ and 75 of 100$ or opposite? (or another suggestion of yours)
Id appreciate if you help me.
@@Librarian85 I would personally recommend leaning towards more chips of a higher denomination for tournament play. For your situation I'd suggest the extra 25x 100$ chips. This is for 2 main reasons 1. if people want to buy back in or you have an extra person or 2, you can always give out a smaller amount of higher value chips yet still create the same overall value (for example 1x $100 chip can be given out instead of 4x $25 chips) and 2. if you are going to color up as you go through the tournament the smallest denomination will be colored up first meaning they will be played with the least.
@@Rageinggames1 Thank you, Ive just placed an order and did just as you said. 75x 25$ and 100x 100$. I think it will be much better like this, because of the reasons you said. Thanx again.
I was watching this video and i thought to myself: "those are nice chips, i wanna buy 'em". Yea nah i don't feel like selling my house.
@@MrAntonGunnarsson You can buy them, you just need to find someone who is willing to sell them :)
@@MrAntonGunnarsson they do pop up on PCF from time to time at about $7-$8 a chip.
About to host a poker night with some friends for the first time, and this video had exactly what I needed in terms of the chip breakdown.
hope you had a good time
Chris, not sure how your video popped up on my channel but I’m so happy it did.
Before the pandemic hit, I was asked to run a charity poker tournament with 80 players.
This event would include re-buys in the first hour and I’m struggling to determine how many chips I need.
Watching your video gives me some sort of idea but my OCD to get this right is killing me.
Your expertise and experience would really be appreciated.
So glad you got some good info. I’m hopefully going to do a more in depth video on running tournaments soon.
how did it turn out?
pretty easy spreadsheet work
This video was exactly what I needed to order the right amount of tournament poker chips. Thank you!
Hi Chris. I hosted our first tournament this weekend. 19 guys. It went great. A few small hiccups, but very smooth. It's all because of your videos! Ty!
I hope your pokerplayers appriciate the effort AND the fact you got Aurora star poker chips. Those 25s are sooo gorgeous! Thx for the vid!
Update after using your stack for several months now. I love it.
The only problem I run into is with newer players not throwing out their chips smarter. Example being that if someone wanted to make a 200 bet they would instead throw out all their 25s. Again, not a problem with your stack method just a problem with the players being inexperienced.
But would love to see a sort of vlog of one of your tourney nights and highlights, would love to see those gorgeous hot stamps in action
Need smarter poker buddies ha
what's the problem?
I used to implement a nearly identical structure in my friend's home game tournament. I think it worked perfectly. Then one day, a new player convinced him to change up the entire format. Now, the starting stack is lower, the on-time bonus has been removed, the rebuys are unlimited, and there's an add-on at the cutoff. It's warped into a turbo shovefest, which I think takes away a good chunk of strategy. I no longer attend this game.
Thanks for sharing Chris! I discovered your channel by this video and I must say that I am impressed with all these chips, Your collection is the envy of many ;)
I've played a few 2-table tournaments with this structure and I have to say it works really well.
For a one table game however (6-9 players), I've change the denomination to 12/12/8/7/2 (22500) as there are less chips in play and players love to have more chips in front of them. I've also change level 9 to 700/1400 (16bb) then which I find is by far the level where everyone comes out at the same time taking unecesseray risk with the recommended 800/1600 (14bb) (works well with multiple tables but finds it just too much for a single table game). I also increased the level time to 30 minutes and left the antes as they are. Tournaments usually last 5-6 hours, maybe 7 hours with a group of 9 more tight players. If you want 7 hours with 6-7 players, get rid of the ante.
Anyway, hope this helps anyone trying to set up a one table tournament and again thanks for sharing this valuable information. I would also love to have your thoughts on this, maybe you have different perspective that may even more improve a one table game, as I believe is the most played format by everyone as multiple table home game takes much more time, organisation and ressources.
Thanks!
Thanks for the great feedback. Yes, I have found over the years that a single table is a different animal than a mult-table event. We dispense with the ante but keep everything else with a single table and it seems to work fine. We are def aiming for more of a 4 1/2 - 5 hour tourney and not a longer event.
Great video man, thanks for sharing all the details of how you run your home tournament games in your garage plus how many chips people would need etc. that's awesome!
this was so helpful i am planning a poker torny as well, and before seeing this video i was kinda surprised just how similar everything i had was to yours
Just getting into Poker and I ran across your channel. Just wanted to say Thank You! Very informative and full of information explained clearly. You've helped me immensely! Great Channel Chris!
Lol "a face made for radio." Dude, same.
Hey can you please make a video on bounties. Or you can just reply to this lol how do I host a tournament with bounties . Thanks
If you knock a player out you get $5
Some beautiful chips man. Gorgeous. Wish there were more out there for lower prices. Your set is my dream one day!
yeah super unfortunate they stopped making them for the public in 2015 or whatever
@@Ross-fo2vw these were never made for the public, it was a single buy by about 30 people from Paulson directly. Don't know the full story on the boat chips but that original purchase is all that's made it to the general market.
@@prototypep4 oh wow I didn’t know that . So 30 people went in and bought millions of chips then sold them on the secondary market? And now what you need a casino license to purchase?
Hi Chris, love the videos. I’ve patterned my hime games after yours including the 8, 8, 6, 6, 2 $20,000 starting stacks. How do you manage your rebuy chips? Seems I remember you mentioning in another video rebuys get you a large denomination chip? How’s that work at the table. Does the rebuy player then sit down and begin to make change with the big stack? What do you give rebuyer in chips in this tourney as well as a similar $40 cash came rebuy chips? Thanks in advance.
Yeah that's what we do at our university tournaments!
The structure is a lot faster annoyingly as the place is only open for five hours and there's usually 80-100 players (max. 130 entries, rebuys close either then or at first break) - 100/200 first level and doubles once 20 mins in (so down to 25bb average at level 2 as we only get 10k chips)
But that's usually how it works, we give the rebuys 2x5000 chips, and they change with the big stack when they need to, there'll always be enough change to go around!!
Great videos! Thank you for being informational. Looks like a good structure. What tables are you using or did you build them? Also would like to see a video on how you host and run a game night including tips for beginning players.
Newbie...trying to set up a friendly game with my co-workers. Decided to set up a tourney...to cut time...cause 3/4 of us have to work the next day.
Thank you!
Question about buying back in.
Suppose a single table, 10 player tournament. If you buy the number of chips you suggest, then all the 25s, 100s, 500s, and 1000s are in play, but there are extra 5000s. So when someone busts and buys back in, do you give them the exact composition of their starting stack again (meaning you would need more chips) or do you just give them the value of their buy-in a larger denom and have them make change at the table?
I just give them 4 5k chips and they can make change at the table. Makes it easier later on. If it’s really early in the tournament, I might give 5 1k chips and 3 5k chips
Great vids, Chris. Ppl like Tourneys bc it limits their expenditures. They bring a buy in and 1-2 rebuys and they’re comfy w that. Others, like me, look for games where a cash game follows the tourney as people bust, and use the tourney as a gate to a profitable cash game. If Incash in tourney, great. If not, I try to make my buy in and more, through the cash game. But you know this, I’m sure.
As a tournament director I stand behind this video. Very informative and the 5 hour estimation for this structure is correct although im curious as to the restrictions you put on the re-entry.. can you use it at any time? I mean theoretically if they became heads up and lose but havent used their optional rebuy can they use it and get another chance? That would seem a bit wrong in my opinion and i would suggest the optional rebuy for everyone needs to be used before a certain blind level or before the money or something along those lines
Thanks so much for the kind words! Yes you are absolutely correct about ending re-entry after the first break, I can’t believe I forgot to mention that!
@@chrismanzoni3586 Well you had a lot of things to go over in this video, its an inevitability to miss a small detail. Keep doing what your doing your home games sound epic.
Thank you for this video. I feel confident about my home game I’m about to do in few hrs. Appreciate you bro!
Dude those solid colored Auroras are gorgeous, the only way I can get my fix is watching them over and over, wish they were purchaseable.
Maybe I missed it in the video… Do you payout cash for the (show up on time and exact change) bonus chips or do you just redeem them at the end of the game. I’m trying to figure out where the buy in covers the monetary value of the bonus chips.
A breakdown of your payout structure may explain this better.
Hey Chris, would you make any adjustments to the structure if it were only a single table tournament, say 9 players? Great video, I'm so glad I found your channel! cheers
Structure works as is very well with a single table, the tournament will be about an hour or so shorter with just 9 players- if you prefer it last as long as a 3 table tournament then the best way to achieve this is to have 25 minute levels instead of 20.
Dude, just found your channel. Long-time home tourney host as well, really enjoying these. Cheers!
Great video very informative, i want to ask if i host a money game should i rake or should i just make my friends pay a monthly subscription type
My advice would be do neither. I don’t know where you are, but in California raking a home game is illegal. I imagine charging a monthly fee would amount to the same thing.
Hey Chris glad I found your channel. Enjoying watching your videos. If you have a table of 3 and for argument sake they're all staring even, how do you determine who to pull from which table if you lose players. Do you consolidate into two at 20 people or wait for 10 people and make one? You very well may have a video explaining this but I haven't found it yet. Thanks!
I do indeed! Video number 25 is all about the seating! ua-cam.com/video/gCVScHKtzdE/v-deo.html
You did very well on this video. To the point, with a few explanations and examples. Great job, and thanks for the help!
So glad I found this, I just learned the game and got my first set, 300 chips and then thought I needed a ton more.
I think one more sleeve of chips and I can hold my first single table tourny next month!
Unfortunately my set consists of 1s(100),5s(100),25s(50),100s(25) and 500s(25).
Using your setup im thinking to buy 25 more 100s and distribute 8-10-6-6-3 respectively.
Should work? ( I could return the set and search for a 500 )
Hey man I love your breakdown and advice on a home game of poker. My only question: does the length of the game include the starting stack + rebuy?
Just finished your video and I gotta say I really enjoyed this one !
Just found your video. Mr. Jon Hobby also is a fan of Poker Chip Forum. Its great to get this new perspective. Now, I need to find your videos on these poker chips. They look great.
Hey Chris! Super helpful video! I have a follow up question for you.
If I’m running a tournament (10 people) with an option for one re-entry: a) when should I cut-off re-entries? and b) taking into account re-entries and coloring up how many extra chips would I need on top of your recommended 320?
Seriously thanks again! This has really added a lot of structure to our home games 🙏🏽
I would say that if a starting stack would give a player 20 big blinds or more, then it's ok to allow a re-entry. Any amount less than that, is a waste of their money. I believe my cutoff is closer to 30 big blinds (off the top of my head) I wouldn't feel great about letting players re-enter with 25 big blinds or less.
If you feel that you're going to have more than a single re-entry per player potentially, I would get an extra barrel or two of the biggest denominated chip (the 5Ks). When players re-enter give them four 5K chips (or whatever will make them a starting stack). You can adjust to three or more extra barrels of 5Ks depending on the gambling nature of your players. For some groups you may need an entire extra rack or more!
@@chrismanzoni3586 How do you do the second color up? Removing all the 100's and 500's seems a lot more complicated.
@@chriskoch2200 Removing both at the same time is a bit tricky. Have your players help you by having one player buy up all of the 100s, and then also have that same player by most of the 500s. When you arrive at the table, color up all the 100s entirely first. Then move onto the 500s. I give myself 15 minutes for this break with multiple tables.
Good amount and perfect number too IMHO. Only thing I do differently is I use plaques for the 2 5k chips. If you're the one buying the chips plaques can add up $$$ quickly, but you shouldn't need a ton of them. I also do a 5k reload and whoeever chooses just gets another plaque. I don't know tourny etiquette for add-on's, so maybe 5k's too low. But on the normal game it's a $25 buy-in for 20k in chips, then there's a $10 reload for 5k at the end of round 6 for anyone still in who wants a bit more chips. But I know not everyone likes plaques. To me though there's something satisfying about tossing one into the pot instead of 1, or a couple regular chips. And just my opinion but having a stack of plaques can make you look like a more menacing player lol. If you have a stack of 6+ big plaques you means business. BR Poker Pro has some awesome chips with matching plaques for a lot of them. For dramatic effect I'm thinking about having some custom all-in plaques made.
Only downside to plaques aside from price, unless you have Shaq sized hands you won't be able to shuffle them lol.
Have all the chips for the 10 handed option but wondering what chips you give for re entry?
Yes, I believe my single table breakdown gives you a spare 20 barrel of 5K chips which is enough for 5 re-entries, which should be sufficient for a normal group with a single re-entry format.
If you have an especially gamble-y group or if you’re doing multiple or unlimited rebuys I would recommend extra 5K barrels for sure.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Yeah thats cool. What method are you using with this setup to colour up the 100 and 500 chips in the later stages?
VERY helpful video. Thank you! I have one question:
If you do a bounty and single rebuy tournament, I assume a person who rebuys get an additional bounty chip on reentry? If so, how do you handle the bounty situation when someone surrenders their stack and reenters?
Your assumption is correct, when you reenter after being felted you reenter for the full amount which includes the bounty chip. If you surrender your stack, which I allow both in play and at the break, you retain your bounty so you only pay the entry fee minus the bounty amount
Hi Christopher M. I need some advice for dummies here. See my friends and I are all beginners (we still need a chart of hand rankings handy to see what beats what) and I'd like to host a simple home game for us. I have an ok set of poker chips and when I watch poker on tv I can follow what's going on, but as far as setting up and running a game myself I don't have a clue how to do it. Unfortunately I'm the most knowledgeable in my friend group about this so if I can't get this going it'll never happen.
Anyway here's what we'd hope for: a game that we can come together to play (maybe 5-6 ppl, def not more than 10), a game that'll last about 2 to maybe 3 hours tops to finish, and everyone would pitch in $5-$10 to play if they even want to pay to play at all. most likely it'll be a free event. Just a fun poker night with the guys, but I want it to feel official. If you already have a video that suits my situation please link it here, or if you know where I can find info on how to run it that would be welcome too. Right now everything I find online is too complex for what we'll be doing, because we aren't serious players. Also if anyone in the comments can provide help I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!
This video is probably the one of mine that most applies to your situation - I think a tournament is likely your best bet with a very new group. Low entry fee, with a cheap re-entry, is always a great way to go and get people coming back.
I've been using your videos as a guide for years now, one thing that I often get stuck with is determining payouts, especially when people re-buy due to early felting. I try to keep it percentage based but as soon as the total prize pool amount changes it makes the diatribution awkward. Any advice on this?
For a flat, home game friendly payout I recommend 1st place be 35%, scaling down from there.
Great video! I was wondering if you could help me with my poker tournaments. I have chips with 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, and 1000. Can you help me with a starting stack and blind structure?
Jose Tamayo i have the same problem lol
you dont need to worry about chip values, just recreate his numbers as "number of blinds" and go from there, i.e. 20k @ 50$ BB is 400 Big Blinds, so for a $1/$2 tournament; the starting stack would be 800
A good and proven blind structure for a T1 base or a T5 base is not something that is readily available on the internet - I have looked and had limited success. I also haven't been motivated to really dial it in as I don't have a T1 or T5 base set.
I do plan to eventually take time to really think through it and figure it out, as I know this info would be helpful for a lot of people!
^^^ Please do this soon ^^^ LOL
1, 5, 25, 100, 500, 1000
Just bought the 500 piece Slowplay Set and plan on doing a tournament in a couple weeks
It just seems like, to me, you would run out of low value chips really fast?! I don’t know tho... I host a poker night and I’m trying to make it a little more serious. But I feel that there is too few low value chips. Your thoughts on this comment?
Use the larger denomination chips when people have to rebuy or it’s time to color up. Don’t give a reentry/rebuy a full five denomination starting stack, give them four 5K chips and they can make change at the table.
Christopher M. Thanks Chris. Good stuff! I like the “on-time” bonus. Coulda used that last week🤔
Love your insights! And all the details you share from your own experience. This makes figuring it out so much easier. I wonder if you have any tips on how to modify it to 1-table tournaments that should take something between 75-90 minutes. We play 6-max sit and go and we try to play 2-3 in one evening (approx 5 hours total). I went with your structure and 60 BBs starting stack as a starting point, but I wonder if you have any experience in this area as well. I bet there are more people who run home games as a few sit and gos (how to write that in plural?) per evening.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I've really never given much thought to hosting an evening with several shorter tournaments instead of one longer one - but I know the idea has lots of appeal for a lot of people.
I think you are already on to the best way to make it work - start with less big blinds. A 20K stack with blinds starting at 25/50 gives players 400 big blinds to start with. Starting at a higher blind level or with less chips in the starting stack would for sure do the trick and make the tournament faster.
Having never done it myself, I would be reluctant to give specific numbers - but I think you are already well on your way to dialing it in.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Thanks for your answer. After the first try, I feel like I need to switch it to turbo structure. So basically the opposite of what you did here. Nevertheless, your video is great, cheers!
I am hosting a tournament for the first time in a very long time and am trying to reacquaint myself with things. I like the bonus chips idea. Also, you said you allow players with micro stacks to forfeit their chips and participate in the one rebuy. What constitutes a micro stack? Is it the number of blinds they have available or something like that? Thanks!
I don't have a chip count requirement for someone to surrender their stack and re-enter, it's a personal choice of the player and they are free to surrender their stack and re-enter at any amount. Obviously they won't if they are close to having a starting stack..
But because it's only a $45 tournament some players will surrender if they have as much as half their chips remaining, or even a bit more than that. Others are more economical and won't surrender and re-enter until they have just a couple of big blinds. It really varies from player to player, the important thing is that they have the option if they feel they are too far behind to catch up with what chips they have left.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Great. Thanks. That's the conclusion I came to. If someone is willing to forfeit what they have and restart, who cares if they gain 100% or 10%.
Wow Chris, Thank you SO much for sharing these great insights! Finally going to take the plunge and invest in some really nice Poker gear (table, chips etc) and start hosting a monthly Poker Night with my friends. This video gave me SO much inspiration and great tips! I also do videos here on UA-cam, but on Personal Finance, Investments and Real Estate - So a far short from your content! Feel free to drop by some time😃 Loved the Perfect Starting Stack breakdown, so smart (I hadn’t even thought of that)!!
Great video! If I wanted to keep the game close to 4-5 hours would I add the antes even on a single table? or add antes after a specific Break? Thanks in advance.
I believe a single table wouldn't need the ante to finish in 4 to 5 hours, you should be good without it. Try it both ways and see what works best for your group. I suggest going without it the first time through. If it goes beyond 5 hours, which I doubt it will, then you know you can use the BB ante next time.
Thanks for your important information Sure helps. Can you also please include your breakdown on your cash sets.
New video - #20 - Cash Chip breakdown!
Oh my! Look at those Aurora Stars. Minty fresh Paulson!
Trying to start my own game this video has been great. Love the chips. 3 questions.
1. When coloring up which chips are going out for each break. (25s exchange for what chip value? 100/500?, 1000s) When do you send out the 25k’s?
2. When you say “ big blind ante” you mean a forced bet to every seat or a 3rd big blind.
3. What chips go out with rebuys? Are 2nd bounty chips included with rebuy?
For your first question, I need to do a second video on coloring up! In the meantime here's a short answer to your question -
Short answer - the 25s go away in the first break, the 100s AND 500s in the second break. The 1Ks towards the end when you reach the 10K/20K level. But I really need to do a video, stay tuned!
Second question - the big blind ante is posted by the big blind as a "second" big blind, in the middle of the table. This is dead money that represents an ante for the entire table. Example, if blinds are 200/400 with a big blind ante - the small blind posts 200, the big blind posts 400 and also puts another 400 in the middle. This is roughly equivalent to the entire table each posting T50 individually. (8 handed it would equal T400, ten handed T500, nine handed T450)
Third question, you don't need to remove chips for a rebuy unless the player is surrendering their stack. In any case, this re-buy is just four T5Ks. I don't introduce smaller denoms with re-entries. Yes, in my tournament a bounty chip is included with a rebuy, if it's a stack surrender they can keep their current bounty and don't need to purchase another one. (I prefer to call a re-buy a re-entry, I try to emphasize to everyone that it's not a re-buy tournament, the re-entry is in case someone gets coolered early).
Re-read question 1 - you buy up the smaller denoms on the table with the bigger denoms. Bring a new 5K to the table, make change using the stacks already there if you need to, then exchange the T25s for the bigger chips in your hand. More details coming in the video - I will try to shoot this weekend!
@@chrismanzoni3586 @Christopher M. how does this surrender thing works?they physicaly give you their chips they keep what ever bounties they have collected, and rebuy and get 20K plus another bounty chip?
Good info here. Thank you for sharing. One question: Is there a different between "re-entry" and "re-buy"? You say you don't like re-buys, but you permit 1 re-entry. Can you clarify please?
It’s not a very big distinction, it’s mostly semantics, but a rebuy implies that you stay in your seat and get fresh chips (which could be a different amount than your initial entry) by putting in money that’s not necessarily the same amount as your initial buy-in. For example, if you paid $60 for 20K in chips, you might be able to re-buy for $40 for 25K in chips and stay in the same seat.
A reentry means you are treated like a completely new player, which means you redraw for any new seats that are available and don’t necessarily stay where you are, and you pay the exact amount of the entry fee that you originally paid and you get exactly the same amount of chips. So for $60 for 20K in chips, say you bust and re-enter, you would potentially draw for a new seat and pay $60 for 20K in chips.
The distinction is not that great, but the point of a re-entry is to give players who get unlucky a single second chance to pay full price and come back in, whereas the purpose of a re-buy is to encourage action and let players keep playing for a bit less money and even potentially more chips.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Thanks for the quick response. This is very clear. A subtle, but not insignificant difference.
A few years ago I started getting together with friends for a twice-monthly game night. Quickly became poker-only night. Progressed to a $1 buy-in, winner takes the entire $5-$10 at the end of the night. Recently moved to $5 buy-in and now I'm consistently getting 10+ every month. I don't anticipate moving past $5 for a while, but we definitely need to get more organized and formal to keep the chaos under control.
Thanks again for sharing, this is great info.
Where can I find the "No One Cares What you Folded" sign? It's awesome! Would love to get one for my poker room
Custom made at SmartSign.com !
Chris, great video and thank you! What is your suggestion for the minimum bet to be made during any part of the game? Ive played where the minimum bet is either the SB or BB. Just wondering your thoughts. Thanks
The minimum bet is always whatever the Big Blind is. If the blind levels are 25/50 then the minimum bet would be 50.
Chris, Is it possible for you to make a video like this, but just with 600 poker chips? I'm going to do my first home texas hold'em tournament and I have 600 poker chips but I have 10 different colors: 100, 60, 60, 60, 60, 60, 50, 50, 50 and 50. what do you suggest me to do?
Another great video thank you. You spoke about bounty chip, could you explain more and can someone buy a bounty chip a place on another player? Thank you for your time.
Entire Bounty Chip video coming soon I hope!
@@chrismanzoni3586 I hope so too lol
Love your videos!!
question for you...
If I have a 20 person tourney with 2 re entries how many of each chip would i need?
Great video, thank you for sharing your knowledge. It is very helpful in my search of an ideal tournament set. Would it be possible to host a single table 10 hand with only 300 chips with the proposed stacks?
So glad I found you have already wanted to run a gentleman's card game I plan to use your videos as a Bible to follow as I like your setup and teaching
Im totally green but with experience and time perfection is learned
Any suggestions other than studying everyone of your videos
TABLES
RULES
SETUP
REQUIREMENTS
and so forth
Thanks look forward to watching all 21 videos
Please explain the bounty chip in your games. Thanks
its basically everyone has it and if you get someones bounty chip than you get $5 for each bounty chip you end with. even if you loose if you have bounty chips you will get some money
@@factualprod8758 so 2 persons go all in one wins, the loser hands over their bounty chip, right? ok now the winner has two, the winner goes all in with another player and losses, they just hand over one bounty chip and cash the other or how ever many they have for the $5each? and if they rebuy can they loss another bounty chip is they loss thier stack again?
That’s an awful lot of chips in play throughout the tourney. Damn we used to just give 20 out! Rebuys were usually in large denominations. People may like more chips but from a practical standpoint to many are a PITA. As for late players, we stopped that by saying you couldn’t play if you were late. We had a group of four guys that hosted 8-9 tournaments a year from 2003-2010 with 30-40 players each time. We had $50 buying with $50 add ones and $50 rebuys (modeled after the Tropicana AC tournaments at the time) until the end of the third round. +$5 to the house to cover food and beer. We only payed 4 for 30 and 5 for 35-40 and people liked that since the payouts were bigger. It was very popular and usual had a wait list within 8 hours of announcing the game.
Have you seen the rest of my channel lol! I'm a bit of a chip crazy person - that said, there are others on Poker Chip Forum that would say that I don't have enough chips in my starting stack! They like to go with x12 T25s and x12 T100s!
@@chrismanzoni3586 haha. I get you. I’m on that forum and understand I’m in the minority. But I’m a very practical person, and as much as I like nice chips, I like efficiency more. I’ve debated this before and the only defense most give is “because moar chips”. 🤦🏻
Chris I tried to read through the comments to see if you answered this. I'd like to skip the 25s and start with a base of 100. Is the starting stack now 10-6-6-2 and do you now only need 100-100s 60-500s 60-1000s and 40-5000s?
Yes I mentioned in the video there’s an alternate blind structure with no quarters, it’s a great way to save on cost of chips, plus it eliminates a whole color up. Your breakdown seems correct. Might want to get one more barrel of 5000s just in case you have a gambling group that re-enters a lot.
How long do you normally allow a re-entry for? Maybe until the 100s and 500s get coloured up? And how many re-entries do you expect from... say... a single table? It seemed like your chipset breakdowns didn’t account for people re-buying in as there was only 200k worth of 5k chips there in the set.
Re-entries are over after the first break. Sorry I didn't mention that in the video!
Man.. those chips are Beautiful
I do have a question and I hope I’m not going a bit far. What is you thinking about hosting a tournament that has a good handful of tables, lets say 10 tables for example(just as an example) how many chips MINIMUM would I need to get and how the structure should be and what should be the table number cutoff for hosting tournaments at home?
@@johnnyfulton4755 that is a lot of money in chips form. What if there was a $5,000 starting stack of 8/8/4/2? Would that work with the chip amounts that Chris has it in the video, or does it need to be bigger?
Chris you’ve got a sick garage going on there buddy. Love it. Your videos have gotten me back into chips. Already trying to find the Paulson private card room chips that I sold like an idiot back In the day. Rn I just have some cps chips. Here’s my predicament. I want to play tourneys with 9-10 players but I don’t have 25, or 100’s. I have 500s-1000s, 5k and 25k. Could you help me figure out a starting stack and blinds structure with this setup I have until I get ahold of some 25s and 100s
Yo, you have 4 different denominations. They can be 5s, 25s, 100s, and 500s. They can be 25s, 100s, 500s, and 1000s. The numbers are up to you, not dictated by some outside force. From there you can make it work I'm sure.
Thanks for the video. I recently bought some new chips and have been struggling to find a good starting stack. This helped a ton.
I’ve been running a monthly game with friends for over a year and attendance is not always as great as I would like. I’ve been thinking about trying to set up a year long league to spark more interest. Do you have any experience with a league or have any advice for starting one. Is there a program you could recommend to help me keep stats and points in order?
World Tavern Poker
Poker Timer ($4.99) iOS
For how long can you rebuy in to the tournament? When i played with your blind structure we played with buy in available until second break, what do you prefer?
Myself I prefer ending rebuys (or re-entry) after the first break, because if you allow them until the second break you have people buying back in with as little as 12 big blinds, or even ten big blinds if they reload during the second break. This is not great because people aren’t getting very good play value for their money. But if you and your players are ok with it then who am I to say that it’s not? If it works for you and your group then it works!
@@chrismanzoni3586 thanks :D
Hey Mr. Manzoni. What are your thoughts on the T100 tournament that supposedly is increasing in popularity. Have you done any T100 in your home games?
These days I have switched to a T100 base, I have to admit it’s a lot easier for a host. If I was to update this video I would put that in as the first recommendation. If you watch this video closely, you will see that it is an option.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Im just about to put together a T100 set and see if I can start gathering some friends for a friendly tournament every 4-6 weeks or so. Did you do any revision on the blind structure posted in the video? (Id probably start off with a single table, so in my case I'm guessing I can leave antes out of the game). And by the way, thanks for creating such great content. Good quality and very inspiring!
@@kristiangravem no revision but I do include a T100 base structure in the video! GL hosting!
Thanks for sharing. how are the rules for the winners? i mean, im using re/buys, how could be the rule for the 2nd place? cheers
I think you mean payouts - I always pay 3 people for a single table tournament, with a money back for 4th place if I have a single re-entry or more.
If I have more than a single table then it's a sliding scale payout, with approximately 30% of the prize pool going to 1st place and sliding down from there. This is MUCH flatter than card rooms and casinos, who typically award 40%+ to first place.
How many chips will be needed of $5k or $25k for color ups later on? Do you have a recommendation for that? I watched your video on color ups but it only discussed coloring up green 25s and I would like to know how many $5k or $25 chips are needed to own for color up when the tournament gets later on. Thx!
Software I use only Lets me choose “blond increase” the default is 25% each level which seems low and really deep stack oriented. Should I choose something like “30” or “50” percent?
What is recommended for only 8 players?
Face for radio, faces gets red as soon as the sentence is over, my guy keep doing your thing and keep making videos, enjoy urself
Hey Chris, have you ever disclosed your blind structure and chip/color count for your high stakes tournaments as you suggested you sometimes have with the 43mm Apache clays that you use 500-1000-5000-25000-100000 ??
Hey what’s up Chris, hope all is well. I’m watching in 2024. I find your videos very informative. I’m hoping you can help me out with something. I like your T20k chip distribution. How can I make it work to where my tournament will last 4 hours. Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you so much the guidelines were amazing.
Do we use the highest denomination to reload? also I would use 8-8-6-6-4 meaning a 40k starting stack, but i would have a $40 dollar buy in rather than 20-25
What is your payout to 1st place, second place, ect?
Those chips are beyond beautiful!
These videos where very helpful, not related but only issue we ran into was when 3 or more people where in the pot and someone went all in and there were was still more betting. Got a little confusing at the end
Thats when you have to make split pots
Hey Chris! What’s the perfect starting stack and structure for a 7 Card Stud tournament?
There is no way he will know that. But I'd go look at the structure sheets for the WSOP 7CS events as a starting point, and then take appropriate ratios from there.
Thanks for this video. The stack and structure is a frustrating part of running a tournament. Do you use any particular software/program to keep track of the blind levels?
I use an app called PokerTimerPro, can’t remember how much it was, but it gets the job done well enough. I’ve yet to find the perfect timer, still searching!
Poker Timer - free and excellent
I like to give my tourneys a different feel by having different starting stacks…sometimes we start with 40+ chips in our stacks….the larger the group the more minimal the stacks are. Another angle that I like is to include a reload chip for everyone as a part of their buy-in. Have to use it if they bust, must cash it in when you’d normally stop rebuys. Helps you manage your tourney chips AND lightens up the play knowing you can bust once without having to come up with rebuy funds. Also a nice way to justify bumping up your buy-in price….everyone gets two stacks!
@@chrismanzoni3586 Have you given Blinds Are Up a look in? It's on the app store (android, not sure about iOS)
@@prototypep4 I used Blinds Up for a time, pretty good program. I like the current one I use ProPokerTimer because it allows me to use my phone as a remote control.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Didn't that function get added to blinds are up? It casts to a tv or pc and can be adjusted in app.
Is the needs for chips still gonna be the same if you don’t do any rebuys at all, or should you still get the same in the video as insurance I’m case something does happen?
Hi Chris! Love this video, gearing up to host a first tournament among friends. In regards to payouts, do you treat re entries as another player? For example, if you had 10 players who all re-entered, do you still calculate payouts as paying 25% of a field of 10 or 25% of a field of 20?
Where can get my hands on those chips they look amazing!
Mattias Åkesson see my poker chip video #7, these are very difficult and expensive chips to acquire! The classified section of PokerChipForum.com is your best bet, but be prepared to search for many moons and then pay top dollar if you do find some.
What do you do for dealer? Also what are some ways you make money? You hinted at it but didn't specify
All my games are self dealt, meaning all players take turns dealing in line with every time they are behind the button, See my recent video (#28) on playing cards for a thorough explanation of how we do it.
I don’t make money at all hosting my games beyond having good results in the game itself. For me this more about hanging with my good friends in my home (garage) than it is about making money. I have a day job for that lol.
@@chrismanzoni3586 (I made this comment quickly and after only watching one of your videos.) But I have now watched almost all your videos and totally understand what's going on! And I love your method for 2-deck dealing/shuffling-looks like it will work perfect!!!
Can this breakdown (8-8-6-6-2) be used in pot limit Omaha tournaments, in limit Hold'em and in 7 card Stud (tournaments)? Thank you
PLO for sure, we’ve done it and it works great! Fixed limit Hold-Em would also be fine. Stud however, since it’s played with antes and a bring-in, would have a different structure.
I want to host a tournament with friends and neighbors. I think I have enough chips for 10 players + 5 rebuys, but thats at a starting stack of only 100. Breakdown could be T1 x 10, T5 x 10, T10 x 4.
To color up I have T25 and T100's.
Do you see any obvious issues with this small starting stack size or breakdown?
Any recommendations for blind structure, with the small starting stack?
dont use T10s...wastes a denomination
Sweet double sided bounty/all-in chip! Anyone know where to get it or something similar?
OMG, those Aurora Star chips look AMAZING!!!!!!!
Really practical and sensible advice here! 😂
Dude, great video- Just added some chips to my Tiki chips order- I’m using the 5000 plaques instead of chips so should be fun 🤘
Where to buy these poker chips? Look great!
Great videos btw. 1 question though - why do you need 40xT5000 in the single table 10 handed chip total? Isn't the total based on the starting stacks 20? Or are the 20 extra T5000 useful later in the tournament?
The "extra" 5K are for re-entries. If you are running a freeze-out, you don't need another barrel of 5Ks.
@@chrismanzoni3586 Thank you very much for answering.
X2 - T5000 (pumpkin)
X6 - T1000 (banana)
X6 - T500 (grape)
X8 - T100 (blackberry)
X8 - T25 (avocado)
On time bonus x2 bananas
Exact change x1 grape
my next tournament (a company team building/thank you event) im going to with this break down, but i will go with an exact change bonus of 4 green and 4 black...i guess my question is how many people out of 25 buy in with exact change (on average)
Out of an average of 25 players at my monthly tournament, typically 1 or 2 people don't buy in with exact change.
Dude this was exactly what I needed!!!
I have a question about the payouts... You said you pay 25% of the field. How would this look for places and amounts? Thank you!!!
First place usually gets around 45% Second around 30% third 15% 4th 10%
For a 20 player game this is 20% of the field and about the best kind of prize structure, you can move the percentages around as you like but bear in mind not to try and please everybody to pay more people as the ones who win or get second will feel hard done by or feel its they didnt get what they should have for winning.
Good luck with your home games bud
Yes, I pay out MUCH flatter than card rooms or casinos because I find in a home game the more people cash the happier everyone is and the more likely they are to come back. Merrik here is correct for standard casino payouts, it's a good way to do it with more serious tournament players. You have to take the pulse of your own group and see what everyone prefers, don't be shy about asking for feedback!
@@chrismanzoni3586 Im working on my 1st tournament and im going for 3 tables 30 pplayers was thinking on payout having a bubble boy/girl once 10players left one full table the 1rts player eliminated will be the bubble no cash, rest of players make the money 1-9th (1st 30% )(2nd20%)(3rd 15%)(4th 10%)(5-9th 5% each) how does that sound ?
How does the bounty factor in? What do you pay for bounty?
I’m sorry but I’m confused why the extra 500 for “exact change”. Change for what? Great videos by the way!
The entry fee for my tournament is $45, so when a player buys in if they give me exactly the right amount and I don’t have to make change, I reward them with a 500 chip bonus. If I didn’t offer this bonus I’m sure I would get lots of people handing me three $20 bills and then I would have to make change. With a bonus incentive it’s much less work for me.
Thanks for this breakdown Chris. Off-topic but where did you find those bounty chips? Those are sweet
Sorry for the late response, I need to do a bounty chip video! I got these custom made at BrProPoker.com.
Physically Creating starting stacks: I read a lot of the comments but didn’t get through all of them. I run an 11 game tourney , this is my third year and it runs very smoothly. But with 24 players, creating the starting stacks is a drag. Is there a way to do it versus matching up 24 stacks of each? A counter, or trick with the plastic chip holder, etc? After the stacks are created I pit them in small canvas bags and hand out with buy-in. This saves a ton of time and it’s easier to carry your chips before game time. But how long is it taking you to create stacks?
24 players, ask one to help
@@Trephining when 24 players show up and you need to check them in, in a 15 minute window (which I do), you want all of the chips counted, and bagged ahead of time. Surprised there isn’t some type of machine to do it. With WSOP they do it all by hand?
Hello chris. I have a question about the re-entry, i like the format with just one
"if they have micro stacks they can surrender and re-enter" So no Add-on, just give their chips to the bank and get another 20k?
Correct, no add-on, just surrender all chips to the bank and re-enter for a new 20K starting stack
@@chrismanzoni3586 Tanks for answering! Seems way better then addon will try this next time
Where can I get some chips like that? Do you have a link
These are not available for sale, join pokerchipforum.com, and after a certain number of posts you can purchase from individuals in the classifieds, sometimes these chips become available. At this point they are very expensive.