My friends and I have poker night once a week and we are currently in the habit of only playing NL hold em tourneys. We usually have at least 6 people, the most being 7. The buy in is $5 and each player gets 25 chips. We start the blinds out at 1/2. We would like to get each game done as fast as possible while not raising the blinds too fast. The last thing we tried was raising it one(2/4,3/6,4/8) each time someone got knocked out. What is the best way? A time progression or one like that? Thanks
How "fast" do you want the games over? By games do you mean each tournament? It seems like you have many tournaments per poker night? What are the denominations of the chips?
Anyway...I think it would be pretty tough to get a balance of "getting the games over as fast as possible" while "not raising the blinds too fast." My recommendation would be to buy some of the cheap plastic chips so you can give each guy more of them and raise the blinds once every round or change the denominations of the chips. We play our home games with clay chips and it would be tough to get enough of them together to hold a NL tounament that didn't depend largely on luck. I would think that with say $100 in chips you can run the blinds at 1/2 with a double every round and still have an interesting tourney. Alternatively, you can figure out the amount of time you want each tourney to last and do a back track from there.
To make a long suggestion longer, you should check out the sites that run 1 table tournaments (party poker, poker stars, and i think paradise) and get some ideas from there. Generally, the 10 person, 1 table tournaments last 1 hour and they are pretty fun.
Anyway...I think it would be pretty tough to get a balance of "getting the games over as fast as possible" while "not raising the blinds too fast." My recommendation would be to buy some of the cheap plastic chips so you can give each guy more of them and raise the blinds once every round or change the denominations of the chips. We play our home games with clay chips and it would be tough to get enough of them together to hold a NL tounament that didn't depend largely on luck. I would think that with say $100 in chips you can run the blinds at 1/2 with a double every round and still have an interesting tourney. Alternatively, you can figure out the amount of time you want each tourney to last and do a back track from there.
To make a long suggestion longer, you should check out the sites that run 1 table tournaments (party poker, poker stars, and i think paradise) and get some ideas from there. Generally, the 10 person, 1 table tournaments last 1 hour and they are pretty fun.
I would make your progressions tied to the number of hands, not necessarily to a time limit.
If you're looking for an hour, use every ten hands to increase and use the same progression Paradise does, they usually last about 50mins.
But realistically, an hour is too short and the end becomes a complete crapshoot.
If you're looking for an hour, use every ten hands to increase and use the same progression Paradise does, they usually last about 50mins.
But realistically, an hour is too short and the end becomes a complete crapshoot.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matt24:
Each chip is the same denomination, everything is just worth 1. Not too many chips, but it is still fun. An hour is about right, that would let us get in 4 or 5 a night.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
its tough to get an answer to your original question if you dont want to use different denominations. if you follow my original suggestion of buying extra chips each worth $1 then it will take an hour for each guy to count out the blinds and bets near the end of the tourney.
if you want to stick with 25 chips at $1 each (which i would not do), you have to go with time limits for the blinds. don't know if this would work but try 1/2 blinds with the big blind going up $1 each 5 minutes and a small blind of 1/2 the big blind rounded down to the nearest dollar. if you do that you'll have a big blind of what 6-7 bucks in 30 minutes. it should be enough to prod the smaller stacks into action withot forcing the larger stacks to call with anything due to fear of being blinded to death.
anyway, i say you change your chip denominations by using the color of the chips to denote a specific amount. i havent purchased them in a while but my guess is that the generic plastic chips cant cost more than 3-5 bucks and it will make your game much more enjoyable. its worth it. if you guys are playing NL you're probably smart enough to keep track of whether blues are worth 5 or 10 bucks each. let me know what happens.
Each chip is the same denomination, everything is just worth 1. Not too many chips, but it is still fun. An hour is about right, that would let us get in 4 or 5 a night.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
its tough to get an answer to your original question if you dont want to use different denominations. if you follow my original suggestion of buying extra chips each worth $1 then it will take an hour for each guy to count out the blinds and bets near the end of the tourney.
if you want to stick with 25 chips at $1 each (which i would not do), you have to go with time limits for the blinds. don't know if this would work but try 1/2 blinds with the big blind going up $1 each 5 minutes and a small blind of 1/2 the big blind rounded down to the nearest dollar. if you do that you'll have a big blind of what 6-7 bucks in 30 minutes. it should be enough to prod the smaller stacks into action withot forcing the larger stacks to call with anything due to fear of being blinded to death.
anyway, i say you change your chip denominations by using the color of the chips to denote a specific amount. i havent purchased them in a while but my guess is that the generic plastic chips cant cost more than 3-5 bucks and it will make your game much more enjoyable. its worth it. if you guys are playing NL you're probably smart enough to keep track of whether blues are worth 5 or 10 bucks each. let me know what happens.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matt24:
when you say 25 chips at $1, not sure what you mean exactly. We buy in $5 and get 25 total chips, so usually there are 150 to 175 chips in the game for a specific tourney. Yeah we play wiht the generic red, white, and blues.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
sorry...when i say $1, i meant the 1 you referred to in your post (i.e. 1 unit, 1 chip, etc.). my point is the same if you want a better tourney you need to use different denominations for the reds, whites, and blues. using your terminology and my idea you can make whites 1 unit or "1", reds 3 units or "3", and blues 5 units or "5". then change the blinds once per round (every 6 players) to get the play you want.
when you say 25 chips at $1, not sure what you mean exactly. We buy in $5 and get 25 total chips, so usually there are 150 to 175 chips in the game for a specific tourney. Yeah we play wiht the generic red, white, and blues.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
sorry...when i say $1, i meant the 1 you referred to in your post (i.e. 1 unit, 1 chip, etc.). my point is the same if you want a better tourney you need to use different denominations for the reds, whites, and blues. using your terminology and my idea you can make whites 1 unit or "1", reds 3 units or "3", and blues 5 units or "5". then change the blinds once per round (every 6 players) to get the play you want.
Matt did you find something that worked on your home game as far as progressions??? Am attempting the same thing. What do you do w/players who are knocked out early; who are not necessarily the best of sports and bored w/the game in progress? Secondly what to do w/ player or wants to prolong the agony despite higher progressions?
