How To Run A Home Poker Tournament
April 19, 2008 – 7:29 amPoker tournaments can be a lot of fun. Part of the fun is the restricted time. Regular games can last a long while, plus you cannot be sure how much you may be losing or gaining as there are no restrictions on betting.
Tournaments by contrast have a more or less exact time frame and your losses are limited to your buy-ins and re-buys. In addition, you’ll often find that a cash game breaks out on the side for people who bust out early. It’s a great way to have a poker night without worrying that it’ll go on into the wee hours of the morning.
But what do you need to run a tournament? What rules should you follow? Here’s a quick guide to help you get started setting up a home poker tournament.
Supplies
Your primary requirement is a poker chips set. Although cash is used for home games, chips are best for tournaments and bring a professional look to the poker game. A nice poker chips set will give you a dealer button. This prevents delays of wondering whose turn it is to deal, by organizing dealer turns.
2 decks of cards are necessary. This allows the future dealer to be able to shuffle while the current dealer is allocating the cards. This keeps the game running smoothly and quickly. Keep a blank card at the bottom of the decks to stop bottom cards from being seen.
A good card table is also nice to have. If you’re going to spend the money to get high quality clay poker chips, you don’t want them banging around on a hard kitchen table.
Last but not least you will need an egg timer so that you know when to raise the blinds. Now you have everything you need to enjoy the game.
The rules
The first thing you need to determine is the blind levels and payout structure. Our home games usually consist of ten people so we have a $25 buy-in with a maximum of two re-buys in the first hour only. The tournament pays out 50% to first place, 30% to second place and 20% to third place.
Blinds increase every fifteen minutes according to a predetermined table and we chip up when the small blind reaches 100 and then again when the small blind reaches 400.
That’s all there is to it! I think you’ll find that tournaments can be more enjoyable and more profitable that your usual cash games. You might even find that more people tend to show up when they’re able to tell their significant other exactly how long they’ll be!
Tags: Games
Related Posts
Print This Article :