Below are three main structures:
T25 / T100 / T500
Save and shared for future reference using @BGinGA structures.
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T25
I highly recommend the following 400-chip set for a 10-player T25-base tournament:
120 x T25
120 x T100
50 x T500
75 x T1000 (includes 15x for T25 and t100 color-ups)
35 x T5000 (includes 5x for T500 color-ups, plus 30 extras to be used for stacks > 10K and re-buys/add-ons)
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400 chips
This set supports 10 starting stacks from 5K up to 25K (12/12/5/6/x), includes sufficient chips for color-ups, and has enough T5000 chips to support 4xT5000 re-buys for 20K events. Stack breakdowns of 8/8/6/6/2 (or 8/8/4/7/2) are sub-optimal for single-table events, as they tend to promote tighter play, while also causing potential confusion and time-wastimg via excessive change-making. In addition, you need fewer T500 chips (never need more than 1 per bet) and more T1000 chips towards the middle and end of the event (after they replace the T100 as the workhorse chip). The extra chips are well-worth the cost to ensure smooth game play.
Sounds like you have a decent grasp already on how to color-up chips. Either the race-off or round-up method is fine (I prefer the latter, as it's faster and arguably more fair).
These are commonly used single-table payouts for friendly home games:
9-10 players: pays 3 places --50%-30%-20%, or 55%-30%-15%, or 60%-30%-10%
6-8 players: pays 2 places -- 60%-40%, or 65%-35%, or 70%-30%
5 or fewer: pays 1 place -- 100% WTA
Regarding blind structure and blind times, it all depends on how long you want your event to last. Every tournement will typically end around the time that there are a total of 20 big blinds in play on the table. If you have 10 players with 20K stacks, that means that there is 200K in chips in play, so the event should generally end no later than the 5000/10000blind level (which also means that T1000 chips will never get colored-up, as they are still needed prior to that time).
The typical re-buy rate for a 200BB event is 25%-33%, or 2-4 players in a 10-player field. Smaller starting stacks (or fast/aggressive blind structures) can increase the re-buy ratio.
Re-buys can be allowed for any amount of time, but realistically, they start losing value as the blinds get larger. I generally don't offer re-buys that are smaller than 20BB at the time of purchase, and usually set a cut-off at between 25BB-40BB.
The following blind structure begins each player with 200 Big Blinds (relatively deep), and has consistent blind increases that range from 33% to 50%, averaging 40%::
L1 50/100
L2 75/150
L3 100/200
L4 150/300
remove T25 chips
L5 200/400
L6 300/600 (optional end re-buys - 33BB)
L7 400/800
L8 600/1200
break (optional end re-buys - 17BB)
L9 800/1600
L10 1100/2200
L11 1500/3000
L12 2000/4000
remove T100/T500 chips
L13 3000/6000
L14 4000/8000 *** typical EOT
L15 6000/12000
L16 8000/16000
L17 10000/20000
So the typical tournament will last no longer than 14-15 blind levels. The assigned blind level times will dicate how long the tournament will last:
15 minute blinds = 3:40 hours plus breaks
20 minute levels = 4:50 hours plus breaks
25 minute levels = 6:00 hours plus breaks
Nothing wrong with blind level times that aren't in increments of 5, either -- if you want the event to last around 4+ hours, use 17 or 18 minute levels.
Note that your structure also finishes in around 14 blind levels. The biggest differences between your structure and the one above is that your structure a) doubles the blinds with a 100% increase right out of the gate, cutting stacks in half in just 15 or 20 minutes, and b) contains a wider range of blind increases -- 25% to 67%, excluding that early 100% jump --averaging over 51% (vs just 40%).
T25 / T100 / T500
Save and shared for future reference using @BGinGA structures.
———————————————
T25
I highly recommend the following 400-chip set for a 10-player T25-base tournament:
120 x T25
120 x T100
50 x T500
75 x T1000 (includes 15x for T25 and t100 color-ups)
35 x T5000 (includes 5x for T500 color-ups, plus 30 extras to be used for stacks > 10K and re-buys/add-ons)
--------------
400 chips
This set supports 10 starting stacks from 5K up to 25K (12/12/5/6/x), includes sufficient chips for color-ups, and has enough T5000 chips to support 4xT5000 re-buys for 20K events. Stack breakdowns of 8/8/6/6/2 (or 8/8/4/7/2) are sub-optimal for single-table events, as they tend to promote tighter play, while also causing potential confusion and time-wastimg via excessive change-making. In addition, you need fewer T500 chips (never need more than 1 per bet) and more T1000 chips towards the middle and end of the event (after they replace the T100 as the workhorse chip). The extra chips are well-worth the cost to ensure smooth game play.
Sounds like you have a decent grasp already on how to color-up chips. Either the race-off or round-up method is fine (I prefer the latter, as it's faster and arguably more fair).
These are commonly used single-table payouts for friendly home games:
9-10 players: pays 3 places --50%-30%-20%, or 55%-30%-15%, or 60%-30%-10%
6-8 players: pays 2 places -- 60%-40%, or 65%-35%, or 70%-30%
5 or fewer: pays 1 place -- 100% WTA
Regarding blind structure and blind times, it all depends on how long you want your event to last. Every tournement will typically end around the time that there are a total of 20 big blinds in play on the table. If you have 10 players with 20K stacks, that means that there is 200K in chips in play, so the event should generally end no later than the 5000/10000blind level (which also means that T1000 chips will never get colored-up, as they are still needed prior to that time).
The typical re-buy rate for a 200BB event is 25%-33%, or 2-4 players in a 10-player field. Smaller starting stacks (or fast/aggressive blind structures) can increase the re-buy ratio.
Re-buys can be allowed for any amount of time, but realistically, they start losing value as the blinds get larger. I generally don't offer re-buys that are smaller than 20BB at the time of purchase, and usually set a cut-off at between 25BB-40BB.
The following blind structure begins each player with 200 Big Blinds (relatively deep), and has consistent blind increases that range from 33% to 50%, averaging 40%::
L1 50/100
L2 75/150
L3 100/200
L4 150/300
remove T25 chips
L5 200/400
L6 300/600 (optional end re-buys - 33BB)
L7 400/800
L8 600/1200
break (optional end re-buys - 17BB)
L9 800/1600
L10 1100/2200
L11 1500/3000
L12 2000/4000
remove T100/T500 chips
L13 3000/6000
L14 4000/8000 *** typical EOT
L15 6000/12000
L16 8000/16000
L17 10000/20000
So the typical tournament will last no longer than 14-15 blind levels. The assigned blind level times will dicate how long the tournament will last:
15 minute blinds = 3:40 hours plus breaks
20 minute levels = 4:50 hours plus breaks
25 minute levels = 6:00 hours plus breaks
Nothing wrong with blind level times that aren't in increments of 5, either -- if you want the event to last around 4+ hours, use 17 or 18 minute levels.
Note that your structure also finishes in around 14 blind levels. The biggest differences between your structure and the one above is that your structure a) doubles the blinds with a 100% increase right out of the gate, cutting stacks in half in just 15 or 20 minutes, and b) contains a wider range of blind increases -- 25% to 67%, excluding that early 100% jump --averaging over 51% (vs just 40%).
