Tips for a rank amateur running a tournament (sporting club fundraiser)

[Guido]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone can give me a few tips on how to structure a tournament that my local club is running this weekend.

We usually get a guy to run it, but given we've got the chips and cards, we've figured running it ourselves is an easy way to save $200-300 on the night and just put it towards the prizemoney to garner some interest instead.

I've downloaded some tournament software, have about 600 chips (5 colours) to go around.

To get a gauge on numbers, most likely will be between 15 and 35 runners. We've only got 8 people confirmed at this stage, but will be some others that rock up - 15 arrived last year and we lost money, the year before 30 and the club made a bit. The keys are to have enough chips even if there are 35 people rock up, and to wrap things up within about 3 hours.

50/100/500/1000/2000 value on the chips and give everyone 5000, and begin with 50/100 blinds?

Or is that stupid? Really have no idea, just looking for a set-up that doesn't look or work out to be ridiculous on the night.

And it's a $1000 first prize for anyone in the western suburbs who wants a crack, PM me lol

 

[JuddsABlue]

Ideally, when looking at structuring a tournament I estimate the end to be when 2 players have 10bb each

So have a look below, based on the number of players you get
Starting chips: 5k
Blind Length: 15 minutes
Blinds
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
400/800
600/1200
800/1600
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/6000
4000/8000

35 players = 3 hours - 3 hours 15 minutes (should end around 8k bb)
30 players = 3 hours
25 players = 2 and a half - 2.45 hours
15 players = 2.15 - 2.45 hours (should end around 3k bb)

So as long as you've got enough chips to give everyone 5k then you're good to go

 

[Goodo73]

Guido A Google search should be able to provide you with a few different tournament structure calculators, either online ones or free phone apps. There are ones I've seen in the past that allow you to enter in the total duration (3 hours in your case), plus a few other criteria (such as number of players, starting stack size, starting blinds), and it spits out a suggested blind structure.

Ideally a calculator will double as a tournament clock, but if not, there are heaps of tourney clocks available too.

EDIT: Check out blindvalet.com for an online structure calculator. I've used it in the past and found it really good. Even allows you to specify your chip denominations, which is handy if you have chips with marked denominations (as I do). It has a clock too, but it's nothing fancy.
WARNING: Don't bother with their app. I downloaded it a while back (was only $2) and it never worked. Emails to the creators went unanswered.