How to run a home poker tournament

Players and the length of the night

One table plays best with six to ten people. A tournament for eight usually takes three to four hours; longer levels make for a longer night, faster ones for a shorter. From eleven players use two tables and merge them as players drop out.

Buy-in, rebuys and the prize pool

Everyone pays the same buy-in and gets the same starting stack. Agree whether you allow rebuys (usually until the end of the third or fourth level) and an add-on. Buy-ins, rebuys and add-ons make up the prize pool. The organiser collects and pays out the money; Poker Tracker only records and counts it.

Chips and the starting stack

A practical starting stack is 10,000 chips. With 25, 100, 500 and 1,000 chips you can make it up like this:

• 20 × 25 = 500
• 15 × 100 = 1,500
• 8 × 500 = 4,000
• 4 × 1,000 = 4,000

For eight players that is at least 160 chips of 25, 120 of 100, 64 of 500 and 32 of 1,000 – plus some spare for rebuys.

The blind structure

The big blind should start at about a hundredth of the stack – 50/100 with 10,000. Levels last 15 to 20 minutes and the blinds grow by roughly a third to a half each time. Take a break after every four levels and colour up the smallest chips. From the middle of the tournament you can add an ante (often a big blind ante) to make play livelier. An example for 10,000 chips and 20-minute levels:

The free timer works out a structure for your player count and night

Payouts

Pay roughly every fifth to tenth place. For eight players a 50 / 30 / 20% split of the top three works well, from eleven players pay four places. Agree in advance how you round – the simplest is to round the lower prizes down and give the rest to the winner.

The payout calculator works out the amounts for your pool

What to agree on in advance

• until when rebuys are allowed and what they cost,
• whether there is an add-on and when,
• who deals – a rotating dealer or one person,
• how long you wait for latecomers,
• how places are decided when two players bust in the same hand (the one who started the hand with more chips takes the better place),
• how you pay out and round.

Texas Hold'em rules and table etiquette

Checklist

• two decks of cards – deal with one while the other is shuffled,
• chips for the stack and the player count, and a dealer button,
• a clock on a phone or on the TV,
• a list of the players with their buy-ins and rebuys,
• the agreed payouts,
• room at the table, light, and something to eat and drink.