We follow the Tournament Directors Assocation rules when possible at all times. The Tournament Directors are to consider the best interest of the game and fairness as the top priority in the decision-making process. Unusual circumstances can on occasion dictate that decisions in the interest of fairness take priority over the technical rules.
We try to start as close 5PM as possible. Please arrive by 4:45 so we can be ready to deal at 5PM. Your first and last name will be entered into the Tournament Director program, which randomizes your seat assignments that is displayed on the monitor. The dealer to start shall be seat 1 of the table. Empty seats at the start should be skipped so there will be no dead small or big blinds. Each table should have 6-8 people at the start. We rotate the deal and the person just behind the dealer should shuffle the other set of cards so the next hand can start quickly. If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable being the dealer, please say something to the table and someone else will deal for you.
During the tournament, players will be moved from table to table based on the number of players at each table. Tables will be kept at even numbers at all times. When moving players, the player is randomly selected by the Tournament Director program. If you are moved into the spot between the dealer and the small blind, you must wait for the button to pass, otherwise you must take your next hand.
There is no option to wait for the blinds to pass.
When the number of players reaches 9 or below, all players will be consolidated to one final table.
We have a blind clock on the TV monitor, which should be in view of all people in the tournament. This helps remind everyone what the current blinds are, how much time is left in that blind, and all other pertinent tournament information. The blind structure is below.
Table Etiquette
Here are some common ‘table etiquette’ items that we’d like everyone to be familiar with…
- Please make your intentions known. A verbal declaration is always easiest if there may be confusion.
- If your intention is to raise, don’t say “call and raise”. Once you say “call”, you cannot raise.
- Throwing in a single larger chip without saying “raise” is a call. If there has been no bet, the chip is a bet of face value of the chip.
- Keep your cards and large chips visible at all times. Don’t stack your large chips behind stacks of smaller chips.
- Don’t make change from the pot during the betting round, wait until that betting round is complete and then change will be made for anyone who needs it.
- Don’t splash the pot. Keep your bet in front of you so it’s easy to keep track of bets.
- When there is a knockout, please let one of the tournament directors know. If you are unsure who to tell, just yell “player out” and someone will take care of it.
Blind Structure
Total starting chips per person: 10,000
Blinds are 17 minutes each to start, then 15 minutes after the second break.
This structure may be changed for any tournament based on the number of participants.
SMALL/BIG BLIND
25 / 50
50 / 100
100 / 200
150 / 300
200 / 400
10 minute break; color up green (25) chips
300 / 600
400 / 800
600 / 1,200
800 / 1,600
10 minute break; color up black (100) & purple (500) chips
1,000 / 2,000
2,000 / 4,000
3,000 / 6,000
4,000 / 8,000
5 minute break
6,000 / 12,000
10,000 / 20,000
15,000 / 30,000
30,000 / 60,000
60,000 / 120,000 (until tournament is over)
Color-up Chips
At certain points of the tournament, we will take a break and “color up” chips. This helps remove the lower denomination chips as the blinds get higher and the lower denominations are no longer necessary. Additionally, tournament directors may color up chip stacks during play to help speed up play.
For coloring up chips, we always round up rather than race off chips. This helps speed the process during the break.
Payout Structure
Our basic payout structure is that we pay out based on the number of tables in each tournament. Given that,
17 to 24 players will pay out top 5 places – 40%/23%/16%/12%/9%
25 to 32 players will pay out top 6 places – 35%/23%/18%/13%/6%/5%
33 to 40 players will pay out top 7 places – 35%/20%/15%/11%/8%/6%/5%
41 to 48 players will pay out top 8 places – 34%/19.5%/15%/10.5%/7.5%/5.5%/4.5%/3.5%
49+ players will pay out top 9 places – 32.75%/19%/14.5%/10.25%/7.5%/5.25%/4.25%/3.5%/3%
Point Structure
Participants for each tournament will earn points toward the end of year tournament.