Whether it is a club night or a venue's regular event, much of a tournament's feel comes from its blind structure. Too fast and it becomes a lottery. Too slow and half the field is still seated at midnight. This guide walks through the decisions involved and a simple method for estimating the running time.
The four parts of a structure
- Starting stack: how many chips each player begins with.
- Blind levels: the small and big blind at each level.
- Level length: how many minutes each level lasts.
- Antes: from which level, and how much.
These interact. What matters is not the number printed on the chips but how many big blinds the starting stack represents, and how quickly that number falls.
Starting stack depth
Starting depth (big blinds) = Starting stack ÷ Level 1 big blind
A 20,000 stack with level 1 at 100/200 is 100 big blinds deep. Common reference points:
| Starting depth | How it plays | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| Under 50 big blinds | Fast, with all-ins early | Turbos on a tight schedule |
| Around 100 big blinds | Room for post-flop play | Most regular events |
| 200 big blinds and up | Very relaxed early levels | Main events and deep-stack events |
20,000 chips at 100/200 is exactly as deep as 2,000 chips at 10/20. Bigger chip numbers look generous but do not make the event play any better.
Level length
Level length sets how many hands players see at each level. A live table deals roughly 25 to 30 hands an hour, so a 15-minute level is only about 7 hands — not even one full orbit for each player.
- 10–15 minutes: turbos, for events that must finish within two or three hours.
- 20–30 minutes: the usual choice for single-day events.
- 40 minutes and up: multi-day events, or those that want room for skill.
How much to raise each level
Most structures increase the blinds by 25% to 50% per level. Smoothness matters more than small steps: a sudden jump from 400/800 to 1,000/2,000 pushes a large group of medium stacks into shove-or-fold at once.
Here is a common, smooth set of levels for a 20,000 starting stack:
| Level | Small / Big | Level | Small / Big |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 / 200 | 10 | 1,500 / 3,000 |
| 2 | 150 / 300 | 11 | 2,000 / 4,000 |
| 3 | 200 / 400 | 12 | 3,000 / 6,000 |
| 4 | 300 / 600 | 13 | 4,000 / 8,000 |
| 5 | 400 / 800 | 14 | 5,000 / 10,000 |
| 6 | 500 / 1,000 | 15 | 6,000 / 12,000 |
| 7 | 600 / 1,200 | 16 | 8,000 / 16,000 |
| 8 | 800 / 1,600 | 17 | 10,000 / 20,000 |
| 9 | 1,000 / 2,000 | 18 | 15,000 / 30,000 |
Antes
An ante is an extra amount put into the pot before each hand, so that there is something worth contesting before the flop and players have a reason to act. A very common modern approach is the big blind ante: the player in the big blind pays the whole table's ante in one go, equal to one big blind, which saves the time of collecting from everyone.
Antes usually start a few levels in. They raise the cost of each orbit by about two thirds (from 1.5 big blinds to 2.5), so the event speeds up noticeably. Allow for that when you estimate the running time.
Estimating how long the event will run
Organisers often use a rough rule: the event finishes around the level where all the chips in play amount to only 20 to 30 big blinds.
Estimated final big blind ≈ Total chips ÷ 25
With 30 players starting on 20,000 each:
- Total chips = 30 × 20,000 = 600,000
- 600,000 ÷ 25 = 24,000, so the level where the big blind reaches 24,000 or more
- In the table above, that is level 18 (15,000/30,000)
- At 20 minutes a level: 18 × 20 = 360 minutes, about 6 hours, plus breaks
It is only an estimate. The real time depends on how the players play, whether antes are used and whether a deal is made at the end. But it is good enough to answer "will this structure finish within the time we have the room?".
Don't forget re-entries: if re-entry is allowed, total chips should be based on total entries, not players. Thirty players with ten re-entries is 40 stacks, which adds a level or two.
Shortening or lengthening an event
| Goal | Change | Side effect |
|---|---|---|
| Shorter | Shorter levels | Fewer hands per level, more luck |
| Shorter | Smaller starting stack (or higher level 1 blinds) | Less room to play early on |
| Shorter | Remove some middle levels | Steeper jumps, more pressure on medium stacks |
| Longer | Longer levels | The most direct, but you need the room for long enough |
| Longer | Deeper starting stack | Mostly lengthens the early stage, with little effect late |
In general, changing the level length is the cleanest lever, because it alters the speed of the structure without changing its shape.
Other practical details
- Breaks: a 10 to 15 minute break every 4 to 6 levels.
- Colour-up: when the smallest chip is no longer needed, remove it during a break to speed up counting.
- Late registration: when it closes, a starting stack should still be worth at least 20 to 30 big blinds so that late entrants have a fair chance.
- Publish in advance: posting the full structure before the event is the most basic courtesy to the players.
Try the matching tool: Blind Structure Generator: Estimate How Long Your Tournament Will Run