I’ve run a few home poker tournaments (playing no-limit Texas Hold’em) and they’ve went quite well. I figured someone else could benefit from the rules and setup that I use. My rules/setup is a compilation from various things I found on forums, newsgroups, and websites.
I’m posting this as a guide so that people don’t have to go through all the work that I had to when I wanted to setup tournaments. It’s meant as a simple starting point, change it to fit your situation.
Shuffle Up and Deal!
THE GAME
- No Limit Texas Hold’em
- Buy-In: $20
- Payout:
- 1st – 60%, 2nd – 40% (4-6 players)
- 1st – 50%, 2nd – 30%, 3rd – 20% (7-8 players)
INITIAL CHIP DISTRIBUTION
| Players | $10 | $20 | $50 | $200 | Total |
| 4 | 45 | 30 | 25 | 11 | $4,500 |
| 5 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 10 | $4,000 |
| 6 | 30 | 25 | 16 | 8 | $3,200 |
| 7 | 28 | 21 | 14 | 7 | $2,800 |
| 8 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 6 | $2,400 |
SEATING
- Seating will be determined by drawing cards (A-8 are used for 8 players).
The A will be the button (first to deal), deuce will be small blind
(SB), 3 is big blind (BB), etc.
BLINDS
- The two players to the left of the dealer are required to post “blind”
bets before seeing their cards. The 1st is the SB and the 2nd is the
BB.
- If the SB is knocked out, the button essentially goes into his empty
seat.
- If the BB is knocked out, then the BB moves on to the player who
would have had it next and there isn’t a SB on this hand (SB
moves into the empty seat). On the following hand, the button would
wind up in the empty seat. The player who just had the BB would have
SB, and the BB moves on normally to the next player.
- When play is down to two players, figure out who would get the BB
next if nothing had happened. He will be the BB on the next hand.
The SB is always on the button and the other player is the BB.
THE DEAL
- The player to the right of the dealer must cut the deck before the
cards are dealt.
- The dealer is responsible for making sure that all bets have been
called before dealing each round of card(s).
- Order of the deal:
- Dealer deals two cards (one at a time) face down
to each player.
- Betting round 1 occurs.
- Dealer burns one card and
deals 3 cards (flop) in the middle of the table face up.
- Betting round 2 occurs.
- Dealer burns one card and deals one card (turn/4th street) in the middle.
- Betting round 3 occurs.
- Dealer burns one card and deals the final card (river/5th street).
- Betting round 4 occurs.
- Dealer deals two cards (one at a time) face down
- Mucked cards cannot be retrieved from the pile.
- If a card is exposed during the deal, the deal is declared a misdeal
and the hand is re-dealt. The button does not move.
- If a burn card or a mucked card is exposed, the card is made available
to the table. The hand is not re-dealt.
- If a community card is exposed prior to the action being completed,
the card remains as is. It will not be burned.
- If there was a bet or raise on the end, the person who made that last
bet or raise shows his/her cards first. If it’s checked around, the first
person to act (left of dealer) shows first.
- If a player is shown a better hand, he is not required to reveal
his cards.
BETTING
- Check and raise is allowed.
- The minimum bet is equal to the size of the BB.
- The raise must always be at least the size of the previous bet or
raise.
- Any player can bet all of their chips at anytime (ALL-IN).
- Betting round 1 begins with the player to the left of the BB.
- Betting rounds 2-4 begin with the player to the left of the button.
- When only two players are left sitting at the table, the BB is dealt
to first, the button acts first before the flop, and the BB acts first
after the flop.
- Do not splash the pot. Stack your bets in front of you and push them
into the post after the betting round is complete. This will eliminate
some confusion that may occur with no limit betting.
- Do not bet, check, call, fold, or raise out of turn.
SCHEDULE FOR BLINDS
| Time |
SB |
BB |
| 20 minutes | $10 | $20 |
| 20 minutes | $20 | $40 |
| 20 minutes | $30 | $60 |
| 20 minutes | $40 | $80 |
| 20 minutes | $60 | $120 |
| 20 minutes | $100 | $200 |
| 20 minutes | $200 | $400 |
| 20 minutes | $300 | $600 |
| 20 minutes | $400 | $800 |
OTHER
- Agreements can be made between players at anytime to split the payout.
- If two players tie for the high hand, the pot is split. If there
is a split pot, not equally divisible by the number of players in
the hand, the “extra” chips will be awarded to the player
closest to the left of the button.
- If two players get eliminated in the same hand, the person who started
the hand with the most chips gets the higher finish and awarded the
corresponding prize pool for that placement.
Nick Momrik 
Nick ~
Your rules look pretty solid and straightforward. My friends and I play a regular Friday game that includes between 10 and 20 people, tournament style for the past 12 months.
The only thing I don’t like is this:
The first player to show his cards after all cards have been dealt and betting is complete will be the player to the left of the dealer
That doesn’t make sense.
The first player to show his cards should be the one that initiated any betting or play on the final round. If three-handed and the first two check and player three bets – followed by the first two players calling, then the third player would be the one to show. NOT the first to act.
Your thoughts?
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Now that you bring it up, I’ve thought about this before and never looked into it. Is this how they do it in the real tournaments?
Who shows first if there wasn’t any action on the last round? Does it then go back to who initiated any betting or play on the previous round?
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I’ve played in approximately 10 tournaments split between the Tropicana and the Borgata and that is always how it is played. If everyone checks, then the first to act to the left of the button shows. Otherwise the player that makes the last bet and has everyone call to him shows first.
I play online at truepoker.com and that is also how it is played there.
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I did some more research and Rob is right. I’ve just modified my rules to include:
-If there was a bet or raise on the end, the person who made that last bet or raise shows his/her cards first. If it’s checked around, the first person to act (left of dealer) shows first.
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I’m starting a home game and this beats me having to look tese rules up or make them up myself. Thanks a whole lot.
Like above the showdown is a little off but i’ll alter that myself.
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Nelson,
Glad I could help. I’ve modified the rules after the discussion with Rob. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.
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could you explain this to me. i need info for my home tourney.
OTHER
Agreements can be made between players at anytime to split the payout
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An example would probably serve best here:
Say you have two players left with roughtly the same amount of chips and they don’t feel like playing anymore. They could agree to split the payout, which means, add up the money paid out for first and second place, and divide it between them. Make sense?
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Going to use this set of rule in my home game tourney this weekend. Had to make a few changes to chip amounts and blinds structure, but this has been a great help….thanks
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I have a question on the blind situation. Hopefully you can be of some assistance. Have you ever had the blinds go past 400/800 or do you play with a cut-off point. I’ ve played both ways and wonder if there could be a happy medium. I’ ve noticed if you stop the blinds the game seems to go on forever however if you keep the blinds going eventually someone could lose the game solely because of the blinds being so high and they are short stacked. My opinion is the blinds should keep going to assure an end to the game. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
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I haven’t had to increase the blinds past 400/800 with that structure, but I’ve only had two home tournaments of my own so far. I played in a tournament the other day with 13 people and a lower chip count per person, but more chips overall. It ended up being a four and a half hour tourney, which was perfect and the blinds never went above 200/400. I think if you raise the blinds too much, especially when down to two people, you risk losing the enjoyment of the game for one of them. So I think some type of cutoff is necessary, but it all depends on how many total chips are used, the type of players, and many other factors.
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Your rules are an excellent starting point for someone running their own tournament. I am being very ambitious my first time out, hosting a multiple-table tournament (24-27 guys, starting at three separate tables). I deviated very little from these basic rules, and expanded them for multiple tables. A great help, and we are hoping to run this tournament twice a year. Thanks again!
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I’m running a home tournament for the second time. Last year, I had everyone redraw for seats before each half-hour round. This took a little too much time, and although no one could claim that it was unfair, some did complain about seeing too many of the same players over and over. This year I’m considering a systematic rotation for the first three rounds. The object will be to get everyone to play against as many of the other players as possible. Developing the best rotation is non-trivial, especially since I won’t know exactly how many players until we’re about to start. I’m hoping for three tables of 5-7 players each. (This is NOT a hold-em tournament, so 7 per table is the max.) Has anyone seen a model for this kind of rotation? Thanks.
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You might want to check out http://homepokertourney.com/. That site has a lot of useful info for setting up poker tournaments.
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I like your rules and chip count however i am in a bit of a dilemma. could you tell me how to run a 200 person tournamet. We are trying to fundraise at our local school and we cant figure out how many chips each person should start of with and with which value. the winners get prizes and not money and we are trying to figure out the best way to keep the game under 6 hours. PLEASE HELP
THANK
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Check out the site I listed in the comment before yours. I’ve never dealt with running a tournament anything close to the size you are putting on.
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I am having my first poker tournament at home tomorrow and these rules helped alot. Thanks a bunch!
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These rules are great! I’ve been trying to find the answer to how the blinds are rotated when people start getting eliminated. Thanks a lot! One question:
I won’t be holding a multiple table tournament myself, but in the casinos, how do they determine when to consolidate tables? I played in a tournament at the Sahara in Vegas and even the employees seemed to get confused. Thanks again.
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I’m not exactly sure how they combine the tables, but I plan to have a 2 table tournament in a few weeks, so I’ll be looking into. When I get everythign figured out, I will update the rules.
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I recently typed up my own set of rules that I was planning on using for a tournament we’re holding at a restaurant for gift certificates, but they got deleted off my computer. I just stumbled across these while looking at the chip tricks. Thanks a lot, ill be using these!
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