bad structure???

[Razor 0]

I played in a tourney last night ... 100 person MTT ... $40 + $5 buy-in. I'm wondering what some of you might think about the structure:2500 to start ... blinds start at 25/25 and double every 15 mins.The thing was, that when it got down to the last 13 players, which just so happened to be when I busted out, everyone seemed to be "short stacked" compared to the blinds.With 13 left, the avg stack was 20000 and blinds were 1500/3000 that's only 7BB a piece .Is this normal??Also, normally when you are this short stacked, (less than 10BB) you're looking for a spot to get all your chips in. But, my question is ....With everyone short stacked should I still be looking for a spot to push, or should I be taking a different strategy.Cheers,Ray.

[ajs510 122]

I'm sure that was the idea, I'm assuming you were playing in a public place like a bar or pool hall? Most places like that want the game over by a certain time, and they set the blinds to make sure there's a winner by a certain point.

[Socrates 0]

I played in a tourney last night ... 100 person MTT ... $40 + $5 buy-in. I'm wondering what some of you might think about the structure:2500 to start ... blinds start at 25/25 and double every 15 mins.The thing was, that when it got down to the last 13 players, which just so happened to be when I busted out, everyone seemed to be "short stacked" compared to the blinds.With 13 left, the avg stack was 20000 and blinds were 1500/3000 that's only 7BB a piece .Is this normal??Also, normally when you are this short stacked, (less than 10BB) you're looking for a spot to get all your chips in. But, my question is ....With everyone short stacked should I still be looking for a spot to push, or should I be taking a different strategy.Cheers,Ray.

Horrible structure. Anything less than 30 minute blinds should be considered a satellite (turbo) in live play. Starting with 100BB is oky, but you can't have the blinds double, that's an exponential increase and will always cause it to be a crap shoot by the 5th or 6th round and it leaves no room for post flop play early on. My suggestion if they want to use 25 as the smallest denomination chip would be to run the blinds every 45 minutes, starting with 2500 chips and going 25/25 25/50 75/150 100/200 150/300 200/400 200/400 with 50 ante 300/600 with 50 ante 5 hours and you're done with plenty of room for post flop play and room to come back after a couple of beats if needed. The structure you are utilizing lets you make one mistake and then you are through for the most part unless you can double through the chip leader twice before the blinds eat you up.Edit: I agree with the above poster. If this was a bar, then they want you out. If its a casino, then the stakes are so small, that they want you out. If its a game run at a cardroom in town or someones house, they need to reevaluate their structure along the lines of my suggestion. If they don't want to. Get all the players to agree that its horrible and refuse to play until its fixed.

[Razor 0]

I'm sure that was the idea, I'm assuming you were playing in a public place like a bar or pool hall? Most places like that want the game over by a certain time, and they set the blinds to make sure there's a winner by a certain point.

Casino actually ... and yes, I think that is the point, but I'm wondering if you change your style at all to accomodate this structure.I.e. are you still looking to push when you're <10BB??

[Razor 0]

I played in a tourney last night ... 100 person MTT ... $40 + $5 buy-in. I'm wondering what some of you might think about the structure:2500 to start ... blinds start at 25/25 and double every 15 mins.The thing was, that when it got down to the last 13 players, which just so happened to be when I busted out, everyone seemed to be "short stacked" compared to the blinds.With 13 left, the avg stack was 20000 and blinds were 1500/3000 that's only 7BB a piece .Is this normal??Also, normally when you are this short stacked, (less than 10BB) you're looking for a spot to get all your chips in. But, my question is ....With everyone short stacked should I still be looking for a spot to push, or should I be taking a different strategy.Cheers,Ray.

Horrible structure. Anything less than 30 minute blinds should be considered a satellite (turbo) in live play. Starting with 100BB is oky, but you can't have the blinds double, that's an exponential increase and will always cause it to be a crap shoot by the 5th or 6th round and it leaves no room for post flop play early on. My suggestion if they want to use 25 as the smallest denomination chip would be to run the blinds every 45 minutes, starting with 2500 chips and going 25/25 25/50 75/150 100/200 150/300 200/400 200/400 with 50 ante 300/600 with 50 ante 5 hours and you're done with plenty of room for post flop play and room to come back after a couple of beats if needed. The structure you are utilizing lets you make one mistake and then you are through for the most part unless you can double through the chip leader twice before the blinds eat you up.Edit: I agree with the above poster. If this was a bar, then they want you out. If its a casino, then the stakes are so small, that they want you out. If its a game run at a cardroom in town or someones house, they need to reevaluate their structure along the lines of my suggestion. If they don't want to. Get all the players to agree that its horrible and refuse to play until its fixed.

This is exactly it ....I don't find I have enough chips to play after the flop, every time I want to try and make a move, I'm risking half my f'n stack!

[Pokerdad2222 0]

Casino actually ... and yes, I think that is the point, but I'm wondering if you change your style at all to accomodate this structure. I.e. are you still looking to push when you're <10BB??

I think that depends on what you are looking to do. If you want to win you still have to do this especially with the blinds almost consuming your whole stack at the next level. If you want to get paid and are close then you may hold back a little bit since it will be push fest from here on out

[Socrates 0]

Casino actually ... and yes, I think that is the point, but I'm wondering if you change your style at all to accomodate this structure. I.e. are you still looking to push when you're <10BB??

I think that depends on what you are looking to do. If you want to win you still have to do this especially with the blinds almost consuming your whole stack at the next level. If you want to get paid and are close then you may hold back a little bit since it will be push fest from here on out

Good point - treat it like a SNG on-line / the 10BB rule doesn't really apply because so many people are evenly staked, even though everyone is short. Also, you may want to play tighter during the first coupld of rounds and wait for premium hands, no need to put yourself in a push or fold situation by round 3.

[dms26 3]

I'm sure that was the idea, I'm assuming you were playing in a public place like a bar or pool hall? Most places like that want the game over by a certain time, and they set the blinds to make sure there's a winner by a certain point.

Casino actually ... and yes, I think that is the point, but I'm wondering if you change your style at all to accomodate this structure.I.e. are you still looking to push when you're <10BB??

Yes you should be pushing, you're going to have to double up at some point to make it deep. This is the kind of tourney I'd want to double up in the first hour at least. Then you can still try to see a few flops when the blinds go up. But when you have 7BB's you have to push, you can't make a standard raise for half your stack. Unless you have KK or AA and need to double up and are willing to take a chance of being outflopped.

[Razor 0]

I'm sure that was the idea, I'm assuming you were playing in a public place like a bar or pool hall? Most places like that want the game over by a certain time, and they set the blinds to make sure there's a winner by a certain point.

Casino actually ... and yes, I think that is the point, but I'm wondering if you change your style at all to accomodate this structure.I.e. are you still looking to push when you're <10BB??

Yes you should be pushing, you're going to have to double up at some point to make it deep. This is the kind of tourney I'd want to double up in the first hour at least. Then you can still try to see a few flops when the blinds go up. But when you have 7BB's you have to push, you can't make a standard raise for half your stack. Unless you have KK or AA and need to double up and are willing to take a chance of being outflopped.

This is the thing tho ... w/ blinds going up every 15 mins, doubling up in the first 2 rounds, doesn't do a whole lot. You still get chewed up with the rate the blinds increase. You really have to double up twice in one level (IMO) to have a comfortable stack.