How To Stack Poker Chips In A Tournament

What are poker blinds ?

Starting stack of our Nevada Jack Skulls poker chips. Total number of physical poker chips to start with: 21 X 20 = 420 poker chips At some point during the tournament the “25” chips will be useless since the blinds will be in even “100’s”. At that point you can “color up” the “25” chips.

Based on the limit of the poker game the player to the left of the dealer’s button (small blind) and the player two to the left of the dealer (big blind) are required to place mandatory bets in the pot before cards are dealt (Small blind has to put half of the big blinds amount). These bets count toward the first round of betting. So if the pot is not raised pre-flop, small blind will only have to put half a bet to call and big blind has the option of raising or just checking.

In a poker tournament, blinds go up gradually. This is to ensure that the tournament finishes on a timely manner. (the higher the blinds get the more players tend to get eliminated).

1. Applying Pressure on Medium-Sized Stacks: Especially surrounding significant pay-jumps (i.e. At the final table), chip leaders can very much exploit the medium-stacks in a poker tournament. The mid-stacks won’t want to needlessly jeopardise their tournament life or stack as long as a short stack is still in the game.
2. In poker tournaments, your stack – the number of chips you have – is a crucial part of your play. It tells your opponents whether you’re strong or vulnerable and defines what sort of risks you can take – and when.
3. This is a good way to make sure you remain a big stack in a poker tournament and avoid risking a ton of chips. Also, as a big stack in a poker tournament you want to be feared by other players. By using a 3 bet before the flop, a lot of the time you will accomplish this goal.
4. Average Chip Stack One of the best poker strategies in a Texas Hold'em tournament is to keep your chips as close to the average chip stack as possible. The average chip stack is the total chips in play divided by the number of players left in the field.

Blinds usually go up after predetermined periods of time. (for example every 15 or 20 minutes).

Two main factors determine blind structure of the game:

• Starting chip amount
• How long you want the tournament to last.

Poker Blind Structure Tips

• The first big blind should be 1/50 of the starting chip amount. (or the starting chip amount should be 50 times the starting big blind). So if everyone starts with 1000 in chips the first big blind should be 10/20.
• Blind period is the time each blind lasts:
• Typical tournament blind periods are 10, 15, 20, 30, or 60 minutes.
• Blinds period should be the same for every blind.

• The faster the blind period is the faster the tournament ends and the more luck involves. So it’s a good idea to have slightly longer blind periods at your house game. 15 or 20 minute blind periods are good choices. Blinds in online websites tend to go up faster. This is because online poker action is much faster than live poker.
• Blinds typically double after each round. If the first big blind is 10/20, the next one should be 20/40.

Calculate Blind Structure

How To Stack Poker Chips In A Tournament Game

Follow these simple steps to create blind structure that best fits your game:

• Decide your starting chip amount.
• Divide it by 50. This should be your first big blind.
• Make your final big blind (when the tournament should finish) equal to your starting chip amount.
• Arrange the middle level blinds so that they gradually increase from your first big blind to the last one. It is best to keep the first couple blind periods low.
• Add the period (times) together. If it seems too long takes couple levels off the chart, and if it seems short add couple level to the chart.

Sample Tournament Blind Structure Chart

Following is a chart of recommended blind structures based on different starting chip stacks :

Blind Period	Chip Stack
	100	1000	2500	5000
1	1/2	10/20	25/50	50/100
2	2/4	20/40	50/100	100/200
3	3/6	30/60	75/150	150/300
4	5/10	50/100	100/200	200/400
5	10/20	75/150	200/400	300/600
6	15/30	100/200	300/600	500/1000
7	25/50	150/300	500/1000	750/1500
8	50/100	200/400	750/1500	1000/2000
9	75/150	300/600	1000/2000	1500/3000
10	100/200	400/800	1500/3000	2000/4000
11	150/300	500/1000	2000/4000	3000/6000
12	200/400	1000/2000	2500/5000	5000/10000

When you want to play an effective short stack in a poker tournament or if you want to use your mass accumulation of chips to play an effective big stack in poker tournaments, there is one thing that both situations have in common. The idea is to always put pressure on your opponents and to do that you have to play an aggressive style. When you are short on chips the best way to be effective is to shove your stack in when the time seems right to do so.

This is the time of a tournament when the blinds are big and you have less than 15 big blinds in your stack. If you are short stacked in a poker tournament all hope is not lost because chances are that if you win a hand or two you could be right back in the fight to win the tournament. The opposite of that is if you have a massive amount of chips in front of you. If you are chip leader in a poker tournament, ideally you want to knock out the short stacks and avoid big confrontations with other players who have big chip stacks. If you look to minimize damage and play hands against weaker stacks you could put yourself in great shape to win the poker tournament.

Short Stack Play

When you have a short stack in a poker tournament you shouldn’t give up. You should battle and get hungry to get that big stack. You should also look for good shove spots with your short stack. If you pick up the blinds once per orbit then you are putting yourself in good shape to maintain your stack and not get dwindled away. Good shove spots occur often times from late position or if the table folds around to you, and you are in the cutoff position, the button, or the small blind. In the cutoff you shouldn’t shove too wide of a range of hands because you have to force three hands to fold.

How To Stack Poker Chips In A Tournament Rules

From the button your range should be wider than from the cutoff position, and almost every ace high, or hands like K10, QJ suited are all reasonable to shove all-in with. From the small blind it is almost correct to shove every hand because you have to force your opponent to wake up with a hand and call you. You also have to take into account the types of players that are located in the blinds. If there are chip leaders located in the blinds, you should not be shoving as wide a range of hands simply because if they can afford to call you then they probably will call you.

If there are short stacks in the blinds you should put maximum pressure on them by shoving in. The main goal of a short stack is to apply the most pressure on your opponent as possible. If you do that then you are accomplishing your goal as a short stack.

Big Stack Play

How To Stack Poker Chips In A Tournament Table

As a big stack in a poker tournament there are a handful of things to keep in the back of your mind, like making the final table, or possibly winning the tournament. As tournaments are a long grind, you should never try to win every pot unless the table dictates that action. What you should look to do with some level of consistency is to play back at weak players, or also play back at players who may have a wider range of starting hands. The reason to do both of these things is because you force a fold before the flop a lot of the time.

How To Stack Poker Chips In A Tournament Board

The only time they will play back at you is when they have a monster hand, and this should be obvious. By forcing a fold you are then collecting a decent amount of chips without risking much of your own. This is a good way to make sure you remain a big stack in a poker tournament and avoid risking a ton of chips. Also, as a big stack in a poker tournament you want to be feared by other players. By using a 3 bet before the flop, a lot of the time you will accomplish this goal. You will narrow down the range of hands that your opponent will open a pot with and you can pin point their hands much easier. In the end to remain consistent is a big part of having the big stack. Some players will just sit on their chips and slowly move up the money ladder, but this isn’t the best way to approach big stack play.

To win poker tournaments you need confidence in your reads and well-timed aggression. To have both means you should win the tournament. When you pick on certain players at the table also this will help you maintain a big stack. Eventually when you pick on a player enough they will start to just jam all-in regardless of the action because they are fed up with your play and have had enough. Hopefully you can wake up with a big hand and collect a ton of chips at that point in time.