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Poker tournaments are great. Especially when you only have a few hours to play. Cash games can go on forever and your profits or losses can be erratic since there’s no limit to how much you can put on the table.

Tournaments by contrast have a more or less exact time frame and your losses are limited to your buy-ins and re-buys. In addition, you’ll often find that a cash game breaks out on the side for people who bust out early. It’s a great way to have a poker night without worrying that it’ll go on into the wee hours of the morning.

But what do you need to run a tournament? What rules should you follow? Here’s a quick guide to help you get started setting up a home poker tournament.

Supplies

The most important thing you will require is a poker chips set. Cash can be used for regular games but chips are used by the pros and for tournaments. A quality poker chips set will provide you with a dealer button. This organizes the deals and eliminates the delays caused by dilemmas over whose turn it is to deal.

It is necessary to have 2 decks of cards. This will let the current dealer assign cards while the next dealer in will be shuffling. This ensures that the game will progress in a timely manner. Always position a blank card on the bottom of the deck to prevent your fellow gamers from seeing the bottom cards.

Your next purchase should be a nice card table. This not only sets the atmosphere for the game but will help to protect your chips. Clay chips are quite costly and care should be taken that they do not get damaged by hitting hard surfaces.

Last but not least you will need an egg timer so that you know when to raise the blinds. Now you have everything you need to enjoy the game.

The rules

It is important to decide on payouts and blind levels before you begin. A different method is used with home games and will depend on the number of people playing. Tournaments on the other hand work in this way. The person in first place gets 50% second place will receive 30% and third runner up will receive 20%.

Every 15 minutes blinds will be increased; this is decided at the beginning of the game. When the small blind becomes 100 players chip up. When it becomes 400 plays again put down their chips.

That’s all there is to it! I think you’ll find that tournaments can be more enjoyable and more profitable that your usual cash games. You might even find that more people tend to show up when they’re able to tell their significant other exactly how long they’ll be!

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