Enter the number of players, the starting stack and how long you want to play: the calculator gives the full blind structure of your poker tournament, level by level, with breaks and the likely finishing time. It is free and needs no account.
The calculator joins two bounds, the first big blind and the final one, within the time you have.
The first big blind is one hundredth of the starting stack. Every player starts with 100 big blinds, the depth at which a tournament is really played.
The final big blind is about one twenty-fourth of all the chips in play, rebuys and add-ons included. The last two players hold around twelve big blinds each: few enough for the tournament to end, enough for the last hand not to be a coin flip.
The number of levels is whatever fits in your target length, once breaks are taken out.
The increase joins the two bounds over those levels. It stays between 20 and 50% per level. If your target length needs more, the calculator does not build a turbo: it warns you and gives the likely finishing time.
Every blind is rounded to a round value your chips can pay, small blind included. With 25 chips, the big blind can be 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400 or 500. With 100 chips, the small blind has to be a multiple of 100, so the big blind goes from 200 to 400, 600, 800 and then 1,000.
A ten-minute break comes round about every hour and a quarter. The big blind ante, if you choose it, starts once the big blind has quadrupled.
Reading the structure
The Likely finish line marks the level where the big blind reaches its final value: that is usually where the tournament ends. Two spare levels follow, so you are never left without a structure if the final table holds out. Times run from the start time you enter.
On breaks, the calculator notes what to do: colour up the small chips once no blind needs them, and close rebuys at the first break of a rebuy tournament.
The settings that matter
The smallest chip. It decides which blinds are possible. A set without 25 chips cannot play 75/150, so the calculator goes from 50/100 straight to 100/200.
Rebuys and add-ons. Every rebuy puts more chips in play and pushes the finish back. Enter how many you expect in total, and the calculator adjusts the final big blind.
Level length. Left on automatic, it aims for an increase of about a third per level. Set it if your club always plays 20-minute levels: the calculator works with it, and tells you if the night runs over.
Example structures
2-hour home game
8 players, 5,000 stack, 25 chips · 12 levels of 12 min · Likely finish around 22:40, after 2h 10
How do you build a blind structure for a poker tournament?
Set two bounds, then join them. The first big blind is one hundredth of the starting stack, so everyone starts 100 big blinds deep. The final big blind is about one twenty-fourth of the chips in play: the last two players then hold around twelve big blinds each, and the tournament ends. In between, the blinds rise by 20 to 50% per level, as many times as your target length allows.
How long should a blind level be?
Between 12 and 20 minutes for a three- or four-hour club tournament, and 20 to 30 minutes for a deepstack. Below 12 minutes, the tournament becomes a turbo: the blinds rise faster than players can play. The calculator picks the length that gives an increase of about a third per level, or uses the one you set.
How many chips should each player get?
About one hundred times the first big blind: 10,000 chips for a first big blind of 100, 5,000 for a first big blind of 50. With fewer than fifty big blinds at the start, the tournament turns into all-ins from the early levels, and the calculator warns you.
What is a big blind ante?
The big blind player pays an ante equal to the big blind for the whole table, instead of every player paying their own ante. The pot grows without slowing the game down. The calculator brings it in once the big blind has quadrupled, usually around the fourth or fifth level.
When should you colour up the small chips?
At a break, once no upcoming blind or ante needs them. The calculator says so on the line of that break, for example: colour up the 25 chips.
Is the calculator free?
Yes, with no account and no limit. The structure prints, pastes into a spreadsheet, and shares through a link that reopens the same settings. MyPokerCaptain, the poker tournament management software, builds its structures on the same principles, then runs the clock, the eliminations and the cash desk.