Set up blind structures and run tournament timers.
A blind structure defines how the small blind, big blind, and ante rise at each level as a tournament progresses, and how many minutes each level lasts. As the levels climb, the blinds grow, forcing players to commit more chips and steadily driving the game toward its finish.
The blind structure is the single biggest factor shaping a tournament's character. A deep-stack structure with long levels and gradual blind increases rewards skill, while a turbo structure with short levels and steep increases raises variance and the role of luck. The larger your starting stack divided by the big blind (starting stack depth, measured in big blinds), the more room you have to play early on.
In the builder above you can enter the small blind, big blind, ante, and level duration for each level to build your own blind structure. Add break levels, set the starting stack, rebuys, add-ons, and payout structure, then run it live with the built-in timer.
Even with the same starting stack, the level duration and how steeply the blinds rise change the feel dramatically. Here are three common structure types.
10-15 minute levels with steeply rising blinds. It finishes quickly and carries high variance, making it a good fit for home games and satellites.
Levels around 20 minutes with gradually rising blinds. Its balance of skill and luck makes it the go-to for regular venue tournaments.
30-40 minute levels that keep the blinds low relative to the starting stack. More post-flop play means skill matters more.
As a rule of thumb, a starting stack of at least 100 big blinds lets players play comfortably from the start. For example, a 20,000 starting stack with level-one blinds of 100/200 begins at 100 BB. For level duration, 10-15 minutes suits home games and 20-30 minutes suits regular venue tournaments.
Antes are typically added from level 3-4 onward to build the pot and encourage action. These days the big blind ante (BB ante) - where the big blind posts the whole ante at once instead of each player posting individually - is widely used because it speeds up play.
In a turbo, short levels and fast-rising blinds quickly shrink stack depth, so the game ends faster with higher variance (more luck). A deep stack is the opposite: long levels and gradual blind increases create more post-flop decisions, so skill matters more.
