Poker Tournament Blind Schedule Calculator
Generate poker tournament blind levels by starting stack and target duration.
Get blind structure, level lengths, and an escalation chart for home tournaments.
Poker Tournament Blind Schedule
A tournament blind structure controls how fast the game escalates. The key trade-off:
- Slow structure = more poker, more skill expression, longer total duration
- Fast structure = more variance, more all-ins, shorter game
The two key inputs:
- Starting stack (chips) — typically 1,000-20,000
- Target tournament duration (hours)
The fundamental rule: A well-paced tournament should give players roughly 75-150 big blinds at the start and slowly compress that to 10-20 BBs by the final table.
Standard blind progression formula: Each level multiplies blinds by ~1.4-1.6×. Common pattern:
- Level 1: 25/50
- Level 2: 50/100
- Level 3: 75/150
- Level 4: 100/200
- Level 5: 150/300
- Level 6: 200/400
- Level 7: 300/600
- Level 8: 400/800
- Level 9: 600/1,200
- Level 10: 800/1,600
- … continues doubling/scaling
Level duration guidelines:
- Quick home game (3-4 hours): 15-min levels
- Standard home tournament (4-6 hours): 20-min levels
- Series final or deep stack: 30-60 min levels
- WSOP-style major: 60-90 min levels
Number of levels needed = Target Duration / Level Length
Practical adjustments:
- Add antes from level 4-5 onward to drive action
- “Color up” small chips around level 5-6 (remove the smallest denomination)
- Schedule a 10-min break every 90-120 minutes
- Late registration usually closes after level 4-6
The “M ratio” check: A player’s M = Stack / (Sum of Blinds + Antes per orbit). Keep average M above 10 for skill-driven play, above 20 for deep-stack feel.