Step 2 of 10: Determine Buyin/Rebuy/Addon Structure

Most home and club tournaments have buyins from $20 to $100. Usually one or two rebuys are permitted up to a certain level and then no more after that. Addons can also be used to allow the pot to grow as people can add more chips if they get low. When I have rebuys in my tournaments I always allow people to rebuy up front, because most players who are playing to win will want to buy as many chips as they can. You then permit them to play with only their initial buyin on the table so that they can go all-in but still use their rebuy if they bust out. This saves alot of trouble in larger tournaments where almost everyone will rebuy. When you reach the level where rebuys are no longer permitted, everyone must put all their chips on the table and would be truly "all-in" if they moved "all-in".

I also prefer to use a larger amount of chips than the actual value of the buyin.  So if your buying is $20, you might make that worth $2,000 in chips.  It makes it a little more fun when you are playing for bigger pots - even if they are imaginary.

When using Poker Tournament Manager Deluxe, the tournament setup wizard will ask you to enter the dollar amount for the buyin as well the chip amount received.  You can optionally setup the program to allow rebuys and addons as well.  The program will then track buyins, rebuys, and addons during your tournament for you.

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