A good home tournament structure gives players enough room to play early and enough pressure to finish at a reasonable hour. There is no one official schedule.
Start with the night, not a blind chart
Pick how long you want to play, then choose a level interval and tournament pace that create a smooth path toward a finish. Shorter levels and turbo pace make a tournament more decisive; deeper starting stacks and gradual pace make it more strategic.
Planning the blind structure
This planner automatically recommends standard starting blinds tailored to your starting stack (aiming for a 100–200 Big Blind depth) and calculates granular casino-standard levels based on total chips in play, ensuring the tournament concludes predictably on schedule.
Ready to run it? AirChips supports tournament tables with timed or hand-based blind levels, antes, pauses, progression, standings, and results.
Prize pool is a separate decision
Your blind structure controls tournament pressure. Buy-ins and prize payouts are separate. Use the Poker Payout Calculator to agree the prize split before the tournament begins.