Free · No paid tier required
Setting blinds is the part of hosting that decides whether your tournament finishes on time or drags past midnight, and it is also the part people most often hit a paywall on. The calculator below builds a full blind schedule for free: starting stack, level durations, and the progression of small blind, big blind and antes. It works for a Poker Now game, a physical chip set, or a PokerChip.live room, because a blind structure is just a schedule — it does not belong to any platform.
Full blind schedule with no paid tier
Levels sized to the length of night you want
Works with any platform or a physical chip set
Eight levels of 15 minutes, roughly doubling each level, with a big-blind ante from level 5. Copy it as-is or use the calculator above to build one for a different length of night.
| Level | Small blind | Big blind | Ante | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 50 | — | 15 min |
| 2 | 50 | 100 | — | 15 min |
| 3 | 75 | 150 | — | 15 min |
| 4 | 100 | 200 | — | 15 min |
| 5 | 150 | 300 | 300 | 15 min |
| 6 | 200 | 400 | 400 | 15 min |
| 7 | 300 | 600 | 600 | 15 min |
| 8 | 500 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 15 min |
Work backwards from the finish time rather than picking blinds first. Deeper stacks buy more playing time without shortening the levels.
| Night length | Level duration | Levels needed | Starting stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 hours | 15 min | 8 | 5,000 |
| 3 hours | 20 min | 9 | 5,000 |
| 4 hours | 20 min | 12 | 10,000 |
| Casual, no fixed end | 20 min | 12+ | 10,000 |
Structure builder
A structure is a list: level number, small blind, big blind, ante, and how long the level lasts. Nothing about it is proprietary to any site. Generate the schedule here, then enter the values wherever your game actually runs — a paid tier is not required to decide that level four is 100/200.
Work backwards from when you want to finish. Two hours means roughly eight levels of fifteen minutes; three hours means twenty-minute levels with a gentler climb; four hours means either more levels or a deeper starting stack. Picking blinds first and hoping the night lands correctly is how tournaments end at one in the morning with three exhausted players.
Give every player about 100 big blinds to start. With a 5,000 chip stack that means opening at 25/50. Deeper than 100 big blinds and the early levels are slow; much shallower and the tournament is decided by whoever picks up a hand first, which is a coin flip wearing a poker game's clothes.
Roughly doubling each level makes a fast, decisive night. Multiplying by about 1.5 keeps stacks playable for longer and suits a group that wants to actually play rather than shove. Whatever you choose, keep the ratio consistent — a structure that jumps unevenly punishes whoever happens to be in the blinds at the jump.
Add an ante once players start folding every hand to preserve their stack, usually around level four or five. A big-blind ante is simplest at a home game because only one player posts it each hand, so nobody has to count out small chips every deal.
Stop raising and repeat the current level, or agree a hard finish time and pay out by chip count. Do not accelerate the structure mid-game to force an ending — that hands the win to whoever happened to be ahead when the rules changed, and everyone at the table knows it.
If your group plays in person, PokerChip.live runs the blind schedule alongside the chips: the timer advances the level, every player's phone shows the current blinds, and the pot and settlement are tracked as you go. Real cards on the table, no app install, no paid tier for any of it.
FAQ
01
The blind values themselves are just numbers you enter when configuring a game — use the calculator on this page to work out the schedule, then apply it. If a feature you need is genuinely behind a paid tier, a free browser tool like PokerChip.live runs the same structure at no cost.
02
Start where each player has about 100 big blinds. A 5,000 chip starting stack means opening at 25/50; a 10,000 stack means 50/100. Scale both together rather than picking blinds in isolation.
03
Fifteen to twenty minutes for a casual home tournament. Ten minutes makes for a fast night, and anything shorter turns the game into a shove-fest where stack size stops mattering.
04
Divide the length of the night by your level duration — about eight levels for two hours at fifteen minutes each, twelve for three hours at twenty. Generate a couple more than you need so the game never runs out of schedule.
05
No. Cash games keep blinds fixed so players can buy in and cash out at any point without the stakes shifting under them. Rising blinds are a tournament mechanism for forcing an ending.
06
Around level four or five, once the blinds are large enough that players are folding to preserve their stacks. A big-blind ante keeps it simple because only one player posts it per hand.
07
The same stack everyone started with, not a stack scaled to the current blind level. Anything else either punishes the rebuying player or hands them an advantage, and both versions cause arguments. Decide when the rebuy period closes at the same time you set the structure.
08
Yes. A blind schedule is platform-independent — the only extra consideration is that your chip denominations need to cover the later levels, so plan a color-up at a break rather than letting people stack forty small chips.
Create a free room, invite players, track live stacks, and share the final result when the game ends.
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