I'm a bit rusty and my friends want to throw a 2 table tournament with rebuys and add-ons

Something like $120 buyin/rebuy, not sure what the add on would be. It's usually less right like $50?

I know conventionally most casinos the $120 would be $100 + 20 on the initial buy in. Do most places charge the $20 vig again on the rebuys, or is it only on the first buying?

Also would all of the add-on go into the prize pool, or I assume some of that gets taken as well. Just trying to figure out what is "standard" thanks!

You can't really look to a casino for guidance on this in a home game. In the olden times, at a casino most if not all of the add-on did go to the prize pool. It made a tournament accessible/exciting to players with differing bankrolls.

Now the Add-on is a nominal fee that gives players more chips and goes to not-the-prize-pool (dealers, admin fee, or charity). "Rebuys" are almost non-existent now, in the olden times you could buy back into tournaments without the vig ($100 + $20 entry = $100 rebuy). What you find now are "Re-entry" tournaments where you get treated like a new player no matter what number rebuy it is for you and you pay the entry and the vig when coming back.

So, to your question, it really depends on what you want to accomplish. 90% of purely amatuer home tournaments are just straight rebuys--no vig any time, no add ons, but you can rebuy when you bust for however long you want.

Thanks. So you're saying there would be no end to the rebuy period?

It's a home game, whatever makes everyone happy is what you should do. Just let everyone know going in so no one says its unfair or you changed the rules.

I would not limit the buy-in time. If someone wants to buy in after 4 hours and only get 2 big blinds worth of chips, fine by me.

That makes sense, however if the house is making Zero on additional rebuys, not really sure they would be interested in the tournament taking longer

So generally in casinos the only $$ the house takes is the upfront initial vig?

So $100 + 20, $100 rebuys, $50 addons. House only gets the first $20?

I'm just trying to figure out what the casino standard is since that's what most people will be measuring this against. I have a strong feeling that it will just be a one-and-done anyway once they realize there is no way they will equal what they make in a cash game

If it is rebuys (not reentries) and addons, then no, typically the house takes nothing from the rebuys or addons, that money goes entirely into the prizepool. Here is my suggestion. You can adjust the numbers up or down to fit your desired price point.

$100+20 initial buyin gets each player 10,000 chips. If a player has 10,000 chips or below, they can pay a $100 rebuy and get 10,000 more chips. At the end of a certain period of time, maybe 2 hours (if you expect the event to last for 5-8 hours total), all players can pay $100 to buy an addon, which gives them 20,000 chips. Or, they can pay $50, and get 10,000 chips. You should pick one addon or the other to offer, though you could make it a choice.

Make sure you talk to somebody who knows what blind structure will yield the desired time period for this event to last. If you use the rebuy structure above, each player in your event is going to buy about 40-50,000 chips on average. If the field is 20 players, the event is going to last until the big blind is up to about 10,000. Plan accordingly, or it will last too long, or not long enough.

Have fun, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Perfect response, thanks so much Greg!