How to count how many big blind fast in live tournament?

Here is a quick tip -- drop off an equal number of zeros from the big blind and your stack. So in the example above 1400 BB and 23000 chips becomes, 14 BB and 230 chips after dropping off 2 zeros from both. The math is now considerably easier: 230/14. We can do some more approximation by knowing that ten BBs would be 140 (10x14), so if we take away those ten BBs we have 90 units left. So we have 10 BBs + 90/14. Quick approximation in our head tells us 90/14 is around 6 (6x14=84) or 7 (7x14=98). So we can approximate pretty quickly, easily and accurately that we have between 16 and 17 BBs.

The actual math is 23000/1400= 16.429, which you could probably do on the calculator function on your phone when you are not a hand.

Good answer. I don't have a quick and easy rubric myself, but I do find trying to figure out my stack in chunks of 5 or 10BB and then calculating what's left can make it easier.

Thank you so much for your tips. I had problem especially on the late stage of live tournament when millions of chips involve :(

The tournament clock also contains a ton of valuable info about chips in play, average stack, upcoming blinds to use compared to your chips

Just multiply the BB by 10.

In this case it is 14,000. You have 23,000 chips so it is less than double 14,000 which is 28,000. So you have between 10 bb's and 20 bb's. 23,000 is 9,000 more than 14,000 which is more than half of 14,000. So you have more than 15 blinds. At that point to me it doesn't matter exactly how many bb's I have because it is over 15 and less than 20. So I am 3-betting all in and my opening pre-flop raise will be a min raise.

If you have say 43,000 chips. then you would do the 10bb thing to 14,000. Then 20 bb to 28,000. Then 30 bb to 42,000. So you are just over 30 bb's. And so on.

So for me it is about what betting strategies I have at my range of bb's. I particularly care if I have < 15 bb's, between 15bb's and 25bb's, between 25 bb's and 40 bb's, less than 80 bb's and then less than 120bb's.

Multiply 1400 by 10x, 20x, etc until you go over your stack. So you know you have more than 10bb, that would be 14,000, and you know you have less than 28,000, that would be 20bb. You know it's closer to 20 than it is to 10, so it is more than 15. So even if you are like, okay I have 16-19bb, in a pinch, that is a decent approximation.

You can stack your chips any way you want to so long as the high denomination chips are plainly visible. Physically make stacks of 10BB each until you canÂ’t make any more. In this case, stack 14000 chips. After you can no longer make stacks of 10BB, make 5 bb stacks. If you can divide by 2 mentally, this will be easy - divide the bb amount by 2 and add a zero. In this case bb is 1400, half of that is 700, so 5 bb is 7000. Thus, make a stack of 14000 chips, then another with 7000. You will have 2000 remaining, which is obviously greater than 1BB but less than 2 (if you still need help with the math at this point, make 1BB stacks until you run out of chips). Hence you have in this case a stack of 10 plus a stack of 5 plus a bit more than 1 bb left for a total of a bit over 16bb

the way I would do it in my head is 21000 is 15bb, then 2000 more to get to 23000. So its about 16.5bb.

Theres no way around knowing how the do multiples of 5 and 10 quickly. Then you can figure out how many bb need to be added/subtracted to get the rest.

Next time you're in a hand with them just angle them back. don't proceed until you get a count. Anglers gonna angle....

9000/18000 ... 850000? 1300000? 250000?

If you suck at math you can do this and it won't kill your winrate:

In a hand.... utg opens....

1 2 4 8

18 36 72 144

Add a zero

10 20 40 80

180k 360k 720k 1.44M

Its OK to estimate ... I hear the commentators on TV do it all the time.

50bb 70bb 15bb

Not in a hand .... while dealer is shuffling...

Its ok to use a calculator... nobody at the table cares.

47.2bb 72.2bb 13bb

Edit:

Re: anglers gonna angle chip count...

Op make sure you ask them to follow the rules nicely (be kind and sincere ... they might not know the rules ... example 10bb vs 20bb stacks) and then give warnings. If it's obvious they're angling by hiding or mis-stacking then don't proceed in a hand until you get a precise count by calling the floor... they'll count it and have them stack it properly (at least in my home club they will). But this is nuclear like calling the clock. make sure you ask nicely and don't do that often or ever.

I also wanna add that players often look out for each other... if the stacks aren't quite 20bb or over ... ir if it's "dirty" with a big chip in the stack ... they'll point it out.