Our goal is, when a casino advertises "Tex's TEARS Structures", a player could travel to that casino and know how many starting chips he would receive and what the structures would be in each event. Now he can make a decision as to whether or not he wishes to attend and participate in that series of events. In the past, I have paid for airfare and traveled a long distance to get to a tournament that I thought would be a good tournament only to find that the events were not playable because structure increases were too large (100 %), the starting chips were inadequate, or something else. When players pay their money for airfare, hotels, meals, and buy-ins, I think that they have the right to know what to expect in major tournaments and we are trying to give that to them.

The criteria for starting Chips:

When using "Tex's TEARS Structures" and when the buy-in is $100 or larger, the player should never receive less than 1,000 starting chips as long as there is no re-buy. In re-buy tournaments the players should never receive less than 500 starting chips. Re-buy chips will either be the same amount as the starting chips or twice the size of the starting chips (the casino chooses which). If the buy-in is larger than $1,000 the players will receive starting chips that equal the buy-in amount, dollar for dollar. In smaller tournaments, with buy-ins of less than $100, the casinos will choose the number of starting chips (such as monthly, weekly, or daily events).

The Blind and ante increases averages less than 50% per level.

If a casino advertises "Tex's TEARS Satellite Structures", this means that the early levels will increase at a faster rate. However after you reach the 200-400 blinds the rest of the levels are at the normal TEARS increases to allow more play toward the end. Most satellites are over about the time you reach this level. These structures are normally used only for satellites and smaller shorter tournaments.

We have made a few small changes in our structures to accommodate chip removal from the table, etc. However our main goals are intact and will remain so.

Tex's TEARS belongs to you players. I am only the keeper of it for the present. Therefore, as a player, you must insist that tournament directors give the number of starting chips along with the blind and ante structures called for in the current "Tex's TEARS" program. After all it does belong to you.

The casino always controls how many hours of playing time there will be in each event. I, personally, do not like to play in any major event with less than 8 hours of playing time. However the 5-hour events that I have played under this system have been quite comfortable to play in.

The players that have played using "Tex's TEARS" have approved of it by an overwhelming majority.

I wish to thank the following people, who are presently on our advisory staff, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Mike Sexton, Dr. Max Stearn, Brad Daugherty, Vince Burgio, and Jack Fox.

Tex Morgan