Hi, everyone!
I run a home game about once a month, and it's usually a two-table affair, with about 16-20 players total, myself included. Very occasionally, it grows to up to 25 players. TD has helped me manage the whole thing for about a year now. Our tournament usually starts around 6PM on a Friday night, and runs until around 10PM, give or take half an hour. Before we start the tournament, we order pizzas for delivery, and there are breaks scheduled after every four (15-minute-long) blind levels (chip-up occurs on a couple of them along the way, too). When pizza arrives (usually before the first break), the clock is stopped and everyone gets up to eat. What I'd like to do is collect chip counts then, and at the breaks, mostly because it'd be a kind of fun statistic for the players to have - they can see how they're doing, who's doing well and who's not, and it would make for fun conversation.
My wife is a dedicated dealer at one table, so she helps me with chip-ups and other administrative tasks, and I know at least a couple of the players wouldn't mind helping me get everyone counted. Because it's a low stakes game among known people, I don't have to worry about anyone doing anything unethical with other people's chips, but I would understand if someone didn't want another player handling their chipstack.
So my questions are these: How would you go about getting quick, accurate chip counts for the tournament - would you ask each player to count their own stack? Should only the TD and non-players (dealer, for example) be allowed to do the counts? Is this a silly idea to begin with?
I welcome any opinions, either way, on this matter, and look forward to hearing different viewpoints.
Thanks, everyone!
Orrie