For the longest time, poker tournaments paid about 10% of the sector. And in fact, the earliest WSOP events were winner-take-all, if memory serves. But there has been a general sense that the highest small handful of individuals should take home all of the money.
As time has progressed, most folks within the business have come to believe that paying out more of the sphere is best. That is, increasing the collection of players who get something back is preferable to putting an additional bonus on top of the already staggering size of the prizes on the top.
To give an example, suppose first prize on the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) was going to be $1.5 million. But suppose that as opposed to paying that guy/gal $1.5 million, we paid her or him $1.2 million and paid out 15 more people on the very bottom of the money ladder $20k each? I claim that that move can be +EV for the whole game and industry. Yes, in some senses, we'd be costing our winner $300k, that's serious money. But let's be real - $1.2 million is very large life-changing money it doesn't matter what. Our winner goes to have a very hi there. But we've just made 15 more people have an excellent day too.
And the truth of the problem is that while we discuss the large prizes up top, and everyone talks about not desirous to min-cash, there are two indisputable facts that lead me to believe that that isn't the entire story.
First, take a look at all of the final table deals. If everybody really wanted that virtually unimaginably large first prize, then deals wouldn't happen. But in point of fact, they happen just about all the time. Regardless of whether it's nervous amateurs petrified of playing for big sums, or seasoned pros seeking to reduce the variance, there appears to be a universal appetite for deal-making.
And let's speak about the bubble. For all of the individuals who mentioned not desirous to min-cash, take a look at the wave of "chip and a chair" behaviour because the bubble approaches. Those persons are not making ICM-optimal decisions to maximise their chances for a last table; they're doing whatever it is going to take to get to the money. The very smallest minimum payoff. My point is that this: whatever people's plans and dreams are at first of a tournament, for many folks, there comes some extent where locking up some money at this time is preferable to the opportunity of more cash later. Call it the "Bird within the hand" theory.
So we studied on that for some time after which somebody said, "Well, what if we paid 50% of the sphere"? "DO NOT BE silly, you cannot pay 50% of the sphere". Well, in point of fact, you'll be able to. When we worked out the details, here is what we came up with:
When we get all the way down to half the field, we are going to return the unique buy-in to all remaining players. So suppose it is a $1000+$100 event with 80 runners. When 40 players are left, we walk around and drop $1100 in cash (or chips) in front of every of the remainder 40 players. The cash that's left is sent in an 8% payout structure (not too terribly different than how regular tournaments used to receives a commission out within the old days). So there are really two bubbles: at 50% of the sphere and eight% of the sector. Being the selling geniuses we are, we borrowed and adapted the name of a classic American bubble gum and called these tournaments "Double Bubble".
Obviously, these tournaments aren't going to go back massive prizes on the top - if you wish to opt for the large brass ring, join considered one of our regular tournaments. But when you need some good fun with nominally a 50% chance of having your money back, and the danger to still win some nice prizes deep in, maybe Double Bubbles are only the object for you.We're going to present them a test-drive on the PCA, that's the very best place for a light-hearted entertainment-centric event akin to Double Bubbles are. We expect they'll be fun and offer players an opportunity to check out something different. Will we expect Double Bubbles to revolutionize the poker tournament scene? Not likely, but there is not any harm here -we'll run a couple of and, as always, see what the players let us know with their feet.
So, do you think that you'll be able to outlast just half the sphere in a poker tournament? If so, in a Double Bubble, you're going to get your buy-in back and can be freerolling for the intense money. Search for Double Bubbles at a PCA near you in early 2015.
Lee Jones is the top of Poker Communications at PokerStars. He first joined the corporate in 2003 and have been serious about the pro poker industry for over 25 years. You'll read his occasional tweets at @leehjones.
Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure]
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