Don’t we all wish that! I have to start logging these Hugoisms.

I remember when I started playing and the BBLs really drove me nuts, but like you I love seeing them accumulate chips early. Those are exactly who you want to your right late in tournaments.

Good luck in your quest with your local casino! I agree that a flatter structure would likely award more evenly. I’d be interested to know how poker players would vote on a wider versus flatter structure. I tend to guess most would like as you suggest, but not absolutely sure.

One could be play to the chop. In this structure, the goal is to make the next table.

if 3 tables pay, players busting-out would chop payout for positions 19-27 ,
table two would chop position 26 to 10, and table one would chop 9 thru 1.

I would only suggest this far larger tournaments 300 or more players, smaller ones need to keep the current 10%.

Several time in these shorter tournaments I have seen a BBL, bad but lucky player, amass a ton of chips and I rejoice and hope that [A]he makes it to the final table. and [B] nobody else knows what I know about his lack of real skill. ie, I’m thinking- hold on to those buddy so I know where to find them at the final table, and several times it has worked out just perfectly.

I agree, as the blinds grow there is more luck involved, but there is still room for skill; hand choice and position become very, very important., player styles very important and being able to adjust your play depending on your chip stake, big, mid and small stakes is crucial.

God, I wish I could play this game as good as I can talk it. Hugoism #6

Paul Gearan , I guess he issue is “how do we get our local tourney directors to buy in to setting a payout ladder that isn’t so steep.” Maybe they want to encourage chops to get the game over sooner but I think a flatter payout might attract more entrants. I will try to sell the concept to my local casino. It just seem to make so much sense. The “best” players rarely win or even cash in the big events. I love playing tournament poker but when, in reality, just making the money is a big win and the difference between 5’th and 2’nd is as much luck as it is skill and 2’nd pays 3 times what 5’th pays I think we might as well turn the final table into a blackjack tournament. Thanks for your post

Lately when I get down to final 5-6 or fewer, I have been suggesting the “let’s all take $800 and play down for the last $1,000” or something like that as opposed to the flat chop or some equity chop. The last $1,000 then usually gets chopped by the final 2 resulting in pretty flat payouts to those final 5-6 but breaks down the resistance of the players who really think they are the strongest players and want to play it out.

But I really like your idea of keeping a ladder particularly by making it less extreme between the top two rungs and redistributing some of that delta. May try suggesting that next time I am in the final few.

20 minute blinds are the structure of most of the tournaments I have access to locally as well. A little faster than ideal obviously. Agreed short-stack shoving has a lot of considerations so takes some skill, experience and judgment.

I always try to get the last 6 or so players (when I am one of them) to agree to making the ladder steps much smaller.

For example rather than $1800 for 2’nd and $3100 for 1’st I much prefer spreading the money back resulting something like $ 1600 and $2000. I am still going to work my butt off to win that last $400 and the “glory”.

I detest losing a huge amount of cash when I skillfully get the other guy all-in preflop and my AA gets cracked by a 10 high rainbow strait. I’m ok with the bad beat, it’s the money issue.

We like to say this game is mostly skill and only a small part luck. Top end loaded payout structures don’t reflect that.

The only games I have weekly access to are 20 min blinds, (they don’t call them turbos but they should)

It took me a while to adjust to them , wider range, more aggression but they are OK for fun and practice.

Even a shove fest requires some talent, you need to know with what cards, at what blind and stake levels and against whom and in what positions to push.

Starting with a 50BB depth is a pretty shallow structure. You can get pot committed pretty darn quickly in the first couple levels, and be a position where you are in shove or fold decision-making very early. Not my style certainly.