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How about treating every one in the event the same?
Posted By: Albert Steg In Response To: How about treating every one in the event the same? (phil simborg)
Date: Friday, 3 July 2015, at 3:50 a.m.
I'm still quite new to the tournament scene outside of Boston so my opinions aren't born of substantial experience, and aren't expressed with strong conviction, but I have a few observations / questions / suggestions.
1) Is it the case that a player who wins a single Intermediate main event is consigned forever thereafter to the Open ranks? If so, is this really the best criterion for promotion? Is it really so rare that an individual in the lower 50% of the draw in terms of skill/experience wins such an event? Perhaps if intermediate players are becoming discouraged to the extent that they don't show up anymore, it's because they really are being forcibly 'promoted' prematurely. I have no idea what an alternate criteria might look like -- but could there be one that confers on the aspiring intermediate a sense of genuine achievement, of having truly graduated to the upper levels of the game? Under the current system, might it not be in an intermediate's best interest to 'dump' his or her finals match, collecting the 2nd-place purse and preserving the right to play in the intermediate bracket? This would seem shameful in a top Intermediate player, but might be met with some sympathy in the case of a relative beginner who found himself in the finals largely as a fluke -- and this seems very wrong.
2) If people are going to be forced into the Open bracket, could there be variable buy-in prices that cushion compelled middle-range players from the full cost of the more expensive bracket? AT NEBC, since we no longer have enough players for two brackets in our monthly tournaments, players can choose to enter for $60 or $30, with $30 players collecting only a 50% share of the posted prizes. When a $30 entrant wins, the excess prize $ goes into our year-end prize pool for club champion. In an isolated tournament, perhaps the excess prize $ could be shared among the other top winners in the event. This might not be popular with top players, since the size of the prize pool would be diluted somewhat, but equity comes back to successful players in the event that these players actually win. Perhaps a say 75% entry fee option would be enough to soften the daunting prospect of having to 'play up' to the Open level. More successful players would enjoy the occasional additional windfall payment from over-achieving intermediates who don't collect the full prize of their result. (This approach may be similar in effect to Joe's suggestion of variable Sweeps pools).
3) I doubt very much that anything relating to the draw -- as in a preferred chance for a bye -- would influence intermediate players to attend an Open tournament event if it wasn't immediately quantifiable before booking a plane ticket. As in "You have a better chance for a bye!" -- that's not something anyone would realistically factor in to their budget.
4) I find Joe's thoughtful and detailed division of Prize Pools for players of various levels of experience appealing in effect -- in practice, I didn't have the patience to actually read the whole proposal and would fear few of the 'mid-level' players we are concerned about would wade through the calculations to recognize their benefit. So the challenge would be to provide a sort of online 'equity calculator' that would make these enticements manifest to prospective attendees -- including of course a single online source (USBGF, yes?) for establishing these histories of play in a clear and easy manner. A graphical representation of 'expected equity' for p[layers of varied backgrounds but assuming equal chances of winning could be potentially powerful! (In other words, if you're benefitting from the lower prize pools but reckon you're as good as anybody, here's the extra vig you're getting!).
5) Has there ever been an experiment in 'auctioning off' the available Byes once the number of players is established? You could do it negatively ("Who wants $10 for an anti-bye"? How about $15? 20?") - - or positively ("Byes are on offer for $50 -- do I hear $45? $35?") . . . . with the $ being added to or subtracted from the prize pool?
Albert
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