Should live tournaments pay 50% of the field?
Barry Carter takes a look at the new Double Bubble format from the EPT and asks if it could attract more recreational players to live poker?
Last week PokerStars announced they would be trialling a new poker format in some of the side events at the PCA. ‘Double Bubble’ tournaments will pay half the field. Lee Jones explained it how it works in a recent blog post:
“When we get down to half the field, we're going to return the original buy-in to all remaining players. So suppose it's 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 each of the remaining 40 players. The money that's left is distributed in an 8% payout structure. So there are really two bubbles: at 50% of the field and 8% of the field."
Whether this particular format will work I have no idea, but I do like the fact that PokerStars are trialling a live event with such a flat payout structure. I have said for a long time that poker players want more, or bigger, min-cashes.
Everyone wants flatter payouts
We talk about tournaments, both as players and the industry, in terms of the big score. Everyone claims to be playing to win the biggest prize possible, and there is a real stigma to wanting to lock down a smaller, but guaranteed, prize.
However, for all that bravado, the reality is most players want flatter payouts. I have polled a large number of tournament directors on this topic, and most agree that around 85% of tournaments end in a deal. The record books may not always affirm that, but the reality is most players realise the big scores don’t come around often enough in live poker to want to take high variance risks.
The main reason I am excited to see how Double Bubble tournaments are received is because recreational players are highly motivated by making the money. It is a real badge of honour to say you cashed in a major event and to get a new country flag on your Hendon Mob database. In particular if they have travelled a considerable distance to play in the event.
So I am inclined to think that Double Bubble events will encourage a lot of casual players to travel to play live events when they otherwise would not have. Knowing they are 50/50 to at least break even, get a Hendon Mob flag and then will be freerolling for a big score, I believe is going to appeal to a lot of players (Myself included).
So far the format is being trialled as a side event at the PCA, in the $1,100 and $2,200 buy-in levels. I hope, however, they continue to trial them elsewhere, perhaps on the European circuit where there is a strong local market (Unlike the Caribbean). This is because I think the PCA itself is largely an event for serious players, not the recreational ones for whom this format would appeal. You have to start somewhere though, of course.
I’d actually love to see Double Bubbles be big enough to justify there being satellites into them. I can see that really appealing to recreational players. A lot of us secretly would just love to take the money when we win a sizeable satellite package, and knowing that you are 50/50 that your $215 satellite win would result in you keeping the $2,000-$10,000 entry fee you won would, again, really appeal to a lot of players.
Slower bubbles?
The only other thoughts I have are on the logistics of such an event. There is no doubt that once the first bubble is over, getting to the second top 8% bubble and beyond will play out very fast and loose. But what about the first bubble?
I actually think the action leading up to the first bubble will be much slower and nittier than a normal bubble. It becomes much more all or nothing, like a DoN. Not to mention that the structure will be much deeper than a normal bubble because it is at a much earlier stage.
I’ve noticed, however, that so far both Double Bubbles at the PCA are turbo events, with 15-minute levels, and I think this is the ideal structure for this format (You could even slow down the structure after the bubble).
Whether they work or they don’t, I commend PokerStars for trying them out. I honestly believe the future of live poker involves flatter payout structures, and this is a very good first step towards that.
What do you think of Double Bubble tournaments? Would you like to see more players paid in live poker? Let me know in the comments box.
