Why everyone benefits from more min-cashes
Following the news that the EPT now pays 20% of the players, Barry Carter argues the case for more min-cashes in live poker.
This week the European Poker Tour announced it would be paying 20% of the field this season, a big increase from their standard 15%. Also this year the World Series of Poker increased their standard payout to 15% of the field from 10%.
It looks like there is an industry trend of giving live events flatter payout structures. PokerStars Head of Live Poker Neil Johnson said the changes were made to give players “a way to give a lot more players a second shot, while exerting only a negligible effect on prize pool distribution.”
So is this is where the industry is heading and are flatter payouts a good thing?
Most tournaments end in deals
There has always been something of a stigma to flat payout structures as everyone wants to claim to ‘play for the win’ but the reality is the market has always wanted flatter payouts.
I’ve been reliably told by many tournament directors that somewhere in the region of 85% of live events end in some sort of a deal. Those juicy prizes are great to dream about but when the reality of real money is in our sights we prefer to guarantee a lesser amount.
In recent years that stigma of admitting we want flatter payouts has decreased. In PokerStars events specifically the practice of filming the deal negotiations on the live stream may have helped remove this stigma but if anything it is the High Roller events that have really taken the shame out of deals.
The biggest Super High Roller events like One Drop and the Super High Roller Bowl both had payout structures between 17-20%. Because almost everyone in these events are staked, a min-cash really means something, so they are welcomed by the pros when once they may have been sneered at.
This is exactly the same situation for an online qualifier in a live event. If you satellited into an €5,000 EPT event for $215 then merely making the money, even if it is just your buy-in back, is a great outcome. Increasing the payouts to 20% of the field is likely to encourage a lot more people to try their hands at satellites.
Another shot at a tournament
The amount of the min-cash is not that important when it is between 1-1.2 times the buy-in, as Johnson said it is literally just to give the player another shot at an event. No doubt this will have a positive impact on the side event traffic at the EPT and events like it.
Finally it is simply just a good idea for making the experience more fun for recreational players. When you are a casual poker player, making the money is a big deal, especially in ‘Main Events’ like the WSOP and EPT. Recreational players are the lifeblood of poker and this is an easy way to make the events more fun for more people.
As long as events like the EPT and WSOP attract large numbers there will still be huge prizes on offer to the lucky few who make it to the end of the event. Flatter payouts appeal to the majority of poker players (whether they admit it or not) and this is a welcome addition to an already booming European Poker Tour.
Do you agree with flatter payouts? What percentage of the field should get paid? Let us know your views in the comments.
