Tourney Antes from the start (1 Viewer)

[trigs]

I'm hosting a tournament soon and was thinking about implementing the big blind ante right from the beginning of the tournament. The blinds time will be dependent on how many entrants I get because I want it to run somewhere around 5-6 hours.

My question is: are there any issues I'm not considering with starting antes right away? Would you like a tournament with antes starting level one as long as there's still enough play time?

 

[DoubleEagle]

I would prefer them to kick in a bit later. Several of the NLHE WSOP events will start like this:

100-100
100-200
100-200-200
and so on...

The Big 50 will start 100-200-200 so BB antes right from the start.

My structure with BB antes goes like this:

25-50
50-100
75-150
100-200
100-200-200
and so on...

 

[Mr Winberg]

I, on the other hand, prefer them from the start. One benefit is that people will get into ante mode right away, meaning it's less likely someone will forget to post.

With BB ante it doesn't matter as much, since it takes but a second to fix. But, when I started using standard antes many years ago, I found that people had easier to remember posting them if we used them from the get go.

Both approaches are fine, though.

 

[andy699669]

I'd use Button Ante version, the Dealer button is a quick prompt/reminder to ante, and balances the edge of being the last to act post flop.

 

[Trihonda]

And there’s always the NO antes option... I dont care for them. What is their purpose? To generate action? To speed the game up? Both these can be accomplished by modifying structure with no antes...

Also consider there are drawbacks to antes.. slows the game down in some cases (when all players have to ante), or creates a potentially unfair burden when a player gets super short stacked in a button or bb ante situation... (understand that it’s their fault for getting into that predicament).

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

With BB ante, I think right away is just fine. If everyone is anteing, it makes more sense to start after a bit, else everyone will have a bunch of ante chips that really don't have a use in standard betting amounts (i.e. 5s when blinds are 25/50 are kinda pointless).

Personally, I hate BB ante. In my mind, antes were a great way of evening out the effect of the blinds in late tournament play. The burden of BB is only ~44% of pot with individual antes whereas it is ~67% without. Now with BB ante, being on BB is 80% of pot.

 

[Frogzilla]

Go for it...antes from the first hand.

Antes are awesome

 

[Frode789]

Personally, I hate BB ante. In my mind, antes were a great way of evening out the effect of the blinds in late tournament play. The burden of BB is only ~44% of pot with individual antes whereas it is ~67% without. Now with BB ante, being on BB is 80% of pot.

Definitely. That's why I'd do button ante.

 

[trigs]

I have considered button ante as well and thought it would be better. However, I was told that dead button scenarios were a major problem. Although, I'm not sure why this would be the case. We already have dead small blinds for example. I don't see what the big deal is if for one hand there are no antes.

 

[Frogzilla]

I have considered button ante as well and thought it would be better. However, I was told that dead button scenarios were a major problem. Although, I'm not sure why this would be the case. We already have dead small blinds for example. I don't see what the big deal is if for one hand there are no antes.

It’s not a “major problem”...dead small is great analogy. Button antes are fine. I prefer big blind over button just because that’s what all the televised tourneys and WSOP are doing

 

[moose]

I would never use antes in a tourney <20 people.

 

[andy699669]

Not too hard actually. Button ante is paused when there's a dead button.

I have considered button ante as well and thought it would be better. However, I was told that dead button scenarios were a major problem. Although, I'm not sure why this would be the case. We already have dead small blinds for example. I don't see what the big deal is if for one hand there are no antes.

 

[Prenders17]

Preference. Antes create action. If you want to get things popping off right away, do antes, but prepare for a couple people to bust earlier. If you want everyone to be comfortable for an hour so they feel they got their money’s worth, then kick them in later. I think antes from the start pairs well with a rebuy or re-entry format so if someone does bust early, they can buy some more play and don’t feel like they wasted the trip.