Tourney Big Blind Ante when short-handed (1 Viewer)

Do you reduce the BBA when down to 6 players on the table ?

  • Yes

    Votes: 4 19.0%
  • No

    Votes: 10 47.6%
  • I don't care, I prefer individual ante

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • I don't care, I don't use ante

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yes, but at 5-handed, not 6-handed

    Votes: 6 28.6%
  • Yes, but at 4-handed, not 6-handed

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    21

Kid_Eastwood

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Hi,

If you have adopted the BBA format, what do you do when down to 6 players or less per table ?

Do you make the BBA half (= SB) or do you keep it at its full value (= BB) ?

Personnally I prefer to make it half when short-handed...

Kid.
 
I'd like to vote, but no answer fits.

The nr of players at which you choose to reduce the BBA depends on which ante structure you want to emulate, and different tournaments used to have (or still have) different ante-sizes. For example, to emulate the antes that the WSOP Main Event used before changing to BBA, you should make the BBA = SB when 5 handed, because the ante was usually (with a few exceptions) between 1/10 and 1/6 of the big blind, and therefore were equivalent to BBA = BB when 10 to 6 handed.

By that logic, I used to change to SB when 5 handed. Then I realized that it became an annoying overhead to regulate this across tables. I also realized that play was usually pretty tight when 9-11 were left (final table at 8), i.e. 2 short handed tables, so to push the action and hopefully get a final table with deeper stacks (and therefore more play) I now keep it at BB until shorthanded at the final table. And then I only reduce to SB after the bubble has burst (to try to avoid lenghty bubble play where all survivors are short stacked). So if 5 are ITM, the BBA = SB at 5 left.
4 ITM: 4 left.
6 ITM? Still at 5 left :)

My 2 cents... :)
 
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The social group around my area, and even other groups and places I've seen, halve the ante at the final five. Probably because the regular ante is around 20%-25% of the SB. Because of that, a few places I've seen even halve it at four.
 
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Our Table Ante rules stipulate the following:

For 9 or 10 player tables:
  • BB amount is posted when 7-10 players
  • SB amount is posted when 3-6 players
  • Individual antes are posted when heads-up
For 7 or 8 player tables:
  • BB amount is posted when 6-8 players
  • SB amount is posted when 3-5 players
  • Individual antes are posted when heads-up
Most of our events are 8-player tables with a nine-player final table.
 
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I will host my first BBA game later this year.

My plan is to make the Table Ante = BB until down to 4.
At 4 the Table Ante will be =SB.
I have not yet reached a conclusion involving Heads Up play. My concern is that individual antes would necessitate the use of a chip that has already been raced off. Have you seen this happen @BGinGA ? Do you leave extra small chips in play to cover individual antes?
 
I will host my first BBA game later this year.

My plan is to make the Table Ante = BB until down to 4.
At 4 the Table Ante will be =SB.
I have not yet reached a conclusion involving Heads Up play. My concern is that individual antes would necessitate the use of a chip that has already been raced off. Have you seen this happen @BGinGA ? Do you leave extra small chips in play to cover individual antes?
The heads-up ante amount is equal to the smallest chip still in play. All color-up chip removals are performed as scheduled (typically when no longer needed for blinds). So absolute worst-case is ante equals SB amount, but could be less (one-half or one-third of SB).
 
For heads-up I thought about getting rid of the antes. Don’t know if it’s good idea. At least it’s an option proposed by Blind Valet, so I thought it was common practice.
 
Just found this from the Wynn Poker Room:
[URL='https://www.visitwynn.com/documents/Poker_Fri-Sun_Guarantee_Rules-Structure.pdf' said:
  • The ante amount will be posted by the big blind only. In the event that the player in the big blind has less than the required amount to post both the big blind and the ante, the ante will be posted first. The big blind will then be posted with any remaining chips.
  • When the final table reaches four-handed play, the ante amount will be reduce to the equivalent of the small blind. With two players remaining, the ante will be removed.

Wynn has a highly regarded structure, and is not one of the early adopters, so I believe this has been well thought out.
 
Just found this from the Wynn Poker Room:


Wynn has a highly regarded structure, and is not one of the early adopters, so I believe this has been well thought out.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
 
Hi,

If you have adopted the BBA format, what do you do when down to 6 players or less per table ?

Do you make the BBA half (= SB) or do you keep it at its full value (= BB) ?

Personnally I prefer to make it half when short-handed...

Kid.
We only play with BB ante and the rule thats been adopted short handed is the ante = small blind ( 6 handed or less. ). Most tours are doing similar
 
Do you know how the BBA was handled at the WSOP for 6-handed games like NL2-7 ?
In NL2-7 BBA value = SB + BB.
Do you know if it got reduced at some point when the number of players were down to a certain number ?
Was the BBA maintained during heads-up play ?
 
Our Table Ante rules stipulate the following:

For 9 or 10 player tables:
  • BB amount is posted when 7-10 players
  • SB amount is posted when 3-6 players
  • Individual antes are posted when heads-up
For 7 or 8 player tables:
  • BB amount is posted when 6-8 players
  • SB amount is posted when 3-5 players
  • Individual antes are posted when heads-up
Most of our events are 8-player tables with a nine-player final table.

Good rules to me. Though I am shocked you host such events. ;)
 
I don't think I would reduce at 6-handed because in multi table tournament with two tables left you will have at least one six handed table when there are 13 players left. (And probably also other 6- handed table instances when dropping from 3 tables to two.) The BBA seems to logically apply in full at that point, it can apply at the final table as well.

Personally I would only reduce to the SB amount at the final four. But I voted at 5.
 
Do you know how the BBA was handled at the WSOP for 6-handed games like NL2-7 ?
In NL2-7 BBA value = SB + BB.
Do you know if it got reduced at some point when the number of players were down to a certain number ?
Was the BBA maintained during heads-up play ?
This is how they reported the levels heads up on poker news. Looks like it didn’t get reduced

7567882E-904A-4643-AC53-30A5298C967F.jpeg
 
I don't think I would reduce at 6-handed because in multi table tournament with two tables left you will have at least one six handed table when there are 13 players left. (And probably also other 6- handed table instances when dropping from 3 tables to two.) The BBA seems to logically apply in full at that point, it can apply at the final table as well.

Personally I would only reduce to the SB amount at the final four. But I voted at 5.
That's the same logic I used for reducing at 4. Did not vote though.
 
I rechecked in blind valet, and BBA is reduced when the number of players is less than 6, not less than or equal to 6.
I initially voted just "yes" but I changed my vote to "yes, but at 5-handed".
For the heads-up, I prefer to remove the ante.
 

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