Anthony Martino
Royal Flush
Within the past few years there's been a change in some guaranteed poker tournaments where players are being allowed to buy into Day 2 for a higher price than playing on Day 1, and being given a decent sized stack.
As an example, you could buy into Day 1 for $300 and get 25K chips or pay $1500 on Day 2 and get a 250K stack.
Or you could buy in for $1100 on Day 1 or $4,000 on Day 2, etc.
These changes really favor the deep-pocketed pros, and I think are long-term negative for poker. The whole appeal to draw in the recreational players is that they can come in and compete with the pros and have a chance to win.
The change from Freezeouts to Rebuys and Re-Entry events already gives an additional edge to seasoned pros who can fire multiple bullets while the recreational player may only have 1 bullet or may have won a satellite seat in.
Now the pros can play super nutso on Day 1's even more, taking risks the 1 bullet players can't afford to try and build up a monster stack. And if they fail to do so, they can just buy into Day 2 with a decent sized stack.
It's really the wrong direction, in my opinion, for poker to be taking. In my local Tampa market I've noticed a disturbing trend now where 1st place is paying more than 2nd and 3rd combined, not sure when that shift started but it's just getting ridiculous. The vast majority of events in my area are being chopped 6-8 ways at the final table a lot more lately, because the payout structure is just stupid.
As an example, you could buy into Day 1 for $300 and get 25K chips or pay $1500 on Day 2 and get a 250K stack.
Or you could buy in for $1100 on Day 1 or $4,000 on Day 2, etc.
These changes really favor the deep-pocketed pros, and I think are long-term negative for poker. The whole appeal to draw in the recreational players is that they can come in and compete with the pros and have a chance to win.
The change from Freezeouts to Rebuys and Re-Entry events already gives an additional edge to seasoned pros who can fire multiple bullets while the recreational player may only have 1 bullet or may have won a satellite seat in.
Now the pros can play super nutso on Day 1's even more, taking risks the 1 bullet players can't afford to try and build up a monster stack. And if they fail to do so, they can just buy into Day 2 with a decent sized stack.
It's really the wrong direction, in my opinion, for poker to be taking. In my local Tampa market I've noticed a disturbing trend now where 1st place is paying more than 2nd and 3rd combined, not sure when that shift started but it's just getting ridiculous. The vast majority of events in my area are being chopped 6-8 ways at the final table a lot more lately, because the payout structure is just stupid.