[Cornell Fiji]

I agree with all of what has been said.

As a poker player, this seems like a simple $EV decision

I feel like I am pretty good at beating tournaments with the current payout structure. One of my greatest sources of value is derived from my ability to exploit people on the bubble; a time that many players are (often incorrectly) trying to reduce variance by passing up many cEV edges.

The proposed structure would play more like a cash game. For that reason, more people will be playing closer to perfect strategy and I will have less opportunities to exploit them. The new structure would create its unique and interesting bubble considerations such as people wanting to lock up 'a win' around the cut off times, the subsequent loose play after the pay outs are dispersed, amongst other things. However, I feel like a failure to adapt to the new considerations would be closer to optimal play than such a failure is on the bubble of the current style of tournaments.

Would I like to play in a tournament that you described? Sure. It sounds like a good time. Would I want the new payout structure replace the current one? No. It would make the lives of tournament specialists a lot harder