[jsmith5]

The levels that have been removed for holdem events are: 25-25, 2.5k-5k, 12k-24k, and 25k-50k.

After two and a half hours, the final blind level was 30k-60k-5k for Mackey. After ten hours, Cabinillas defeated Hellmuth with blinds at 25k-50k. Even though the average stack for the final 9 may be doubled, the missing levels have clearly impacted late stage play. While it's possible that some players may be playing faster, almost every no-limit holdem final table has finished in half of the time. I find it hard to imagine that the difference lies in the players and not the structure.

I recognize that these figures are not deeply rooted in math but unfortunately that's about all my pea-sized brain can handle. I would love to see someone crunch the numbers on all the stacks/blinds/etc from each table. I'll post your results on pokerwire.