Would The Main Event Would Work Better As A Shootout ?

[Bonified]

I think it would. I was going to post this after the event but it came up in another thread. Here are some reasons why I like a shootout :

- It would favour the better players. Everyone would still have their shot, but this is meant to be the World Championship. You have to win all the chips at the table to progress and you have to play short-handed and heads up in every round.
- You would never have to play 10-handed. I would prefer 6-handed for the later rounds, though obviously this would depend on the number of runners. You've got total flexibility. Say you were down to 16, you could play 8 heads up "semi-finals", how cool would that be ?
- No hand for hand torture.
- If you wanted to, you could seed players to keep them apart in the first round. I think I'd only favour this if there was a pre-defined, objective criterion for seeding (like all-time WSOP winnings, or WSOP winnings in the last X years). This would also mean that every qualifier would be guaranteed a "star" at their table.
- Also, if you wanted to, at least one round could be something other than NLHE
- Better control over the structure throughout. No need for 15-hour days at the start and 4-hour days later.
- I think the final table would be more exciting for players and spectators if everyone started with equal chips.

Potential downsides :

- The majority might not favour a 7/8 chance of being eliminated on their first day
- You'd have to keep a close eye on any deals

Here's a potential format for 6400-odd runners like we had this year :

- First round, 8-handed, all winners lock up $15K
- Second round, play down to 96. Again, winners only are paid
- Third round, 6-handed, play down to 16
- Semi-finals, heads up playing down to 8. The more I think about this, the more awesome it would be, and TV would love it.
- Final, standard 8-handed.

I don't actually expect this to happen, but who thinks it would be better ? Or failing that, make it 6-max all the way through, which would definitely help.

[Max Raker]

It would make the final table awesome, with everybody starting with the same stack.

[Hawklet]

Shootouts are extraordinarily more luck driven as compared to normal MTTs.

[Bonified]

I'm not sure about that. Bear in mind that you could make one round last up to 12 hours if you wanted to.

[BettyBoopAA]

you would get about 2000 people to play if it was a shootout

[NickMPK]

If you create a tournament in which ~90% of players are eliminated on the first day, you are almost certainly going to have to implement a structure that is going to be far faster and more luck-based than the current one. You couldn't have two hour levels and 200 BB starting stacks if you need to finish an entire SNG in one day.

Also, I don't think most players would want to play so much short-handed and heads-up in the Main Event, since those forms of poker are very rare in live play.

[Dynasty]

Mike Caro advocated this years ago (though with 9 or 10 player tables).

The biggest problem I have with this is that it makes the Main Event an SnG specialist's tournament.

[Silent A]

It's the ME, they'll come no matter what the tourney structure.

I generally like the idea from a player/observer standpoint. However, right off, I see a major problem: far more tables open at any time => more dealers => higher costs. Also, you could run into problems where tight matches on a few tables delays everything.

Right now, it takes 2 days to eliminate approx 85% of the field at full tables. I can't see how you can expect to finish all the first round tables in a single day unless you speed up the blind structure (as has already been mentioned). I guess there will be a higher hands/hour rate as the tables get short-handed, but I don't think it's enough to get 7/8 out in one day - not even close.

I think you'd have to modify this into some kind of quasi-shootout. For example, play the first day 9-handed and play down to 3. Survivors carry their chips forward to day 2 and play 9 handed (combine 3 tables so that every table has the same starting chips) until 3 are left again. Everyone who survives to day 3 gets paid.

You've now eliminated enough tables that you can start to get creative.

[jogsxyz]

To increase the chances of the skilled players, take a page from the Tour de France. Everyday all the survivors start with equal chip stacks. This would reduce the effects of being lucky on day one. The luckbox amateurs would need to be lucky everyday. On the final table each player would start with a equal amount of chips plus a carryover from each of the other days. The maximum carryover would be less than the equal amount of chips. The chip leader would start with at most twice the size of the short stack.

[Silent A]

[ QUOTE ]
To increase the chances of the skilled players, take a page from the Tour de France. Everyday all the survivors start with equal chip stacks. This would reduce the effects of being lucky on day one. The luckbox amateurs would need to be lucky everyday. On the final table each player would start with a equal amount of chips plus a carryover from each of the other days. The maximum carryover would be less than the equal amount of chips. The chip leader would start with at most twice the size of the short stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a bad idea in spirit, but ...

Problem #1: can you imagine the stalling tactics that would come as the end of each day came? It would become the WSOP of bubble poker.