Tournament Procedures

As I have reported previously, poker is booming. Since every major tournament this year has had significant increases in attendance from previous years, prize pools have been huge and play has been long and grueling. In my opinion, too much of the play has been early in the tournaments, with not enough later when it counts the most.

Tugging at one side is the need to give significant play at the lower stakes, and tugging at the other is the need not to have marathons in which 16-18 hours of continuous play are necessary. The big tournaments should not have to be marathons. When they start at noon, it is too tough to have to make great and spontaneous significant decisions after midnight.

Marathon play – For starters, I propose that the tournaments that are big enough to have the final table played on day No. 2 alter their rules to play down to the money positions on day No. 1. The final two or three money tables should be played on the second day.

Gradual steps – The general concept of changing tradition by having shorter levels with gradual increases is terrific. The problem has been in the implementation. I like the concept of starting out at 15-minute levels and increasing five minutes for each level. By the time half the tournament is done, players have lots of time. As a result, bigger dollar tournaments, which should have more play than normal tournaments, will progress to rounds that have lots of play.

Final-table play – Regardless of what has previously transpired, players at the final table must have the opportunity for significant play. So, how can this be achieved? Easy – just adjust. Take the average chip count (which can be calculated as soon as all buy-ins, rebuys, and/or add-ons are complete), and artificially start the levels at 10 big bets (or 20 times the big blind, which is the same thing). As an example, let's say the average chip count is $100,000 per final-table player. The blinds then would be $2,500-$5,000.