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Originally Posted by Mentality135
Has anyone actually run any numbers or have any mathematical evidence that introducing earlier antes is beneficial? I feel like I'm a lone voice here but I haven't seen anything that suggests they would benefit us.
Michty you say it would "give the recs more play" but with a faster structure and a lower M we would have less play not more. I'm really worried this will lead to a very significant reduction of ROI.
You've got it completely backwards. A faster structure and a lower M requires more play. Antes create more action by creating larger pots, particularly 9 handed.
They would work well for both recs and regs because:
(1) Regs who play super nitty early rounds would lose more +EV spots. This discourages being a complete nit, meaning that recs can avoid sitting at tables where regs are often playing <10% of hands - creating more fun situations for recs in the early game (where they spend most of their time as, being rec players, they are less likely to see the mid-late game).
(2) Antes require more comprehension of stack sizes, stack depth and general stack math. This absolutely suits the better regs who can adjust to this. I would actually expect an ROI increase from the introduction of antes coming from (i) average regs who are too nitty early and (ii) average regs who do not adjust properly to antes.
If you're thinking of the long-term sustainability of the game we want to encourage action (so recs get to play hands, which they like) but, as you correctly point out, not too much to the detriment of our ROI. Antes are a very effective way of doing this as they create larger pots but only by taking a fraction of chips from every stack at the table, rather than through large BB increases which are way more detrimental to ROI. Most good regs understand this which is why the vast majority are in support.