Has there been much discussion or analysis on the speed of the bracelet events this year ? I remember that in 2015, the events played really long as a result of extra chips and (for limit events) double levels. I'm sure they will have adjusted for this in 2016. In fact, I recall they deleted the double levels during the 2015 series since those became really gruelling.

Overall - before doing any research - I am getting a sense that the structures will be faster this year. And - with 15% of the field being ITM now - there will presumably be lots of day1 bubbles.

They are stupid fast. Bubble for all tournaments at $1500 or less will be on day one.

I don't like the new structures at all. Like most amateur donks, I come to the wsop to get to play, and if I cash it's a bonus. Taking out two of the early levels (3 if you count the 25/25 blinds in some of the nlh events) takes a lot of the early play away. I know the pros will bash me for that comment, on how the later levels are fine, etc, but most of us aren't going to make it to the later levels. Oh well, they did bump up the chips last year, so I can't bitch too much I guess.

TBH, I like the changes. Playing 50/25 with 100+bbs is just lotto poker. Even the old rocks know not to go broke with AA now.

When you do luckbox into a decent stack, there is nothing better than the WSOP structure to really get to play poker. Making Day 2 or better is worth all the day 1 busts.

I have a thread going titled 'Tournament Structure Analysis' (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/65...lysis-1526603/) that is about a metric to evaluate tournament structures. This post inspired me to dig into my data and compare 2016 structures and vigs to 2015 . Here's the result:

http://www.rainbowspuppiessunshine.c...is.php#compare

The bottom of that chart explains my methodology. The conclusion--about the same amount of tournaments got better structures as got worse. A little more tournaments had their Vig% creep up over last year than had it decline.

Specifically to the WSOP--they got better. Especially the higher buy-ins (+$1000 buy-in). The Collosus got worse.

All the WSOP events <= $1,000 have much less play this year. With the new blind structure, the cost per round more than triples from level 2 to 3! It goes from 150 (50/100) to 475 (75/150 + 25 ante * 10 seats). Antes will start in level 3 already instead of level 5 from previous years. The four-figure event I played last year with over 4,000 players will probably be ITM in Day 1 this year, instead of midway through Day 2.

For the $565-$1,000 NLHE events with 5,000 starting chips, which most recreational players will take their WSOP shot at, such as the Colossus, Ladies, Seniors, Tag Team and Casino Employees, this means that you are already in the Orange Zone by level 3 compared to level 5 before. The Patience Factor worsens from 30.5 to 21.1. The blind-off time (world's most patient player) worsens from 5.5 hours to 4.6.

Yeah the WSOP definitely peaked as far as low buy in/decent structure events last year with the Colossus and $777 (this year $888). I played and loved them both and wish they wouldn't have sped them up so much this year. I am playing the Solstice, Monster, and Seniors events this year. They didn't alter those 3 events nearly as much. The Seniors structure is just okay but the uhh... "non-open" nature of the event is the obvious plus there. Just hoping these 3 events don't get sped up next year.

I mean if I'm going to play an $888 buy-in tournament at the WSOP, am I being unreasonable to expect it to have a better structure than the local Wednesday $40 tournament in my podunk town?

Interesting replies so far - thanks. I can't really choose my events based on structure considerations (available dates and the fact that I want to play WSOP events pretty much determines) so the best I can do is be prepared to know what I'm in for.

It sounds a bit like they've swung a bit too far the other way this year. Somehow being ITM on day 1 seems wrong!

plog - I'll take a look I'm your thread, thanks.

I'm always looking to view things optimistically, so I'll give the WSOP credit for hopefully taking all the pros and cons into consideration. They certainly needed to do something after having events run so long last year. I can imagine that reducing chip stacks was never going to fly !

Unfortunately, the Seniors and other <= $1K WSOP events have become much faster this year. The WSOP Seniors have the lowest Patience Factor of the seven Seniors events I've checked so far.

If I folded every single hand in a 1k WSOP event how long would I survive and would I have any prayer of cashing?

6hours max and no

Based on the Seniors' structure, after 4 levels you would have 1250 chips remaining and the next orbit cost would be a total of 1600 so you would survive more than 4 levels but less than 5. How far into level 5 you survived would depend on your seat position relative to the blinds when level 5 began. Since each level lasts one hour, ignoring breaks you would get somewhere between 4 and 5 hours of watching cards get dealt.

Lot of nits in this thread.

The shorter the tournament is, the more money the casino makes. Also, the shorter the tourney, the better it is for players with regards to their time ROI (everything else being equal, of course). These two factors mean that the trend will be for faster structures. There is a balance to be struck, but this trend is not necessarily a bad thing. I suspect the traditional WSOP $1K and $1.5K tourneys will be a thing of the past pretty soon. The number of them have already been reduced to a great degree.

Those are WSOPs bread and butter.

I agree, there's no way the wsop gets rid of them. They bring all the amateurs in and fill the Rio with players who play cash games, etc after they bust.

As I posted earlier, the blind-off time for the $1Ks is only ~4.6 hours ("World's Most Patient Player"), compared to 5.5 hours last year. If you double up once with AA and finally decide to play more than AA, you have a chance of surviving into the final 15%.

I'm not talking about the $1K/1.5K price point. I'm talking about the traditional $1K/1.5K 3-day events.

If these are the WSOP's bread and butter, then the WSOP has gone on a low-carb diet. Two years ago there were 10 of these standard. Last year it was 6. This year 5. These events are slowly being replaced by things like the Milli-Maker, Monster-Stack , Little-one, etc which either offer more chips or have other more appealing characteristics.

Correction: They used to be. Their new bread and butter are themed gimmick tournaments - Colossus, Milly Maker, Monster stack, etc. (Not even saying gimmick in a bad way as they're all great tournaments) Turnout for the non themed 1500s seems to be way down in the last few years, which isn't surprising I guess given the huge value other venues offer for lower buyins.

wsop decided to start the antes earlier because it's a great way to speed up the structure while allowing more skill.

structures with huge starting stacks and short levels are the worst because all the play occurs early with no antes and there is no play at the end.

Merely looking at how long it would take a player to blind out is probably not the best way to look at a structure....

I agree re: gimmicks.

Everything in poker has become a bit watered down. Even winning a bracelet isn't what it used to be considering the explosion in the number of bracelet events world-wide.

From my point of view, tourneys like the Monster Stack are ideal. Very good structure, and huge field/prizepool despite the lack of re-entry. Considering the success the WSOP had with it two years ago, no one would have blamed them for just having several Monster Stacks throughout the summer. I'm glad they didn't. It needs to remain special. The only thing they could do to improve it would be to move it to July 4th weekend next year (assuming their ME schedule remains the same). Imagine a Fri/Sat day 1 event on that weekend with this structure. They could get a $13-15MM prizepool.

I'll play devil's advocate and say I'd prefer a structure that attempts to reach the money near the end of play on Day 1 rather than early on Day 2.

It stinks to make a Day 2, bust out before the money and possibly not be able to enter another tournament you want to play that same day.

I agree and I think many tourneys are attempting to do this with earlier start times, and shorter (or fewer) breaks.