Quote:
Originally Posted by Nut Nut
My $.02 on the BB ante discussion.
Having played in several, I prefer the BB ante structure. Without quantifying the difference, it is self-evident that it is faster to collect antes and make change for one player vs. 9 or 10 and a BB structure gives more play, all other things being equal.
That said, Greg Raymer's point about inequity late in a tournament with unequal table sizes is a fair one.
As a compromise, I'd let to suggest that a good compromise would be that BB ante tournaments convert to the old standard ante format when tournaments get to the final 3 tables.
This doesn't eliminate the Raymer Inequity (new pronoun !), but considerably reduces it and preserves the benefit of smoother play and more hands per minute for the vast majority of the tournament.
Most existing BB structures modify when there are 4 players remaining (ante converts from BB amt to SB amt) and when there are 2 players remaining (ante disappears). The precedent for modifying the structure is already in place, I'm just suggesting moving it to a different point in time.
This is all in the spirit of eliminating legit obstacles to what I think is an excellent innovation in the poker community.
While the idea is probably sound, it just seems like it will lead to a lot of confusion and opportunities for delays and screw-ups due to a lack of dealer or floor competence.
Here's an idea though... why not just eliminate antes altogether? To compensate, you could have just 1 blind amount for both the first and second position to the left of the button (so 50/50, 100/100, and so on.)
This sort of system would eliminate any time it takes to collect antes (not significant, but fine, people like to feel like its a big time-saver). It would also be less likely to exacerbate some of the inequities brought about by unbalanced tables (The Raymer Inequity) and table break procedures.
There would be additional potential time savings benefits. I don't think these would add up to a ton either, but they do exist and people seem to think every second counts... anyhow, this system would eliminate the need for dealers to need to make SB change as often, and it also completely avoids the situation where the SB throws in a chip intending to raise and causing the inevitable argument and delay when they aren't allowed to raise.
Anyhow, I haven't thought it through completely... I'm guessing this would introduce some hand dynamics changes, and perhaps require some minor structure changes. But all in all, it accomplishes pretty much everything the BB ante process is supposed to accomplish (plus a little more) and avoids most if not all of the pitfalls.
Thoughts?