Finals Day *Possible Changes*

[LPL_Mike]

Another consideration i have been thinking of for Finals day, we started to tinker with the blind structure so that people wouldn't feel that it was a crap shoot towards the final stages and could play a little more.
As prizes are getting bigger i feel that maybe we could improve the structure with not only a blind review but what about a chip stack review.

How about an increase in the chip stack to 10,000 starting chips and the blind levels over a 6 hour period?

The other question is should i now do away with Qualifiers on the finals day and make it just the top 70 or 60 in the league that month and no second chance?

Really like some feedback on this so post your comments

[RevStu]

This is definitely a good idea. The blinds shoot up so fast in the later stages (not just on finals day) that it turns into a lottery. I'm not sure the starting stack needs to go up (though maybe an extra 1000 might make play a little looser, and make being in the final feel a bit more "special"), just slow down the pace of blind increases - either by introducing more intermediate stages (say 300/600 and/or 400/800 rounds rather than going straight from 200/400 to 500/1000 in one big jump), or by increasing the amount of time between blind increases from 20/25 minutes to 30. (Even a five-minute increase without changing anything else would delay hitting the hefty blinds like 1000/2000 by half an hour, which is a lot of extra play.)

You could also simply impose a maximum blinds limit of 5000/10000, which is plenty big enough to encourage people to play hands rather than fold them, but still gives them a few chances at getting some worthwhile cards before they get blinded out. It seems a decent principle to make the maximum small blind be no more than the total starting stack.

I don't think anyone liked starting one level up (at 50/100) in the last final in Weston, so I'd say don't do that again.

And personally I'm all for doing away with qualifiers. I don't know if they're an important economic factor from the venues' perspective, but it seems a bit unfair for people to spend a whole month qualifying then have someone who might not have played a single game turn up and get in for four hours' work and a few lucky hands. And logically it's also bad news for the venues (and therefore ultimately the league) if people can qualify without coming into their pubs and buying any drinks over the month.

My vote, then:

50/70 top leaderboard, no on-day qualifiers.

Starting stack 5000.

Blind levels:
25/50 (nice round figure of 1% of the starting stack for the initial price of calling)
50/100
100/200
150/300
200/400
400/800
500/1000
1000/2000
2000/4000
5000/10000 until the end

And one other thing - it seems a bit unfair to punish final-qualifiers for their achievement by denying them the chance to earn points on finals day. There's usually at least one normal league game on the day of the final, and qualifiers have to give up the chance of earning points in those to play in the final.

Making the final table in the final is a pretty good achievement, but if you go out in 6th-8th then you've not only got no prize to show for your efforts, but you've lost out on a decent league-points score too, despite having come through a much bigger field than usual to earn that position. Can it be right to get zero points for coming 6th out of 70, while someone playing a normal game on the same day might (especially if you're upping the players bonus from 0.5 to 5 pts) notch almost 300 points for coming 6th out of a field half the size?

So why not treat the final as an ordinary game in terms of awarding points? In fact, if anything you should get a reward for making the final (say a token 10 points plus the players bonus to every qualifier who turns up, regardless of finishing position), not be penalised by missing out on possible points. It's not like it's an unfair advantage to qualifiers, as non-qualifiers can play a normal game on the same day if they want points.

[Raiser]

Here is another to have a look at 10k starting stack...

100/200
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000
700/1400
800/1600
1000/2000
1500/3000
2000/4000
3000/6000
4000/8000
5000/10000
7000/14000
10000/20000

First blinds last for 1 hour then go to a 30 minute clock and later blinds can be reduced further to 20 mins. The first blind level may look a little scary but with a 10k stack and an hour first blind level it would work. Also, just for the ease of running the event, there would be no 25 and 50 chip which means you would only have to do one chips up at the 2000/4000 blind change. Also you would only need three chip demoninations: 100, 500 & 1000.

The structure also allows for a lot of play towards the end and would benefit the better players, as the intention is to find the best player.

Obviously this might not be the solution but hopefully it will trigger something of in someones head.

[LPL_Mike]

And one other thing - it seems a bit unfair to punish final-qualifiers for their achievement by denying them the chance to earn points on finals day. There's usually at least one normal league game on the day of the final, and qualifiers have to give up the chance of earning points in those to play in the final.

There are going to be no league games for the moment on finals day, i have decided that pubs holding events don't benefit at all and as prizes increase finals day will become even more popular.
I have always wanted to keep the finals day seperate from a normal league game, and seeing the final is played for the previous month i feel that points should only relate to the current month.
League games is where you get your points and finals day is all about the prizes and sitting in a bigger field...i really don't want to start mixing the two together.
You make some very good points regarding the Blind structure, i just feel that a 10,000 would make the day more enjoyable over a 6 hour time frame.

Putting a limit on the blind level is an excellent idea.

I also like the idea of a reward scheme for attending and making the top 70, but i would really like to focus on getting a new blind level and starting stack.

How about this for a finals blind structure?

8,000 starting stack

Blind levels:
50/100
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000
600/1200
800/1600
1000/2000
2000/4000
5000/10000 fixed
10000/20000 if time becomes a factor

[RevStu]

How about this for a finals blind structure?

8,000 starting stack

Blind levels:
50/100
100/200
150/300
200/400
300/600
400/800
500/1000
600/1200
800/1600
1000/2000
2000/4000
5000/10000 fixed
10000/20000 if time becomes a factor

Yep, pretty sound, I just like the idea of keeping it broadly in line with the league games, because it's confusing enough switching between live and online play as it is without throwing in any more variants. When you play a live game (starting stack 4000) after a poker.co.uk tournament, say (starting stack 1500), it can really mess with your head for the first little while adjusting to the fact that 300 isn't really much of a raise any more...

[drwinston]

I think an increased starting chip stack in the final is a great idea and any idea that brings the better players and not just the luckier players to the top is a good idea. Something that allows good poker to be played and watched is always going to be ok'ed by the majority of people playing.

as far as something for people who get to the finals how about a t-shirt for them all instead of getting a t-shirt for winning one of the league games? For the most part the t-shirts aren't at the individual games and therefore people don't get them anyway. Either that or everyone could get a pack of cards as I know no-one gets them at the Weston games.