If you have input on the structure of the Heads Up Championship, now would be a good time to comment on it. You should *not* expect any changes to the format if the only feedback is crickets (see last year's comments). Since the 2011 format is essentially the same as the 2010 format read last year's post if you need any details.
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4 comments:
Put in a rule discouraging chopping for the championship. I like the "both players get second place money if they chop" rule we talked about yesterday. I don't care if they decide to chop it after, at least play for the title, as the spirit of the tournament is to play heads up in March Madness style until we get a champion.
Also, I like we should include a 150-300 level if we keep the first round format the way it is.
I think the structure for the "Final Four" or whatever should be different than the round robin portion.
Having the blinds go up every 2 hands is just too fast. It's good for when you need to register 8 games against different opponents, but when you are playing for the money, it just feels way too fast.
The general feel to me in my semis match vs Joe was something like this:
You get about 6 hands of meaningless hands to start with. You have 5k in chips but the blinds are 25-50 through 75-150. This is a fine warm-up phase, but these hands don't really matter unless there is a big clash.
You then reach the middle section, where you get 6-8 hands of blinds which range from low to starting to matter. This is where you want to be. You can play the hand if you want, but you don't have to. The hands have tangible effect on your stack, but not to the point that losing a raised pot means you are essentially crippled.
Last part is from about 300-600 on. At this point, your starting stack is a little over 8BB's. Anything above this, going into the ante rounds feels like basically shove mode. This doesn't feel good. You only get to play a few hands until this mode approaches, and then it's just a shove fest which nobody likes.
This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that it's best 2/3, but winning 2/3 coinflips doesn't feel like the way we want this to go.
Anecdotal evidence, but here are some of the hands that we had when we went or called all ins:
94
J5(I didn't even look pre when I called)
A3o
T6
It felt like the time to get it in with these types of hands came up very quickly.
I think that timed rounds would be better, or getting just more hands at each level. It just goes up too fast with 5k stacks. I think since it affects only the last few players, having it go a bit longer would be good too. I think the MB/Dave match is not the norm in regards to time. It should go fairly quickly even if the blinds hang in that middle range longer.
I also don't think we need to start the blinds out so low. The beginning hands are almost meaningless in terms of blinds, and the top end of the blinds basically just dictates an all-in every hand.
What are the main factors to consider when making changes like this Marty?
It's a balancing act between getting the games done and having skill still play a role. The intent of the structure is to capture all aspects of HU matches and playing short stacked is part of it. Another part of HU competition is to pick your spots and make moves before you can't elicit a fold from the other player. That said, I agree that looking to shift the balance more toward a slower structure is worth pursuing.
OK, here are some options.
* Play one game with much longer blind levels.
* Flattening out the blinds and capping earlier to go (as in "I'll go..."):
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400
250/500
250/500 - 50
250/500 - 100
250/500 - 150
250/500 - 200
250/500 - 300
250/500 - 400
250/500 - 500
Blinds and antes max here
* Repeat blind levels to get effectively four hands at some levels:
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
100/200
150/300
150/300
200/400
200/400
300/600
300/600
And no chopping the final!
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