Step challenge at Party Poker

[Penguinfan]

OK, here's where the brutality sets in, once you get past level 1 it would be pretty easy to play a solid tight SNG style of play and never get busted completely out, you may have to repeat a level or go back a level, but you should get PLENTY of play for your initial $12. The carnage is when you get to the top step, level 5, there are 4 very nice prizes in a 20 player game, but thats it, there are no replays for 5th, for 5th you get jack friggin squat. I am not sure I could take finishing 5th and getting nothing for all that effort when 4th is $2600, I mean for guys like me who play $10, $20 and the occasional $30 SNG this $1000 game is pretty big, so I am pretty sure after busting out 5th I would be on the railroad tracks down from my house.

Does Party let you sell seats like Stars does? Can you chop at the final table? I mean there is 20 grand in the prize fund at the level 5 game and I will be honest, after making it through 4 levels I would be more than happy to chop it 20 ways if I had to and walk away with 2 grand for the effort.

Edit= that would be 1 grand if chopped 20 ways, but I'd still take it.

Anyone know Party's policy on sell or chopping?

[Penguinfan]

Got 6th in my second attempt, gee I wonder where they keep finding the suckers to fund these big prizes?

[omahilo]

lmao! dont be so hard on yourself... let us know when you succeed to the next step... I want to see how this ends up.

[Defendant]

Ok as for the math, here goes:

STEP 1: 11+1

places 1-4: get step 2 = 55$. So top 20% get 220$ evenly distributed
Compare to 10+1 2 table SnG: top 4 spots get 200$, divided between 1, 2, 3, 4 at different rates.

Discrepancy Step vs Cash: 1st: 55$ vs 80$
2nd: 55$ vs 60$
3rd: 55$ vs 40$
4th: 55$ vs 20$

========> Since for finishing 3rd and 4th you get a good bit extra money vs the cash SnG, its a good deal for most "consistent" performers, as getting into the money is a reasonable proposition, winning at that point is a crapshoot a lot of times.

STEP 2:
Now heres where it gets interesting:

1-4: 215$
5-6: 55$
7: 30$

Compare to 50+5 cash SnG:

1st: 215$ vs 500$ (ouch)
2nd: 215$ vs 300$
3rd: 215$ vs 200$ (ah here we go)
4th: 215$ vs 100$
5th: 55$ vs nothing
6th: 55$ vs nothing
7th: 30$ vs nothing

Again, unless you plan on coughing up 55$ for a cash SNG and plan on finishing first or second, this provides a lot better deal. The problem, however, is a nasty 285$ cut from first (youch).

Etc for the next few steps, except you have to suck out REAL early not to get anything beyond step 2.

Pretty much the same math applies across the board here: A consistent player wont necessarily win every SnG he enters, but more often than not will finish in the top half of the field. As such, these tournaments provide a great opportunity as they dont differentiate too much between the exact places, whereas SnGs, you take a 20% payout difference just between first and second (which at the normal blind structures, is quite the nasty crapshoot a lot of times).

It does seem like buying into step 2 is a very acceptable proposition here though.

Defendant

[Talking Poker]

I like your breakdown, but you didn't follo wit all the way through, and you are forgetting (failing to mention) one very significant factor:

You aren't allowed to "cash out" when you win. You have to keep on playing. Sure, a decent player will get to play for a while, and may move quit far up the ladder, but only 4 players are actually able to cash out. Yes, they get to cash out quite a bit of money, but everyone else goes home with nothing (Exception: the three people earlier on the chart who won $30 and $35).

So, let's look at the loser side of this, just for kicks... and we'll assume everyone starts at the $11 level (they won't, but we'll just talk in terms of an $11 entry fee)...

Ok, I started typing this all up, but it's freaking complicated With the players looping back to various steps, it's really hard to figure out how many people need to lose before starting a final table.

I guess the easiest way to think about it (although not exact) is that there is $20,000 in the prize pool. With a $10 entry fee to get things started, it's going to take 2000 players to fund that final table (this is not counting Party's cut along the way). And only 4 players win.

[eddo31]

i believe that this is basically the same structure that foxwoods used for their ACT I, II and III satellites for the WPT event there. it seems to give a lot of play, especially because you get to repeat levels if you do well enough.

i havent done the math behind it, but i would assume that party makes out like bandits in this situation. is there really any motivation for them to add this unless they can make a significant profit margin from it?

[Defendant]

Big time, eddo. Online poker is HIGHLY competitive, and anything to make your site stand out above the rest is a good thing, even if you only make marginal profit off of it. Something like this is more a customer draw thing than a cashcow IMO.

Defendant

[Penguinfan]

Marketing genius's they are, no doubt about that. Sure they are taking more than the standard rake here, but nobody notices, or nobody cares.


TP, it's $11+1 so 1819 start any given set of steps and 4 people actually cash out, when you look at it like that it seems horrible, huh?
But I can't help myself.