There are at least three WSOP events with multi-flights which reach the money on Day 1:
- The Giant ($365 buyin)
- Crazy Eights ($888 buyin)
- Colossus ($565 buyin)
These events actually allow you to cash multiple times, if you cash and then bust before Day 1 is finished, and then re-enter another flight and cash again. But that's not what we're discussing here.
The problem with this scheme is that not every Day 1 cashes the same, due to differing numbers of people busting in the allotted time of the various Day 1 flights.
I played the $888 this year, and personally encountered this for the first time.
There were four flights to this event:
Flight A had 58 out of 1506 make Day 2, for a maximum of $2751.
Flight B (my flight) had 85 out of 1664 make Day 2, for a maximum of $2023.
Flight C had 93 out of 2072 make Day 2, for a maximum of $2204.
Flight D had 137 out of 2878 make Day 2, for a maximum of $2234.
All flights combined on Day 2.
In order to prevent Flight A players who made Day 2 getting LESS than those who busted on Day 1, the WSOP has a rule that the Day 2 cashes must all be greater than the highest Day 1 cash.
Indeed, the minimum cash on Day 2 was $3164. Had two more people busted on Flight A, the maximum Day 1 cash would have been $3196, probably pushing up the Day 2 minimum payout to over $3500!
But let's take my situation as an example of how absurd this whole thing was.
On the final hand of Day 1, I had a tiny 28k stack (about 4 BB). Had I busted on that final Day 1 hand, I would have been awarded $2023. But if I held on one more hand and instead busted on Hand #1 of Day 2, I would have been paid $3164 -- a whopping 56.4% pay jump!!!
(In reality, I busted on the third hand of Day 2, still giving me that same 56.4% pay jump.)
Recall that, upon bursting the money bubble, large MTTs are supposed to move up the cash ladder very slowly. In fact, at no point in the tournament is there EVER a 56.4% pay jump, with the exception of the final table.
So why were relatively early cashers like me awarded a 56.4% pay jump for simply surviving the final hand of Day 1?
The way the WSOP currently does it (playing out a set number of hours for all flights), these pay jumps are somewhat unavoidable, as all four flights are unlikely to cash the same, and they can't pay Day 2 busters less than Day 1 busters. That part makes sense.
But what doesn't make sense is the following:
1) Why compound the problem by bumping the payout even further? It would have been completely fair to start the payout at the same as the highest Day 1 payout ($2751), but they tagged on an extra $413 to that. Why?
2) Players were not adequately informed of this "second money bubble". Indeed, I had no idea about it, and I tend to stay pretty well versed on these sorts of things. I guarantee that only a very small percentage of people in the field knew about it -- likely those who already went through it at The Giant or Colossus (or this event last year). Therefore, we had a large second money bubble which most players did not know existed! While I do not typically play to avoid bubbles, I have to admit this would have influenced my play, if I knew that holding on a few more hands would give me another 56.4% in pay (especially if I didn't have to pay any blinds during those hands).
This is unfair to the players who are not aware of this second bubble, and I imagine that those in my flight cashing $2023 were irked when they looked afterwards and saw they could have gotten another $1141 if they just folded a few more marginal hands at the end of Day 1.
But what's the solution?
I proposed to @WSOP on Twitter that they simply end each flight once the money bubble bursts, and then bring everyone back on Day 2 starting at a min-cash.
However, I got the following answer:
https://twitter.com/twt/status/882057952114262016
I'm not sure who wrote this response (I believe several people use the @WSOP account), but I disagree with it. They can say "This way has worked", but that doesn't really mean anything. It's both non-standard (a crazy pay jump at a point when there shouldn't be one) and unfair (most players don't know the pay jump exists).
However, Michael Juno (who I believe listens to PFA Radio), improved upon my idea:
https://twitter.com/twt/status/882106544426536960
https://twitter.com/twt/status/882107647511728128
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Juno.
I believe that's the best solution -- halt play when the money bubble bursts on each day (my idea), PLUS revert the blinds back to that of the "fastest to the money" Day 1 (Michael Juno's idea). So if the flight hitting the money the earliest did so on Level 16 with 23:14 left, then start everyone on Day 2 at Level 16 with 23:14 left.
Yes, some people will repeat levels or even revert to an earlier level, but it's still better than the current situation where an arbitrary second bubble exists relatively early in the cashing process.
What do you guys think?