What was the thought process to reduce the Stud tournament payouts from 48 to 25?
Consistency with the others (30)? Why not 32 (final four tables)?
I’m OK either way, just asking was their feedback or other reason which prompted the change.
Thanks!
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The 48 places did not pay well to begin with, so hopefully 25 or so pays better. Quit playing the 48 as I felt it was not worth the time. Maybe start again after viewing new payout. All changes are good,lol.
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Sorry for the delay in response – we cut the number of payouts from 48 to 25 in the stud freerolls because the number of players often failed to reach the 48 player prize pool. That meant that players could register with no intention to play and still get a prize.
Of the freerolls that I play, 99.9% are stud and stud h/l. Not once have I seen them fail to reach 48 players, even in the wee hours. Most of them are well over 100 players and some at 175+. I don’t mind cutting from 48, but I think 32 should be minimum
In 2021, I played in 194 7-card stud hi/lo freerolls. When the events paid 48 places, which I considered generous (but Replay was trying to promote that form of the game), I had just over a 74% cash rate. On review, I noticed that I finished 25th or better just 28% of the time. I made final tables over 10% of the time and managed 2 outright wins, but even getting inside of 32 was sometimes an accomplishment. The fields always ranged from 140’s to 220’s, so there was no incidence of paying off sit-outs or non-players.
I have cut back on entering these events now. Not at all because I seek the few chips that are awarded for placing, but rather because the play has become ridiculously aggressive and skill counts for much less these days. Someone raises on the deal virtually every hand, and another player re-raises, especially someone in danger of busting out. It is just silly to have to pay 20% of one’s stack just to see a 4th card, but that is exactly what is going on. Between the robo-raisers, who ply their trade no matter what they are dealt, and the bust-outs, who are usually gone in the first 20 deals or so, the betting has become so distorted that careful hand selection and sound chip management are almost meaningless.
If this “style” of play has become prevalent, and it has, perhaps Replay would consider increasing the size of the original stack. 5000 chips isn’t a whole lot to begin with,
and, under the circumstances, if I must pay 1000 early on to take a 4th card, if I happen to miss, which occurs often enough, causing me to fold or “gamble” from behind, I am crippled for the day. Maybe an initial allocation of 7500 or so with the same time and betting levels would be an improvement to these events. I trust Replay management to find what works best. Good luck to all!
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