Re: [ba-poker] tournament alternates

[Nick Christenson <npc(deleted the rest)>]

Jeff sez:
> In practice I believe the nonlinearity of chip equity early in any real 
> tournament (and especially any WSOP tournament, and especially 
> especially the WSOP final) to be negligible, and therefore late entries 
> are not unfair to any meaningful extent.  

At the beginning of the tournament, I completely agree.  I agree with Patti
that a few orbits of blinds at the beginning of the WSOP main event against
a 10K buy-in affects equity negligibly.  What I don't know is at what 
point this becomes non-negligible, and I'm loathe to give latecomers the
potential of an advantage.  If they wanted to play, let them get their
early/on time/whatever.

> That's not a proof, of course. 
>   If you want to try to prove my belief incorrect, go right ahead.

I believe that there is room for some very interesting simulations along
these lines, for example, where instead of poker we have random pairings
of the field who toss coins for a percentage of one's bankroll.  Even though
this may be a weak correlation to tournament poker, it would allow some
of these sorts of questions to at least be addressed.  Unfortunately, I 
haven't had the free time required to give this project the attention it's
due.

Jeff also said, regarding Ed:
> Its also worth pointing out that the average skill level may be higher
> as well, if the worst players bust first.

> If this theory is correct, then if you start out as an average player
> against the field, entering late might put you a disadvantage to the field.

This is absolutely true, and this is why I prefaced my remarks with, 
"Let's pretend there will be a tournament where I don't think I can
*massively* outplay the field, ...".

If I can significantly outplay the field, then I want to play as long as
possible in order to increase my edge.  Note also that a corollary holds.
It is less fair to the field to let a *bad* player in late than a good 
player, as doing so gives the field less of a shot at his money than they
deserve.

-- 
Nick Christenson
npc(deleted the rest)