Taking Chances

I guess it’s probably not all that surprising, but I’m a fan of taking chances. I know almost all poker players, especially the good ones, are less risk averse than the general population, but that’s not necessarily true of those that are working for companies with a slant towards poker. Casinos, poker sites, websites, etc. all tend to play their cards a little closer to the vest (sorry!) when it comes to risk. That’s why I really like it when a tournament series goes out on a limb to try something new.

Ten years ago, I was hoping for a venue to offer a tournament with no breaks, long levels, and a steep payout prize pool. I wanted it to be winner-take-all, but that was almost never going to happen. The Commerce came through and started offering their Ironman tournament that year. I was stoked and vowed that I would play it even though it was on a bad day for me schedule-wise. They continue to offer new and exciting tournament formats like the Escalator, where the first blind level lasts five minutes and every successive level is five minutes longer than the previous one, or the Time’s Up tournament where you play for 12 hours and then stop, chopping the prize pool based on chip equities.

With so many cool format tournaments they’ve invented over the years, I was unprepared to be so excited about a simple change they made to a few of their no-limit tournaments this year. As I’m sure most of my readers know, in almost all no-limit tournament structures, antes come into play at some point. In the vast majority of these tournaments, every player at the table provides their own ante. It is a torturous process. Invariably, at least one person forgets to post their ante and at least one more needs to have change made. In many tournaments, there isn’t enough change on the table and it takes forever to get the antes sorted.

Luckily, at this year’s L.A. Poker Classic, they’ve introduced the concept of the big blind ante. I’m not sure if they came up with it, but they’re using it in several of their events and I love it. Instead of the whole table anteing, only the big blind does so. That’s it. Such a simple fix and it makes the game so much more tolerable. No more waiting for lots of change on every hand. No more reminding that one person at the table who always forgets to post.

The pace of play is improved so much and it makes calculating the pot size a breeze. You don’t have to remember if you had seven antes or eight. It’s just the one ante by the big blind. An elegant solution to an inelegant situation and it was sitting there in front of our faces waiting to be seen. Thanks LAPC staff!

The other company that’s been mildly forced into taking a risk is PokerStars. Party Poker jumped back on the scene last year with some wild and risky guarantees in major tournaments and threatened to unseat the monarch of the live international poker tournament world. PokerStars has responded by making a significant announcement about their flagship tournament series.

I haven’t been to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in a very long time. I’m pretty sure the last time I went was 2010. I’m considering going next year because they are running a very interesting tournament. It will be a $25,000 buy-in tournament to which they are giving away 300 seats. Sure, many of them are being given away to winners of events at their tournaments throughout the year, but some of them are just random lottery giveaways at those same events. It promises to be a wonderful field to play against, and most likely the biggest $25,000 buy-in tournament in history. I know I’m going to be doing my best to get the family to the Bahamas to play in it and I haven’t traveled farther than the easy four-hour drive to Las Vegas to play a poker tournament since my kids were born.

So, there you have it. If you’re willing to take risks in format, buy-in, guarantee, or giveaway form, you’re likely to earn new customers. I’m always interested in playing the bigger buy-in tournaments at the LAPC, but I made it out for a $350 buy-in because they introduced a format I was intrigued by. Conversely, I haven’t considered going to The Atlantis for the PCA in almost 10 years and I’m trying hard to find a way to justify going there next year so I can play a $25,000 tournament. Taking risks doesn’t always work out in the poker world, but these are some risks I’m interested in supporting. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG