IADaveMark
Rock Star
Silver Level
As I was looking at the entire schedule of the upcoming wsop, I was trying to sort out what events appealed to me. Some of the first things that jump to mind are the stack depths. For that, you could simply look at the starting chips, right? So the Seniors starts with 20,000, the Deep Stack with 40,000, and the Monster Stack with 50,000. Seems pretty straightforward right?
However, as we all know, you have to pay attention to the starting BB. The Seniors starts with 20,000 chips and at 100-100... so 200bb deep. The Colossus, on the other hand, starts with 40,000 chips but at 100-200. Twice as many chips but the big blinds are doubled... therefore they also start 200bb deep.
The next thing to consider would be the level length. As we all know, it's much more comfortable to have 60 minute levels (e.g. the Monster Stack and the Seniors) compared to 40 or even 30 minute levels (e.g. Housewarming and Deep Stack).
But it even gets more subtle than that. Anything that starts at 100-100 usually goes to 100-200 in level 2. So the increase of 100% that means your starting stack gets cut in half from level 1 to level 2. On the other hand, if you start at 100-200, you often go to 200-300 at the next level—an increase of only 50% so 67% of the starting stack. So 40,000 chips starting at 100-200 is going to progress a lot different early on than 20,000 chips at 100-100. You start with 200bb either way, but a few levels in it is a completely different animal.
So I put together a pair of charts to take into account:
The first chart is the raw values of BB over those hours. The second chart is the same but with the Y-axis being logarithmic. The only difference is that you can see how the structures fan out better rather than collapsing into a pile of lines at the bottom.
Real Level Comparison
On the Real chart, one of the first things that jumps out is that the Housewarming event (#5 -- the lime green line) starts with players 500bb deep. (50k chips at 100-100) While that seems great at first, you notice that it drops fast right away. In part, that's because the next levels are 100-200 and 200-300. That's exacerbated by the fact that the levels are 30 minutes long. So after playing 2 hours, you are down to 100bb deep. Compare this to Event #54 (Salute to Warriors) where you start 250bb deep, 100-200, with 40 minute levels. Despite starting with a smaller stack, at the end of 2 hours, you are 100bb deep just like the Housewarming event.
Housewarming vs. Salute to Warriors
This really shows the difference between simply looking at the starting stack in BB and taking other things into account.
Similarly, looking at #71 (One Drop) and #82 (NLH 8-handed), they start the same with regards to stack size and blinds but because of the 30-minute levels of the 8-handed event vs. the 60-minute levels of One Drop, the outcome over time is significantly different. When you are 8 hours in, for example, the difference is 8bb compared to 40bb (again assuming no change in your stack size over time). If you haven't been chipping up for 8 hours in the One Drop, it isn't horrid. In event #71, you are in a world of hurt.
One Drop vs 8-Handed
Using the logarithmic version, we can more easily see how the structures compare over the 14 hours of play that I have graphed.
Logarithmic Level Comparison
Make a note of the Y axis and where the 10bb line is (the middle of the height of the chart). In some of the events, you cross that 10bb line at 6 or 7 hours. 6 hours in the case of event #25 (Deep Stack), 6.5 hours for #82 (8-Handed), and 7 hours for events #66 (Mini Main) and #5 (Housewarming).
On the other side of the spectrum you have events like #21 (Monster Stack) and #71 (One Drop) where you don't cross the 10bb line until 13 hours in. By the time you get further in, they look almost identical, but they don't start that way.
Monster Stack vs. One Drop
The Monster Stack actually starts with 250bb while the One Drop starts with 400. However, because the One Drop starts at 100-100 it drops faster initially, but those changes even out over time. (They are both at 60-minute levels.) In fact, by the time you get 3 hours in, the difference is negligible.
Logarithmic Level Comparison
The result of all of this is that you can kind of determine your "bang for buck" based on the structure. Everyone will have different preferences here. Do you like to start really deep-stacked but don't care about the blinds chasing your ass? Sure, that Housewarming event is fine for you. Are you OK starting with 250bb but want to get hours of poker in so you can make your moves without being horribly at risk because of the structure? The Monster Stack and One Drop are better simply because of how shallow that slope is.
Of course, for some, there is a big difference between a $500 buy-in and a $1500 buy-in. I was working charting it with an expression of buy-in dollars per big blind or something like that. That would literally make it "bang for buck".
Anyway, as mentioned at the top, this started with a way of helping me decide when I was going to be in Vegas for WSOP. If you are like me, however, you will come to the conclusion that you should be there the whole bloody time! [insert "All In" joke here]. My selections came down to being in town for:
However, as we all know, you have to pay attention to the starting BB. The Seniors starts with 20,000 chips and at 100-100... so 200bb deep. The Colossus, on the other hand, starts with 40,000 chips but at 100-200. Twice as many chips but the big blinds are doubled... therefore they also start 200bb deep.
The next thing to consider would be the level length. As we all know, it's much more comfortable to have 60 minute levels (e.g. the Monster Stack and the Seniors) compared to 40 or even 30 minute levels (e.g. Housewarming and Deep Stack).
But it even gets more subtle than that. Anything that starts at 100-100 usually goes to 100-200 in level 2. So the increase of 100% that means your starting stack gets cut in half from level 1 to level 2. On the other hand, if you start at 100-200, you often go to 200-300 at the next level—an increase of only 50% so 67% of the starting stack. So 40,000 chips starting at 100-200 is going to progress a lot different early on than 20,000 chips at 100-100. You start with 200bb either way, but a few levels in it is a completely different animal.
So I put together a pair of charts to take into account:
- The starting stack
- The BB change per level
- The level duration
The first chart is the raw values of BB over those hours. The second chart is the same but with the Y-axis being logarithmic. The only difference is that you can see how the structures fan out better rather than collapsing into a pile of lines at the bottom.
Real Level Comparison
On the Real chart, one of the first things that jumps out is that the Housewarming event (#5 -- the lime green line) starts with players 500bb deep. (50k chips at 100-100) While that seems great at first, you notice that it drops fast right away. In part, that's because the next levels are 100-200 and 200-300. That's exacerbated by the fact that the levels are 30 minutes long. So after playing 2 hours, you are down to 100bb deep. Compare this to Event #54 (Salute to Warriors) where you start 250bb deep, 100-200, with 40 minute levels. Despite starting with a smaller stack, at the end of 2 hours, you are 100bb deep just like the Housewarming event.
Housewarming vs. Salute to Warriors
This really shows the difference between simply looking at the starting stack in BB and taking other things into account.
Similarly, looking at #71 (One Drop) and #82 (NLH 8-handed), they start the same with regards to stack size and blinds but because of the 30-minute levels of the 8-handed event vs. the 60-minute levels of One Drop, the outcome over time is significantly different. When you are 8 hours in, for example, the difference is 8bb compared to 40bb (again assuming no change in your stack size over time). If you haven't been chipping up for 8 hours in the One Drop, it isn't horrid. In event #71, you are in a world of hurt.
One Drop vs 8-Handed
Using the logarithmic version, we can more easily see how the structures compare over the 14 hours of play that I have graphed.
Logarithmic Level Comparison
Make a note of the Y axis and where the 10bb line is (the middle of the height of the chart). In some of the events, you cross that 10bb line at 6 or 7 hours. 6 hours in the case of event #25 (Deep Stack), 6.5 hours for #82 (8-Handed), and 7 hours for events #66 (Mini Main) and #5 (Housewarming).
On the other side of the spectrum you have events like #21 (Monster Stack) and #71 (One Drop) where you don't cross the 10bb line until 13 hours in. By the time you get further in, they look almost identical, but they don't start that way.
Monster Stack vs. One Drop
The Monster Stack actually starts with 250bb while the One Drop starts with 400. However, because the One Drop starts at 100-100 it drops faster initially, but those changes even out over time. (They are both at 60-minute levels.) In fact, by the time you get 3 hours in, the difference is negligible.
Logarithmic Level Comparison
The result of all of this is that you can kind of determine your "bang for buck" based on the structure. Everyone will have different preferences here. Do you like to start really deep-stacked but don't care about the blinds chasing your ass? Sure, that Housewarming event is fine for you. Are you OK starting with 250bb but want to get hours of poker in so you can make your moves without being horribly at risk because of the structure? The Monster Stack and One Drop are better simply because of how shallow that slope is.
Of course, for some, there is a big difference between a $500 buy-in and a $1500 buy-in. I was working charting it with an expression of buy-in dollars per big blind or something like that. That would literally make it "bang for buck".
Anyway, as mentioned at the top, this started with a way of helping me decide when I was going to be in Vegas for WSOP. If you are like me, however, you will come to the conclusion that you should be there the whole bloody time! [insert "All In" joke here]. My selections came down to being in town for:
- Monster Stack weekend
- Seniors + Colossus + Salute weekend
- One Drop weekend
