[yisman]

Can't believe I got up for the 8 AM.

4 AM: 29
8 AM: 33
noon: 30

[brad89]

Probably from DLS time changing, 41 in 4am today...

Edit: Hmm 28 in the next one.

[Ninersnut]

It's sad that you would plan your day around SBR poker.

[yisman]

hate to break it to you, but many of the players who are going to make the American World Cup team are doing the same thing. I may as well say it's sad that you play SBR Poker.

If I'm able to play in the 8 AM and it has a lot less players, then why not? Turns out yesterday was an aberration.

[Ninersnut]

I think setting an alarm and getting up to sit for the 8 am poker tourny is a bit over doing it. I play @ 8 and 10. Possibly 4 if I bail from work, but under no circumstances am I fishing for smaller fields.

[yisman]

Ultimately, not playing in the 8 AMs is a major reason why I'm not making the team, which of course I would've liked to.

Also I could've played better or gotten luckier, but consistently playing against 40-42, which I did, as opposed to 29-33, makes a big difference.

It's silly to have tournaments at 4 AM and 8 AM, but a lot of the people competed in those in order to make the teams.

[Ninersnut]

I see your point. GL the rest of the way. Went a week + without cashing then took 1st last night to jump me back into it. Gonna be a close one. Another first or two top 5's should seal it for me.

[yisman]

good luck, you're going to need it.

[BeerDog99]

While I have not put a significant amount of thought into this, I think that there is a handicap playing in the shorter fields, less total chips in play.

With less chips in play, there is a significant chance of the final table (and before) turning into a luckbox flipfest quicker than with the larger fields.

That all said, I really think over the short term I do not see a significant difference between a slightly smaller field and more chips in play.

[yisman]

You also progress to the final table more quickly with less people, meaning the blinds would generally be lower for the final table than for a full tournament.

[BeerDog99]

You also progress to the final table more quickly with less people, meaning the blinds would generally be lower for the final table than for a full tournament.

I do not have data on this but I think the tourney's are taking roughly the same amount of time. Every 8am I have played in with a smaller field has been in the 1.5hr range.

[mikejamm]

Ultimately, not playing in the 8 AMs is a major reason why I'm not making the team, which of course I would've liked to.

Also I could've played better or gotten luckier, but consistently playing against 40-42, which I did, as opposed to 29-33, makes a big difference.

It's silly to have tournaments at 4 AM and 8 AM, but a lot of the people competed in those in order to make the teams.

Yeah, I would definitely agree yis! A significant majority of the people who made teams, played in these early smaller tourneys in order to increase their advantage, verses players who could only participate in the evening tourneys. Sucks that is ended up that way, but you always have players that exploit a flaw in the system.

[Gruntworker]

Just out of curiosity, have you guys ever actually played one of the "early tourneys?" I ask b/c I played almost only the 4 a.m. since where I'm playing from, it's actually 10 p.m. for me. I played in the midnight one maybe twice, and honestly... horrible sample size, but it seemed softer then the 4 a.m. to me. I didn't play any of the other time slots so I couldn't really compare it to anything else. The thing is, the majority of the time the 4 a.m. was full. And regardless... that's the time I would play anyway, b/c that's the only one that really works in my schedule (I have 2 kids and that's the only time that I'm awake that the kids aren't).

No offense, but I doubt anyone is actually playing in the early tourneys to try to get some advantage to get on the team. If anyone is, that's pretty sad... but I can't imagine that anyone would. It would be nice to get on the team, but if I don't... I won't be too sad about it. I don't think anyone from the tops of the leaderboards played the 4 a.m. regularly. I can't say anything about the 8 a.m., since I didn't play them or keep track for that matter.

The blinds statement is more then fair though. I think the tourneys are probably taking about the same amount of time b/c you probably hit shove/fold mode a bit later in smaller fields so there is a bit more play to the final tables. But it's still almost always push/fold anyway. I know on nights that the 4 a.m. is full it's rare to hit a final table before the break, but when it's not full the final table hits usually before the break.

Anyway, GL down the stretch all!

[Duff85]

I am one of the players who has moved out of the 4am timeslot and it has to with the changeover to daylight time. The tourney used to be 7pm local time where I live - the hour difference makes it 6pm local time which means it is struggle to get in from work in time.

[Duff85]

Ultimately, not playing in the 8 AMs is a major reason why I'm not making the team, which of course I would've liked to.

Also I could've played better or gotten luckier, but consistently playing against 40-42, which I did, as opposed to 29-33, makes a big difference.

It's silly to have tournaments at 4 AM and 8 AM, but a lot of the people competed in those in order to make the teams.

No its not silly to have tournaments at that time. If they scaled back the points for them that would be fine - but to get rid of them altogether would be a slap in the face to Australian and NZ based players - as well as any of the Asian countries who wish to play.

[yisman]

I can tell you that the 4 AM and 8 AM tournaments rarely filled.

[Gruntworker]

The 4 a.m. rarely filled on Sunday evenings... which would be the Monday tourneys. But what are we talking here? Like 38 people or are we talking 32 or less? I only remember a few tourneys being really low like that. Is there anywhere we can go to see stats like that? Or are you seriously on all day checking every tourney. Not a criticism man, seriously. I don't care how you got the numbers, I'm more just curious how you got those numbers.

As a side note, I'm also curious if any regs played multiple times and noticed significant play differences. Like I said before, I played the midnight one a few times and it played super aggro loose in the early stages, so if you played TAG at all you could chip up like a beast.

[Duff85]

The 4 a.m. rarely filled on Sunday evenings... which would be the Monday tourneys. But what are we talking here? Like 38 people or are we talking 32 or less? I only remember a few tourneys being really low like that. Is there anywhere we can go to see stats like that? Or are you seriously on all day checking every tourney. Not a criticism man, seriously. I don't care how you got the numbers, I'm more just curious how you got those numbers.

Gruntworker what your saying doesn't work for the whinging US players who are mainly looking to make themselves feel better because they didn't make the team. :-)

[yisman]

I have basically all the numbers for the tournaments.

The 8 AM was the least attended. 4 AM was next.

4 AM averaged in the high 30s, while the 8 AM averaged in the low 30s.

[yisman]

Gruntworker what your saying doesn't work for the whinging US players who are mainly looking to make themselves feel better because they didn't make the team. :-)

Doesn't apply to me. I wouldn't have made the team anyway. I'm just making general comments on how players in the various tournaments.