WSOP What if...

[italianstang]

What if Harrah's sponsored a special promotion for the main event of the World Series. The promotion would state that if you were busted out of the tournament on the very first hand, you would receive your entire $10,000 buy-in back, in cash. How would this affect play? A large number of entrants, who won online satellites for example, and were realistic about their chances of winning, would certainly try to lose on purpose on the first hand, thereby making a profit of $9900ish. How would this affect starting hand requirements for the first hand? How would this affect play for the first few rounds given the potential immediate shift in chip stack sizes?

[adanthar]

90% of the online qualifiers would, in fact, all go all in/call on the first hand.

You'd probably lose about half the field.

[ZBTHorton]

That'd be a really cool idea.

They'd lose a fortune on it though.

[jwombles]

I think this is a terrible idea, and it would never be allowed. It goes against the spirit of the game and makes no sense whatsoever.

Why even offer this?

[hamshow90]

u must smoke alot fo [censored] to think up this, its the dumbest thing ive ever heard, so i cant take time to even ponder the what if's and hows

[Beavis68]

You know what though, the casino wouldn't have to sponsor it, anyone could off it, it would be a good promo stunt.

[willie24]

more than just the online qualifiers would go allin on the first hand. every player who expected to win less than 20k (on average), would be right to go allin.

by going allin, the worst thing that could happen to you would be to break even. if you happened to win that first hand, you'd then basically be in a tournament with the prize to entry ratio (adjusting for your new "starting stack")increased by about 5-7 times, which would of course be like winning 50-70k right there, assuming you were an average player.

if they took the first-hand-bust prizes out of the prize pool, then every player would have to go allin the first hand...in which case they would theoretically break whether they won or lost that first hand. the best players would hope to win, while the worst players would hope to lose. folding, however, would be disastrous for any player, as a folder would have to play a tournament with the same amount of chips (relative to total chips) but with a severely reduced prize pool. the more dumb people there were who folded, the more profitable it would be to win the allin hand vs. lose it

[willie24]

[ QUOTE ]
in which case they would theoretically break whether they won or lost that first hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

this should say "break even" not "break"