[PrayingMantis]

I remember quite a few suggestions for variance-less touenament poker (sometimes not entirely variance-less, but that's the spirit). The one and most significant problem is that variance is what gambling is all about. Variance is the opportunity of a complete amateur to take down the WSOP. It is the possibility that a kid that have just learned to play poker last month will win 30K online, few days after depositing $400. This is why so many people are attracted to the the game (of course they have never heard about "variance", they only know _anyone_ can win.), and it is why this game is so exciting.

Taking the variance out will very fast take the money out, and you have just turned MTT poker into some pure strategic game, which might be extremely interesting (I'm not sure) but there will be no big money in it, definitely not like in the normal "AQ sucks out on AK" poker. See, for instance, bridge.