Irieguy's "Zero Sum Thoery"

[John Paul]

Thanks for the feedback folks, here are some responses.

Using .5 for D and .25 for U was totally arbitrary on my part and you can plug in whatever values you like, or compare the models algebraically. Either way, I think the main point - that higher level games will draw the better players up and make the lower limit games easier - is true regardless of the values you chose.

In my mind, new players joining and old players quitting would be the most interesting thing to add. Do a lot of new players make low level games easier or harder or have no change? The trick is you have to make some assumptions about new folks and quitters and their are lots of possiblities - do only the worst low level players quit or the worst players at all levels or a random selection of players? Do new players only join the bottom level, all levels equally, or all levels but more at the bottom than the top? And so on.... If we had some real numbers from one of the sites, that would make things easier, but I have no idea where to get that.

Also, if U and D were a function or buy-in and/or rake I think that would be more realistic and better for looking at jumps in buy-in level, but I haven't dealt with that yet. However, that should be relatively easy to do, at least in a simplified way.

John Paul