The first Main Event of the new season of the World Poker Tour (WPT) is set to begin this weekend. But Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler, the live tournament min-cash king, is not planning to play in the 2014 WPT Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in L.A. On Tuesday, he announced he will be boycotting the event because of something called Quantum Reload.
The Legends of Poker Main Event will have three Day 1 flights, each with a buy-in of $3,500 + $200. Like many big events nowadays, players who bust out on Day 1 may re-enter for an additional buy-in in any subsequent Day 1 flight. Thus, players have up to three chances to advance to Day 2. The Quantum Reload Concept, though, does re-entries one better. Anyone, regardless of whether they busted on Day 1 or have yet to enter, can buy-in directly to Day 2 for $10,000 and will start with 60 big blinds at the current blind level.
And this just pisses Kessler right off. On Two Plus Two, he announced that he will boycott the event, saying in an open letter to WPT president Adam Pliska:
…this format creates a gap between the haves and have nots. Players who struggle to make it through day one but ultimately advance, will have to face a whole new wave of skilled players who are eager for the extra chance to buy an average day two advancing stack.
This format takes reentry one step further. At least with reentry a player had to somehow earn their way into day two. Now with this new format, the deep pocketed skilled pros have an even bigger edge. Not only can they play all 3 flights to try to advance to day 2, but even if they are unsuccessful in advancing, they can just buy an average stack for another $10k.
“Imagine you are a local l.a. grinder,” he continued. “You win a satellite, you’re playing day 1c and knock out a tough opponent, Brian Rast. You have slightly less than an average stack but are pleased to have made day 2, and to have eliminated a tough opponent. You come back for day 2, find your seat, and there’s Brian directly to your left, and with more chips than you, even though you already eliminated him.”
The replies in the discussion thread tended to side with Kessler, but some people were fine with the Quantum Reload, essentially telling Kessler that it was simply another tournament format, just like freezeouts or regular re-entry events. It is all well and good if someone doesn’t want to play in it, but there is also no reason to get all up-in-arms about it. It’s just a different format. Besides, those who buy-in directly to Day 2 still have to pay a premium for chips. It is not like they are going to have a large stack.
Mo Fathipour, Tournament Director at the Bike and creator of the Quantum Reload Concept, chimed in, saying:
The poker economy is constantly evolving. Each year there are hundreds, if not thousands, of poker tournaments throughout the nation and the world. Players always have a choice as to which events they choose to play based on buy-in, prestige, and location. This newer QR concept has been a huge success for the Bicycle Casino throughout our poker series and is now an opportunity for the WPT players to experience this prize-pool increasing format, while allowing players of all skill levels and bank-rolls to play.
He concluded by likening the format to a satellite, explaining, “The day 2 direct buy-in can be viewed as the official day 1 start, where the $3,700 sessions can be viewed as qualifying heats for the official day 1, where the player carries their chips forward.”
The point isn’t that you have to pay a premium for day 2, its that the wealthy players can play day 1s recklessly as they have a safety net. Last year neither the Legends nor the Borogta had a day 1 chip leader at the end of any day 1 with over $300,000 in chips. Watch what happens at this tournament. Also, how can you play a day 1 without the ability to buy in day 2 (aka without a safety net) and know if your opponents raise, re-raise or shove is based on their ability to reload. A re-entry you can at least play the last day 1 and know that your opponents tournament life is at stake. This is not the case and why I won’t be playing even though I came in 42nd at last years Legends and already purchased my plane ticket, which I won’t be using.
Day 1 entrants pay $.12 per chip and day 2 entrants pay $.14 per chip. The variance to pick a winner at day 2 is still very large so not much more of a premium is required. Also there are multiple $1k megas to enter day 2. So the speculation in the article is not right. The tournament is priced correctly.