In a “Savage Average” architecture, blind levels increment based on average stack size rather than time. [Image: Flickr.com / World Poker Tour]
Tournament director extraordinaire Matt Savage has unveiled a new No Limit tournament structure, set to be tested in a $570 buy-in and $50,000 guaranteed event at the WPT Rolling Thunder Festival on March 17.
Average the chip stack instead of time to determine when the blind levels increase
The new “Savage Average” structure uses the average of the chip set instead of time to determine when blind levels increase. In this format, the average pool will never be less than 50 big blinds. When the average pot rises to a high enough level – generally in the 60-degree big blind range – it moves to a new level as the blinds increase.
In the example posted by Savage on The average stack is back to 50,000. The next threshold is the average chip stack of 80,000, or roughly 63 players remaining.
Curtains will not increase during the late registration period.
Savage explained that the benefits of this structure include eliminating the tournament clock, structures that remain consistent from tournament to tournament, and breaks that are at specific times without having to wait until the end of a level. Deck managers also need to be more proactive in order to monitor when levels increase and chip coloring.
As Savage emphasized, the March 17 event is just “one event to see how it goes.” If it doesn’t work, it’s back to the drawing board. If you have great success, the poker world may see more “wild average” in the future.
