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WSOP announces Big Blind and Ante in 2018

After testing out the Big Blind Ante format on the WSOP Circuit and monitoring venues that have put it into use, the WSOP has announced plans to add some Big Blind Ante tournaments to the 2018 playing schedule.

Officially 8 of the 78 gold bracelet events will feature the Big Blind ante format, one at each of eight price points.  In addition, side events including two of the Daily Deepstacks, a variety of Mega Satellites and the $25k and $50k weekend tournaments in King’s Lounge will also use the Big Blind format. This range of buy-ins and events will allow WSOP staff to monitor implementation and help decide whether to expand the use of the Big Blind Ante in the future.

The BB-ante is a fundamental rethinking of what the ante is. The ante in this format is no longer a specified amount that each player pays each hand. It’s now a specified amount that each player pays each round. The beauty of the Big Blind Ante format is that players no longer have to remember to ante each hand or to determine whether they did or didn’t ante. There can be no dispute over which player didn’t ante. Plus, dealers, no longer have to go around to all participants at the table to collect the antes, thus speeding up the pace of play and allowing players more hands at each level.

Since the Big Blind Ante is like the Big Blind – only affecting the one player in the Big Blind each hand – the format treats all players equally.

For those not familiar with the format, WSOP.com provides a good example of how it works:

In variants with an ante, instead of each player posting an ante each hand, the player in the Big Blind will post an amount equal to the Big Blind.

For example, with blinds at 500-1,000, the player in the Big Blind will post 1,000 for his/her Big Blind, followed by 1,000 for the Ante.  His/Her total contribution to that pot is 2,000. The Ante (1,000) is dead and is immediately brought into the pot. The Big Blind (the other 1,000) is live and is part of the pre-flop betting.

If a player in the tournament does not have the required amount for both the Big Blind and the Ante, the Big Blind will be paid first, followed by the ante.

No matter how many chips a participant starts with he/she can always win the entire ante. For example: the blinds are 4k/8k and the big blind also antes 8k. A participant who is not in the blinds who starts the hand with only 1k gets involved in a three-way pot against the blinds. If that participant wins, he/she wins 11k (his/her own 1k wager, plus 1k from each opponent, plus the 8k ante). In this scenario, 1 chip can win 11 chips.

 

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