High level players entering lower ranked tournaments with a scoring handicap...

[Jacob]

...does this seem like an idea worth implementing, hypothetically? What if top level players could enter certain slightly lower ranked tournaments (such as the 12500+ group on King.com being able to play the 10500-12499 group) and win the full amount of a cash prize, but would have to face a 10% handicap on their scores?

Would this seem fair to you guys? If not, are there better ways of opening up other opportunities for top players to win cash prizes aside from small progressives?

[dpaull414]

an interesting idea. It sort of becomes a goldilocks scenario computing the appropriate handicap. Make the scoring penalty too big and the 12500+ group doesn't play. Make the scoring penalty too small and the 10500-12499 group stops playing. Make it just right and everybody is happy, except the group temporarily in the 10500-12499 group who were destined for 12500+!

Perhaps if you get real good at setting the handicap, you could group 3 or more different skill ranges together and get something really massive going....

...does this seem like an idea worth implementing, hypothetically? What if top level players could enter certain slightly lower ranked tournaments (such as the 12500+ group on King.com being able to play the 10500-12499 group) and win the full amount of a cash prize, but would have to face a 10% handicap on their scores?

Would this seem fair to you guys? If not, are there better ways of opening up other opportunities for top players to win cash prizes aside from small progressives?

[Renaldo Moon]

It would thin down the 12,500+ group.

If any percentage of the games are won to a 12,500+ player subject to a handicap, that's <12,500 players not moving up in rank. Some still can, and will, but a percentage won't. Similarly, if any percentage are lost by the 12,500+, that's a 12,500+ losing rank.

Over time, the 12,500+ group would narrow out, their natural competition pool will dry up a little and get tighter in competition (Which I'm sure it already is), and making them rely on the handicapped games.

In all other groupings, they'll have additional players coming in from above to offset the decreased activity in their natural competitions, but the top layer will end up stratified. The lowest layer would see the largest increase in activity, and whether or not the handicapping is appropriate for skill balance will determine whether or not it shuns or beckons new players.

I'm guessing it won't, unless they tailor the handicap to each individual game and write a pretty complex handicap algorithm specific to that game's scoring stratification. A fixed percentage would just be asking for trouble.

[CreepyD]

Interesting idea.
Working out how much a score should be handicapped would be extremely difficult to balance though, if not impossible in a lot of the games.
Some games have huge leaps in score as you go up the ranks, Domino Lineup is a good example. You would probably need at least a 100k handicap which alone is more than most players score at their absolute best.

Maybe a % score handicap might work better, so a lesser scoring game will have a lesser handicap to match.

[rewertyn]

i play first month on king.com but it is very low playing because i must wait to mutch to win my game (now i have open about 20 games and i wait for opponents) because i play only for winning game my priority is to be top 10 of some games that i play ,know you some chash sites that all player play vs all player and for very big money i mean realistic yield is "+" 10 % thai i can chave and i want to make thousands of dollars for skill games then i will swith back to elite poker