You’ll recall a recent feature article on PocketFives where we talked about the introduction of Multi-Prize Pool Pokerat Dusk Till Dawn in the U.K. The brainchild of Roberto Romanello, Multi-Prize Pool poker puts a unique twist on the game by offering three different prize pools that players can buy into.

Here was the original description of the concept from PokerNews to jog your memory: “Each MPP tournament offers three buy-in levels, which creates three prize pools. If the buy-ins were £25/£50/£100, players could choose to buy into Prize Pool 1, Prize Pool 2, or Prize Pool 3. In this example, Prize Pool 1 is the default prize pool, and the first £25 from any buy-in goes into this prize pool. Any player buying into Prize Pool 2 (£50) will first have £25 invested in Prize Pool 1 and £25 invested in Prize Pool 2. Finally, any player buying into Prize Pool 3 will have £25 invested in the first prize pool, £25 in the second prize pool, and £50 invested in Prize Pool 3.”

Players cash in their prize pool according to their finish. Conceivably, a person who finished 27th overall, for example, could be the last man standing in Prize Pool 3 and consequently claim its top payout. Last week, the very first Multi-Prize Pool tournament was held at Dusk Till Dawn and 177 players participated. The tournament more than doubled its guarantee of £5,000 and nine places paid in the highest prize pool, which was a £100 buy-in.

Brian Sheppard ultimately took the inaugural tournament down and banked £3,040.31. Interestingly enough, Romanello (pictured) finished in second place. Sheppard and Romanello each bought into all three prize pools and so finished first and second, respectively, in each one.

Arguments in favor of Multi-Prize Pool Poker include larger prize pools and guarantees for lower stakes players, while higher stakes players could get an edge over the field due to the increased number of fish. At the same time, high stakes players would still be able to play for a meaningful prize pool and a meaningful buy-in.

The reaction to Multi-Prize Pool Poker on PocketFives when we first wrote about the concept last month was mixed. One poster focused on what could be three lucrative prize pools: “I think it’s a great way to juice up the prize pool. No idea why you guys are hating.” Canada’s FouTight evaluated, “I love this idea (as long as chip dumping can be restricted/policed). Agreed it’s gonna add sharks for the lower stakes player, but since I think I’m a shark, I’m cool with that.”

Collusionwas a major concern that came up when the concept was rolled out. As one poster outlined, “I think this will encourage more cheating via chip dumping. Player who buys in for $25 donks chips off to friend who buys in for $100. Have fun stopping that.” To curb collusion, according to PokerNews, dealers closely monitored the action and “at various points during the tournament, the floor staff performed spot checks on players to ensure they were 1) Who they claimed to be and 2) Were still in possession of their original buy-in identifying card.”

Normally, £25 buy-in tournaments at Dusk Till Dawn generate fields of 60 to 70 players, so the 177 who turned up for Multi-Prize Pool Poker represented a three-fold increase. The next tournament takes place on January 17 at Dusk Till Dawn and according to PokerNews, they’ll be held every Thursday “for the foreseeable future.” It’ll be interesting to see how quickly the novelty wears off, if at all.

Whether a Multi-Prize Pool tournament could ever find its way online remains to be seen. As one poster on PocketFives put it, a considerable amount of information might need to be displayed next to a person’s user name: “Three leaderboards to watch. Every player would have to have 1, 2, and 3 next to their name so you know how many are left and who’s playing for what. In live poker, it sounds even tougher, so with 35 people left, you need to constantly keep track of how many are left in which inner event.”

What’s your reaction now that a Multi-Prize Pool tournament has actually occurred? Can it translate online? Is collusion a major concern? Comment here and let us know.

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