I guess that sadly there isn"t a way of running a "dummy game", otherwise we would be able to predict roughly when we would finish if we re-introduced the 5k/15m game with the current 320 or so runners.
Would it be significantly quicker than week 1 with 220 less players? Surely it has to be.
My concern with this proposed "new" structure is that it looks so slow early on, that a 3bb raise to 30 chips is just going to get called all over the place. Therefore 6/10bb raises may then become the norm and we are back to sq. 1 with 1 bad hand meaning a shove fest for those unfortunate enough to get unluck just once.
I"d really like to see us go back to the week 1 structure with the assumed reduced field of 300 odd and see where it takes us, because TBH we are all guessing really and this is the only way we can be sure of the facts.
I"m sure Achim could "sell" this to his team for 1 week. If it proves to be a 2am finish then we simply make it 5k/12m for week 5 which will take at least an hour out of the game, with 5 levels and hour instead of 4. The 5k stack appeals to most players and also allows the required finish time.
One final point is this. I think it"s a bit unfair on the hardcore APAT regular players to have this quick structure, just because some people (not APAT management) want it finished by a "certain time" due to work on Monday. This "certain time" of 1am is fine, and obv. fair enough, as long as it doesn"t affect the game adversly, by us having to cram too few levels into the game just to get it finished. If 1am is the absolute fixed criterior we are governed by, and I think we all agree that this is fair and resonable, then the start time simply has to come forward to 6.30 or even 6pm with a 60, 75 or even 90 minute late reg. for those that CHOOSE not to come in at the beginning of the game.
We really shouldn"t be considering kids bedtimes, Sunday dinners, aunties birthdays etc., etc., as someone somewhere will always have a reason why it doesn"t quite suit them personally.
The most important thing is that we get a good game, that finishes at a fair time for the vast majority, and if that means starting ealier, then so be it.
Therefore I propose that we re-introduce the 5k/15m game for this week with a start time of 6.30, with a 90 minute late reg., and an assumed turnout of 300 odd runners. This should cover almost all bases and for those that it doesn"t suit, then that"s just unfortunate, because we will never please everybody. Our task is too assist the majority and think that this would do that.