O-Poker

I am probably going to play the FTOPS Event #8 $216 PL Holdem tourney tonight. (It depends on how rested I feel.) It got me to thinking about the differences between PL Holdem mtts and NL Holdem mtts.

I think that tight aggressive players definitely have a bigger edge in PL mtts than they do in NL mtts. The main reason is that antes never kick in. My thinking is that stealing late in the tourney is less valuable in PL holdem. The TAG players can be patient, pick their spots and re-steal from the loose players using their tight image. I think that some of the less skilled loose players will make the mistake of calling preflop raises and re-raises from the tight players because it is pot limit and they will feel like they are getting the odds when they aren't thus putting the TAG players in more +EV situations. Each round costs you less in chips in the PL mtts than the NL mtts, so the sense of urgency (that you get late in a NL mtt) isn't as great in a PL mtt. (see comparison below)

Of course, this whole concept assumes that the tight player is skilled at post flop play and isn't the push or fold late type of tight player. They will have to play pots postflop. The value of hand reading and post flop aggression goes up significantly in PL holdem. For this reason I think that PL mtts also favor cash games players.

PL (at each hour - 5 levels based on 12 min rounds)
*based on structure for FTOPS #8
Level 5 - 30/60 (90 per round)
Level 10 - 100/200 (300 per round)
Level 15 - 300/600 (900 per round)
Level 20 - 1k/2k (3k per round)
Level 25 - 3k/6k (9k per round)
Level 30 - 10k/20k (30k per round)
Level 35 - 30k/60k (90k per round)

NL (at each hour - 5 levels based on 12 min rounds)
*based on structure for FTOPS #3
Level 5 - 30/60 (90 per round)
Level 10 - 100/200 (300 per round)
Level 15 - 250/500 w/50 ante (1,200 per round)
Level 20 - 800/1,600 w/200 ante (4.2k per round)
Level 25 - 2k/4k w/500 ante (10.5k per round)
Level 30 - 6k/12k w/1,500 ante (31.5k per round)
Level 35 - 17k/34k w/4k ante (87k per round)

Difference
Level 5 - Same
Level 10 - Same
Level 15 - NL costs 300 more per round
Level 20 - NL costs 1,200 more per round
Level 25 - NL costs 1,500 more per round
Level 30 - NL costs 1,500 more per round
Level 35 - Finally catches up

I am interested in what others think. Am I off-base here or do PL mtts generally favor a TAG style of play? (I am speaking generally. Of course, there are always table/situational exceptions where a very LAGgy style would be the way to go.)