Multi flight tournament selection

Question

I have been trying to find some articles/information on this but couldn't find any so I'm asking here.

In a live 2 day tournament with multiple day 1 flights, is there any advantage on being in a flight with significantly less or more players than another flight?

Say for example flight 1 always has the lowest field and has 100 entrants whereas flight 4 always the busiest with 400 entrants. Starting stack is 50K, starting blinds 100/200 with play up to end of level 12 where the blinds are 2K/4K with the BB also paying a 4K ante. All remaining players at the end of level 12 play together in day 2.

Playing flight 1 has less total chips up for grabs but may be easier to get to day 2 as less tables are being broken and you have more time to figure out how people at your table play.

Playing flight 4 has more total chips up for grabs so could mean building a larger day 2 stack but also has more volatility due to number of players/breaking of tables/potential to run into some very large stacks in higher levels.

Maybe it doesn't matter?

Should you try to have a certain BB stack for day 2 regardless of which flight you enter? Will it be easier to achieve that stack if there are more chips in play?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

In general, it shouldn't matter. There may be some consideration regarding the caliber of player that is likely to play one day or the other, but overall I wouldn't expect much of a difference there, either.

Whichever flight you play, you can expect to play at full tables most of the day, and be dealt a similar number of hands during the day. Those, along with the quality of opponent as previously-mentioned, are the only parameters that matter for determining your chip expectation and possibilities. The number of chips that are in play at tables other than your own is meaningless.

It is more likely that the chip leader heading into Day 2 will come from the larger flight, but that is purely due to the fact that a larger number of runners come from that flight.

As for the stack that you want to have going into Day 2... It's just as many chips as you can. Don't try to force anything. Your goals are survival and ultimately collecting every chip. The only thing you can control is the hand you're currently playing, so just focus on that.