Poker pro Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler has for years been a staple at the Legends of Poker series held at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles. But this time around, he’s planning on boycotting the event due to a new tournament buy-in innovation known as Quantum Reload, something he thinks is bad for poker.

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In the WPT sponsored, $4 million guaranteed Main Event, players who bust early will have the option to buy into any of the two remaining $3,500 + $200 first-day flights. But the Quantum Reload option takes things up a notch by allowing players to simply buy their way into Day 2 for $10,000, and skip Day 1 altogether, if they choose to do so.

“The problem with this format is that deep pocketed skilled players are free to enter as many times as needed on any flight, creating a much tougher overall field and discouraging recreational players from even entering,” Kessler explained in a 2+2 post. “After all, what recreational player wants to play in a field with six Brian Rasts or five Daniel Negreanus.”

Those who decide to buy a Day 2 ticket will only receive 60 big blinds of the current level, but Kessler believes that even so, the format puts moneyed pros above all others. “Imagine… you win a satellite, you’re playing Day 1C and knock out a tough opponent, Brian Rast,” he says as an example. “You have slightly less than an average stack but are pleased to have made it to Day 2. You come back to find your seat, and there’s Brian directly to your left, and with more chips than you, even though you eliminated him.”

In large part, those who responded to the post sided with Kessler, like high-stakes grinder FatalError. “I agree, this is pretty awful,” he said. “It also benefits the people who can do the math necessary to figure out whether the reload benefits them as it’s a relatively convoluted problem to solve.”

Others disapproved of the fact that the WPT had aligned themselves with a tournament series offering so many chances to get back in the game. “While this new format may have a place in the poker world, it has no place as part of a national WPT Main Event,” said PokerXanadu. No… Main Event should be different than the others on the circuit and favor a certain type of player, as it lends an advantage… in other aspects such as Player of the Year, qualifying for the WPT Championship Event, etc.,” he added.

Not all agreed with Kessler, though; GoldenBears saw the situation in a different light, and welcomed any chance to reduce the variance that MTT poker players experience. [Recreational players]actually like playing against the big-name pros, and they play poker infrequently, so when the WPT is in town… they are going to play it regardless,” he said. “I support [Quantum Reload]; it rewards better players at the expense of weaker players, and I don’t think the damage it does to casual players is as relevant as you think,” he added.

At one point, Mo Fathipour, the Bicycle Casino tournament director himself, jumped in the thread and gave his own take on Quantum Reloads. “This newer QR concept has been a huge success for the Bicycle Casino throughout our poker series’ and is now an opportunity for the WPT players to experience this prize-pool increasing format, while allowing players of all skill levels and bankrolls to play,” he said.

The first flight of the Legends of Poker $4 million Guarantee kicks off today at 1 PM (PT). Of course don’t worry if you miss it, you’ll have plenty of other chances to buy in.