rich- I think you are assuming that as the tables break down they all play to the final guy at that table who progresse with ten-times buy-in to the next round, and so on and so on. In small tournamanets I've been in, they rotate players on and off of tables so that you won't have a heads-on situation on an early round. They keep plenty of table sfull with survivors, and tray to keep it at 9 or 10 players as long as they can. That is why chips aren't even (if that makes any sense).