I was an initial fan of the new scoring system, but I must say that I'm coming to find it more and more annoying as time goes by. It really does seem that if you aren't 1st or 2nd, you may as well not have played for all of the points it will get you. +2 points for 3rd is just silly, and that's from a game where I bowed out as soon as it was clear I was not going to get more than 3rd rather than hanging on and giving away points.

It seems to me that if the scoring system is going to be like a game of poker, each turn should be considered a hand, so that a kitty is split between players each turn rather than as each player bows out. It seems to me that would make the scoring a little more even, as someone in 3rd for most of the game would, turn by turn be getting slightly more points each turn than they are paying out in ante, at least until there are only 4 players left. It would then let the player in 3rd walk away with points at this stage if there was no way he could win.

As it is now, he either keeps giving points to 1s/2nd and hopes that the guy in 4th finally flags, or he takes 4th himself, costing himself a chunk of chips he had actually earned