A) I have the issue of Chrome sometimes locking up when a new table is opened. I generally have to reload or even restart the browser. This problem appears to be with the Mavens software, as Seals also sometimes does this.
B) Paying 1st and 2nd seems to work. There is no playing slow to try to sneak into the money, as there is no advantage to it. I'm not sure if paying an even number of players would tend to fix this problem, though it seems that with 4 players, there is still some opportunity for delaying.
Ya, we keep getting these reports, I've been in communication with Briggsoft (the software developer) about it. He seems to be convinced it's a PC performance issue, or at least that's what he's saying while he's not sure what's causing it. Seems pretty clear to me that it's something funky with the software. I'm gonna forward your report to him as well, thanks.
We're actually gonna take down the 500 gtd. tourney after today. It's effectively a value-added tournament, but even still I don't love running tournaments that cost money to play while so many people are having this glitch. We're just gonna run some 10-chip hyperturbos around the clock, every half hour. We'll throw up a better tournament schedule later.
Agree with you though that paying 2 places makes sense, whenever it's loosely in line with the field size.