4 places got paid. We had 18 players, so 14 people got first round byes. Actually, a better way of looking at it is that 4 people had to play an extra round. Then we went from 16 to 8 to 4 to 2 to 1. And after winning 4 straight matches, yours truly was the grand champion. Not that there was ever any doubt.
What I am wondering is how who has to play that first buy in round is determined. I was hoping it would be the last people to register (which would encourage people to preregister), but I think it must be random. Well, as random as having 3 Canadians and the big shot bdawg play an extra round can be anyway.