Personally I would say no it does not affect it. There have been many many deals like that this year and in no cases has it affected the points. In no way does it affect the competitiveness. Its more of a saver. If anyone in authority decides it means minimum points, it will have to apply to all those previous tournaments and will devalue and make a mockery of the whole ranking system. I will fight the corner if it comes to it.
Personnally I think it definately affects the outcome of any tournament, short stacks are far more willing to gamble if they know they will get their money back or more.
The situation with deals and savers is almost impossible to police, I think they allot the points to who has the most chips, etc, ect.
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