There should be around a dozen people there not for the tourney, and as individuals get eliminated, they'll break off and play assorted other board and card games. Thus, there's really no penalty in boredom for getting eliminated early and all you're really out is 20 bucks.
On a sidenote, I was disapointed in both stargate sg1 and battlestar galactica today. They were both just pure setup episodes and I was hoping for something a little more exciting with a little more flash and sizzle. There's only one episode to go, the season finale, and it dosen't seem like either is going to offer any real climax. I'm not even sure they'll be all that exciting as cliff hangers from what I've read of the episode synopsis. Oh well. At least the new season will begin in june or something so it won't be too long to wait.