<jberman[m]> "Smaller miners would still get..." <- The point is that if you reduce variance, smaller miners don't need to accumulate payments n payments before payout; they can just mine n times higher difficulty instead.

In fact, they can do that anyways, it's just that accumulating smaller payments is theoretically more consistent than mining at a higher difficulty. (Note that the expected payout is the same; only the variance changes.)

* The point is that if you reduce variance, smaller miners don't need to accumulate payments `n` payments before payout; they can just mine at `n` times higher difficulty instead.

In fact, they can do that anyways, it's just that accumulating smaller payments is theoretically more consistent than mining at a higher difficulty. (Note that the expected payout is the same; only the variance changes.)