I played in my first tournament in February (Lost Love 5 in Essex) and I enjoyed the games I lost just as much as the one I won. This makes me feel that in a tournament setting it's better not to have a handicap system.
Perhaps a really simple system that would work with all crews except Jacob Lynch is to take all the aces out of the fate deck if the experience differential is very large also take out the 2s.
I think it best to leave the jokers in as those very rare "extreme events" are an important part of the game.
The newer player would have a slightly better chance of winning duels and getting moderate/severe damage without having to think about house rules.
Thoughts?