Paddy Power Irish Team Qualifier

RMcG

I know poker is all about the cash, especially when you do it for a living. But when I started playing in the merrion 20Euro tournaments and the free monday night tournies it was never about the cash, it was always about the sport and competition and just the feeling of outplaying or outdrwing everyone in the tournament.

Now the ultimate dream for me and probably, if not definitely, everyone else in poker would be to win the WSOP or even get to the final table, I would do anything for that but not for the cash.....for the fame I suppose and for ultimate recognition in the poker world.

But outside of that I cant think of anything I would love more to do in poker than represent Ireland in a team based European tournament, that would be just top quality, absolutely top class. To be playing on a poker team with Donnacha, Black and Parkinson and DaveOC would be such an honour and a fantastic experience...........and now FBD is on the team too after qualifying on Paddy Power last week which is just great and he thourougly deserves to be after playing some great poker in the qualifier, athough Tom played equally as well, but was just unlucky when it mattered most.

But my point is that I was really dissapointed and saddened a little by the turn out for this event. Only 27 runners, infact I was shocked. Obviously with 27 runners I had a better chance of winning if there had have been a larger field but even still...it doesnt say much about the Irish Poker population not giving a **** about representing our country in our chosen sport. I would give my right arm to play in that tournament, but why didnt it attract the proper amount of runners???????

But the answer in my opinion is pretty obvious or at least my point has some bearing to the low turnout.

A $99 rebuy tournament, what does this offer the average Irish player. Well Paddy Power were running some satellites for this for $10 which is all very well. But you are qualifying for a tournament with only one life becasue the mainstream of qualifiers will not invest anymore than there winnings of one $99 seat. So they are at a HUGE disadvantage from the start and to be honest in an unlimited rebuy tournament if u cant afford to rebuy even once you have little or NO chance of getting on with the rebuy lunacy that goes on in the early levels of these tournaments.

These rebuy tournaments especially $99+ are made for people with large or emptyless pockets.....everyone knows that in rebuys you need to get involved early and gamble it up a little more to build chips. You nearly always see a trend in rebuy tournies where after a few levels there is a chip leader that is RIDICULOUSLY in front and unless they are a complete moron will almost always finish in the top few. You almost never see such huge leads in a freeze out tournament after such few levels.

Going into the tournament I decided to allow myself 2 rebuys and a topup amounting to $400. As there was no information in the tournament lobby I didnt know going into the tournament if it was unlimited rebuys, 1 rebuy or what, there was also no information displayed on whether or not a top up was allowed. So I rang Paddy Power and asked them, after counsulting with his supervisor the customer services assistant came back and told me that there were unlimited rebuys for 90 minutes and no top up. I asked him to confirm and he said that he was 100% sure.

Turns out there was unlimited rebuys for 60 minutes and a topup was allowed. So i deposited $300 in my account and rebought twice. When the TOPUP option popped up I was ****ing disgusted as I didnt have enough time to deposit again and after being told 100% that there was no topups, i felt very let down....but I also see that I should have allowed for a communications breakdown and had 400 in my account just incase....all the same the lack of info on this tourny from the start was of a very poor standard.

Now to my main point. I looked at the $99 rebuy and said lovely that suits me down to the ground as a freeze out, but when I saw it was a rebuy I was very disheartened as the quality of play in a rebuy, especially an unlimited rebuy, is always poor ....and suits the wealthy and the gamblers, not so much the skilled players. Also what is the point of having a person qualifying for a prestige freeze out tournament from a rebuy tournament, these tournaments are worlds apart in terms of skill and application. And this is why, in my opinion, that it only attracted 27 players. Because players come along and think, like myself, lovely $99 freezout and then see its a rebuy and think that we dont stand a chance becasue there are going to be players with emptyless pockets playing, and they have a huge advantage over us.

But you see Paddy Power have to cover there overheads of $5600 or $5900 or whatever it was. So a rebuy in their opinion will provide more prizepool to cover the cost of the qualifiers entry......27 entries plus rebuys and topups actually just about covered it, infact I think they dropped short a little....

So whoever is running or advising the structure of the next qualifying tournament on the 28th might want to reconsider their unlimited rebuy approach. It makes so much more sense to have a $100 freeze out. For one I would almost guarantee that 56+ would play a $100 freeze out and Paddy Power would still cover their prize pool. This also gives average Joe (A player that would like a chance to play but wont risk multiple $99 rebuys) a chance of qualifying for an amazing tournament that any Irish player should give their right arm to play in. Also the quality of play, as it always is in Freeze outs, would be much much higher, and it makes more sense for the qualifier to have come from a tough Freeze Out field, to earn his or her place for a Freeze out tournament.

All in all this is an amazing opportunity given by Paddy Power and their multinations tournament will be a huge success but, in my opinion, something lacks in their qualification process, definitely in the chioce of tournament......but there is no doubt a $100 FO would provide a much better opportunity for all levels of poker players ans still produce the required Prize Pool............

Peace Out Poker Lovers.....really looking forward to the SE 500 tomorrow.:D

mewso

Well said. I totally agree. I won't see ye at the SE tomorrow because I'm poor (unless I win tonights qualifier)

bohsman

At least the Irish are given a chance to qualify

Fatboydim

I think some very valid points are raised here. I am absolutely thrilled to bits to play for Ireland. To represent your country at any level is a real honour. So I too was surprised that more people didn't turn up for it... And I think you could be right about the rebuy being the reason why.

Interestingly enough I allowed myself one error... I qualified for the comp through a $10 sat - and decided in the final I would do one rebuy and possibly one top up. I can't remember the hand that I blew out on in the rebuy stages... but I did my rebuy and then when it came to the top up I saw Tom was on so many more chips than everyone else, I think I had about 2600 and decided a top up wasn't worth it. So essentially I spent $21 to qualify [I took a top up] and $99 in the final - so I qualified for $120.

I have no idea if Tom did any rebuys or a top up.

Then last night I placed 5th in the 12K rebuy out of 200 plus players - no rebuy - just one top up. So at least it proves it can be done...

Lets hope there is a bigger turn out for the next one and good luck to all who play in it.

califano

Yeah i fully agree with RMcG. I think there should have been at least 70+ competitors in the tournament to make it a truer test and a $100 freezeout would have made this happen. I was surprised when i fired up ppp to watch the latter stages to see so few runners had started.
Im looking forward to watching it though and will be rooting for Ireland(if i dont back anyone else) even if we wont be able see it anytime soon after its over.

I wonder will we hear team talks and what will they be like. Like the struggling pitcher on the mound what can the coach say only "throw good, dont throw bad".

PPP-Pit Boss

Thank you for taking the time to write such a well penned and thought out mail. Unfortunately my reply will be brief as the answer is not unfortunately as simple as the one the you have laid out above.
As you correctly mentioned we need to cover the required buyin for the tournament which is the main reason why this tournament is structured the way that it is. In order to ensure that we did cover this we had two choices. A $99 rebuy tournament in which the strategy of rebuy or not can be adopted. Or a $500 freezeout.
In our experience a $500 is simply much too high a buyin. In fact over the past year even mid to high priced freezeouts have fallen short of expectation. A good example of this would have been the boards freezeout that ran short and had to be cancelled.
We do not have the luxury to be presumtious over the volume of customers that may show up to play a Satellite. We have analysis of tournament types and buyins which we use as reference points to run others.
Another point is that for the grand slam we are looking for the best players to win. After all it would be our desire to pit teams of high skill against one another. The standard of the pro's not withstanding this tournament is not for the feint of heart or indeed the weak of skill. Bearing that in mind the I do not believe the entry fee into the grand final falls outside the skilled players bankroll.
This is one PPP qualifiying event among many with varying buyins. We try to cater for all bankrolls but not all will suit everyone all of the time.
Again I very much appreciate the mail.

RMcG

Although a $500 FO would only mean that you needed 11 players to cover the buy-in and I do believe that there are more players out there that would like to represent their country in poker regardless of the buy in price, and I am certainly one of those people....I dont want to press the issue further as you have answered my question but I still honestly believe that a $100 FO would produce the required revenue

PPP Pit Boss.....really appreciate the reply and thanks for the greatful comments. And to the lads for their support of my points etc etc. Either way we all hope the Irish team win and looking at the line ups I honestly believe our team so far has the highest quality........cheers again guys.

Anyway thanks again and lets hope the lads do us proud.......Tiofaidh Ar La....:0)

DeVore

Normally I'm all about the money but I would probably have given Len 70% of me just to play the ticket just to represent Ireland. I had no rebuys or topups as I was handed a stack at the start and made some good calls with slightly better hands then my opponents.

I also won most 50/50's I had which is nice.

I agree with Rory, but I think it should be somewhat expensive. Playing for 100 euro or even 500 euro is better then playing a 10 euro FO. Its going to be a high pressure game for big stakes, we want someone there who is used to that.

DeV.

mewso

I qualified for the $99 rebuy last night in the tenner rebuy. One things for sure if some of the guys I was playing against manage to quialify for the team we are in trouble. Somebody mentioned wanting skill etc. Fair enough but it's just not realistic and I think a rebuy qualifier makes it even less realistic.

Dub13

musician wrote:

I qualified for the $99 rebuy last night in the tenner rebuy. One things for sure if some of the guys I was playing against manage to quialify for the team we are in trouble. Somebody mentioned wanting skill etc. Fair enough but it's just not realistic and I think a rebuy qualifier makes it even less realistic.

I won one of those tenner rebuys as-well and I agree the standard is woeful.I would love to be able to keep playing them and use the tickets in the main event but I pinged a manager and it cant be don't,I wounder why...?so musician if you were to win another one I think they would just give you the cash.