Can I Suggest KarlH for a Big Interview?

carfax

Like the title says, I think KarlH would make for a good interviewee......After the Irish Open and the amount of work he put into it etc it might be interesting.

BigCityBanker

agreed - it would be good to hear stories

Glowingmind

Karl's exceptionally dull.

Except for the whole being an ogre who lives under a bridge and eats babies thing....

White Knight

throw him down the well ... his head might stay above ground though

FX Meister

Stories about poker, sounds riveting.

BigDragon

FX Meister wrote:

Stories about poker, sounds riveting.

Buggger off back to your wing nut, power tools, weight loss capsules and Bon Jovi tickets threads and leave us alone.

BigDragon

carfax wrote:

Like the title says, I think KarlH would make for a good interviewee......After the Irish Open and the amount of work he put into it etc it might be interesting.

Did do a quick interview that got damaged but then Karl was soooo busy we left it. Will talk to him about it.

kincsem

Good idea.

We might hear if the rumours about increasing the main event buy-in are true. I would also like to know what feedback they got from the players, and what Paddy Power would like to say to the players (some of us are not perfect).

What was the prize for first player out (Carlos Mortenson) ?
How did they get Dan Harrington to play ?
How about a bounty on top players? Something small / non cash.
How about a prize for a royal flush ?

phantom_lord

FX Meister wrote:

Stories about poker, sounds riveting.

wtf are you???

phantom_lord

kincsem wrote:

What was the prize for first player out (Carlos Mortenson) ?

he got a round of applause

We might hear if the rumours about increasing the main event buy-in are true.

yeah, I wanna hear if there's any truth in that.

Flipper

or maybe if they plan on introducing a playable structure next year?

cooker3

Flipper wrote:

or maybe if they plan on introducing a playable structure next year?

feel the love

ocallagh

Flipper wrote:

or maybe if they plan on introducing a playable structure next year?

Structure wasn't too bad... alhough for next year I would include 75/150 and increase levels to 90 minutes with a 5k buyin. It would probably require 2 starting days with a Thursday start and a Tuesday FT. what are your thoughts on that Karl?

NickyOD

Flipper wrote:

or maybe if they plan on introducing a playable structure next year?

WTF? Are you serious? It took over 3 and half hours of play to eliminate the 7th place finisher. Heads up lasted about 110 hands!

How much play do you want exactly? Just 'cos you see a 45 minutes of all in poker on TV doesn't mean there was anything wrong with the structure.

Goodluck2me

the lost nearly 500 player on day 1.... enough evidence?

monte carlo had 15K stack and 90 levels and seemed to have a constantly high ave stack/M

pppspecial

the IO was one off the best tournaments i have played IMO in all that i have played in world wide and to be fair to paddys and liam they did replay a certain level but honestly with a field off this size its going to be hard to please everyone. I say fair play to all involved and the dealers were absolutly top notch. far better than the world series had to offer last year.

wp uncle paddy and liam F.

karlh

hi all, just saw this now, thanks for the invitation carfax. just heading out for a few pints to calm down after the madness of the past week. it was heavy going but an amazing experience.

ill start answering questions tomorrow, i'll possibly tackle Flipper's one later tonight depending on my whiskey count.

phantom_lord

goodluck2me wrote:

the lost nearly 500 player on day 1.... enough evidence?

i don't think that was really think that was down to the structure.

LuckyLloyd

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Flipper

Well put Lloyd.

IMO, Paddy Power should be making an effort to develop the Irish Open for the players best interests. They seem to be going the way of the WPT (branding and TV orientated) and not the way of the players' festivals such as the EPT Grand Final and what was formally the E-WSOP in Vienna. With a tournament that has cemented it's place at the top of Aprils' poker calender, I would be pushing for a bigger buy-in and certainly much better structured tournament. THIS will have them coming back in their 100's.

If you tempt any player with a €5,000 buy-in, 90 minute levels and a complete blind structure (complete with repeat levels for all ante-steps), they'll be queueing out the door a week before hand.

FX Meister

BigDragon wrote:

Buggger off back to your wing nut, power tools, weight loss capsules and Bon Jovi tickets threads and leave us alone.

Sorry BD, Bon Jovi was ages ago, I went to the gig instead and it was rad so I no longer need to sell the tickets. I still love power tools, especially in the face. As for the capsules, I told my friend of the dangers and saved his life, he would soooo kick your ass in Poker. FACT. Wingnuts, you got me there, refresh my memory perhaps?

FX Meister

phantom_lord wrote:

wtf are you???

I'm FX Meister, can't you read my username? I'm 28, size 32" Waist and 34" Leg. I'm both strong and beautiful. I like to play poker every six months or so for matches or chips if I'm lucky and last Xmas I played in a high stakes poker game in me birds with a €5 buy in. I lost but got a blowjob anyway.

phantom_lord

afterhours wrote:

Here's a FACT. FX Meister is banned for a week for trolling.

*cough*

LuckyLloyd

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ditpoker

All the EPT's are 5k, or there abouts, why do we need ANOTHER 5k event. there are also plenty of 1k events. The irish open being 3,500 works. Its satalite friendly which allows alot more players in via the interweb and the SE etc. If it was a 5k event then sats in the SE and the fitz etc would not be half as successful as there would be alot less tickets up for grabs. The SE could go the other way and make it a 250 with one rebuy qualifier as opposed to a 150 rebuy but that then limits their market. Don't change the buy in... why change the buy in!?

To introduce a day 1 a/b would mean having to pay 50+ dealers and admin staff for two day one's from the same reg fee, its cheaper for the organiser to have one day 1.

i don't understand why tournament organisers leave out levels. fair enough if its in a pub/club and there are time constraints, or they want to get players into cash games... but at a festival like this if anything they should be ADDING levels. whats the rush out the door for?

pppspecial

im sorry guys ive got to disagree this imo was the perfect tourny for the size buy in and the size off the field. pp did not expect to reach the 2 mil and therefore had to plan everything out to coinside with 1 starting day.
and as a result they should have tweaked a few things
1. antes could have been dropped in the later stages off the tournament to allow for much more play
2. introduction off those 2 ommitted levels.. by adding these all it does is lengthen it by 2 hrs and that is nothing when were playing poker.



guys id like to point out that the ept dont and wont bend over backwards to get guys and gals qualifyed in there local card rooms aswell as on line on every site. the work and effort they put in to this was tremendous and i for 1 applaude them for what they have done for poker in ireland.
They have also sent out the message that poker is going strong in Ireland despite the minor set back we experienced a few weeks ago up in drogheda.
before the bashing starts thats just my opinion and feel these need to be pointed out 1st.

100% flipper €5k buy in 90 min levels, antes to be used properly min prize pool €5,000,000.. sounds good already. will be intresting to see if they can pull that off.

LuckyLloyd

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FX Meister

phantom_lord wrote:

*cough*

Just come straight out and say it instead of internet coffing. You are totally pwned and one of your own likes my troll. Anyway, I'm blowing this popsicle stand, see you next year when I start playing in €10 buy ins and want loads advice. xoxo

ditpoker

FX Meister wrote:

Just come straight out and say it instead of internet coffing. You are totally pwned and one of your own likes my troll. Anyway, I'm blowing this popsicle stand, see you next year when I start playing in €10 buy ins and want loads advice. xoxo

how odd...

phantom_lord

I'd prefer if it was kept at 3.5k.

More people will be able to sat in (for $24 ) at this price. and it means less money is gonna be sucked out of the local poker community and taken off by the likes of imperium and "ronald."

To introduce a day 1 a/b would mean having to pay 50+ dealers and admin staff for two day one's from the same reg fee, its cheaper for the organiser to have one day 1.

surely it takes the same amount of dealer hours to run two day 1s as one day 1, providing there;s the same number of players? it's just more overheads?

Goodluck2me

jeff if you had 400 on day one and 400 on day two, you would actually need less dealers, rather than more. they would only need 45 dealers in stead of say 90 for 800 on day 1. i think 2 day ones would be great the only added cost would be room hire fo rone more day and TDS for one more day, whihc would be more than covered in the reg of the extra players.

BigCityBanker

phantom_lord wrote:

and it means less money is gonna be sucked out of the local poker community and taken off by the likes of imperium and "ronald."

PL my middle name is Ronald - are you predicting great things for me or what?

NickyOD

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

That's rubbish. The structure was not as good as a normal EPT event. Missing the 75 / 150 and 500 / 1000 levels is pretty bad. Look at the drop out percentage on day one.

Nicky Power said the very same in his Antes up interview. De Wolf wanted to deal from seven handed out on the basis that the tournament has turned into a crapshoot.

The reality is that the Macau €1,000 events have a more playable structure than the Irish Open. Big Slick Poker's €500 event in May will have a better structure. The GJP festival has an infinately better structure.

Biggest and most branded tournament in Ireland? Yes. Best structured and most playable tournament in Ireland. Not at all.

If the event has outgrown a single day one, so be it. Introduce a Day One A and B. But the current set up of the tournament has definate room for improvement.

And you can wheel out all the PPP yes men. And you can talk about the work PPP are doing for the general good of Irish poker or the large prizepool that was on offer. But in terms of the structure - it is only correct that there be critiscism. Bear in mind that Karl himself had to lobby for a repeat of the 150 / 300 level when the ante was introduced.

How may EPT events have you played or been to? The EPT structure is a joke. Dortmund was 460 odd runners and a 3 day event and on the bubble the average stack was 10 blinds with over 40 players remaining, and less than 10 blinds with 2 tables remaining. It's a terrible structure and has a bigger buy in.

If you look at the ante structure of the Irish open it was quite soft by comparison to other tournaments where the antes represent a bigger % of the big blind. Some blind levels were even repeating with only the ante increasing (including the 300/600 level)

The structure only appeared crapshooty towards the end because of unusual circumstances. It took over 3 hours to knock out the 7th place finisher. On another day this could have happened in 10 minutes. Also when it got 5 handed the stacks got very even which meant the play was extremely cautious by everyone. Nicky would say he didn't like the structure because he was the shortest stack at the final table, but if you look at the amount of times a player was all in preflop and was not called on the final day its no wonder the blinds caught up.

Jesus Wept

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

That's rubbish. The structure was not as good as a normal EPT event. Missing the 75 / 150 and 500 / 1000 levels is pretty bad. Look at the drop out percentage on day one.

Nicky Power said the very same in his Antes up interview. De Wolf wanted to deal from seven handed out on the basis that the tournament has turned into a crapshoot.

The reality is that the Macau €1,000 events have a more playable structure than the Irish Open. Big Slick Poker's €500 event in May will have a better structure. The GJP festival has an infinately better structure.

Biggest and most branded tournament in Ireland? Yes. Best structured and most playable tournament in Ireland. Not at all.

If the event has outgrown a single day one, so be it. Introduce a Day One A and B. But the current set up of the tournament has definate room for improvement.

And you can wheel out all the PPP yes men. And you can talk about the work PPP are doing for the general good of Irish poker or the large prizepool that was on offer. But in terms of the structure - it is only correct that there be critiscism. Bear in mind that Karl himself had to lobby for a repeat of the 150 / 300 level when the ante was introduced.

^
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What he said, well put.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

phantom_lord

BigCityBanker wrote:

PL my middle name is Ronald - are you predicting great things for me or what?

leveled.


I think...

karlh

just got back to this now, pints were good, just managed to last for 4 days

kincsem wrote:

We might hear if the rumours about increasing the main event buy-in are true.

Yeah they are true, just not finalised yet. There will probably be a much larger guarantee and the buyin will around the €5k mark

kincsem wrote:

I would also like to know what feedback they got from the players, and what Paddy Power would like to say to the players (some of us are not perfect).

The feedback has been mostly very positive. Boards isn't a fair sample group since it has a larger population of whinging fúckers but i had a lot of feedback from irish and foreign players saying that the IO was simply the best festival they had ever been to.

There will always be gripes about (better than pre-published) structures, baseball caps and the price of carrots but taken as a whole it was a quality tournament, really good fun, resulted in the largest poker tournament in Europe and it had a very special atmosphere.

We did have to turn away people with money in their hands which is obviously not an ideal scenario but all criticism re: structures, tv, capacity will be ploughed straight into next year's event to make it even better.

kincsem wrote:

What was the prize for first player out (Carlos Mortenson) ?

I have heard a rumour that Flood gave him a commemorative tie.

kincsem wrote:

How did they get Dan Harrington to play ?

Personal high point of the weekend for me was walking through the lobby of the Burlo and thinking 'cool, he really looks like Dan Harrington' :eek: :eek:

We had no idea he was coming. We had been in touch with Dan (I can, loike, call him Dan now.) and had asked him to make the trip over. There was no reply from him to a couple of mails so we safely presumed he wasn't coming. P Parkinson met him at a tournament in the US, dropped a reminder and he just arrived.

kincsem wrote:

How about a bounty on top players? Something small / non cash.
How about a prize for a royal flush ?

Both good ideas for next year, I'll add them to the sizeable list.

Flipper wrote:

or maybe if they plan on introducing a playable structure next year?

I'll reserve replies about the Irish Open itself to people who played in it

Seriously though, all this criticism about the structure is a bit silly. I'm the biggest rock in the world and despite it not being 2hr levels and 20k in chips with all blind levels, you can harldy call it unplayable!? The structure was better than any Irish Open before it. We ended up adding 1 and a half levels beyond what was published. Don't get me wrong, if it was up to me there would be a 20k starting stack and 2hr blinds but a line has to be drawn and once it's a transparent one i don't see the big problem.

Try booking that room for 5 days and you'ld want everyone starting with 10bbs!

The drop off on Day 1 cannot be attributed to the blinds structure. I walked that room for a good 12 hours on Day 1 and people were playing the main event like it was a freeroll. We lost roughly twice as many people (in % terms) than last year - with a better structure!

Hitman Actual

karlh wrote:

I have heard a rumour that Flood gave him a commemorative tie.

lol. Hardly a prize!

Flushdraw

lenny_leonard wrote:

lol. Hardly a prize!

Yeah, they remind me of the "No Dad" waistcoats that John Virgo used to wear on Big Break!

carfax

karlh wrote:

just got back to this now, pints were good, just managed to last for 4 days



Yeah they are true, just not finalised yet. There will probably be a much larger guarantee and the buyin will around the €5k mark



The feedback has been mostly very positive. Boards isn't a fair sample group since it has a larger population of whinging fúckers but i had a lot of feedback from irish and foreign players saying that the IO was simply the best festival they had ever been to.

There will always be gripes about (better than pre-published) structures, baseball caps and the price of carrots but taken as a whole it was a quality tournament, really good fun, resulted in the largest poker tournament in Europe and it had a very special atmosphere.

We did have to turn away people with money in their hands which is obviously not an ideal scenario but all criticism re: structures, tv, capacity will be ploughed straight into next year's event to make it even better.



I have heard a rumour that Flood gave him a commemorative tie.



Personal high point of the weekend for me was walking through the lobby of the Burlo and thinking 'cool, he really looks like Dan Harrington' :eek: :eek:

We had no idea he was coming. We had been in touch with Dan (I can, loike, call him Dan now.) and had asked him to make the trip over. There was no reply from him to a couple of mails so we safely presumed he wasn't coming. P Parkinson met him at a tournament in the US, dropped a reminder and he just arrived.



Both good ideas for next year, I'll add them to the sizeable list.



I'll reserve replies about the Irish Open itself to people who played in it

Seriously though, all this criticism about the structure is a bit silly. I'm the biggest rock in the world and despite it not being 2hr levels and 20k in chips with all blind levels, you can harldy call it unplayable!? The structure was better than any Irish Open before it. We ended up adding 1 and a half levels beyond what was published. Don't get me wrong, if it was up to me there would be a 20k starting stack and 2hr blinds but a line has to be drawn and once it's a transparent one i don't see the big problem.

Try booking that room for 5 days and you'ld want everyone starting with 10bbs!

The drop off on Day 1 cannot be attributed to the blinds structure. I walked that room for a good 12 hours on Day 1 and people were playing the main event like it was a freeroll. We lost roughly twice as many people (in % terms) than last year - with a better structure!

Very well put mate, I'm looking forward to next year's tournament already........I honestly can't understand how people can complain about the structure of the main event???

The Clamper

the Burlington wont be there next year and i could suggest a much larger venue that would hold a few thousand players in one sitting, near many hotels , in Dublin

they could have as many players as they like, up to approx 10,000 in a day one sitting

hardly need for a day 2 then

I only had 1 criticism. not enough dealers on standby for cash games.

i dont play cash usually, so it didnt bother me other than i hate to see a wasted opportunity to make money

great event overall

well done

connie147

Hi Karl,
Congratulations on a job well done.
A few points I'd like to make

1.- I do agree with the other posters that the 75-150 blind should not be ommitted. Now that the entry-fee is gonna match the other EPT buy ins, I do think it should be included for next year.

2.- The set up was magnificent with obviously a lot of thought put into it.
One thing that was missing in my opinion was the fact that there was not a PPP bookie shop on site. Ye know we're all pure gamblers.I think it would add a lot to your festival athmosphere + give ye a chance to make MORE money off us. ( just a thought).

3. - I thought the touch of live music as you entered the playing arena prior to the start of the main event was magical. For our visitors is was just another example of how the Irish like to enjoy themselves.

4.- Not your field I know, but the Burlo charging €4 for a plastic bottle of still water(330 ml) was an absolute joke.The overseas players at my table were quite astounded(as we all were).

5.- The main support event (€1,000) freeze-out needs a better structure than what it had. 7k chips and 35 min blinds is no value for a grand.

Dont think im nit-picking, I toiught the festival was amazing, Im just mentioning a few things that us poker players were talking about so theres no harm in PPP getting to hear the views as well.

Congrats again
Connie

mewso

The price of carrots is far more reasonable at the EPT.

Jesus Wept

phantom_lord wrote:

I'd prefer if it was kept at 3.5k.

More people will be able to sat in (for $24 ) at this price. and it means less money is gonna be sucked out of the local poker community and taken off by the likes of imperium and "ronald."

The final table announcer was awful :eek: He kept calling Roland: Ronald, :eek:

He also didn't announce hands independently, he would say things like 'Mizzi makes his SIGNITURE RAISE of 111k'

'X player raises for the 2nd/3rd time in a row'

:eek:

You can't do this, He shouldn't be saying anything that relates to previous hands, or reminds anyone of how much or how often anyone else is raising or how they are playing.


He must annouce every hand as if its the first, last and only hand he has or ever will see from the players.

Also, when the clock was called, he counted it down like it was the f*%kin new year!
27, 26 ,25,24, 23, 2221, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, .....untill the T.D touched him on the arm, shook his head and gave him a 'please stfu' look.

karlh wrote:

The drop off on Day 1 cannot be attributed to the blinds structure. I walked that room for a good 12 hours on Day 1 and people were playing the main event like it was a freeroll. We lost roughly twice as many people (in % terms) than last year - with a better structure!

I have to disagree with that. I asked people before the event started how many people they thought we would lose on Day 1, and got the standard response of 'er I guess half' (which is fairly standard in poker tournaments).

I correctly predicted it would be far more than this and more like 2/3.

I am not a clairvoyant . It was just obvious this would occur because of the structure.


---




Also, not much as been said about the unrandomness of the featured table, and that it was playing 8 handed in a 9 handed tournament.


It is very easy for organisers to think little of this, because there is less doubt for them, I don't know how I will do at a given event, but they run in the event, and no matter what happens, they will get a winner.

A non random table (featured or otherwise) and a table/s playing with less than the other tables (featured or otherwise) changes the outcome.

5starpool

The-Rigger wrote:

The final table announcer was awful :eek: He kept calling Roland: Ronald, :eek:

He also didn't announce hands independently, he would say things like 'Mizzi makes his SIGNITURE RAISE of 111k'

'X player raises for the 2nd/3rd time in a row'

:eek:

You can't do this, He shouldn't be saying anything that relates to previous hands, or reminds anyone of how much or how often anyone else is raising or how they are playing.

Greg Raymer was doing this at the Monte Carlo EPT on the bit of the live coverage I watched. He would say something like 'Carlos Mortensen open raises from the button again' or the like. Not very appropriate I thought tbh.

Jesus Wept

5starpool wrote:

Greg Raymer was doing this at the Monte Carlo EPT on the bit of the live coverage I watched. He would say something like 'Carlos Mortensen open raises from the button again' or the like. Not very appropriate I thought tbh.

Yes, it was the same on the EPT, ex-pokerstars manager Lee Jones was at the same, they should know better, if I can work it out...

karlh

The-Rigger wrote:

The final table announcer was awful :eek: He kept calling Roland: Ronald, :eek:

He also didn't announce hands independently, he would say things like 'Mizzi makes his SIGNITURE RAISE of 111k'

'X player raises for the 2nd/3rd time in a row'

:eek:

You can't do this, He shouldn't be saying anything that relates to previous hands, or reminds anyone of how much or how often anyone else is raising or how they are playing.


He must annouce every hand as if its the first, last and only hand he has or ever will see from the players.

Also, when the clock was called, he counted it down like it was the f*%kin new year!
27, 26 ,25,24, 23, 2221, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, .....untill the T.D touched him on the arm, shook his head and gave him a 'please stfu' look.






I have to disagree with that. I asked people before the event started how many people they thought we would lose on Day 1, and got the standard response of 'er I guess half' (which is fairly standard in poker tournaments).

I correctly predicted it would be far more than this and more like 2/3.

I am not a clairvoyant . It was just obvious this would occur because of the structure.


---




Also, not much as been said about the unrandomness of the featured table, and that it was playing 8 handed in a 9 handed tournament.


It is very easy for organisers to think little of this, because there is less doubt for them, I don't know how I will do at a given event, but they run in the event, and no matter what happens, they will get a winner.

A non random table (featured or otherwise) and a table/s playing with less than the other tables (featured or otherwise) changes the outcome.

Interesting question, thanks for asking.

You see, it all started in 1972 when I was working in a tattoo parlour in Vietnam. My coach's name was Tommy and since I was new to the professional racketball circuit I didn't really know what I was letting myself in for.

I had recently recovered from a fractured collar bone so didn't even know if I was fit enough for the finals - but this was my only chance. It was time to be a man, make a stand and show the world that one midget wrestling accident wasnt going to keep me down!


......maybe I've just lost the point of this thread too......

Jesus Wept

karlh wrote:

Interesting question, thanks for asking.

You see, it all started in 1972 when I was working in a tattoo parlour in Vietnam. My coach's name was Tommy and since I was new to the professional racketball circuit I didn't really know what I was letting myself in for.

I had recently recovered from a fractured collar bone so didn't even know if I was fit enough for the finals - but this was my only chance. It was time to be a man, make a stand and show the world that one midget wrestling accident wasnt going to keep me down!


......maybe I've just lost the point of this thread too......

I see, I think they were all valid points, if you would prefer I could start a new thread on suggested improvments for the Irish Open if you are not willing to take them on board here


'suggested' and 'improvements' are the public relation friendly words I am using, as some of these problems were just unacceptable blunders.


Lets get back to the point of the thread and just get you prepared for your big interview. :rolleyes:

semibluff

connie147 wrote:

3. - I thought the touch of live music as you entered the playing arena prior to the start of the main event was magical. For our visitors is was just another example of how the Irish like to enjoy themselves.

Congrats again
Connie

Agreed the music was absolutely brilliant - how more irish can you have it than 3 phillipino guys playing Kenny Rogers (Karl can you confirm there nationalities, money was wagered on it!!)

They were quality though, do they do 21st or house parties??

Jesus Wept

semibluff wrote:

Agreed the music was absolutely brilliant - how more irish can you have it than 3 phillipino guys playing Kenny Rogers (Karl can you confirm there nationalities, money was wagered on it!!)

They were quality though, do they do 21st or house parties??

Sorry, this is off topic, Karl only wishes to speak about potential big interviews.

Thank you for your co-operation :eek:




Edit: He may be willing to discuss it as it isn't remotely challenging or suggest that there is room for improvement

LuckyLloyd

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