Careful What You Wish For
I've been skimming so many blogs lately that I can't remember where I read this, so apologies to the original writer for the lack of accreditation. The basic idea was that however badly players are treated at the WSOP, the players at the top of the tree, the sponsored players, have to play anyway. They're not being paid to find tournaments with 2% juice that no one is going to see on TV. The pimp will say "get your ho ass to the WSOP" and the ho will jump. [1]
On top of that, the rank and file don't know any different. They certainly don't care about the way European players are being treated with the tax, for example, why would they. Juice, structures, advertising and TV revenue issues [2], tip pooling, variable standard of floor staff and dealers - how much of this bothers Joe Dreamchaser ?
From my experiences of this event to date, I would say that it's the people in the middle who should be very wary of playing a lot of these tournaments. Certainly anyone who is playing for a living off their own money should think long and hard before spending a lot of money chasing bracelets. If you win one, great, that's a nice score, but where's your overlay ? If you think one bracelet is going to make you a face now, think again. They're giving out 10 every week. And if your ultimate dream is to make it to the level of super-face, ask yourself first, is it worth it ?
For example, with his 2nd place finish in the $50K HORSE event, you might think that Andy Bloch has now broken through to the top level. Woo hoo ! Here's his reward, courtesy of Julian Thew :
"we popped into the Full Tilt [lounge] to see what was on offer. Once we realised that there were no free snacks or beverages we did a U-turn but not before one of the dolly birds pointed out to us that we could get our pictures taken with our favourite Full Tilt players in the lounge at the back; I popped my head in and got to see the lone figure of Andy Bloch, slumped in a chair, head in hands. I wasn’t tempted."
Paul S at Stan James posted a great piece here ; the first part makes the point that no one would put up with all this shit in a $10 online tournament, but the second is just as interesting, where he lists some very good reasons why winning the Main Event might come at a cost. You will have people plaguing you the whole time. You might think this sounds great, and if you're one of these people who has to be the centre of attention all the time then fine. If you're not, well, there is a great deal to be said for getting it quietly instead.
[1] This rather coarse analogy reminds me of the joke where the hooker complains about being raped the next day. When asked why she did nothing at the time, she says "I didn't realise I was being raped until the cheque bounced". People do use the word rape in the context of what's going on here but I think that's well off the mark. No one's being forced to do anything.
[2] Well, issue, in that Harrah's are trousering all of it.
On top of that, the rank and file don't know any different. They certainly don't care about the way European players are being treated with the tax, for example, why would they. Juice, structures, advertising and TV revenue issues [2], tip pooling, variable standard of floor staff and dealers - how much of this bothers Joe Dreamchaser ?
From my experiences of this event to date, I would say that it's the people in the middle who should be very wary of playing a lot of these tournaments. Certainly anyone who is playing for a living off their own money should think long and hard before spending a lot of money chasing bracelets. If you win one, great, that's a nice score, but where's your overlay ? If you think one bracelet is going to make you a face now, think again. They're giving out 10 every week. And if your ultimate dream is to make it to the level of super-face, ask yourself first, is it worth it ?
For example, with his 2nd place finish in the $50K HORSE event, you might think that Andy Bloch has now broken through to the top level. Woo hoo ! Here's his reward, courtesy of Julian Thew :
"we popped into the Full Tilt [lounge] to see what was on offer. Once we realised that there were no free snacks or beverages we did a U-turn but not before one of the dolly birds pointed out to us that we could get our pictures taken with our favourite Full Tilt players in the lounge at the back; I popped my head in and got to see the lone figure of Andy Bloch, slumped in a chair, head in hands. I wasn’t tempted."
Paul S at Stan James posted a great piece here ; the first part makes the point that no one would put up with all this shit in a $10 online tournament, but the second is just as interesting, where he lists some very good reasons why winning the Main Event might come at a cost. You will have people plaguing you the whole time. You might think this sounds great, and if you're one of these people who has to be the centre of attention all the time then fine. If you're not, well, there is a great deal to be said for getting it quietly instead.
[1] This rather coarse analogy reminds me of the joke where the hooker complains about being raped the next day. When asked why she did nothing at the time, she says "I didn't realise I was being raped until the cheque bounced". People do use the word rape in the context of what's going on here but I think that's well off the mark. No one's being forced to do anything.
[2] Well, issue, in that Harrah's are trousering all of it.
3 Comments:
It's weird. Once I could barely afford to go to Vegas and pull up for WSOP events. Now that wouldn't be a problem for me. And yet, I don't feel I'm missing much by staying here. Everything I read about it is miserable. Nobody sounds happy. Not enough play in the comps, dented cards, arbitrary rulings, total incompetence, overpriced room rates. You name it.
DY
"Nobody sounds happy"
That's one of those funny coincidences, it's exactly what I was thinking when I read your comment.
A lot of people have good reason to be unhappy because they're doing their bollocks and I'm not criticising them for being unhappy; it's alright for me, I'm playing a different game entirely. Cheerful bonhomie is certainly thin on the ground.
I'm happy enough though, the odd poker frustration here and there of course, but I can count my blessings and another thing is I never have a problem spending time on my own so I don't mind that people I know are elsewhere and/or in games all the time. This is lucky for me because Vegas can be a very lonely place for the more socially outgoing, in a strange sort of way.
Andy.
Although on further thought, there was nothing stopping anyone else playing the same game as I am so I can't have much sympathy on that point alone.
Andy.
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