Firstly, you are posing these questions to a very select and cloistered group of 888PL players. Many league members do not even know this forum exists let alone how to get here (seriously, how hard is it to put a link to the forum on the website?). Look at the number of players in your player base and the number of people registered for the forum let alone who post here and you will see that this forum is not representative of your player base.
Also, the majority of players here are of a skill level above the average so they are again not indicative of your player base. So posing the questions here may give you some insightful responses but the majority are not looking at these issue objectively, i.e. not at the league as a whole but rather how the changes apply to themselves.
I could be wrong but I suspect that you’ve already made your decision Garth to implement these changes and you are going through this process to either tweak the finer points or vet your decision. In the event I’m wrong here’s my $2 worth (inflation’s a bugger).
1.) Free roll/Rebuys have been scrapped.
Why? Why scrap the free rolls that provide a means of scoring points for those who don’t want to OR who can’t afford to pay money to play poker. You’re forcing everyone to a level of poker they may or may not be comfortable with. And especially as there is a distinct lack of education provided by 888PL for new or less skilled players to lift or encourage a higher level of play, then this is a bad decision.
As someone mentioned earlier he was looking forward to the challenge of the new format but his wallet was not. So you are splitting the league and making it a more elitist field. Those who can afford to play the expensive games have a significant advantage over those with mortgages and kids (i.e. their disposable income is considerably less than single people). You are effectively creating a situation where people are buying positions in the league table more so than the current structure.
And yes, I know there is the Murrin re-buy but that still involves paying money and having money in one’s account to play. You are excluding players who do not want to deposit money into an online account. I’ve spoken to a number of players who don’t play online simply because they have to deposit money via a credit card. And as there is still mistrust for online credit card transactions this is a very real issue.
2.) There are only three free rolls per day; no player cap and no points for these BUT if you FT all three there is a bonus of $100US, win all three and there is a bonus of $1,000. We will prob go back to the card protector for winning as well, but am yet undecided on that - too many headaches last time.
Why would anyone bother to play these? For starters you have to be available at 2:30pm, 10:00pm & 11:30pm to benefit. Let’s suppose you were able to play the 2:30pm game but don’t make the final table... why play the others?
Which brings me to my second point re: these games; if you only get something out of these series of games by final tabling ALL 3 then there will be 10 players for game #2 & #3. Why would anyone want to play these games if they have no chance of points or money except to be disruptive?
4.) $1 Buy in = 1X pts Multiplier, if a rebuy then $1 Buy in = 2 X pts multiplier.
As I understand it the points multiplier was raised to 5x for venues to offset and discourage the exodus of players from venues to home games. Which is very understandable (although the base points were left at 10 making for a huge variance earlier in the season).
To me it appears as though the points bias will shift quite dramatically to online which will not provide any incentive for players to play regularly in venues. I expect your core business is bums on seats in venues, as such ANY change to the league which may damage your core business should be examined in far more detail.
I expect before coming to this decision you would have run extensive mathematical models to replicate and predict trends and possible outcomes to the proposed scenario. Is the result of this analysis available? It would help us understand the basis for such dramatic changes to the league.
I also expect you’ve completed a similar statistical analysis of the online games and their trends so that you would be able to see the games the majority of players gravitate towards. The availability of a summary of these figures would also be advantageous.
So in summary: why drop the free rolls? Why not leave them in AND improve the buy-in selection but without making it so top heavy for points?
Now, to answer your questions:
1) 30 min is good. Extending the registration time would also be good.
2) Yes, the Main Event is starting way too late. 7:30-8:00pm would be a better time to start.
3) I believe there should be a wide variety of game buy-ins so that people can choose a level they are comfortable with (including free rolls).
On an off topic issue from this thread, Garth, I know you hide behind the facade of “I call ‘em as I see ‘em” as an excuse for being rude, but one would have expected that your elevation to National Poker Manager would have brought with it some tact and diplomacy. People are donating their valuable time here to assist with your decisions and while they may use sarcasm as a vehicle to project their point of view it doesn’t negate the value of their input or necessitate a discourteous response from you.
