Nat Arem   October 15th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

Good article Lee. I agree on some levels. However, ESPN, Harrah’s and lots of other companies make a lot of money from the players and I’m not a huge fan of doing anything that would probably result in a net-loss to players overall. I don’t see the money being spread out all that well in a carpet bombing system. I think the lower end players wouldn’t see much at all and the top end players just wouldn’t have much leverage, if any. I think the overall payout would be a lot less.

What I’d like to see is a system where players have a single declaration for a poker site (on a per event basis) but they can make the declaration at any time. If they wear it day 1, they have to wear it the whole way through — or no poker site at all. That would let people hold out and get the big bucks (I don’t personally care if it costs PokerStars a lot — the guy deserves it if they’re willing to pay) but it would also avoid sites having to worry about a player switching on them deep in the event.

Brian G.   November 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 am

How could any of the 6000+ players realistically declare their allegiance before the tourney? Other than Ivey and Shulman, who really had any expectation of aking the November Nine? The players who get lucky and get that far they should be able to cash in for whatever amount they can get. It is the American capitalist system at work.

Let’s look at this more realistically. In 08, I had two big scores, a bad beat jackpot and a tourney win. I decided to take $10,000 to play the Main Event. Prior to the Series starting, I changed my mind and spread out the money in play in 6 events. (I played in 7 because I satellited in another while I was out there). I cashed in three events for a total of around $24,000, after expenses and buy-ins a profit of about $11,000. I then decided to play the Main Event and go home a little up, knowing I would bust. (I did last until Day 2). Now, let’s say I had to declare an allegiance as I handed over my $10K. Who would I declare it to? And how do I know if I actually made it deep the entity I declared would want to give me anything? Declaring for any site just does not work.

The real reason you want this rule is for the day someone from Cake Poker makes it to the November Nine, which will likely happen sooner or later if you get enough qualifiers in there. If someone was declared for Cake, you would then offer them a pittance, and the player’s only option would be to take your lowball offer or nothing at all. Under the current system, Cake Poker will likely never have a player wearing its stuff at the final table. Your idea only benefits Cake, Poker Stars, Full Tilt, UB, etc., and not any of the players.

There is a way for you and the others to lock someone in, and that’s buy an option. Now, if a rep from Poker Stars stood at the buy-in line and offered me $2,000 and in exchange, I was forced to wear Poker Stars gear for a set amount (and reduced from the current amounts) if I went deep, I would have signed that in a second and took the money. Of course, that is a losing option for the sites, which is why it will never happen. But, that is the only way you can lock anyone in from jump street.

Stop the arms race? Like the old Soviet Union, the one that can’t keep up always wants to end the arms race. Sorry Lee, that’s the way I see it, and you know I am right.