| Name: | Dani Stern |
| Age: | 22 |
| Birthplace: | New York |
| Career Earnings | $819,358 |
The Tournament Circuit
2009 September, 07
I recently had the pleasure of playing in the WPT Bratislava poker tournament. As many of you know, I have played a lot of tournaments in a variety of casinos in many different countries run by very different companies (EPT, WPT, WSOP, LAPT, APPT, etc.) After playing WPT Bratislava, I can say with a high degree of certainty that it was one of the best run tournaments (along with those at Bellagio) I’ve played thus far. What sets this tournament apart from the rest? Wel l for one the Sunshine Corp (the company that runs the tournament) has one of the best and most competent staffs – headed up by Steve, Charlie and Troy. They were extremely accommodating to the players every demand as well as devised the best structure of any tournament I’ve played thus far. They didn’t skip a single level and the slow style play really increased the edge for the better players. Aside from the exorbitant rake (400 euros on a 4,000 buy in) which they weren’t in control of and promised to lower next year, everything else was nearly perfect. It is because of this tournament, that I realized some changes that could be made to ALL tournaments to drastically improve things for the dealers, floors, players and directors.
Timing
First and foremost and this is by FAR the most important – the WPT and EPT need to coordinate to NOT overlap their tournaments. The WPT Bratislava started on 8/30 and ended on 9/5 while the EPT Barcelona started on 9/4 and ended on 9/9. There was also a tournament in Partouche which conflicted with the above dates as well (although it’s a much more esoteric company that runs it so they are not to blame for the dates, but rather idiotic for putting it in the middle of two huge events and deterring players from entering). The next WPT which is held in Cyprus started on 9/5 and ended on 9/12. Now why on earth would the WPT and EPT make it nearly impossible for people who live in the same vicinity to play multiple tournaments. This is especially detrimental for Americans, as they have to go to extremes to get to Europe to play the tournaments. Given the outrageous “rake” (i.e. cost of travel, hotels, cabs, etc again especially by Americans) to play in these tournaments, one cannot afford to fly around the world and have to choose between two lucrative events. I understand the WPT and EPT are competitors but wouldn’t they both benefit immensely if they didn’t make their players choose between one or the other? If the WPT Cyprus attracts 300 players and EPT Barcelona attracts 500 players wouldn’t it be better if they both attracted an extra 50 – 100? At least 25% of the players would travel to multiple events given the opportunity. I’ve talked to countless poker players (literally over 100) who didn’t know whether to go to the Cyprus or Barcelona. It seems like its divided 50/50 and since people are uncertain that either will be that big (because presumably 1/2 the people are at each) some have decided not to go altogether. They’ve done studies that when people are given a choice they are less likely to commit to either (hence what happened to several poker players I’ve talked to). They just opted to go home instead of play because the tournaments weren’t lucrative enough to warrant the cost of travel (to only be able to play one – again especially true of Americans). This is by far the most annoying thing that happens and its time the WPT and EPT agreed upon a schedule that was accommodating to their players. Note: this is much less relevant for smaller tournaments like LAPT and APPT which attract very few people and for any tournament poker player given the choice between a WPT/EPT and a LAPT/APPT they will always choose the former.
Technicalities
There should be an international rule as to who shows their cards first. This is such a nuance and causes so much hassle among dealers, floor personnel and players. To take a typical example lets say Player A and Player B are playing a WPT In America. Player A raises preflop and Player B calls on the button. The hand gets checked down to the river, and its time to reveal the cards. Who shows first? The player to the left of the dealer shows his hand regardless of the action in any previous street. However, if a bet is made on the river and gets called, whoever makes the bet shows his hand first. Lets compare this to how the same situation would unfold in Europe. Player A raises and Player B calls on the button. Again the hand gets checked down to the river. Who shows first this time? Player A shows his hand regardless of position. Why? Because he was the last aggressor. Taking this into account, if a bet is made on the river and gets called, the person who makes the bet shows his hand first. These complicated differences are completely unnecessary and make it nearly impossible for players to know which rule to put into effect during what touranment. Don’t believe me? I headed to Cyprus to play the WPT. Amazingly, despite it being the same company that ran the WPT Bratislava, the rule of showing hands switched from the European standard (Bratislava) to the American standard (Cyprus) which (as you can imagine) confused even the most astute players. Tournaments should standardize this rule to make it uniform throughout the poker world. Whether they choose the American or European style is arbitrary and irrelevant (either way some players will be happy and others upset) but at least it will be the same everywhere and prevent major confusion and delay in the future. I cannot tell you how many mishaps we had in this Bratislava. There was one particular instance where there was an all-in situation between two players. They were both hesitant to show their hand as they were confused about who was to show first. Unaware of the rule, they actually had to call a floor before deciding that one player would show for another. The most ludicrous part about this whole ordeal is that both players were required to show their hand anyway before any more cards were dealt, it was just a matter of who goes first. This is entirely different from a situation where Player A bets the river and Player B calls because the loser can just muck their hand. This is a nuance that can easily be resolved if a standardized rule is implemented.
Payouts
The pay out structure needs to be standardized and in a way that is accommodating and beneficial to the players. Currently in the WPT, if 99 players register they pay 9 spots but if 100 players register they pay 18 spots. Explain to me how the difference in ONE player accounts for the difference in 9 players getting paid? Does that make any sense to you when the industry standard is to pay 10% of the field? Of course not and unfortunately, this anomaly is exactly what happened in WPT Bratislava. The total prize pool was flatted immensely and everyone was upset. However since they didn’t realize the rarity of the situation until Day 1B (when some players in Day 1A had already busted) they could do nothing about it and everyone was left to suffer. Do the people who devised this pay-out system not know any of the numbers between 9 and 18? Can’t they just pay 10 players if 100 register and 11 if 110 register and so on? An industry standard of 10% needs to be adopted by ALL tournament entities immediately to better suit the players, and make it more lucrative for people to play. I understand that the reason they flatten HUGE tournaments like the Main Event is to keep people happy and so the random Joe can say he cashed in the Main Event of the WSOP. For that one particular tournament, fine. But do you really think less people will play if only 10% of the people get paid in a normal WPT or EPT? Surely the pros don’t prefer this system. And since they compromise a decent percent of the people in WPT’s and EPT’s anyway shouldn’t the directors (by directors I mean people who make the rules) be catering to them? Even if the “random Joe” does make up the majority of the percent of the entries, he’s not a pro for a reason, meaning he’s only likely to play a few tournaments until his discretionary income levels drop below the amount allotted to play a $10,000 buy in tournament. If he’s rich enough not to care about this threshold, then surely he won’t care about not getting his money back the times he doesn’t get lucky enough to make the money. Furthermore, do the directors really think less people will sign up to qualify through satellites if only 10% of the people are paid. Most people who play these don’t know how to spell poker, let alone consider the % of people who get paid in a tournament. If they want to play poker, they are going to play regardless. To reiterate it another way, I’ve been playing poker 6 years and probably met over 10,000 poker players and I’ve rarely heard people say that too few people are getting paid in tournaments now a days. The vast majority (and this includes non-professionals) complain about the tournament prize structure being too flattened. Just logically, those who have $10,000 to spare on a card game probably don’t want to play 12 hours a day for 3 days to min cash and get $12,000 dollars back only to lose money on the trip because of their exorbitant hotel expenses.
I think the poker world would be a far better place if these rules were made an international standard. There would be less hassle for the floors, dealers, directors and players. Everyone (once adjusted) would be far happier, there would be less discrepancies and play would become more enjoyable, profitable and friendly. Poker is meant to be a fun pass time or for those of us who are lucky enough to make it, a job which we can enjoy. I hope that with this post and the complaint of other notable players in the industry, we can do our part to help make these changes for the benefit of everyone. If my apathy doesn’t get the best of me, I’m going to get a petition going to help implement these changes and pass it around at future WPT and EPT events. Perhaps with the outcry of a majority of the tournament population, we can get something done! If anyone cares to help in this matter, please feel free to email me at alectorelli@gmail.com as I would love to make this happen!
Cheers,
~ Trah ~
