PartyPoker's
Pokerfest is finally back. The inaugural series began on October 2011 and it was supposed to be a semi-annual event but skipped the fall of 2012. Strangely, Party has just restarted its terrible cycle of reducing many tournament guarantees such as the $50,000 decrease to only $250K Guaranteed Sunday, so it is like shooting yourself in the foot and somehow expecting it to recover completely by next month! ???
The number of events has increased to 64 from 47. Just like the previous two series, the worst events to play are the points-only events because too many people play but the prize pool remains constant. For Palladium members (or those who can earn 3,000 points in one quarter at some point in the future like me and redeem for the 30% rakeback bonus), the 180 points required to play all points events are worth $27, but the value of those crowded events is much less. For Gold members (or those who can earn 1,000 points in a month in the future and redeem for the 15% rakeback bonus), the 180 points are worth $13.50, but the value of the events will probably be less. Party needs to limit the number of registrants, or increase the prize pool for every player over a certain number. Otherwise, the points events are a waste of time and points except possibly for those who are positive that they will NEVER play enough at Party to ever earn 1,000 points ($500 rake) in one calendar month.
Another blunder in the previous two series were bugs with the hand histories. HUDs did not work, so multi-tablers like me played a lot less than we would have otherwise.
The previous editions had leaderboard prizes, jackpot prizes and other promotions, but these seem to be gone from Pokerfest III. :( There does not seem to be much incentive to play any extra tournaments than you normally would.