WPT Niagra - Reponse from manager

Zithal

Hi all, I recieved a response from the poker room manager at Niagra, so I thought I'd share. I'm posting it in a new topic to get it a little more attention. (BTW.. the free swag reference was my attempt at getting him to pony up something for the boards)

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Hi Rob,

I appreciate your feedback and comments. I very much look forward to building a relationship with the poker players in Canada. Since taking over poker operations at Fallsview in February, I have strived to make it one of the premier rooms in the region and beyond. I appreciate the support and the enthusiasm in running satellites into our events - the response to that has been great!

As to your concern with the blinds, I understand your issues, but part of your information is incorrect. The WSOP and WPT events do not start at 25-25, they start at 25-50 and then progress from there - level four in other events is equal to the structure I have implemented at Fallsview (100-200 + 25). From level four and beyond, our structure is at least equal, if not more competitive, and for the Main Event each player will receive $20,000 in starting chips as opposed to $10,000 at the WSOP. If you play the SNG WSOP qualifiers at Seneca, you receive $400 in starting chips and the blind structure is more aggressive. For the Step B qualifier at Fallsview ($1,200 single table, $2,500 chips, 30 minute blinds - first wins a seat, second gets a replay voucher) I strongly believe that this is the most competitive SNG for a major entry - including structure. I am a poker player myself and believe strongly in "giving play", otherwise events will not be successful.

Fallsview will be hosting two WPT events back-to-back in October. October 20-24, final table on the 30th, is the WPT Canadian Open Poker Championships with a buy-in of $2,500 + $200. This is also a televised event. Casino Niagara will be running satellites for this event starting mid to late August. October 25-29 is the WPT North American Poker Championships with a buy-in of $10,000 + $300. We are planning two events per year for at least the next five years. For this years events we have kept them together due to time, but in future years we may look at spacing them apart throughout the year, and adding other smaller buy-in events. I have worked a few of the WPT events, and I can assure you that this will be a premier event with what we have planned.

As for free entries and swag, sorry. We have had a tremendous response to the WPT and have directed our dollars to the actual event itself this year, but don't rule it out for future events! Please keep in touch and feel free to contact me anytime.

Regards,

Jason March
Poker Manager / Tournament Director
Casino Shift Manager
Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort

AcidJoe

Rob, I did a little research and here is the link to the foxwoods satellites etc for the world poker finals. It seems they have a more correct blind schedule.

http://www.foxwoods.com/OurWonders/Gaming/Poker/WPF/WPF.aspx# Click the link that says win a seat in the $10,000 championship. they go from 100/200 no ante to 100/200 with 25 ante. The first level tourney is 1500 chips with 15 minute blinds. Allows for a little more play. They aren't running SNG's but action tourney's. A few other I"ve checked all do not jump the way the Niagara tourney is.

BlondeFish

It's sad that Fallsview seems to be the only major tournament in the world where the blinds/antes almost quadruple from one level to the next. From the third to fourth level, the blinds/antes explode from 150 to 550. Suckers that paid $90 including 19% rake for the Step 1 satellite will go from the Orange Zone in level 3 (800/150 = 5.3) to virtually the DEAD zone in the next level (800/550 = 1.45). Most of the players will have less than 40 minutes of play before they are forced all-in and eliminated.

AcidJoe wrote:

they go from 100/200 no ante to 100/200 with 25 ante.

JimmyHo

BlondeFish wrote:

It's sad that Fallsview seems to be the only major tournament in the world where the blinds/antes almost quadruple from one level to the next. From the third to fourth level, the blinds/antes explode from 150 to 550.  Suckers that paid $90 including 19% rake for the Step 1 satellite will go from the Orange Zone in level 3 (800/150 = 5.3) to virtually the DEAD zone in the next level (800/550 = 1.45).  Most of the players will have less than 40 minutes of play before they are forced all-in and eliminated.

AcidJoe wrote:

they go from 100/200 no ante to 100/200 with 25 ante.

Hopefully the Forum run satellites will be a little more flexible with the blind structures and M from level to level. If we can get 50 forum members to put up $50 each, maybe we could have a COPC satellite?

pokermojo

If you look at two of the best tournament players ever, Hellmuth and Cloutier, they are both of the strong opinion that they do not play a pot before there are blinds - it's just not worth it. For the "newer" aggressive style, Negreanu and Ivey, they believe strongly in accumulating chips early while the blinds are low. The fourth level of each WSOP and WPT event is 100-200 + 25, they just start at 25-50 as opposed to 25-25. From the fourth level onward, the blind structre is as competitive as any event out there, and you get 20,000 starting chips.

BlondeFish

Since there is no way I will pay for Fallsview's Step 1 BINGO satellites, I have already played in a couple of rake-free WPT satellites. Bonus cash was put into the prize pool so the rake was negative!

In one club, starting chips were 2,500 (instead of Fallsview's 800) with 20-minute blinds (instead of 10 minutes). In another club, starting chips were 2,000 with 20-minute blinds, and the WPT blind schedule was used without the antes, i.e., there was lots of play and no stupid quadruple jump from one level to the next.

pokerJAH wrote:

Hopefully the Forum run satellites will be a little more flexible with the blind structures and M from level to level.  If we can get 50 forum members to put up $50 each, maybe we could have a COPC satellite?

pokermojo

Very good BlondeFish, no more need to be such a ray of sunshine. You should be nothing but happy now.