Captain: Jason Mercier

Ivey Pros: Dan Smith

Brits: Jake Cody

WSOP POTY Top 10s 2012-13: Daniel Negraneau

High Stakes: Jason Mercier

Ladies: Vanessa Selbst

Eurozoners: Bertrand Grospellier

WildCard 1: Phil Ivey

Wild Card 2: Phil Hellmuth

5% @1.25

I must say that ever since they were introduced I have felt uncomfortable about cards that can be identified by the individual micro-chips in them far more than the regular decks which are only seen via the under-table cameras and which can be avoided if so desired.

Does anyone else share my concern or am I being paranoid?

The reader that takes the information of the chip on the card will only pick the data up if it is in very close proximity to the cards. If a more powerful reader (i don't know if they exist or not) was used by someone to try and get the info on what cards a player had then it would pick up all the cards on the table and be useless to them. Plus the chip is basically a long barcode and only the computer that is used for the table knows what barcode matches each card.

When we do this the computer that does all the reading of cards and graphic generation is not network connected so it cannot be hacked by anyone.

No, I didn't sign a waiver. Obviously would have shown my cards if I had.

I would probably have grumpily agreed to show my cards if they had added money to the pool.

Interested to know what the viewing figures for these live streams are?

I've very rarely watched one, would only do so if I had a % of someone in a final. And would definitely never watch a stream before the ft. Far too boring.

Prefer written and interactive updates by far.

Well if you didn't sign a waiver there's not much they can do.

Obviously I can't publish viewing figures without consent of clients but the lowest we ever had was 700 uniques for a weekend and the most was 20k in a day. There is usually a lot more viewers watching online than there is at the venue. Due to the niche nature I would expect them all to be valid opportunities for marketing compared to a minutely small % of viewers watching a mainstream TV show. On average a viewer watches around an hour of a full day stream.

Other than professional interest I only watch a stream if a good friend or someone I have a % in is playing. After spending my early poker career as an updater I have seen enough poker hands to last me a lifetime. When I first got into the game I watched all the TV shows with great interest but now it is very rare that I continue watching  stream after I have got all the info I need from it. Sometimes if Jesse, Padraig or Neil are on good form I might stay listening for entertainment.

Interesting debate!

Fair play to you Keith for getting away with not showing your cards, did you actually sign a waiver that said you were required to at the beginning of the tournament?

I have to say that if it was at a tournament that I organised and you signed the waiver you would have been first warned, if you carried on given a penalty and if you persisted after that disqualified. As far I see it is the same as breaking any other tournament rule.

We do get asked occasionally by players who are about to sign these at our events if we will enforce it (we would) and I can only recall one occasion that the player decided not to play rather than sign it.

Personally I think there are better ways to make a live stream more interesting than showing hole cards. However when we live stream an event we do so at the organisers spec and if that includes having hole cards on a delay then that is their choice. The only event that we organise as well as stream that has hole cards is Goliath and I think that is the kind of event it should be reserved for. I also think that events shown live to a massive audience on TV or like the WSOP benefit but I think they should be filmed in a segregated area with no access to the stream or outside world. If you are not segregating then everybody should have access to the stream as it is broadcast. We have displayed a delayed stream in the room before and it went down very well.

At the end of the day the usual rules of supply & demand will come into effect and hole-cards will only be not shown on a regular basis if a) the players stop turning up because of it or b) the organisers decide it is not worth the cost.

In the UK at the moment players have the best choice they have ever had. With the likes of Dtd, Grosvenor, Genting and Pokerstars all either guaranteeing or adding money to events there has never been so much value or choice for the players. This will only stay if the organisers feel that the cost/risks are worth it. Part of the reason they do it is for exposure and live streams are part of exploiting this. Some obviously feel that hole-cards make a big difference, some not. I am sure debates like this will help along the way to how things develop for the future but to say players get nothing in return is not looking at the big picture. There are no games without someone to organise them.

Alex's point is very relevant and I am sure one of the reasons why hole-cards are so popular. A good commentator costs a lot more than having the hole-card technology...

DtD use the same technology as the EPO & ourselves, to not show your cards you just have to make sure they do not go on the RFID reader in front of you.

Meanwhile at the GUKPT 1B only got 92 runners, after 123 on 1a

315 entries including re-entries over the two days

Was 192 entries on Day 1B....

Go Claypole!

Whilst working my way gradually back through this thread I saw the blond updating team were looking for a new lens. The Canon 50mm f1.8 is a brilliant low cost lens for less than £100 new. It's nick-named the plastic fantastic and if you have a Canon DSLR you should think about adding one to your kit.

Because of the wide aperture setting it is great for low light. Set it to f1.8 on Av mode and you will get great pics. Resolution is good enough on the camera you have that you can crop to zoom for web pics so lack of zoom is not an issue. It will give a very shallow depth of field if you are close to your subject so step back if you want a deeper depth of field.

There is also now a 40mm f.28 Canon lens for less than £200 new which will give you a slightly wider view but not as wide an aperture.

When the coffers grow the 24-70 & 70-200 2.8L lenses are the business for poker photography and most of the Canon using pro's would have them. You'll probably get better results from your camera & these lenses than cheaper lenses & more expensive camera.

Thought I'd share a few recent pics.

The first are taken at Ferne Animal Sanctuary in Somerset where my partner works. It's a great place and the animals get cared for really well. I enjoy spending time helping out, mostly walking the some of the dogs & putting the animals away at night.









This one is the lead singer of a band called Ameira who were playing a gig in Hull I went up to see:



Last one is of our nutcase but loveable Husky/German Shepherd X - Colonel (inherited name as he was 2 when gf took him in after 4 re-homing attempts failed)

Click to see full-size image.

recvd, TY and WP

+1

+1

Thanks for the link to Hoey Mike, he covers quite a spread with really good vids.

Geo

Yeah he has a good portfolio. There is also a website he writes for which is worth looking at www.tipsquirrel.com. Some of the other contributors quite good too.

Just found this section of the site - will have to start from beginning of thread when I have some time. I am starting to get back into photography since getting some high end DSLR's for the video side of our business.

Good video on firework photography here:

http://youtu.be/D3P8GwMCOr8 (Jared Polin is one of those love him or hate him characters so not all will like his style but he gives good advice)

re: Millidonk's image wrapping

Here's one I did for one of the guys in a local band:

Click to see full-size image.

That's the dorset flag on his face

Gavin Hoey does some great videos on photoshop techniques - http://www.youtube.com/user/PhotoGavin

Well done in the main event.

Why does it take a couple of weeks to pay out please to the % folk?

If i want to buy a car i'll just ship instant online. The money is there off it goes.   

Regards

M

I couldn't send their share of the WSOP cash online instantly because the dollars wouldn't fit into my cd drive.

To those actually interested in the process:

I haven't yet collected the money from the rio because the bank isn't open today and I don't want the cash lying around.
Tomorrow I will collect the money and go to the bank and deposit it into my account (I have a US bank account which comes in very handy)
I will then transfer the money to a forex company who send £££ to my uk bank account.
Once that arrives I will send out the transfers to the backers.

The above process will actually probably only take 5-7 working days, but I said a couple of weeks to be safe. Also I am staying in Vegas until Saturday and therefore don't want to send out all my dollars before I know how much I'll need for the coming week (I'll be playing cash). Rather than do 2 transfers and double the transaction costs I will just wait until Friday to send what dollars I have in one go, however if anyone is genuinely in need of their money in a hurry I can move it forward a few days.

Perfectly fine with me. Was expecting longer to be fair, have heard some horrors about WSOP payouts taking up to 6 weeks if you take a cheque or transfer.

Well done again!

[John Oshea]

"Brit" cashes (excluding Sam Holden):

150    Niall Farrell       $52,718
161    Nicholas Abourisk       $52,718
162    John Oshea       $52,718
172    Craig McCorkell       $44,655
181    Derek Chisholm       $44,655
184    Charles Clark       $44,655
202    Keith Johnson       $44,655
203    JP Kelly       $44,655
207    Daniel Sauva       $44,655
229    Adam Lawler       $44,655
244    James Brodie       $38,453
279    James Keys       $38,453
283    Salman Behbehani       $38,453
286    Fergal Nealon       $38,453
308    Jamie Sill       $32,871
358    Chris Moorman       $32,871
364    Paul Mctaggart       $32,871
373    Karim Jomeen       $32,871
388    Teddy Sheringham       $28,530
392    Marc Wright       $28,530
439    Rhys Jones       $28,530
446    Philip Peters       $28,530
465    Alin Rapoport       $24,808
472    John Shipley       $24,808
508    James Mitchell       $24,808
509    Adam Latimer       $24,808
525    Daniel Rudd       $21,707
547    Andres Ibarguen       $21,707
552    Gary Hurst       $21,707
553    Vitalii Minakov       $21,707
556    Marvin Lee       $21,707
558    Kevin Williams       $21,707
592    Peter Murphy       $21,707
603    Neil Ryder       $19,227
616    Paul Ephremsen       $19,227
631    Liv Boeree       $19,227
658    Daniel Pickard       $19,227

At least 3 Irish in there that might take exception to being labelled "brits"

Hope Sam goes really deep again. Good guy with a level head and really seems to love the game.

Great effort James! Looking forward to next one

Gl James! Glad I got in for my only WSOP 2012 bullet