Launch of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT)

[ifm]

This is the difficult one and i really can't think of a fair way of doing it.
Do you select the nearest 120 to the venue location?
Do you select the first 120 members?
Do you do a random ballot?
Do you personally select 120?
Boy it's tough, what i would suggest though is maybe multiple venues for day 1 in future?

[thediceman]

Do you hold a online freeroll for all members wanting and able to attend the event with the top 120 qualify.

[thetank]

Giving priority to players who haven't already attended a previous comp that year?

[RioRodent]

Do you hold a online freeroll for all members wanting and able to attend the event with the top 120 qualify.

Or maybe the bottom 120...

[tikay]

Wonderful.......these are precisely the sort of things we are looking for, thanks.

[tikay]

I'm afraid time has beaten me again, 4 hours & I've not finished the "thinking out loud" responses yet, I'm sorry. I will continue later, or tomorrow, the Walsall £50-er this evening is too tempting to miss.

Just 2 points before I sign off.

I've been overwhelmed by the huge number of PM's I've had about APAT, & I've tried to answer as many as I can, but still many more to do. I'll get there. They are all appeciated, it just takes time, with my lighning fast one-finger typing, they take a long time to answer.

And.....

"How do we define who is eligible to play"? Most of the PM's are from recreational players who are worried we will compromise, & they are concerned, as they thought APAT was intended for them. It IS intended for them, & we WILL ensure thats who we will have playing. Wait till we define it better, but "recreational players" is what APAT was designed for. Defining "recreational" is proving tough, but we will sort it. Anyway, we will Post properly on this subject as soon as we can. "Pros" - whatever that means - will not be eligible. I will enlarge on this as soon as time permits, probably in the morning.

[leighton_87]

This is the difficult one and i really can't think of a fair way of doing it.
Do you select the nearest 120 to the venue location?
Do you select the first 120 members?
Do you do a random ballot?
Do you personally select 120?
Boy it's tough, what i would suggest though is maybe multiple venues for day 1 in future?

The only way I can see doing it in this case is a random ballot or the first 120 to get in.  If you choose the nearest 120 then this would only work if the tour covered the whole country as some people may never get picked otherwise, and personally selecting would not be an option that any one would be happy, I can't see even the organisers being happy at having that put on them.

The freeroll is another option but is it really meeting the aims of introducing new players to the live circuit, will only the best make it everytime...who knows.  I'm just pleased it's not my decision  

[thediceman]

Agreed an online freeroll is not the best way of introducing new players to the live circuit but it is a way that everybody would get an equal opportunity. I'm just glad that it appears that whatever is decided is in the interests of the "recreational player" rather than those already playing the festival circuit.

As these APT main events are limited maybe the APAT could hold smaller regional events around the country, other than the ones they have already scheduled. This would allow so many more members get the opportunity to meet other APAT members and play live. For example, if APAT finds it has approx 50 members in the Norfolk and Suffolk area they could organise an APAT small freezeout event at say the Norwich poker club or the Grosvenor in Great Yarmouth just for members in that region. This could be done nationwide and allow the majority of APAT members the chance to meet other members in their region and to experiernce a live deep stacked game possibly for the first time. Naturally this would take a considerable amount of effort to organise but maybe the APAT could get volunteers in each of the various regional events to help.

Then the main APAT events can be open to all and however they decide who the lucky 120 people are then so be it. At least members are not excluded from the main events just because they live in the middle of nowhere.

[Royal Flush]

I find it a curiosity that they do this, just as it will always remain a mystery to me why folks vandalise phone-boxes or run keys along the side of parked cars.

My one-time Chairman, John Kirkland, OBE, had a rule about these things. We were not allowed to bring problems to him, unless we also gave him a suggested solution. "Don't bring me your problems, bring me your answers" he'd say. "Anyone can say whats wrong, but the brighter ones think it through & come up with an answer first". 

Sigh, we are not vandalising phone boxes or running keys along the side of cars.

The difference is that your Chairman was your boss, so its all well and good him asking for you to provide the solution, the posters on here are your customers, it is not up to them to bring you the solution.

[Indestructable]

Not sure that we are actually customers (assuming we join). We are members of an organisation and if we don't like something we have every right to say what we don't like, but also think we should be constructive in what we would want instead.
I have organised many social events in the past and there is allways someone that wants to moan but when asked for positive suggestions or asked if they want to step up to the plate to help they allways go quiet.
This isn't a dig at Flushy or anyone else, but from reading the thread it looks like suggestions are going to be considered carefully for the future.
Also have to be careful that we don't go so far that any of those involved think sod it, it's not worth the hassle.
Having said all that here is my question. 

With the Online league, am I right in thinking that it is a total of all points, rather than say your best 5 or 10 events etc. My reason for asking is that Saturday nights will be ok sometimes, but on others due to footie matches I will have no chance of playing.

[Jon MW]

...The difference is that your Chairman was your boss, so its all well and good him asking for you to provide the solution, the posters on here are your customers, it is not up to them to bring you the solution....

I think any organisation needs to stay in touch with what their market wants, how it does this might vary from industry to industry and organisation to organisation - but failing to take what the customer wants into consideration can be shown by the problems Marks & Spencer had for example.

A freeroll does provide a solution to the registration problem, but this would presumably be through Pokerstars, I would expect a considerable commitment from them to APAT if they were able to benefit from extra people signing up to them in this way. The structure of the freeroll might be better served by a shootout than a freezeout also as this would provide a basic level of standard of poker playing to register, but it wouldn't mean having to beat a massive field to get there.

[mikee_j]

you could try staggering the release of the registration. i.e. max 20 on the 31st.. then two days later, another 20 can register and so on.


just an idea

[TightEnd]

With the Online league, am I right in thinking that it is a total of all points, rather than say your best 5 or 10 events etc. My reason for asking is that Saturday nights will be ok sometimes, but on others due to footie matches I will have no chance of playing.

yes its the total of all points gained

[DesD]

Not sure that we are actually customers (assuming we join). We are members of an organisation and if we don't like something we have every right to say what we don't like, but also think we should be constructive in what we would want instead.
I have organised many social events in the past and there is allways someone that wants to moan but when asked for positive suggestions or asked if they want to step up to the plate to help they allways go quiet.
This isn't a dig at Flushy or anyone else, but from reading the thread it looks like suggestions are going to be considered carefully for the future.
Also have to be careful that we don't go so far that any of those involved think sod it, it's not worth the hassle.
Having said all that here is my question. 

With the Online league, am I right in thinking that it is a total of all points, rather than say your best 5 or 10 events etc. My reason for asking is that Saturday nights will be ok sometimes, but on others due to footie matches I will have no chance of playing.

Hi Indestructable,

The APAT will continually listen to its members.  That process is invaluable when the feedback is constructive.  

On the question of ranking points, points gained at each of the 7 live tournaments and the 26 online tournaments will count towards the player of the year WPT award.  Live events will award a maximum of 18 points each, and online events a maximum of 9.  However, consistent scoring in fewer events might still keep a player in contention for the Caribbean trip.   That's speculation I guess until the results of the first 4 or 5 events come in and trends start to emerge.

Regards,

Des.
MD, APL.

[ifm]

Not sure that we are actually customers (assuming we join). We are members of an organisation and if we don't like something we have every right to say what we don't like, but also think we should be constructive in what we would want instead.
I have organised many social events in the past and there is allways someone that wants to moan but when asked for positive suggestions or asked if they want to step up to the plate to help they allways go quiet.
This isn't a dig at Flushy or anyone else, but from reading the thread it looks like suggestions are going to be considered carefully for the future.
Also have to be careful that we don't go so far that any of those involved think sod it, it's not worth the hassle.
Having said all that here is my question. 

With the Online league, am I right in thinking that it is a total of all points, rather than say your best 5 or 10 events etc. My reason for asking is that Saturday nights will be ok sometimes, but on others due to footie matches I will have no chance of playing.

Hi Indestructable,

The APAT will continually listen to its members.  That process is invaluable when the feedback is constructive.  

On the question of ranking points, points gained at each of the 7 live tournaments and the 26 online tournaments will count towards the player of the year WPT award.  Live events will award a maximum of 18 points each, and online events a maximum of 9.  However, consistent scoring in fewer events might still keep a player in contention for the Caribbean trip.   That's speculation I guess until the results of the first 4 or 5 events come in and trends start to emerge.

Regards,

Des.
MD, APL.

2 points,
what you consider constructive is subjective.
So the WPT seat is all points (online AND live) combined?, i thought it was online only..........