A Look Back: Which WSOP ME Package Was the Best?

Just curious where I should play my satellites next year.

All factors considered (hotel, customer service, treatment, coverage, perks, etc.), which online site awarded the best Main Event prize packages? I'm inclined to assume it was Poker Stars, but the FTP dinners sound really cool.

edit: Potentially wrong forum. Mods, do your thing.

[CarpeDiem]

Stars was awfully nice--the NICE goodie bags, the free breakfast, helpful staff, etc. I'd love to hear how other people perceived their packages.

[HSB]

I would love to hear if platinum or supernova Stars VIPs got a little something special.

i.e., happy endings?

[ QUOTE ]
i.e., happy endings?

[/ QUOTE ]

That'd probably be with Bodog and the Bodog girls...

[mhcmarty]

If Bodog offers the same level of overlay that's where my investment will be spent.

Travel expenses were paid in cash and the party at Tao was pretty exceptional. I also found the suite just outside the poker room to be inviting. Drinks provided anytime I went in there. The Bodog gear wasn't worth the $1,000 they had advertised.

[ QUOTE ]
If Bodog offers the same level of overlay that's where my investment will be spent.

Travel expenses were paid in cash and the party at Tao was pretty exceptional. I also found the suite just outside the poker room to be inviting. Drinks provided anytime I went in there. The Bodog gear wasn't worth the $1,000 they had advertised.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you tell more about this party at the Tao? Didn't hear about this. Were you allowed to bring guests?

[CarpeDiem]

I saw one of the SuperNova VIP's with a rolling suitcase that was courtesy of Stars, so that's something...it looked pretty nice. Like a carry-on type dealie.

[mhcmarty]

I was able to bring in 1 guest. They kind of put me off for a day concerning the guest. They wanted to make sure they had enough wrist bands.

Anyway, their intentions concerning the party are still a little unclear.

1. They had advertised the package as including a welcome party (Bodog-style) but they wouldn't tell me when or where on the phone leading all the way up until I left for Vegas.
2. Then there were rumors that we would have to play a poker tourney to see who would get the couple of invites. Bodog also had a convention planned for the same time period for on-line gaming "marketers". This was a big dollar event with Magic Johnson as a speaker ect... Then a CEO for an on-line site gets arrested in Houston and the conference gets canceled. Now this is all assumption here but I'm guessing they had the party planned and paid for at Tao and now, without many attendees.

As for the party. The club portion of Tao was Bodog guests only.
- Open bar (1st time drinking Red Bull and Grey Goose)
- Wait staff with appetizers moving around the room
- Sometype of Ice Cream social room with a couple of girls body painted gold
- An area with a bed where the topless girls were body painting each other. The one being painted seemed to reall like the attention. Another body painted girl swinging in a bird cage.
- The Bodob girls where pretty much everywhere
- Bodog poker players and few celebs.
- A stage with more girls moving to the tunes
- A few sit down poker tables with asian female dealers (I learned how to play Badugi)

This turned out to be a really good time. Good thing I had a couple of days to recoup before the ME. Bodog had a bunch of pictures on the site but I can't find them now.

[mephisto]

JohnnyBax said something about his special treatment from pokerstars because he was a supernova member. He got personalized stars gear with his screename put on. And when his phone batteries died on him, pokerstars staff went through the trouble to fix that up for him so he can concentrate on the tournament fully. According to him, he loved the stars treatment.

[technologic]

well, if you made the final table as a pstars qualifier, you get to meet greg raymer and joe hachem at a dinner! ZOMG

[dlk9s]

[ QUOTE ]
If Bodog offers the same level of overlay that's where my investment will be spent.

Travel expenses were paid in cash and the party at Tao was pretty exceptional. I also found the suite just outside the poker room to be inviting. Drinks provided anytime I went in there. The Bodog gear wasn't worth the $1,000 they had advertised.

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone could get free drinks in the Bodog lounge at any time.

[kleath]

Rainkhan told me he got a ton of crap from stars for the ME, I know they gave him a personalized jersey for the ME with his sn on it, he said ton of other stuff but didnt elaborate too much.

[Lawman007]

Stars' package was awesome.

[Chapdoggy]

I won my seat through Party Poker for the third year in a row, where as the overlay was nowhere near the last two years (last year they even sent you any unused hotel money after the event) they did finally have their crap together in organization.

As a VIP member I got a sweet top of the line Samsonite luggage filled with the following items.

Ralph Lauren Full Sleeved Dress Shirt
Tommy Bahama Short Sleeved Button Down (Very Cool Shirt)
Pretty Cool Bowling shirt type thing
3 different Short Sleeved Polos (one from Nike Drytex)
4 various T-shirts
2 Hats
Two 2X2 Tournement Books - written by Slansky and Cloutier
Backgammon set
Palm Tunseng handheld PDA
5 Decks of cards
Tourney Survival kit - back massager, mints, red bull etc..

The party at Studio 54 was pretty cool, although it was the night before my start date so I didn't get to rip it up like some of the others there. I just ate the decent spread, watched some of the dance things they had then went upstairs to chill out.

They also had a VIP room right outside of the convention hall, although it was a little small to really chill out in when it had a lot of others in it.

[MafiaPrince]

Wow that sounds awesome...I dont play on Party so im not really familiar with their levels of players but you mentioned you were a "VIP member" how did your package compare to that of the normal players? do you know?

[Chapdoggy]

They got a duffel type bag with a couple of shirts in it as far as I know, but I didn't see it.

[Lloyd]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow that sounds awesome...I dont play on Party so im not really familiar with their levels of players but you mentioned you were a "VIP member" how did your package compare to that of the normal players? do you know?

[/ QUOTE ]
I am not a VIP at Party but received the same bag described above which was nice. Party is still miles behind Stars in terms of customer service and if not for some personal connections I probably would have had some serious issues upon arriving in Vegas (like no hotel room). There are people at Party that "get it" but most don't. If they could just find a way of replicating the support of their very best than I'd love Party. As it stands, it was overall a frustrating experience.

As for refunding unused hotel room money, remember in the past the hotel room was paid for by the prize pool. This year, Party paid for the hotel room outside of the prize pool in return for wearing their gear. So there was no additional monies to be paid but Party essentially created an overlay equal to the cost of the hotel room. I thought this was a significant improvement over how things were handled in the past.

[DocMartin]

Got mine through SunPoker. There were only around 30 of us which was good I think. They were generous with the gear (hats, visor, cool sandals, nice golf shirts, light button-downs, cards, beach gear and some other stuff). Got to know all the people who run the site, and they treated us very well. Wife even won a nice chip set in one of their raffles. Some examples include taking a few of the players out for a night at the strip club, food and drinks on several occasions with them picking up the tab. They gave us an extra night at the Rio when we realized our flight was a day later than expected. Went out and played poker with them (they weren't just marketing dorks) and had a great time. One of them even final tabled with me at one of the Caesar's noon tourneys.

They got to know us all and checked up on us while we were playing, making sure we had everything we needed. Got to know all the other qualifiers and had a real "Team" mentality. Cool charity auction party for the wounded warrior project in the Palazzo suites with Kenna James, Gavin Smith, Devilfish, Marcel Luske and a bunch of other pros (I have an amusing video of Devilfish doing karaoke).

It was the kind of experience that could only be provided by a room with a small amount of players (or a room trying to take care of its high rollers) where you weren't "PokerStars guy #1367". I was also talking to someone who got their seat through Doyle's Room and heard nothing but good things with the same small room personalized service, so maybe one of those guys could chime in.

[Yuv]

What was so good about the stars package? The "goody" bag sucked (the clothes are god awful), it was a hassle to get from the MC to the rio and nothing else was given, as far as I know.

Maybe if you're a supernova, it's better (I know they had a free dinner + open bar and personlized [censored]), but for the average joe it was pretty much the bare minimum.

The stuff with the pokerstars.com/net thing was embarassing. Having to run around on day 1 of the ME to the other side of the center to get my .com covered with tape? That was a mega [censored] up on their part.

I really like Stars above any other site, but their package for the ME was at best on par with the other sites, def not better. Party goodies bag was much more impressive.

Agreed that the Stars goody bags left a lot to be desired. At least throw in a book, or a DVD, or basically anything that can actually be used outside the realm of the Main Event. As it is, all my shirts now have gaffer tape stuck to them.

I guess maybe this is incentive for me to become a Supernova.

[Superfluous Man]

[ QUOTE ]
Rainkhan told me he got a ton of crap from stars for the ME, I know they gave him a personalized jersey for the ME with his sn on it, he said ton of other stuff but didnt elaborate too much.

[/ QUOTE ]
I played a STT at the Rio with Rainkhan, asked him what his 'stars name was and he turned around and pointed to the back of his 'stars jersey, which had "RainKhan" written on it. Man, I felt stupid, but he was a real cool dude for the 10 minutes I played with him before unceremoniously donking my way out.

Anyway, perhaps a personalized jersey is enough incentive for me to drop out of grad school and grind out the ~50k VPPs i need to get supernova.

Edit: Oh yeah, I'll echo Yuv's complaints, as I had the regular 'stars package and stayed at the MC as well. I'd have much preferred some polos or button-down shirts (or even, hell, some more t-shirts) to the crazy menagerie of jerseys we got. I can wear a polo in my day-to-day life, I'm hard-pressed to ever think of an occasion where I would wear a 'stars basketball or hockey jersey. Don't get me wrong, they're nice, but I would never wear them outside of a poker tournament in which 'stars had sponsored me. Also, they could have used some better shuttle service to and from the MC (which is a very nice hotel/casino, fwiw). Having to choose between standing in a ginormous cab line for an hour and walking from the Rio to the Monte Carlo at 3 AM after Day 1 ended kind of sucked.

[Mama Poker]

[ QUOTE ]
I won my seat through Party Poker for the third year in a row, where as the overlay was nowhere near the last two years (last year they even sent you any unused hotel money after the event) they did finally have their crap together in organization.

As a VIP member I got a sweet top of the line Samsonite luggage filled with the following items.

Ralph Lauren Full Sleeved Dress Shirt
Tommy Bahama Short Sleeved Button Down (Very Cool Shirt)
Pretty Cool Bowling shirt type thing
3 different Short Sleeved Polos (one from Nike Drytex)
4 various T-shirts
2 Hats
Two 2X2 Tournement Books - written by Slansky and Cloutier
Backgammon set
Palm Tunseng handheld PDA
5 Decks of cards
Tourney Survival kit - back massager, mints, red bull etc..

The party at Studio 54 was pretty cool, although it was the night before my start date so I didn't get to rip it up like some of the others there. I just ate the decent spread, watched some of the dance things they had then went upstairs to chill out.

They also had a VIP room right outside of the convention hall, although it was a little small to really chill out in when it had a lot of others in it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lets see- MamaPoker =
Freeroll winner=no pda,redbull,and only 2 decks of cards.
Female =lousy selection of Polo Type and thin T-shirts plus the dress "blouse" was lame.

The hotel package and reception party were good, but I am really surprised that the sites do not make provisions for getting people back to the "base" hotel at 3am

Anyway, I'll take whichever site I win at first next year!
SEE YA THERE /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[pig4bill]

I can't believe some of the whining about taxis and shuttles here. Vegas is a town with taxis and limos 24x7. If you can't sack up for your own taxi after being lucky enough (yes, I said lucky) to win a satellite with a prize worth over ten grand, there's no hope for you.

[Superfluous Man]

[ QUOTE ]
I can't believe some of the whining about taxis and shuttles here. Vegas is a town with taxis and limos 24x7. If you can't sack up for your own taxi after being lucky enough (yes, I said lucky) to win a satellite with a prize worth over ten grand, there's no hope for you.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had no problem ponying up the money to pay for taxis throughout the 10 days I was in vegas. Maybe I'm more robusto than most satellite winners (probably not, given that I went to Vegas after playing bad/running bad and losing like 70% of my 'roll in the summer months preceding the WSOP), but paying for tons of cab rides simply wasn't an issue.

The real issue was having to choose between waiting in amazingly long cab lines for 45 minutes or more (cabs weren't exactly swarming at the Rio at 3 AM) after a 13 hour day of play ended and walking from the Rio to the Monte Carlo. I mean, it's no short walk, and it's a walk I probably wouldn't want to make alone at 3 AM, even though it's reasonably well-lit/public. It would have been much better if 'stars also offered a shuttle service back to the respective hotels. That's all I'm sayin'.

[Mama Poker]

[ QUOTE ]
They got a duffel type bag with a couple of shirts in it as far as I know, but I didn't see it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't see the duffel either, and got the Samsonite even though I was a freeroller/loader.
A guy I played with never got his case, said he called the hospitality people 3 times, each time telling them he did not get his suitcase, and each time they said they sent another to his room.
My theory is some other guest got the cases and just thought it was a nice gesture, being vegas and all.

[Mama Poker]

The real issue was having to choose between waiting in amazingly long cab lines for 45 minutes or more (cabs weren't exactly swarming at the Rio at 3 AM) after a 13 hour day of play ended and walking from the Rio to the Monte ook it 2x Carlo. I mean, it's no short walk, and it's a walk I probably wouldn't want to make alone at 3 AM, even though it's reasonably well-lit/public. It would have been much better if 'stars also offered a shuttle service back to the respective hotels. That's all I'm sayin'.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Mr Super-Exactly what I was thinking. And nice meeting you there, thanks for the BR boost.

Transportation was already budgetted into the trip, no big deal, but I was suprised because the PARTY shuttle is all over Vegas, and you could use it during the day to get to the Rio, but it stopped at 11pm. It was like they didn't expect anyone to last that long
= insert party poker jab here =


/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[JackOfSpeed]

[ QUOTE ]

thanks for the BR boost.


[/ QUOTE ]

Does this mean what I think it means? /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[Superfluous Man]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

thanks for the BR boost.


[/ QUOTE ]

Does this mean what I think it means? /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, I don't know, given that I got black-out drunk no fewer than 2 times over the 10 days. I mean, it would explain the chlamydia...

Haha just kidding, maybe Mama's referring to when I dropped like $700 in 30 minutes at Monte Carlo 1/2 NL game when I was playing "lol i'm really hammered i'll shove crap" poker. Or any of the many, many other -EV gambles I made in vegas. I am terrible with names and faces, especially when hammered, so, um, you're welcome for the BR boost i guess /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Mama Poker]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

thanks for the BR boost.


[/ QUOTE ]

Does this mean what I think it means? /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, I don't know, given that I got black-out drunk no fewer than 2 times over the 10 days. I mean, it would explain the chlamydia...

Haha just kidding, maybe Mama's referring to when I dropped like $700 in 30 minutes at Monte Carlo 1/2 NL game when I was playing "lol i'm really hammered i'll shove crap" poker. Or any of the many, many other -EV gambles I made in vegas. I am terrible with names and faces, especially when hammered, so, um, you're welcome for the BR boost i guess /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

sigh....you said I was special

No, I guess you don't remember meeting me with Peter Chi near the sign in desk, but the boost was my share of the last longer competition between the Buckeyes-Wolverines.
I am not good with faces, but the names I remember!

[Superfluous Man]

[ QUOTE ]

No, I guess you don't remember meeting me with Peter Chi near the sign in desk, but the boost was my share of the last longer competition between the Buckeyes-Wolverines.
I am not good with faces, but the names I remember!

[/ QUOTE ]
Ah yes, now I remember. I don't know, I may have been kind of drunk then, too /images/graemlins/smile.gif Nice meeting you.

Edit: Obv that prop bet was +EV, y'all just got lucky.

[PanRains]

I know this doesn't precisely address your question, but it should be pointed out that Stars essentially gave their people a free grand or hotel stay at a pretty nice joint.

Similarly, this doesn't impact the WSOP ME specifically, but at Full Tilt winning your second seat resulted in 12K cash going into your FT account, rather than W$ or TECs or the like.

Take that as you will.

[JackOfSpeed]

Guess it doesn't really matter any more, but I think Bodog was definitely the best with all the spending cash they gave people ($2500).

Holy crap its depressing that we'll (probably) never be able to qualify for the WSOP online again.

[Dangeresque]

Move to Canadaaaaaaaaaa...

[ QUOTE ]
Guess it doesn't really matter any more, but I think Bodog was definitely the best with all the spending cash they gave people ($2500).

Holy crap its depressing that we'll (probably) never be able to qualify for the WSOP online again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this post seems kind of ironic now.

Good to know which packages WERE best though.

edit: [ QUOTE ]
Just curious where I should play my satellites next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pfff... jackass.

[pig4bill]

[ QUOTE ]
Move to Canadaaaaaaaaaa...

[/ QUOTE ]

You wouldn't have to move there, right? Just visit on vacation for a week with your laptop.