HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR(HOOTERS CASINO HOTEL)

[TEKEE]

THE HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR IS COMING TO LAS VEGAS NEXT MONTH IT WILL BE HELD AT HOOTERS CASINO HOTEL, THE BUYIN IS $2500+$150 IM SURE SOME WELL KNOWN VEGAS PROS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS ONE FOR SURE.ALSO I SEE THE "JUICE" FOR THIS IS ONLY 6%.KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GREG & TODD.

[worm33]

This should rival the Majestic event in Gary, Indiana where first place was 122k. Reduced vig, down to 2500+150 for the direct buy in sunday. Should be a good warmup for the LA classic!

[BigBuffet]

They should change the name to National Poker Tour. Last time I checked, California and Nevada were not in the "Heartland".

Changing the focus is fine, but they should stop pretending to be what they are increasingly not...

[olivert]

[ QUOTE ]
THE HEARTLANDPOKERTOUR IS COMING TO LAS VEGAS NEXT MONTH IT WILL BE HELD AT HOOTERS CASINO HOTEL, THE BUYIN IS $2500+$150 IM SURE SOME WELL KNOWN VEGAS PROS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS ONE FOR SURE.ALSO I SEE THE "JUICE" FOR THIS IS ONLY 6%.KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK GREG & TODD.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would the pros play when:

1. The structure of HPT events are way too fast for the buy-in levels? 30-minute rounds (with blinds doubling every level) were bad enough for $300 and $500 buy-in events, and would be absurd for $1000 or $2500 buy-in events.

2. The HPT event only has regional TV coverage, which means one needs to subscribe to the DirecTV or DISH Network sports packs to watch if you are on the west coast?

And more importantly:

3. The HPT still doesn't allow players to wear dot-net poker school logos?

Pros who have sponsorship deals get paid serious money to wear dot net logos when they make TV final tables.

The HPT isn't the only TV tourney in Vegas on January 29-30. The UPC should still have its $660 buy-in event at Binions, with 40-minute levels, 5000 chips (blinds at 25-25 to start), WGN Superstation national TV coverage, and a player-friendly dot-net logo policy.

[worm33]

I just sent an e-mail to the HPT today discussing improving the strcuture. I think they will be responsive. I have proposed a 150-300 level along with a 600-1200 level and 800-1600 level. If we could make this 50-60 minute rounds somehow, and improve the strucutre, I think this would be the best $2500 tournament out there.

[pacecar86]

Mike - sent u a PM

Jack

[BigBuffet]

[ QUOTE ]
Why would the pros play when:

1. The structure of HPT events are way too fast for the buy-in levels? 30-minute rounds (with blinds doubling every level) were bad enough for $300 and $500 buy-in events, and would be absurd for $1000 or $2500 buy-in events.

2. The HPT event only has regional TV coverage, which means one needs to subscribe to the DirecTV or DISH Network sports packs to watch if you are on the west coast?

3. The HPT still doesn't allow players to wear dot-net poker school logos?

The HPT isn't the only TV tourney in Vegas on January 29-30. The UPC should still have its $660 buy-in event at Binions, with 40-minute levels, 5000 chips (blinds at 25-25 to start), WGN Superstation national TV coverage, and a player-friendly dot-net logo policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oliver, your thoughts are logical. However, you may not be familiar with the HPT. It was started two years ago by a couple of guys from Fargo, ND hoping to give players in the Midwest a chance to play NLHE under conditions better than typical local casinos gave us.

Their mission may have changed (god knows the structure of the tournaments change all the time), but originally the goal was for regular guys to play. Therefore, the logo clothing was not something they were concerned with. Maybe that will change.

In a nutshell, the direct buy-in was started about halfway through its existence. I don’t know why. Anyway, it started out as a $340-550 tournament. Period. There are two qualifying shifts each day for two days. If you make it to the top 20% of your shift, you return for the Sunday playoff. With the direct buy-in (=5x the qualifying round fee) you can sidestep the qualifying round and go directly to the Sunday playoff. Even though there is a direct buy-in, most players enter through the qualifying round. Therefore, saying $2500 vs $500 is not accurate. Also, the Sunday playoff starts with 15,000 chips no matter how many the qualifying round players ended with.

The blinds and starting chips are not that bad compared to most NLHE tournaments. It would be nice if they added a few blind levels. However, with two qualifying shifts each day, that would add more time to each shift. Consequently, the first shift each day would have to start earlier and the second shift each day would end later. So I doubt this will happen.

My main concern is: Are they changing the original focus? Are they trying to go “Big Time” and be the little brother of the WSOPC and WPT?

Or maybe a little of each. Perhaps they are using the Midwest events to create a feeder system for national events held in Vegas, AC or wherever 2 or 3 times a year. And then have more national events and fewer Midwest events…

[olivert]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why would the pros play when:

1. The structure of HPT events are way too fast for the buy-in levels? 30-minute rounds (with blinds doubling every level) were bad enough for $300 and $500 buy-in events, and would be absurd for $1000 or $2500 buy-in events.

2. The HPT event only has regional TV coverage, which means one needs to subscribe to the DirecTV or DISH Network sports packs to watch if you are on the west coast?

3. The HPT still doesn't allow players to wear dot-net poker school logos?

The HPT isn't the only TV tourney in Vegas on January 29-30. The UPC should still have its $660 buy-in event at Binions, with 40-minute levels, 5000 chips (blinds at 25-25 to start), WGN Superstation national TV coverage, and a player-friendly dot-net logo policy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oliver, your thoughts are logical. However, you may not be familiar with the HPT. It was started two years ago by a couple of guys from Fargo, ND hoping to give players in the Midwest a chance to play NLHE under conditions better than typical local casinos gave us.

Their mission may have changed (god knows the structure of the tournaments change all the time), but originally the goal was for regular guys to play. Therefore, the logo clothing was not something they were concerned with. Maybe that will change.

In a nutshell, the direct buy-in was started about halfway through its existence. I don’t know why. Anyway, it started out as a $340-550 tournament. Period. There are two qualifying shifts each day for two days. If you make it to the top 20% of your shift, you return for the Sunday playoff. With the direct buy-in (=5x the qualifying round fee) you can sidestep the qualifying round and go directly to the Sunday playoff. Even though there is a direct buy-in, most players enter through the qualifying round. Therefore, saying $2500 vs $500 is not accurate. Also, the Sunday playoff starts with 15,000 chips no matter how many the qualifying round players ended with.

The blinds and starting chips are not that bad compared to most NLHE tournaments. It would be nice if they added a few blind levels. However, with two qualifying shifts each day, that would add more time to each shift. Consequently, the first shift each day would have to start earlier and the second shift each day would end later. So I doubt this will happen.

My main concern is: Are they changing the original focus? Are they trying to go “Big Time” and be the little brother of the WSOPC and WPT?

Or maybe a little of each. Perhaps they are using the Midwest events to create a feeder system for national events held in Vegas, AC or wherever 2 or 3 times a year. And then have more national events and fewer Midwest events…

[/ QUOTE ]

I am familiar enough with the HPT concept, as the HPT started as the same time as the now-defunct Southern California Poker Tour (SCPT), which ran out of money in 2005.

The HPT did the one thing that I told the people behind the SCPT to do: do a regional TV distribution deal with Comcast, which has regional sports networks that needs to fill a lot of time, in order to get TV exposure in key markets. Exposure on Comcast SportsNet Chicago, which is available on DirecTV and DISH Network sports packs across the U.S., helped the HPT get its name out beyond the midwest.

[By the time the SCPT got around to getting a deal done with Comcast (in Northern and Central California on Sacramento-based Comcast SportsNet West), the SCPT was already in financial trouble.]

I was aware of HPT's foray into the Fresno market in October, but I chose to pass after seeing the fast structure and seeing that no dot-net logos were allowed.

(Before the UIGEA passed, even regular guys could get logo deals on a contingent basis. I did such a deal with Full Tilt at the NPL Vegas Open at Caesar's in June, and I wrote about it in Poker Player Newspaper in October.)

My points about the HPT remains the same: just by holding a $2650 buy-in event in Vegas doesn't mean that pros will come, as the Ultimate Poker Challenge (UPC), which has migrated down to the $340 and $660 buy-in levels in an effort to attract a mix of journeyman pros and recreational players to Binion's on weekends, now competes directly against the HPT for clientele.

The UPC has a better TV distribution contract (on WGN SuperStation, which reaches over 80 million households across the US) compared to the HPT, and the UPC has a player-friendly dot-net logo policy.

[MrFizzbin]

LOL Poker Tournament at Hooters in Vegas ?....

Where ? The poker room there is 3 or 4 table room that barely holds 3 or 4 tables. Are they going to close the Hooters Restaurant and put tables in there .... Given the 2500 buy in and high structure maybe the 4 table room will be enough... Someone is loosing money on this one.....

[BigBuffet]

What I'm trying to say is I didn't know HPT was going after pros... If they are, then they are hypocrites unless they change their current stated objective of trying to be a venue for the better recreational tournament players in the midwest.

If they are abandoning that customer base, then you are right. They will fail because there are better pro tournaments out there in the marketplace.

And if they are keeping to their current stated objective, then the question remains "Why go to California and Vegas when their name is Heartland..."

Since TEKEE knows Greg and Todd, maybe he can answer our questions.

[worm33]

[ QUOTE ]
What I'm trying to say is I didn't know HPT was going after pros... If they are, then they are hypocrites unless they change their current stated objective of trying to be a venue for the better recreational tournament players in the midwest.

If they are abandoning that customer base, then you are right. They will fail because there are better pro tournaments out there in the marketplace.

And if they are keeping to their current stated objective, then the question remains "Why go to California and Vegas when their name is Heartland..."

Since TEKEE knows Greg and Todd, maybe he can answer our questions.

[/ QUOTE ]


After talking with Greg at length I can tell you they are very much committed to catering to the recreational players. In fact I would say this is one of their top prioritys.