[RunDownHouse]

Microbob,

Sorry, I don't ever play tournaments and don't play live more than a few times a year. When you say, "FT saying they couldn't do anything would have been better than what they did," do you mean that it would have been better for FT not to put the $13k or whatever in his acocunt and just tell him to get there on time or risk being blinded off?

Like I said, the best solution would be for FT to eat the wire fee, even if OP is a play money guy who's never generated any more rake then the tournament he entered. Cheap advertising, good will, yada yada. But I really don't see how them giving him the cash value in his FT account is a horrible solution, assuming he's still at home. Just refund the plane tickets, call the hotel to cancel, and book a plane - on time, this go around - for the next EPT event.

The best solution is FT going out of its way, but the easiest, most surefire solution? Don't get on a plane to [censored] Monte Carlo without a buy-in to a $10k event. Refund the tickets, cancel the hotel, and book the next EPT event. And check the start time before doing so.

EDIT: FWIW, when thinking about it, I get the feeling that Stars would have someone on-site at the tournament. FT not having a presence is a bit weird to me, and my assumption that Stars is there in person says a lot about my impression of their CS.