FullTilt WSOP qualifiers

[SteelWheel]

There was a thread started during the forum upgrade about this, that was apparently lost in the rollback. Apparently, several FT players who had won online sats for the WSOP have been advised that the problems with Harrah's and 3rd party payments have been unsolvable, and hence, FT was just depositing $10K directly into the players' accounts.

I was saddened and surprised to hear about this, especially since I had been given some assurances by people in a position to know about such things that Harrah's was going to be doing its best to "look the other way" with respect to such issues.

Are any other sites known to be taking this approach? I won my ME seat on 'Stars this year, and so far, they've given me no indication that buying me into the event is going to be a problem.

One thing is for sure: If FT's policy becomes the norm, then the number of entrants in this year's ME will go way down. Most people will just pocket the $10K, rather than go to the trouble of cashing the money out of their accounts, and then getting to Vegas and buying their own way in. Sad...

[ispiked]

I glanced over the rules the other day for the promotions Full Tilt is running, and it sounds like you don't get the option of taking the 10K unless you can prove that you've already bought a seat in the tourney.

Seems like they'd have to stick with these rules since they are the "official" rules, but if your friends say otherwise...

[razorbacker]

[ QUOTE ]
I glanced over the rules the other day for the promotions Full Tilt is running, and it sounds like you don't get the option of taking the 10K unless you can prove that you've already bought a seat in the tourney.

Seems like they'd have to stick with these rules since they are the "official" rules, but if your friends say otherwise...

[/ QUOTE ]

FTP sent an email out to qualifiers a few days ago saying that they would not be able to register players and they were depositing the 10k entry fee into our accounts. The same email was sent to the bracelet race winners.

[DonkeyChip]

What happens to the other $1K or $2K? I thought the extra $1K (or is it $2K) for their 'WSOP ME package' came out of the prize pool...i.e. the players put that money in the prize pool and thus won that extra money just as much as they won the $10K.

If FT was adding $1K or whatever, out of their own pocket, on top of the prize pool then I could see them witholding that to try and persuade people to play the ME.

[razorbacker]

I'm sorry I was unclear. They give you the 2k for travel shortly after you win your seat, so I had recieved that portion a few weeks ago.

[ravenfan1733]

I have seen this thread a couple of times and have yet to hear from a Stars qualifier as to whether Stars will register you directly or will they follow FTP's bad decision.

Anyone know what Stars is doing?

[BigAlK]

[ QUOTE ]
There was a thread started during the forum upgrade about this, that was apparently lost in the rollback

[/ QUOTE ]

In that other thread that disappeared someone responded with a few thoughts on how the sites would be viewing this. One statement was that FTP (and any other sites that take the same route) are probably okay with this since if someone chooses to not play they'll often leave the money in their account and this will potentially generate more rake for them.

However it seems to me that the reason the sites offer these are two fold.

One, it generates lots of rake for them from people chasing the brass ring (the Moneymaker effect). The change might have a small impact on this, but I doubt it. If you read the fine print on some of the other sats to land based tournaments (Full Tilt's "Winner's Choice" tournaments for example) they follow the same procedure of depositing the money in your account and making you responsible to withdraw it and buy-in directly yourself. Apparently this works.

Second is the publicity/advertising the site gets by having player's wearing hats, shirts, etc with their logo. This is a more pronounced effect for anyone who makes the final table. However the luck of the draw for whoever might land on the TV table, random camera shots, and other players/spectators/etc who see the logo has some impact. The more players the better in this regard. They obviously lose some value if less player's play. The lost post indicated that Harrah's was not allowing clothing with logos from sites such as Full Tilt that accept US players. I was sure this conflicted with what I'd read elsewhere and was finally able to find what I'd read now that the search function is working. This thread points to a news story regarding the logo policy for this year. It appears that .COM logos are not allowed, but .NET or logos that don't specify probably are (with certain size restrictions). I've searched the WSOP site and can't find anything there. It appears that their press release/news section hasn't been updated recently. If the poster who said they wouldn't allow logos from US facing sites sees this I'd be interested in where he got his information.

[rageotones]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
There was a thread started during the forum upgrade about this, that was apparently lost in the rollback

[/ QUOTE ]

In that other thread that disappeared someone responded with a few thoughts on how the sites would be viewing this. One statement was that FTP (and any other sites that take the same route) are probably okay with this since if someone chooses to not play they'll often leave the money in their account and this will potentially generate more rake for them.

However it seems to me that the reason the sites offer these are two fold.

One, it generates lots of rake for them from people chasing the brass ring (the Moneymaker effect). The change might have a small impact on this, but I doubt it. If you read the fine print on some of the other sats to land based tournaments (Full Tilt's "Winner's Choice" tournaments for example) they follow the same procedure of depositing the money in your account and making you responsible to withdraw it and buy-in directly yourself. Apparently this works.

Second is the publicity/advertising the site gets by having player's wearing hats, shirts, etc with their logo. This is a more pronounced effect for anyone who makes the final table. However the luck of the draw for whoever might land on the TV table, random camera shots, and other players/spectators/etc who see the logo has some impact. The more players the better in this regard. They obviously lose some value if less player's play. The lost post indicated that Harrah's was not allowing clothing with logos from sites such as Full Tilt that accept US players. I was sure this conflicted with what I'd read elsewhere and was finally able to find what I'd read now that the search function is working. This thread points to a news story regarding the logo policy for this year. It appears that .COM logos are not allowed, but .NET or logos that don't specify probably are (with certain size restrictions). I've searched the WSOP site and can't find anything there. It appears that their press release/news section hasn't been updated recently. If the poster who said they wouldn't allow logos from US facing sites sees this I'd be interested in where he got his information.

[/ QUOTE ]

i effing hate FTP...

got drunk and lost 2.5k in a night b/c they didn't buy me in directly, and i have no self control.

[BigAlK]

[ QUOTE ]
i effing hate FTP...

got drunk and lost 2.5k in a night b/c they didn't buy me in directly, and i have no self control.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ewww. Does this mean your trip to Vegas is off?

[Blaster]

I thought Harrah's had new lammers, including a 10K lammer.
If this is the case, why can't FT just send a few people into the various Harrah's casinos every so often, each buying 5 to 15 at a time, & hold them to give them to their winners at the ME.
As I type this there are about 70 2007 ME winners on FT, so far, & that number can be caught up/ purchased in a day or 2, & FT would quickly build up a surplus ....