Seeking feedback on SA's first 888PL Semi Final Weekend

[Swanky]

I didn't play in any of the Finals, however i did play the $10 rebuy and the $100 Highroller on Saturday and the teams event on Sunday.

I got to see alot of the finals because of these later starts and the finals seemed to be run fairly well, as usual.
The biggest thing I noted about the weekend and I'm not sure if this has happened in that past, but the 888pl is really starting to get a WSOP feel about it. By that I mean, having "events". Not just a "beer table" or the like if you are knocled out early, but a schedule of events allowing you to choose what you will and won't play, or what you will play if able to.
I love it. I would love to see the 888pl take a WSOP style approach to these events, now I'm not saying put up a bracelt in place of a trophy for the winners of the main event, although I think it would be cool, but something of that ilk.
I'm going to use bracelets though for this example. It would be nice for these events to all result in the winner being awarded a bracelet. Players can then have bragging rights or be known as a "bracelet holder" when being refered to on places like the forum or even in Poker News magazine. "old man Swanky has 2 888pl bracelets to his name and is looking to take down his 3rd bracelet in the biggest 888pl prize of all the 100k Grand Final" etc etc. Of course like the WSOP bracelets are great, but everyone wants a Main Event bracelet.

I think the prestige of a Bracelet type price may make the Finals something players really strive to get into and may even help the legitimacy of pub poker and really help 888pl to streak further away from it's inferior competitors.

Great weekend mate, had a ball!
And nice work Scotty!

[TheShadz]

agree with bennymacca with the team event structure... a jump from 200/500 for Ante's is a bit high for my liking.

Also the Ante's in the both the main events I thought came in a little too early as well,

Just one other thing, the Bar prices at the port club where too high, $3.50 for a can of coke is way too high?

Maybe for the Grand Final could 888pl organise special 'players & staff', or Happy Hour prices during the breaks for the weekend. (I haven't been to Westies club b4, so I don't there bar prices)

Otherwise the weekend was very enjoyable and smoothly run even it was with limited success, but a good learning experience for the GF in a month. By far the best event I;ve been too so far, but I'm sure the Grand Final will been 50x better!

[Go Fish]

wow, where do i start!!

its the first Semi Finals ive been in (only been playing for like 4-5months ) and it was, if nothing else an absolutely awesome experience.

started on the feature table on saturday, which was filled with some very experienced players. i must admit i felt very out of my depth against the likes of AK and the others (sorry dont know names), then bacon to come in later in the day. but id like to think i held my own pretty well. bombed it into 23rd or 24th on the saturday.

the blinds were great, 25min levels allowed for lots of action, and allowed the shorter stacks to keep in for longer, making a more intense skill based game IMHO.

the sunday was the first time i had played with a big field, and damn was it good, plenty of action left and right. i had an awesome time, even if i did fold pre-flop on my royal flush haha, ended up making it into 38th or 39th place.

having the feature table i think was a brilliant touch on top of the whole weekend. gave it more of a wsop style feel to the whole event!

all in all it was a top job from all involved, whether it was TD's or the players, everyone did their bit to make the event a success.

i think the main thing ill take away from the event is a little confidence, and more skill

congrats to everyone who qualified and i hope to be able to play some of you guys again soon.

Cheers, Fish

[David]

I think I was on your table both days Fish! (FT)

[Go Fish]

if you were on the feature table at all on saturday then you would have seen me, i was on there all day hahaha, i was wearing the big black Toll jacket and creepy fold up glasses :p

[David]

Yeah I know who you are - we talked at Checkers a few weeks back after you came second when I game first at Winstons

I went all in with rubbish yesterday and was called by the small blind (when you were BB) and she flopped the nut diamond flush.

[David]

Also - I loved the weekend.

I had taken some notes down about good/bad points but I can't find it at the minute.

One thing, if anything could be remotely bad, is that I would loved to have played the High Rollers event, as well as the rebuy. In saying that, I won another GF ticket so it wasn't too bad in the end

Blind structure was awesome.
I think knowing what the next level, and next level after that are, can help you a LOT in the current level. You get lulled into a false sense of security before the large(r) jumps, so preparing for that makes it a lot easier.

Some great poker on the day, also.
As always, oozed professionalism all day. Nathan and Tim ran the show brilliantly (even if the blind clock had "Fountdation" written on it). The other staff members were awesome all day as well.

More to come.

[Go Fish]

indeed we did, you'll have to excuse the lack of brain at the moment, still recovering from post semi's party'ing haha

yeh that was brutal

[bennymacca]

maybe posting the exact final structure on here would allow us you know what is happening before hand?

i know it has been done for previous event, and i thought it was a good idea

[rcon]

maybe posting the exact final structure on here would allow us you know what is happening before hand?

i know it has been done for previous event, and i thought it was a good idea

so long as they stick to it - nothing more frustrating than having than being short stacked and the blinds jump faster than they were posted. Berri is case in point, as was the 1st CBI.