NPL needs an overhaul

[BigPete33]

NPL out of every league offers the least amount of chips, you have to spend the most to get chip ups...

Which region/venues do you play in? There can be quite a difference in what you pay for stamping up depending where you go.

Other leagues are either 20 or 15 minutes blinds, and they still finish in 4 hours or less.

The standard of play is... AWFUL! even for pub poker.

It just seems like we are all being conned, trying to reach for this unreachable dream of maybe winning something big, and all the time disguising it as free poker.

I'm going to assume the mantle of 'well qualified to talk about this'. You aren't obliged to stamp up. It is certainly to your advantage to do so, but nobody is forcing you to. You are perfectly able to sit down for free and play some poker. And you are absolutely NOT obliged to just go allin when you get a hand.

If making the top 5 of the venue is your aim I would make absolutely sure to show up each and every week because there's always people who don't/can't. 10 week season * 10 points for showing up = 100 points in the bag. It really does make a difference.

What is also to your advantage is that there's every chance players who might finish above you have already qualified elsewhere and in a higher/better finishing position. This bumps you up the list and suddenly things aren't so bad at all. Last season at Payneham there was a player who qualified from 19th or something ridiculous (rare I know, but it can and does happen).

If your expectation is to win big, free pub poker isn't for you IMO. The prizes the NPL offer for final winners are brilliant but perspective says you still have to a) qualify and b) actually win the final. Qualifying isn't that hard, winning the final certainly is.

[Dug]

Of course you are not obliged to stamp up, but like i said when it comes to free poker without stamping up, NPL is last.

Where i play its around $3 a stamp, i have to drink a double CC and coke just to stamp up my card.

Why is the play bad at other competitions? what makes you think NPL is better? I've been called with 2 7 after a 4x raise. So is it because you are forced to play tight because of the lack of chips? Or is it more chips mean looser play in early levels? Perhaps NPL is a classier event because it caters for people who can afford to stamp up chips, therefore there are less deroes (apologies to all the deroes).

The argument so far basically is indirectly saying that NPL is better, better play, but no answer as to why it is better.
Are you saying that by increaseing blind levels and chip stacks this would bring out bad players and NPL will be infiltrated by the undesirables??
Given the proof that other leagues finish within 4 hours, what is your response?
I do like NPL but i'm just not getting it. I'm trying to see if it could become better, but obviously still keeping the money making foundations of it. Otherwise it is like all other leagues.

[Luke05(Jamo)]

now i know who dug is

[Andre Tomic]

Otherwise it is like all other leagues.

Sorry but this final bit of your last post has confused me. I thought the point you were trying to make in this thread is that NPL is not like other poker providers, using examples of what the other leagues do "better". Which way should it be?????

[BigPete33]

The list of reasons why NPL is better is fairly long IMO but I'll highlight some key points that I feel are relevant..

* Better run. Overall it is so much more professional.
* Stacks more members. This may make it seem like there are more farm animals abounding, and in terms of actual numbers this may even be true, but I'd be very willing to bet the % is much lower.
* Stacks more venues. We are absolutely spoilt for choice.


If you thought it was like all other leagues, we wouldn't be having this conversation I personally feel that the current starting stack is fine, as if the stamping up process itself. And yes, I do actually think that the competitions tourneys still finish in 4 hours because of the overall poor standard of play. You yourself suggested that being a short stack was an automatic all-in, for example. Of the other leagues, I think it's fair to say that some are worse than others - but at the same time, only one of them even comes remotely close to NPL and by 'remotely close' I actually mean 'off in the distance eating it's dust'.

[Nevah play JJ]

Ok, I am going to assume because no one answered my earlier question because:
A) either no one knows the answer..
B) no one read it..
C) no one thought it was relevant..
D) no one likes me...

Anyway, I did have a train of thought that went with it.

I wondered if the difference with a larger stack of $3,00 meant you could call more on hands thus waiting for lucky card flops, betting all the way along.

If you can call $50 each round of betting that gives you heaps more chances to luck or chase upon the hand you want, rather than the one you have.

If you have a smaller chipstack, that can only force you to play the cards in your hand, or in some cases do that "position play" I have heard about.

Shorter stacks do not necessarily mean all in, it means smarter play, until your all in BB. Which will also be the case eventually with a bigger stack. This is where luck comes into play no doubt.



To use an example, we do have one player out our way that calls on practically every hand, in the hopes they hit and because of this they are often the first one out.

This person then went and played the at competitions venue and placed 4th. This can only be because this gave them the opportunity and the chips to "luck" upon the cards they were chasing.


My question is, how does this make this player a better and smarter card player? No doubt this makes this player a chaser and luckier player that begins to believe that chasing is the way to play cards.


Anyway, that is just my thoughts for the moment.

Thanks for reading.

[BigPete33]

If you have more chips for the same blind level then yes of course you can call more hands.

This quite clearly has nothing to do with if you should even be calling at all though. In fact, it only encourages already poor players to keep doing the same poor things, like your example player.

[Des]

This is all just because no one has enough confidence in their own play. So they need millions of chips so they can see every flop and get lucky.

The carding system isnt just about chips...

It's about supporting the venue... stop being tightasses and spend some money at the venue... otherwise they wont bother holding events. If 100 people show up, but only 10 buy a drink... the venue isnt going to bother.

[Nevah play JJ]

If you have more chips for the same blind level then yes of course you can call more hands.

This quite clearly has nothing to do with if you should even be calling at all though. In fact, it only encourages already poor players to keep doing the same poor things, like your example player.

That is just reiterating what I already said.
You just did it in a shorter paragraph Pete.
Thanks for that.

[BigPete33]

Yeah I thought you had already answered your own question


What Des says is true also.