NPL needs an overhaul

[Nevah play JJ]

First of all sorry Steve I did edit your post a little bit, if I got it wrong I appologise.

after reading Nevah's post on her outing at the competitors game i believe it is all about the An inferior organisation run by inferior staff and frequented by less than avarage players venue u play at

Your right Steve, it does come across as a post in regards to "the inferior blah blah blah", because it is. That is not to say that they were not friendly, helpful and to be honest I should have mentioned that they did indeed talk up and speak highly of NPL and the competition run by the staff. That is neither here nor there.

i used to sometimes attend the Walkers Arms before it burnt down lol and they didnt have the constant chip ups Nevah talks about.

Maybe that is the other organisation Garth talks about, I honestly cannot say, but I tell the truth about the chip ups in this competition.

My post was meant to highlight that while much of the discussion in this particular forum was in regards to the amount of chips that players were given prior to being sat in their positions, along with the inconsistancies in regards to their chip-up policies.

I will stick to NPL though

Excellent, as will I. Hope to meet you on the felt one day.

[Nevah play JJ]

Excellent post Bob!!
That is what supporting venues are all about.

Us supporting them, but them respecting the players enough to listen to our ideas and suggestions!!!
FANTASTIC!!!!


Thanks Brett, AK and Bob. I appreciate the nice win..

[David]

I personally like the idea of the finals, but it does seem to make the 2nd half of the season a little lighter on number - but that is just a guess as I can't be bothered looking thru the stats.

Just some thoughts anyway.

I have no doubt whatsoever that "state finals" is the main reason numbers stay as good as they are.

I would expect that overall numbers might be a little lighter overall in the latter half but the percentage drop is so small it's not even an issue.

Compare this to a system with NO state finals. Why even go to the same venue? Why even go for a season? Seasons become meaningless, and therefore, so does going again and again.

If the NPL was JUST stuand along tournaments in pubs, the numbers would be a lot lower, would fluctuate more, and interest would be depleted.

The success of numbers, to me, is the state finals, top 5s, top 50 leaderboard - and the respect, notiriety, and fun to go along with it.

Ordinary people are becoming "quasi-celbrities" because their name constantly appears on such and such a list. This is good for the NPL.

In the first season I would look at the leaderboard on the front of the site and know none of the names. Now not only do I know most of them, I constantly chat with them at venues.

The NPL has succeeded and WILL succeed because of the culture it's created.

[Chelsea4thewin]

sorry guys and Nevah, i thought u were talking about the league that starts with an A, the direct competitor, not that other one that lowers ur skill level lol

[Nevah play JJ]

sorry guys and Nevah, i thought u were talking about the league that starts with an A, the direct competitor, not that other one that lowers ur skill level lol

Not a problem Steve,
I do stand by what I put about the league I commented on. But appreciate the appology.

[gundog]

do we need changes ??????????????

This week at my home venue another player and I are sitting 3rd & 5th(me) with this play and 2 to go, the top 2 positions are fairly solid to remain in the top 5 even with 3 no brainers.

The both of us happen to play on the same table with 5 other solid players, which means no muppits on the table, my decision for to night is not to chase play fairly soft, the objective is to make points to help consolidate my position in the Top 5.

The first session I play a few hands ultimatly I got belted by shared trip Q's because my kicker was lower and an all in with a baby straight V a flush, lucky for me no cards cashed yet I finish the session close to par.

2nd Session saw me continue to play soft I won a couple and lost a couple of hands I ended up about even (3000), during the 2nd break I talked with the other player considering that we were down to 3 tables I was going to put the shutters up and only play good hands and blinds, well the 3rd session provided me with a couple of big blind specials prior to final 2 tables.

Down to 2 tables a number of players were short stacked so this confirmed that it would be easy for me to limp into points with my moderate stack, I was BB and SB on the first 2 deals which neither add to my stack, I folded most hands I think I played 1 hand for a win, it would have been easy for me to waste time with my decisions but as always my plans are made well before its my turn to bet or fold........fate has it I and the other player make final table.

Final table the table comprises mostly of players who will not be able to make to 5, I draw seat five with matt drawing dealer, the only other player who could challenge for top 5 with a win is in seat 9, fortunatly for us Demo is knocked out first. I play my position not playing a hand until 1 before the BB, a straight gives me a win and a good chip up, BB is also a W with trip 9's not much in the pot. The other players are being knocked out regurally until its 3 left, Matt, Nige and myself Matt knocks out Nige, its head to head with Matt he has a slightly larger stack than me, Matt folds the 1st hand and then the next hand is the last hand.
I'm BB Matt calls me allin normally I would not even play the hand I was dealt
, because Matt has not had a win this season and the points between 1st and 2nd with 44 runners is on 5 points ah what the heck I called his allin
he had and went on to win the night.

Could the outcome been any different if there were more chips maybe, I played with my inital stack plus 2 drinks cards, Matt was fortunate to have his card called for a chip up, if I folded the K 7 and waited for the next hand maybe, maybe not.

So the moral of the story is do we need extra chips or different blind structure for the game to succeed I think not, it all in how you play.

Come beat me at Berri

[Rayni]

In regards to things written on page one of this topic:-

Most pubs I have found its at least $25 Per Person to get both cards stamped (depending how many you get with a meal) like it also has been mentioned it depends on which pub you go to.

Unfortunately I don't drink due to pregnancy, it takes longer to fill the cards but eh...

My partner who also plays NPL, drinks and payed the price on Thursday night after leaving one of the later venues.

Being pulled over by a cop car at 2:30am he blew 0.09 (After 4 beers in 4 hours on an empty stomach), he got taken off to the police station, I was left standing in the city alone. I called a friend to come and pick me up, found where my other half was 2 hours later; only to find out that he has lost his license for 6 months with no chance of getting it back before then. It may very well get extended to 12 months depending on the judge on the day.

Considering I haven't got my P plates "yet" and due to his working hours @ his new job, as well as having 3 children at home, he is now restricted to one game a week instead of 6......

I have seen first hand how many people do get drunk and drive home... in order to fill the cards up. Responsible service of alcohol flys out the window especially if there is a double game on at the venue.

It makes me wonder how many other people have been caught out.

I can only say in response to my other half's situation altho it may sound harsh, it was self inflicted and it was a matter of time, it makes it very difficult for all considering he works on the other side of the city.

What worrys me is that he is only one out of MANY that do it...

Never the less life goes on.
Another day and another child who's drawing on the walls....

[rcon]

Being pulled over by a cop car at 2:30am he blew 0.09 (After 4 beers in 4 hours on an empty stomach)

That really sucks. I wrote up a post about a week ago, suggesting some sort of designated driver program - 'cause this is the kind of thing I really worry about sometimes. Else it can not seem worth the effort to go to the venue for only one card.

[Rayni]

NPL MINNI BUSES?? pre book,charge $10 per person with in certain K's of the venue. Plaster the logo all over the side of the bus, more promotions, more "reassurance" saying come and play, get drunk if you wish to, we will look after you. However those out early will have to hang around longer just throwing out some outlandish crazy random idea, would cost a fortune to set up tho.Im only sleeping 2hrs a night at the moment Npl is my only "out" where I can relax and it makes it a s*** load harder trying to get to play now at our usual venues since he lost his license as we already spend almost 300 a week between us....there is no way we can afford the extra amount for a taxi, and no one really lives near him or me. to many problems not enough poker...

[Smokey Haze]

Ok figure this is as good as any other thread to pop my nplsa cherry on.

I work for another league that has been referred to in this thread. I also play npl on a regular basis.

What I do feel a need to clear up is a couple of misleading statements made in this entire thread.

Firstly. We are not owned by a supermarket chain. We are owned by one individual. What we do have is an exclusive agreement that we will only hold events in their venues and they can not have another league in their venues.

Secondly. Deeper stacks does not equate to longer running times. Any host out there will tell you that basically it doesn't matter how many chips or how many runners you have events roughly run for the same amount of time. I run multiple events. One has approx 50 - 60 runners each week and is always finished around 10:30 - 11:30. Another I have has 30 runners max and always takes longer. But basically all events finish within 3.5 hours to 4.5 hours. That is with longer blind periods and deeper stacks. So to be fair the people shouting that games would run till the middle of the night are way off the mark.

Thirdly. Other leagues are not NPL. I don't even consider our league as competition to NPL. Maybe that is why I get on so well with the players and hosts of NPL. The best way to describe the difference to peopel is that one is the equivelent of amateur 8-Ball. The other is a fun 8-ball league in the local pub. I feel that the people bashing the other leagues for offering a totally different playing experience are just being defensive and naive.

To sum up this post.

Just because other leagues have a different feel to the game doesn't mean that they are doing it wrong. I don't believe that a relaxed blind and/or deeper stack would at all cause NPL to become like those other leagues because NPL is a totally different league with a different sort of player base.

Also every tournament is different based on the TD/Host running the game. I've played with NPL TD's that I do not like and I've played with other league TD's that I haven't liked. Don't knock an entire league based on experiences with 1 TD.

My 2 cents worth on this topic.