$25,000 Season 5 Finals Venue and Changed Format.

[Garth Kay]

Hello,

My name is Peter Sheary. member no: v79777

I came 4th at Highways Tabaret this season.

Ive looked at the state qualifier board and my name is not there.

H ave i been missed?

Regards

Peter sheary

Hi Peter,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I have found a glaring error in our software and hope to have this rectified soon. In answer to your question, yes you have been missed and yes your name should be there.

Sorry for this inconvenience.

[Garth Kay]

It's a pity that when the season began on 13/10/2008, that we didn't know what we would be playing for at the end. The new 2 day finals event looks very inviting, however, it was not announced until 11/12 - and with dd in place, it made it very hard for me to qualifiy and I lost interest in playing at all.

Pre-Garth: this happened all the time ... with Garth, this was not going to happen ... you wanted to know and here is your answer.

we start season 3 last year looking at a prize pool for the state leaderboard of one figure and it was halved 10 days before the end of the season. (admittedly some common sense prevailed and some restoration was made). we started the season with one set of rules, and 10 days before the end of the season, the criteria was changed.

season 1, 2008, we began the season working toward a state final with a $10k first prize. this was changed - ON THE DAY! - It was announced that it would be reduced to $5000 but the prize money would go down to the final 30? players.

Over 12 months ago, I was told that the communication breakdown was the biggest issue NPL had and it was a priority that it be fixed. this forum allows us to communicate with NPL and explain our frustrations at certain things.

All this will stop if players/people like D.O.N.K's wife, Bob and others, are belittled or made feel foolish for their thoughts. after some of my initial posts you asked me if there was anything positive about NPL - I can tell you heaps, but telling you the good things does not fix the bad, or the problems players have or the issues.

now, I know we have been through this Garth, and without knowing the past, you told me you can not fix the future - but a detailed picture of the past has been painted for you, so please tell me when this is going to get fixed.

On 11/12/2008, the details of the season 5 final and new format and qualification methods (ie: top 10 on regional leaderboard will partner up for a teams/partners event) was announced ... and I believe the end of the season was 21/12/2008 - only 10 days later.

Perhaps if we knew there was something else worth playing for, we would have made more of an effort to get there. and note - there has been no mention of prizemoney - that is not the drive behind this event- it is the rivalry of supporting our region against the others.

we can't smile all the time and pretend things are great when some of us don't feel that way. so you have to take the negative comments as constructive and when you do that, you will find that some players will come and play more NPL games.

It may not always be the same thing that is changed, but the effect and timing just keeps reminding us what we have been through in the past and puts a damper on everything else.

you know that saying, one bad apple ... anyway, I am sure we will butt heads in 2009 too ... so I hope you had a great christmas and we'll talk again in 2009. have a happy and safe new year everyone. Q9

I am sure you have the right to feel let down when the prize money is dismissed.

It was intentional that I did not wish to communicate the concept of the two day event until the end of the season. No prize money is been taken away, rather it is added and it is a reward for the top ten of each regional leaderboard.

It was never intended to be a motivational tool, rather an experiment of sorts as we want to trial this type of competition/promotion and tournament structure. And we did not want players aware of this fact until the end of the season.

It is a marketing build up to alert players that next year this promotion will be in full swing and will be played every season.

Irrespective of breakdowns in communication, we run a free poker league where we give away over a million dollars in cash and prizes. At times we may wish to throw a bonus into the prize pool at short notice, this will happen and we will spring this on our consumers.

I do not see the timing of this as a negative nor the fact that we did not communicate it before the season.

As to me belittling people, I suggest you re read my posts. All I ever have done is ask questions to try and clarify what is been said. You can imply whatever tone you want to text. Bob and I will always butt heads, he is a very passionate player full of his opinions and some very good ideas. We both are business minded gentleman and we approach "things" from different aspects. In saying that we both speak our mind and continually go back and forth, and I can't speak for BOB but I enjoy our verbal jousting and it is one of the reasons I jump on the forum and bait him so often (truth be told).

In the end Rosemary, anything detrimental to the competition or prize pools will be communicated in plenty of time, especially stupid double points ideas or any reduction in prizes; as the changes to 2009 have been up for almost ten weeks now.

Bonuses to the competition will not always be announced with plenty of forewarning, because they are simply bonuses and I do not always want to alert players to what they are playing for. It is good to surprise players now and again with a bonus.

Such as a fully catered forum freeroll with TD bounties included hey Bob?

[Garth Kay]

All Problems with qualifiers has now been rectified.

All qualifiers are displayed on the npl.com.au news page or can be found attached here.

[queen9]

Garth, I too am a passionate player, and my history with NPL will show my dedication and support, you can check this with Garry. But every time we think we are playing towards something, it gets changed. at the start of the season, we commenced playing for one thing, now we find that we are playing for another.

a quick example ... my husband and I have played at other venues this season, outside our 'metro west'. had we known there was a teams event for the top 10 in the region, then we would have remained in our region and instead of him finishing 14th, he may well have finished in the top 10 and been eligible to play in the teams event.

I wonder how many players came from other regions to play at Hoppers to get DD points, only to find now, that they have not qualified in a venue or in their region and have also missed out on the partners game or other event.

and as I have already stated, 'a whole weekend of poker, I must be dreaming' ... it is a great idea, it is just a pity that we can't play in anything. Janos is now wheelchair bound and won't come without me, and I gave up trying to qualify for anything as there were no prizes or pre-warning of special events that we could play in.

By the way, if you re read the email from bob, 'belittling' was the word he used to describe the way/tone you used in response to his post - not mine ... and you may well bump heads time and time again, but I am entitled to support him and his right to have an opinion. after all, you told me yourself, that no one has ever been suspended for posting in the forum.

one time Garth you will find the positive out of what I post and stop giving me such a hard time over the information and opinions I pass on.

[Paul]

OK I HAVE TO SAY THIS !!!!!!!

The thing i dont get is all i ever seem to read is complaining, i mean i had people whining that next seasons setup should be bought in early and when it is .... the complained had they known they would have played more !!!

I have a guy in my region who plays 3 days a week at my venues Grand mornington which averages 45 , The Dava Hotel in Mt Martha which averages around 70 and Dingley International which lately is only averaging 80 also i cant remeber him playing another event apart from chelsea when Dava finished early

Yet from 3 Games a week he finished 6th in the state, Top of the south Region and top 5 at all 3 events he plays at its amazing how well he did and not chase events like Hoppers and even Berwick which is 30 minutes up the road on the day i run the Grand with DOUBLE the average he still stuck with HIS events and still did great !!!

The Point to this is that he chased points and didnt go overboad and now is being rewarded his abilities ,
As a poker player he is awesome and i cant wait to see him in action on the state finals weekend ..........SO when i told him that he had also qualified for an event to represent the region came up he was stoked and he loved the chance to represent our region AS A BONUS

My only regret is that i wont get to present him a trophy for WINNING the region till next season .....

I think NPL make so much effort to keep giving to the players and all i seem to hear is complaining but at the end of the day when i see the work Garth and people like Dave , Adam , Michael and everyone does for NPL im proud to be part of a team who constantly gives gives gives

As for double points i personally dont think it was a bad thing and i would love to see it kept as a FINAL week thing of every season it boosted numbers everywhere ...BUT i can also seem the complaints Garth has apologised for that BUT made up for it with TOP 60 of the state and TOP 6 of every venue THEREFORE showing once again a little BONUS for more people

BONUS IN THE DICTIONARY STATES :Extra paid in addition to the compensation ordinarily given or required A .bonus is payment for services (such as for recognition of exceptional work performance) or on consideration, and is neither gift nor gratuity.

TO ME THAT SUMS UP NPL AND THE SERVICE THEY ARE TRYING TO PROVIDE EVERYONE OF YOU GUYS AND GIRLS

WELL DONE GARTH AND EVERYONE AT NPL IS WAS A PLEASURE TELLING TOP 10 OF MY REGION WHAT "BONUS" THEY HAD FOR BEING SO EXCEPTIONAL........

I could understand that points of everyone if NPL Backflipped and took away stuff but they havent the just keep adding MORE and MORE !!!!!
So come on give credit where due for all the little "region top 10 bonus" up till events just for making a few final tables!!!

LIKE OUR UNIFORM SAY "NPL ... THE REAL DEAL"

THANX NPL FOR PUTTING ON SUCH GREAT EVENTS AND THE COMPLIMENTS ALWAYS SEEM TO MAKE IT SO MUCH EASIER WHEN PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT STUPID THING LIKE "EXTRA BONUSES"

IM GLAD I WORK FOR SUCH A TERRIFIC COMPANY AND THATS WHY I ALWAYS GIVE MY 200%

[queen9]

Hi Paul, those of us 'complaining' have had prizes taken away from us - things we played towards all season for, only to find out 10 days or so before the end of the season, that the prizes had either been reduced, or didn't exist any more - and not only once either.

so don't doubt our sincerity when we say that had we known there WERE prizes and bonuses, we would have played more and in our own region too.

It just makes us feel - rather than trying to surprise us - which is basically what Garth said, - that things were changed again, and again we were not told and that put us at a disadvantage.

and I also mentioned that to play for my state, or my region, or my venue - for nothing more than recognition that we won, would provide for a great event .... where did I mention 'prizemoney'? I didn't!

we have great rivalry when we have home games, between our friends from Regional Geelong, Metro North and Metro West .... and that is only for bragging rights!!

any time you or Garth or Garry want to come play a homey with us and see how passionate we are or talk to us about where we are coming from, feel free - then you would see firsthand what you are missing in these posts.

[Paul]

OK,
Well i can see that for some reason prizes etc have been taken away according to you and in that case you probably have every right to get annoyed by that ....but most probably the winner has more the issue with it !!

In saying that you weren't happy that you were not happy with not being told about a "BONUS" i like the fact it wasnt told and was released to the public 10 days before the end of season ,if it was retracted now then there is something to complain about

Everything i read about was nearly a year ago retraction of prizes etc etc but nothing since Garth took over Except the fact that all these bonuses weren't disclosed A BONUS THAT WAS ADDED TOWARDS THE END FOR EXTRA RECOGNITION to those who played awesome and overcome the DD fiasco

What about the FTT at chelsea, that wasnt mentioned and was dropped 4 weeks b4 the event but the day was a success and everyone had a great time (ANOTHER BONUS) Adam and I ran the whole day there with the help of Garth and Ernie and the whole thing in my mind was GREAT and the feedback we got on the day was awesome

Once again another BONUS not a reduction in prizes , I can understand where you are coming from Rosemary -Pregarth but now that Garth has the Reins, It is a great comp .......Can you explain what you really want ???It seems to me you want Garth to apologise for these bonus and retract them as YOU werent informed about them in enough time

Could you imagine if Garth today retracted the following
1. Double December points
2. The Saturday events at Dingley day b4 the state finals
3. 50-60 from the state leader board and number 6 from every venue
these are just a few bonuses that have been added this season even in the last 2 weeks

DD may not have been successful and yes maybe a bit of complaining is due there but at the end i couldnt see any main changes people dont bubble for points cause of the pressure of DD, I have told Garth,
I would love to see the final week kept as double points just for the extra competition and rivalry !!!!

BUT everything else is a BONUS and i would like to Congratulate Garth and NPL for all these extra BONUSES

IF GARTH OR NPL DECIDED TO RETRACT PRIZES ETC ETC THEN EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN i cant see what the complaining is about for EXTRA BONUSES

Also thank you for the invite to your homey events i apppreciate it and who knows one day i might take this offer up and come play and see everything you told me about it !!!!

[maccatak11]

Queen, the issue of your halved pizemoney for one season has been dealt with before by garth, but you keep bringing it up even though it has no relevance whatsoever to the current conversation about the changed state finals structure.

My reaction to the introduction of a region based teams event would be to say "wow that sounds like a lot of fun, i might try to qualify for that NEXT season". To me, it sounds like you are having a whinge cos you want to be involved in everything. Please think of it as a positive promotion that will enhance numbers and the playing experience for all NPL players, not as a negative thing because you are annoyed that because you feel that they should have told players earlier.

What if this promotion had only been conceived after the beginning of the last season? Would you have preferred NPL to wait until next season to introduce this promotion? or add it this season as a bonus to many players.

You mention that you now "can't play in anything", but besides the region based teams event, there are actually MORE events that you can play in at the championship weekend, so im really not sure where you are coming from in this regard.

I am a regular NPL players who plays around 1-2 times a week, and i have come to realise that although NPL have made some mistakes, they have never tried to hide these or sweep these under the rug, and they really do have the best intentions to keep players and venues as happy as possible for as much of the time as possible.

Smile!! I can remember the time in south australia when there was no pub poker.......

[AceLosesKing]

Smile!! I can remember the time in south australia when there was no pub poker.......

That time seems weird and distant to me.

[queen9]

maccatak, just a couple of quick things here ... firstly, I was responding to Paul, and making the point about something of which he obviously knew nothing ...so to make sure he was informed of all the facts - that was my only purpose ...

and as far as me wanting to be in everything, well, yes I would love to ... I used to play NPL 6-7 times a week, and here in Vic, venues do not offer multil games like they do in SA ... if they did, I would be there all day ... lol .. but now I only play twice a week.

and I definetely do not expect an apology from Garth for anything that happened 'pre garth' ... I did not mention prize money being halved ..... and I was the winner at the time ... so if did affect me, and all those who made it into the top 10.

I would just appreciate someone understanding where we are coming from ... as Garth asked .... so he can make sure things like this don't happen in the future ...

you can blame me for all the negativity over double december too if you like, I have broad shoulders, or perhaps you could re-read the post where I sing praises of a whole weekend of poker and how that would be in my dreams .... or the part where I said I didn't know it was a 'surprise' or bonus for players ... but had I known, it would have made me play more .... so there is food for thought - or criticise me again -

there are always 2 sides to every coin, chip, whatever, and for every action, there is a reaction. If you don't know how people would react, then you don't know if it will work ... and past conversations with Carlos, Brayden and Garry have all admitted that the lack of communication is an area that needs to be fixed.

It would be far better if you took my comments as contructive instead of considering me to always be whinging ... or do you just want all the positive comments, cos if you do ... go for it .... the end .... q9