Why play in the second half of a season?

[Hausler]

Alright, I am playing the devils advocate here and prob deserve to get my ass kicked.

I used to be a regular player. Several things have contributed to me not being able to do so at the moment. HOWEVER, I do enjoy a game every now and then. From the outside looking in now, however, I figure I need to pick and choose my games more than ever. And this is why....

6 or 7 weeks ago I got into a mood for poker and played a few games. Finished final table a few times and thought "beauty, that gets me into the regionals, etc". Unfortunately I find out later this is not so. So it gets me thinking... why does anyone who is struggling in at their venue play after the first 5 weeks? The FTT challenge is gone and for many the venue leaderboard chance is also gone. Should it not be in NPL's best interest to offer these FTT all season round? I know they want to reduce numbers to the FTT tournaments, and if this is the case then perhaps the last 5 weeks of the season rather than the first 5 weeks should be rewarded, just to encourage numbers to stay up.

I dunno, I just think NPL has started to dismantle after making some poor decisions. It is still number 1 for poker in this state in my eyes, however is reducing the reasons for me to play with them compared to their competition. Just my opinion tho.

Cheers
Chalkie

[Garth Kay]

Hi Chalkie,

For all players:
In the last five weeks of the season a final is held for all players who have accumulated 3 FTT's in the last five weeks of the season (week 6 - 10) the prizes on offer for this final are generally Australian tournament entries such as the Melbourne or Vic champs main event.

This season I am considering doing a $5,000 prize pool for the FTT, but instead of cash or entries we perhaps give away David Jones or Myer shopping sprees. Something different. I would be interested to see the response for this.

In most cases our players play for the love of the game, not for any of the incentives or prizes on offer. With the re launch of a new competition structure there will be reasons to play all season round for the majority. But there are a few negatives, which I am sure many will kick up a fuss about.

Next season will see more prize money offered across the states and greater prizes accessible by all players. Next season South Australians will have access to a prize pool expected to be in excess of $200,000 and that is just what NPL is offering/guaranteeing. This does not include nightly cash prizes or venue event prizes.

If that amount of money in one season doesn't get you drooling, I don't know what will.

The problem with NPL previously, is that we never trialled or deviated very far from the original concept/product. It wasn't till I came along and wanted to mix things up did we start to look at instigating or trialling different promotions consistently. I am fairly confident in my comment when I say FTT events have not been as successful as I would have liked, in terms of a marketable promotion and a driver for our consumers. For that I apologise but I do promise to continue to drive this team, remain innovative and passionate about poker and our players and continue to offer something new and different. If it doesn't work, I will be the first to admit it and head back to the drawing board.

[Hausler]

Hey Garth,
Yeah, maybe its the stupidity of the northern suburbs/ barossa rubbing off on me or maybe perhaps my thinking is logical. But wouldn't it make more marketing sense to have a 3 FTT tournament in weeks 1-5 (hook as many numbers in as you can and give them the hope of making a few leadersboard) and then a single FTT tournament at the end of the season (that way those who can't make the leadersboard will still play to achieve that single FTT). I can see the arguments with this. It really is up to own personal opinions because you will say those out of the race for the leadersboard will be encouraged to play more to reach the 3 FTT. I will say that those like me who are out of the race for the leadersboard will play for that 1 FTT. And likely we won;t make that first final table so we will play the next tournament and so on. Whereas for me to reach 3 FTT in the last 5 weeks just seems fanciful as I only play 1 or 2 venues so I just won;t play at all.

I am really not knocking NPL. Those who know me know I love my poker and will play NPL over any other organisation. BUT, for newbies where you are trying to make the culture stick you need to have the right marketing strategies in place. When I rocked up to the Vine Inn on Monday night, heard about the FTT tournament I thought beauty I am in because I made a final table or 2 semi-recently only to come home and have my hopes dashed. I've obviously just got to suck it up. But yeah, I have been told about these FTT and due to playing only semi regularly I am being robbed of the experience and my desire for NPL is dissipating. Why not have the 1 FTT tournaments for weeks 1-5 and 6-10? Just being honest and seems pretty lame, but who says it isn't the same for others??

Cheers
Chalkie

[AceLosesKing]

To have fun maybe? Its not all about prizes and such.

I see what you're saying though. As a counterargument, why play at all after you qualified for states (venue close down/change to CBI) or after you've made an FTT event?

I think players play NPL for the fun of the game/social side compared to the prizes/cash on offer.

[Garth Kay]

The simple fact of the matter right now is that our competition structure rewards those who consistently play. We do very little for those who play semi regularly or once in awhile.

This is more about our business model than anything else, but in the end there are no rewards to be reaped or profits to be made by incentivising players to play once or twice every month.

The FTT events, whilst not drawing big crowds has acheived some of our goals with numbers remaining at a stable level for the last three weeks of the season. It also showed the average visits by a player climbed by 10% from 1.5 events to 1.65 events per week in the last week of the season. This has never occurred before and is a precedent for not just our leagues but all others as well, as natural trends dictate anywhere from 10% - 25% decrease in attendance in the last two weeks of the season.

Anyway this conversation is slightly redundant as this season will most likely see the end of FTT events and FTT qualification methods! Back to keyrings!

What AK has just posted is spot on, almost 80% of the market only play simply for the social interaction and nightly rewards and satisfaction. If the majority of our market really cared about prizes and that was the only motivating force we would only see 15 people playing in the last two weeks at each event.

[AceLosesKing]

Anyway this conversation is slightly redundant as this season will most likely see the end of FTT events and FTT qualification methods! Back to keyrings!

I actually liked the FTT idea. While its still NPL, the field thinned a bit more, and it rewarded consistency.

What AK has just posted is spot on, almost 80% of the market only play simply for the social interaction and nightly rewards and satisfaction. If the majority of our market really cared about prizes and that was the only motivating force we would only see 15 people playing in the last two weeks at each event.

Yeah. As you and I both know, if players want to win an WSOP ME/make some doolahs there are obv easier ways to go about it. And obviously you play to that strength.

[Caleb]

Anyway this conversation is slightly redundant as this season will most likely see the end of FTT events and FTT qualification methods! Back to keyrings!

I actually liked the FTT idea. While its still NPL, the field thinned a bit more, and it rewarded consistency.

What AK has just posted is spot on, almost 80% of the market only play simply for the social interaction and nightly rewards and satisfaction. If the majority of our market really cared about prizes and that was the only motivating force we would only see 15 people playing in the last two weeks at each event.

Yeah. As you and I both know, if players want to win an WSOP ME/make some doolahs there are obv easier ways to go about it. And obviously you play to that strength.

Hehe. Doolahs.