In August, I was covering two live events and both pretty much highlighted the difference and uniqueness of rather small tournaments and big festivals, as well as the problems and challenges that come along with it. At the end of the blog entry, I will also include the stats of my fitness watch tracker with regards to steps and kilometers walked while on duty. Now if only I could stop the kilos from going back up while cooking at home ...
PokerNews Cup in Rozvadov
The PokerNews Cup returned to the King's Casino in Rozvadov and the €250 Main Event was scheduled with four starting days, one reentry per flight and a guarantee of whopping €200,000. The last two Day 1s overlapped, which made things a bit more complicated with regards to updates, but ultimately they turned out to have a strong field each and smashed the guarantee by quite some.
With such a rather low buy-in, it's somewhat inevitable that you won't know many players right away. Some familiar faces from other circuits make for a base to start with, and fortunately the casino ensured that all players would go to their tables with a copy of the entry ticket in order to identify them.
By the time the last three tables were reached, all remaining participants were known and that obviously helped a lot for the live reporting. Since only Day 2 and Day 3 were scheduled in order to determine a winner, all Day 1s and Day 2 ran pretty long, but that is nothing uncommon anymore for smaller festivals and one gets used to it. Also, if you missed one elimination there was no big drama about it, while at big events this may become an issue.
The final table played fast and furious at the start, then slowed down a lot as it does often when a live stream is available. Even though the first-place payout of just over €44,000 may not sound much for a professional poker player, it can be quite important for a recreational. No deal was made in heads-up, and the underdog in chips emerged victorious and screamed out his joy after the last hand - that's what poker is and should all be about: Having fun at the table, showing emotions, and not being boring.
Pros:
- Less pressure due to more relaxed atmosphere
- Many participants appreciate the reporting
- Free buffet and soft drinks available to the participants
Cons:
- Big fields with barely any known players
- Players tend to get rid of the media tickets or prefer nicknames
- There really isn't much else one can do in Rozvadov
PokerNews Cup summary
Number of days: 5
Number of steps: 38,830
Distance walked: 31.85km
Weight change: -1.2 kilos
2016 EPT Barcelona
The stark contrast going from the small festival at a big casino in a middle of nowhere to a big festival spread across two tournament rooms in a big tourist city such as Barcelona was a given right away. The hotel was a good 20-minute walk away from the venue and there were small corner shops open 24/7 every other street. This year I didn't run into any trouble with pickpockets, while some players and dealers did have the misfortune.
One year ago, the festival at the Casino Barcelona already smashed many records in terms of participation, as well as players getting their seats quite delayed as alternates. The latter wasn't as much of a problem this time around, except for maybe the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event. However, it was inevitable not to notice, that the venue was very close to their max capacity and that had some negative impact on the Satellite and cash game waiting lists.
A few days before the start of the festival, PokerStars announced that the Main Events will be paying out the top 20% of the field and the initial €10,000 High Roller paid as much as 23% much to the disguise of many pros. The money in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event and €2,200 High Roller was reached early on Day 2 and the early starting times of 10am didn't necessarily find much love in general.
Whether or not that trend will continue remains to be seen, as PokerStars and the EPT should have received plenty of feedback from the pros and recreational players alike. They even reverted the payout back to 15% for the €50,000 Super High Roller and the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller, further giving all participants a questionnaire to fill out with regards to their preference. Since those events include the option to reenter, I cannot imagine many votes towards keeping a payout of the top 20%.
For the first time in many years, the EPT Main Event reached the money at the end of Day 2 and a minimum cash ensured a net profit of €330 compared to the buy-in of €5,300. This may or may not keep more players sticking around on the circuit, but only Satellite and online package winners can really be "happy" about that kind of return after putting in quite some effort in the tournament. It was also the first time that I have seen a "lunch break" being introduced for a live poker event, and from a personal point I'd have preferred to have a dinner break instead on those few days when it happened.
There were four major events to be covered, and German wunderkind Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz did what he knows best by winning the initial €50,000 Super High Roller in impressive fashion. Next up, there was the choice between going mental in the huge Day 1b field of the Main Event or eventually pulling an all nighter in the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller the next day. I will likely always opt for the latter, because it helps to know a lot of the players from the years on the live reporting circuit.
As of Day 4 of the Main Event, the reporting teams split up to cover the final €10,000 High Roller as well and especially the restart of the Main Event turned out to be quite hectic. The back-and-forth running at least helped to reach the daily goals on my tracking app, while the final day saw a very long final table of the last seven and 36 players return for the High Roller.
While not all tables were being used anymore, and the new events were played as Turbo anyways, the High Roller took place in the far corner of the main tournament room. Down to the last nine, two other final tables were moved to the tables right nearby and one of them turned out to be very disturbing with a very loud rail during ongoing deal and "who gets to keep the trophy" negotiations. After some 15 minutes, the table was moved away further, while one mistake during that time may have cost €100,000 in equity.
It did have one big advantage though - at least for us live reporters: We could set up nearby for the final day and didn't need to run back and forth to the media room in order to maintain more thorough updates when it matters the most.
All in all, the EPT Barcelona was a crazy and frantic as I remembered from two sears ago. It was nice to see many familiar faces again and catch up briefly while running back to the tables. Except for one day, I was able to work out in the morning before heading to the casino - this should always be a priority of mine whenever possible. And improving my Spanish. Mierda.
2016 EPT Barcelona summary
Number of days: 11 (incl travel days)
Number of steps:140,775
Distance walked: 115.46km
Weight change: -2.0 kilos
What is up next? September will mainly focus on sorting out a few personal things back at home before the WSOP Circuit kicks off at the end of the month in Berlin. And the EPT will be calling again at the end of October on Malta prior to a semi-morning-vacation-ish experience at the WSOP Circuit on Sint Maarten. By then, I shall hopefully have lost a few more kilos and regained a more balanced physical shape - fingers crossed!
PokerNews Cup in Rozvadov
The PokerNews Cup returned to the King's Casino in Rozvadov and the €250 Main Event was scheduled with four starting days, one reentry per flight and a guarantee of whopping €200,000. The last two Day 1s overlapped, which made things a bit more complicated with regards to updates, but ultimately they turned out to have a strong field each and smashed the guarantee by quite some.
With such a rather low buy-in, it's somewhat inevitable that you won't know many players right away. Some familiar faces from other circuits make for a base to start with, and fortunately the casino ensured that all players would go to their tables with a copy of the entry ticket in order to identify them.
By the time the last three tables were reached, all remaining participants were known and that obviously helped a lot for the live reporting. Since only Day 2 and Day 3 were scheduled in order to determine a winner, all Day 1s and Day 2 ran pretty long, but that is nothing uncommon anymore for smaller festivals and one gets used to it. Also, if you missed one elimination there was no big drama about it, while at big events this may become an issue.
The final table played fast and furious at the start, then slowed down a lot as it does often when a live stream is available. Even though the first-place payout of just over €44,000 may not sound much for a professional poker player, it can be quite important for a recreational. No deal was made in heads-up, and the underdog in chips emerged victorious and screamed out his joy after the last hand - that's what poker is and should all be about: Having fun at the table, showing emotions, and not being boring.
Pros:
- Less pressure due to more relaxed atmosphere
- Many participants appreciate the reporting
- Free buffet and soft drinks available to the participants
Cons:
- Big fields with barely any known players
- Players tend to get rid of the media tickets or prefer nicknames
- There really isn't much else one can do in Rozvadov
PokerNews Cup summary
Number of days: 5
Number of steps: 38,830
Distance walked: 31.85km
Weight change: -1.2 kilos
2016 EPT Barcelona
The stark contrast going from the small festival at a big casino in a middle of nowhere to a big festival spread across two tournament rooms in a big tourist city such as Barcelona was a given right away. The hotel was a good 20-minute walk away from the venue and there were small corner shops open 24/7 every other street. This year I didn't run into any trouble with pickpockets, while some players and dealers did have the misfortune.
One year ago, the festival at the Casino Barcelona already smashed many records in terms of participation, as well as players getting their seats quite delayed as alternates. The latter wasn't as much of a problem this time around, except for maybe the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event. However, it was inevitable not to notice, that the venue was very close to their max capacity and that had some negative impact on the Satellite and cash game waiting lists.
A few days before the start of the festival, PokerStars announced that the Main Events will be paying out the top 20% of the field and the initial €10,000 High Roller paid as much as 23% much to the disguise of many pros. The money in the €1,100 Estrellas Main Event and €2,200 High Roller was reached early on Day 2 and the early starting times of 10am didn't necessarily find much love in general.
Whether or not that trend will continue remains to be seen, as PokerStars and the EPT should have received plenty of feedback from the pros and recreational players alike. They even reverted the payout back to 15% for the €50,000 Super High Roller and the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller, further giving all participants a questionnaire to fill out with regards to their preference. Since those events include the option to reenter, I cannot imagine many votes towards keeping a payout of the top 20%.
For the first time in many years, the EPT Main Event reached the money at the end of Day 2 and a minimum cash ensured a net profit of €330 compared to the buy-in of €5,300. This may or may not keep more players sticking around on the circuit, but only Satellite and online package winners can really be "happy" about that kind of return after putting in quite some effort in the tournament. It was also the first time that I have seen a "lunch break" being introduced for a live poker event, and from a personal point I'd have preferred to have a dinner break instead on those few days when it happened.
There were four major events to be covered, and German wunderkind Fedor "CrownUpGuy" Holz did what he knows best by winning the initial €50,000 Super High Roller in impressive fashion. Next up, there was the choice between going mental in the huge Day 1b field of the Main Event or eventually pulling an all nighter in the €25,000 Single-Day High Roller the next day. I will likely always opt for the latter, because it helps to know a lot of the players from the years on the live reporting circuit.
As of Day 4 of the Main Event, the reporting teams split up to cover the final €10,000 High Roller as well and especially the restart of the Main Event turned out to be quite hectic. The back-and-forth running at least helped to reach the daily goals on my tracking app, while the final day saw a very long final table of the last seven and 36 players return for the High Roller.
While not all tables were being used anymore, and the new events were played as Turbo anyways, the High Roller took place in the far corner of the main tournament room. Down to the last nine, two other final tables were moved to the tables right nearby and one of them turned out to be very disturbing with a very loud rail during ongoing deal and "who gets to keep the trophy" negotiations. After some 15 minutes, the table was moved away further, while one mistake during that time may have cost €100,000 in equity.
It did have one big advantage though - at least for us live reporters: We could set up nearby for the final day and didn't need to run back and forth to the media room in order to maintain more thorough updates when it matters the most.
All in all, the EPT Barcelona was a crazy and frantic as I remembered from two sears ago. It was nice to see many familiar faces again and catch up briefly while running back to the tables. Except for one day, I was able to work out in the morning before heading to the casino - this should always be a priority of mine whenever possible. And improving my Spanish. Mierda.
2016 EPT Barcelona summary
Number of days: 11 (incl travel days)
Number of steps:140,775
Distance walked: 115.46km
Weight change: -2.0 kilos
What is up next? September will mainly focus on sorting out a few personal things back at home before the WSOP Circuit kicks off at the end of the month in Berlin. And the EPT will be calling again at the end of October on Malta prior to a semi-morning-vacation-ish experience at the WSOP Circuit on Sint Maarten. By then, I shall hopefully have lost a few more kilos and regained a more balanced physical shape - fingers crossed!
