Speedyfold Poker Blog

yes my friends, you did indeed hear it here first, at the hands of super fast speed typer speedyfold.

Two players from the WSOP 2009 Main Event table (November Niners) have also made it to the final table of the WSOP Europe Main Event (WSOPE ME Niners). Sick Sick Sick. When you run good you run good! wow.

The November Nine men in question are James Akenhead (of Hitsquad fame) and Antoine Saout (a baguette munching, garlic chewing man from a medium sized town somewhere in northern Europe)

When I called up my pal at a local bookermakers and enquired on some odds of this sort of thing, he said he havent got a clue. After further prompting he/we agreed on 850,000-1. Wow again. Epic? For sure

over and out, Speedyfold (fastest blogger in town)

Full Tilt’s ironman rewards scheme must be one of the worst explained I’ve ever seen. How difficult can it be to explain this things in plain English and make them appealing to it’s players. Most poker players are inherently a little lazy when it comes to reading large chunks of text. Lets remember we stare at images and click buttons for most of the day ; Most of us want to glance at something and understand the gist of it within the first paragraph.

Full Tilt’s Ironman explanation though is a long ramble that doesnt really tell you much. What the hell is an Ironman Chip for instance, and how about Ironman Medals? And they have these very vague tables which imply you need to accumulate a certain number of points every day. However it doesnt explicity state that. Then they add more layers like Ironman Plus levels, and the need to opt-in and decide in advance what you want to use the points towards.

Language such as “You could receive bonus medals at the end of the month if you reach at least Bronze status and earn at least 500 points in a day. ”

It is the sort of information page that has just been repeatedly amended over time, and no-one has actually taken the step of sitting back for 2 mins and considering how it looks to “fresh eyes” to the page. I say all this not even really in personal frustration or anything, just more the fact that it such a poor use of an incentive scheme and marketing tool.

There was an interesting thing in the news today. In the UK Annette_15 was being used by Betfair to advertise their site. However there was a complaint. Not only is Annette quite young looking, but it was suggested that her actual screenname “Annette_15″ suggested she is younger than she actually is (she is currently 20 btw).

Whilst reviewing this complaint it was declared that there was in fact a law banning persons below 25 from being used for gambling advertising. Betfair seemed unaware of this law. They have therefore subsequently stated that they wont use Annette_15 again in the UK in any advertising compaigns.

It seems a little harsh considering that Annette won the WSOPE main event in the UK, making her a prime advertising asset. I guess I can see both sides of the argument, and hopefully it wont mean that Annette’s Betfair sponsorship is not renewed.

The WCOOP on PokerStars is well underway. In previous years this has been a tournament series that has got me licking my lips in anticipation. Large field, large buy-in, large stack, long blind levels, etc. OMG what was not to love. However this year’s WCOOP has been somewhat of a disappointment. Gone are virtually all of the 30 min blind levels. The stacks have frequently been a reduced size, and the starting blinds often have come in at a higher level. It is difficult not to think the series has been cheapened somewhat. It just doesnt feel that special.

Lets take tonights $320 HORSE event as a case in point:

There is a regular $33 HORSE tourney on Stars with 3000 starting chips, 12 minute blinds, and first levels of 20/40, 30/60, 40/80, 60/120, and 80/160. Regular, run-of-the-mill, ordinary HORSE tourney.

So, how special was Event 25 of the WCOOP I here you ask? A HORSE event with a $320 buy-in and 1180 entrants? I will tell you how special: 10 min blinds!! 5000 starting chips and first levels of 50/100, 50/100, 60/120, 60/120, and 80/160!!

It is a major disppointment that this has happened to virtually all events. God did I used to love playing this highly skillful series, where you’d still be pitting your wits 17 hours deep. Now it feels like so un-very-special in comparison.

All I can do is pray enough poker players moan in order that Stars re-instates the former glory of this series next year.