Poker manager at GBH

Yorkpoker · Mar 09,2005, 04:33 PM

I wanted to send a big thanks to GBHShftMgr and say thanks. I showed up to the GBH and he was welcoming and wonderful and he invited me to the July event (I shall play if I am not on my honeymoon). He even swung lunch for me and my friend.

Thanks for being a class act and a nice guy.

all_aces · Mar 09,2005, 04:35 PM

Agreed... Lee seemed like a very nice man, and I actually really like their blind structure. Overall, and A+ tournament experience. And as some of you may know already, I'm very critical of these sorts of things.

magithighs · Mar 09,2005, 04:40 PM

Yep, well done. Breakfast was a bit sparse, but lunch was amazing.

I didn't like the blind structure because I sucked pretty much the tournament and I need something to blame my lame play on. Yes, the structure worked -- liked the part of keeping the same blind level after the break.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to say hi. I was pissed at my play, so I made an abrupt departure.

Cheers
Magi

GBHShftMgr · Mar 10,2005, 08:41 PM

Hey guys, glad everyone I met seemed to have a goodtime, it was our pleasure to host you all. I have to say, this was probably the best field yet and I had the pleasure to watch some of the best Poker anywhere. Yep there may have been some lucky plays here and there, but very entertaining and extremely competitive.

Sorry I could not say hi to all of the Forum members, next time

.

I wanted to thank all of the players for attending and playing tough Poker for a good chunk of money but showing all the class in the world and making my life easy...not one issue to resolve during the Tournament. Hope to get the chance in the near future to shake hands with the folks I've already met and say hi and welcome to the others that I hope to meet soon.

Cheers,

Lee

Chugs · Mar 10,2005, 09:09 PM

First loved the tournament, the set-up the food etc... a real great time

Since you never get anything unless you ask.

Lee any chance GBH will do any freezout tournaments ever. I like the re-buy events but i find freezouts have a different character. Plus they'll usually end quicker, thus freeing up more valuable tables for your regular games

Seriously though has it been considered, i know rama has switched to a freezeout model for their tournies

Yorkpoker · Mar 11,2005, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chugs

Since you never get anything unless you ask.

Agreed - Lee any movement on my idea that the GBH should buy me into the June event for my B-day??

Gamblor · Mar 11,2005, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GBHShftMgr

I wanted to thank all of the players for attending and playing tough Poker for a good chunk of money but showing all the class in the world and making my life easy...not one issue to resolve during the Tournament. Hope to get the chance in the near future to shake hands with the folks I've already met and say hi and welcome to the others that I hope to meet soon.

Cheers,

Lee

I came looking for you (wanted to say hi) but brown/blond dude in the goatee said he'd point you out to me but never did - i've been playing in the 20-40 and high limit tuesday game for a while but never met you and wanted to say hi.

I finished 7th (I think) when my AJs ran into Alex's AKs.

FWIW, IMO the blinds move way to high to fast turning the final 4 tables into a total crapshoot. If I had my way, the average stack would be about 40x BB, not 10x BB. Believe me, the play is brutal enough that people would be busting out fast enough to end the tournament by 10pm. Having 500,000 chips total at the final table and 5000/10000 blinds with 8 people left is insane. No postflop skills required. It's become a matter of not running into a big hand, there's no room for poker skill anymore.

If you had a final table with avg. chipstack of say, 30 big blinds, there'd at least be some skill. You should also have a 30 second clock on all decisions. (if prize pools were bigger, say in the hundred thousand range, then a full minute would be prudent.

GBHShftMgr · Mar 11,2005, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yorkpoker

Agreed - Lee any movement on my idea that the GBH should buy me into the June event for my B-day??

After considerable thought, study and even some analysis ... sadly York

I think my boss would have issues with that as would the 87 other players that paid ... but it would be my pleasure to buy dinner on your b-day, of course for you and a friend or collegue or even your fiance.

Cheers,

Lee

GBHShftMgr · Mar 11,2005, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gamblor

I came looking for you (wanted to say hi) but brown/blond dude in the goatee said he'd point you out to me but never did - i've been playing in the 20-40 and high limit tuesday game for a while but never met you and wanted to say hi.
...
If you had a final table with avg. chipstack of say, 30 big blinds, there'd at least be some skill. You should also have a 30 second clock on all decisions. (if prize pools were bigger, say in the hundred thousand range, then a full minute would be prudent.

Sorry I missed you Gamblor, hope we can catch up to each other soon. The format we use for these Tournaments (this will answer Chug's question as well) was given a great deal of thought and consideration and what we looking for was a balance of several things:

a) Truly, the intent for having these Tournaments was to give our players a thank you for their support throughout the year (we started 3 years with 3 Tournaments and a year end Tournament of Champions) hence the welcome gift and the several buffets ... as well making the prize pool appealing enough to fill the field.

b) In my justification to my boss, I had to demonstrate that we would not be making the usual revenue that day, it is after all a thank you to our players. He agreed fully and has backed the growth each year. But, part of my responsibility is to offer a competitive event with as little downside impact as possible on the normal daily operations of the Poker Pit and the Casino in general. For that reason we try to have the event take approx. 10 hrs. of play (bear in mind that the Pit is down a few hours before the Tournament starts to credit off the floats and clean up the Pit etc.) I hope you can see why having the Tournament go an extra 3 hours (hopefully, if not longer) could pose some problems. Time clocks are fine on TV as is the 6 man final table and the opportunity to edit so it all miraculously fits into a 1 hour time slot (commercials included), but in B&M play to put a 30 or 60 second clock on a decision that could affect a significant amount of money seems a bit onerous IMHO.

c) To satisfy the requests of players to increase the Prize Pool (and still be within the $200.00 maximum buy-in permitted in a Charity Casino event) we need the re-buys and add-on in the first hour to get some money into the Pool. Rama charges $300+ and is able to have 12 more players in the field thus allowing a freeze-out and the benefit of a faster Tournament (benefit to the Casino) and by not giving out any extras and using the Prize Pool to cover the free-rolls (we cover the cost of the free-roll and match the 10% holdback for the Tournament of Champions) they can more than justify the event to the higher levels of their Casino. Hope that answers your question on the freeze-out Chugs.

d) Finally (damn I'm long-winded ... must be my age)we've increased the amount of events from 4 the first year to 6 the next year and 9 this year. We hope to increase that amount yet again next year.

To have more events and keep them just a little bit better than the last one we had to find a mix of ideas that make up the format to allow for a competitive event and still allow me to sell the growth to the folks that give the final aye or nay.

Should circumstances change on the regulatory side and we can have higher limits and/or more tables available, I would be the first to modify the format, run multi day events with a much more player friendly blind structure and offer both freeze-out and re-buy events, but until then I do have to tread that fine line of offering a competitive event but keep the downside impact to a minimum.

The forum is a difficult place to have this type of discussion (time lapse in responses and so on), I would enjoy doing this type of discussion over lunch or a coffee in the Casino ... I know I will learn a lot from you all and hopefully you will get a better perspective on the other side of the equation.

Cheers,

Lee

Dave Scharf · Mar 11,2005, 09:32 AM

Lee,

You are a great example to everyone in the industry. Your candour and enthusiasm are inspiring. Thanks for everything you do.

Gamblor · Mar 11,2005, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Scharf

Lee,

You are a great example to everyone in the industry. Your candour and enthusiasm are inspiring. Thanks for everything you do.

Feb 14th was a month ago.

Yorkpoker · Mar 11,2005, 10:43 AM

Do I detect some MAN-FLIRTING?!?!?!?