Wow what a read this was
First up, Des and the boys, you do a great job under difficult circumstances and the fact that everyone feels so strongly and disappointed about not being able to get in, is surely testament to how good these events are and how many people want to play.
When these sort of debates end, with people no longer unhappy that they can"t get in, that"s when we have a REAL problem.
Everyone has a valid point to a certain extent with their views depending upon their own circumstances and what gives them an edge, to get a seat at the event.
I personally think what we have, with the exception of the loss of the local regional's, which given the current financial climate is understandable, is great.
The main issue is that demand outstrips supply because the product APAT offers is such a good one and offers great value for money, with a great play structure.
Two day ones would be great, if there were enough volunteers and cash to fund this but at present, with the current economic climate, I think APAT have done a superb job to maintain the level of obvious sponsorship that they have.
This leaves us with the option of adding "juice" to the buy in to help fund this but this seems to have mixed reviews and go against the whole point of the APAT idea.
Another option could be to extend the first day by starting earlier and finishing later or reducing the chips / blind level times but this would detract from the fantastic structure we already have and could not fit in that many extra players anyway.
So what does this leave us with? To be honest not much more than we have already as an option, as whatever method APAT choose to help fairly distribute the seats, someone will be unhappy at missing out.
Maybe an option could be to ask Blue Sq if they could set up some form of reward points system for APAT, where as part of the sponsorship deal with them, any APAT member that played on-line and paid a rake to Blue Sq on the cash games or a registration fee to them to play an on-line tournament, a proportion of this could be set aside in a separate fund to be used to help APAT develop their events further.
This would not cost members any extra (Win), APAT would have a chance to gain some additional funding through the support of Blue Sq playing members (Win) and Blue Sq would no doubt see more APAT'ers playing, if they knew that they were helping our organisation a little (Win).
Could this be a possible option to explore to try and finance another day's play to help grow the events a little more? Just a thought
Alternatively, Des could quit, his boys could refuse to help and the tour goes down the pan, in which case no one wants to play, loads of seats are available but no one actually cares!!!!!! (Not really my preferred option but it might help people to remember that these events sell out fast for a reason
)
Anyway, if you turn up early at Walsall and get on the alternates list, you'll probably be able to have my seat by 3.00pm after I've donked my chips off with no real hand, being in a pot that I really shouldn't be in but at least I will have made someone happy
