Sorry guys, getting heated on this thread will not help the situation one bit. We are all in this together to a degree and I will get personally involved should any player have issues arising out of a potential payment into their Blue Square account.
I don"t think anyone is suggesting that APAT or indeed BlueSq or DTD would act in anything other than the player"s best interest - this is certainly not what I am suggesting.
The simple matter is that there has been a slight misunderstanding between Blue Square and DTD over the payment method used for transferring some player entry and venue hire fees. Blue Square issued cheques to DTD last week and should they clear in time; which they should, then all tournaments will be paid as per normal APAT procedures at DTD. If the cheques do not clear then having the contingency payment plan in place via Blue Square accounts ensures the events go ahead. The amount of money concerned is relatively small, which is why the alternative payout plan was put against the Omaha and Horse events; which will have 9 small cashes and 5 small cashes respectively, and not the main event, which will have several large cashes.
APAT have always been in the business of facing challenges head on and we worked very hard with both of our partners on this event to sort out the issue, but essentially we are all in the hands of accounts departments on this one. As a very last resort we proposed the Blue Square account payment option.
I still can"t quite get my head round it... If the problem with paying is cash is that the cheques might not clear (which makes sense), how come the Main Event can still be paid out in cash, regardless of whether they clear or not? It would make more sense to guarantee that the smaller events will be paid out in cash and use the contingency plan to cover the Main Event in the eventuality that there is a problem with the payments, no? Only way I can see this making sense is that the bulk of what is owed to DTD in player entries and venue hire fees has already paid, and it is only a relatively small remainder that is still outstanding and dependent on these cheques clearing to DTD...is this the case?
Either way, I think the main problem that people have with this is that they feel it"s been sprung on them at the last minute, and as far as I could tell, until anyone mentioned it, the information from APAt (via the Player Briefing) was that the Omaha and HORSE would be paid into BlueSq. Full Stop. No mention of paying in cash if possible, with BlueSq as a backup, so I think more clarity there would have avoided a lot of the hassle in this thread. Perhaps in the future if there is any chance that this might occur (and I can understand if it"s not something that"s happened before, then it"s hard to plan for before now), then the briefing could just contain a rider stating something along the lines of "All prizes will be paid in cash where possible, but in the unlikely event that for any reason this is not possible, then prizes will be paid into a Blue Square account."... or something similar, you get the gist.
Blue Square have been a superb sponsor of APAT as somebody wrote elsewhere in this thread. For this event alone, they have covered your registration fees, venue fees, two buffets plus put up an entry to the GUKPT Grand Final worth over £3k. They have also paid for the trophy and the medals and the organiser expenses. I think that is worthy of consideration.
As I said above, I don"t doubt this one bit, I"m well aware of the value which BlueSquare add to APAT, but it"s not Blue Square that people have an issue with, it would be the same regardless of which poker site the winnings were paid into, people would much prefer to have the cash. I know I for one could do with having the cash on me for cash games or other tournaments etc right away, with times being a bit tough right now. In the event that the cheque(s) in question do not clear, is there any chance of arranging some sort of partial payout in cash should people really need/want a few quid in their pocket to help cover the extra costs of the weekend? Not feasible or acceptable to DTD perhaps, but might be a good compromise for the small number who may be affected.
All in all, it"s an unfortunate situation and has been made worse by some viewing those with objections as being "moaners" or whatever. I think it"s perfectly acceptable for people to voice their opinions on a matter which may well affect them detrimentally.
