I will give you my thoughts as others are...
For Europe, I personally totted up the cost of playing a £75 tournament, add flights and hotel etc etc etc... Travelling to UK APAT events, in my world, normally has 2, 3 or 4 of us at some point sharing a car and sharing the fuel costs, and to be honest, this year has been very low in that some nice company is footing these bills for us in a company car, so very low. So comparing the cost of UK travel to an event, compared to EU travel to an event, is a big difference, and as explained, the cost of travel added to the hotels m priced it out of my choices to play. *IF* there were any events in Northern France, then I am sure a drive to the event would be a high possibility for myself and lots more other UK regulars.. It did not mean I was not interested because my Buddy and next door neighbour, The Duke, was playing, and also another local(ish) friend, Cyntaf, but once those 2 had gone out, I sort of really just checked in at the end to see how things went.
For Aberdeen, I have already satt"d into this event so getting in cheap, but, some players who are going are definately flying. That is fine, and the cheapo flights are great, but, the one thing I am aware of and I dont like, is if you go there by car, is, you have the flexibility to go home if you want. I did this after the Vic tournament. The Sunday side game had no appeal to me (HORSE) so decided to give it a miss and make the drive home. You cant do that with a flight, you MUST book to come home Monday because the cheapo airlines do not really do flxible tickes like normal airlines do.
For the video streaming. I like the idea of this. For the very first event on day 2, I was even a big part of the proceedings. I was having fun, my family were having fun, the word got around and loads of people were wishing me well by txt msg.. It was all good... but... and its not a big, but... I came home having spend all of day 2 on the feature table, and lots of fun to be had, and lots of stories from friends and relatives, congrats etc... I did not see one little bit of it. I came home and there is nothing that I can see back. I have nothing to show those that never knew anything was happening. I have no history of the day. I realise that there is a cost associated with the whole video feature and recording 2 days of poker, but, can"t the interviews be recorded? Even if it was recorded locally at the camera instead of across streaming recording, and then uploaded after the event.
Also, something that has been mentioned, certainly in the first event of the year in Swansea, i got home and wanted to see comments and I know people post congrats etc etc, and also see 2 days worth of the usual excellent quality updates, and it was really eveident that the live text updates had come 2nd place to the video and audio updates, and, I know why, I was there while it was happening, there was this new technology being worked and the updaters were a big part of that.
As Rich has explained, the costs of shipping 2 video guys, and an interviewer over to EU, hotels, flights, cargo etc etc, is prohibitive right now, and we cant argue with that, maybe one day in the future they will have more sponsorship money that can cope with that cost too. As I said, I definatly like it. Made my final table experiece as an amateur player just seem that more important.
They buy-in level is perfect for me, I hope it does not go up.
Cheers
Carl.
