Season 6 Discussion

[Santino67]

We can"t book our holiday to Rome till I know when the Scottish is  

[AceOnTheRiver]

We can"t book our holiday to Rome till I know when the Scottish is  

That"s ironic; I can"t book my holiday to Scotland till I know when the Roman is  

[satan]

Good times.

So is Gordon Strachan.

Your witness.

[Des]

I can"t believe we"ve just signed off on our fifth season!  Thanks to everyone who took part, it was a great year and we"re looking forward to launching an even more exciting schedule in season six.

But before we can do that, we have a number of big decisions to make regarding the direction that APAT will take moving forward.  I have several meetings scheduled over the next two weeks and the outcome of those will help determine the route we take. 

Our options as I see it are as follows:-

1)  We enter an annual partnership as per the previous five seasons. 

- The positive in this option is that it offers APAT a fixed position and a set budget for the season.

- The negative being that the market continues to move significantly and it is not certain we can achieve the best deal for players with an annual partnership.  In addition, typically once a budget is agreed we become unable to further innovate during the season.

2)  We enter a "per event" partnership with different operators for each of our National Amateur Championship properties.

- The positive here is that once up and running this can deliver the budget we would like in place for the season.  In addition, with no exclusive agreement in place, it would enable us to put the National Online League on our choice of poker room and we already have a proposal on the table with our preferred operator for that.

- The negatives would be a requirement on members to sign up to several operators throughout the year.  That said, we would ensure there was an exciting schedule of events in additon to our live and online National Championship events to ensure signing up is worthwhile.  The other negative of course is that an event may be called into question should its proposed partner pull out at the last minute.

3)  We open an APAT Online Poker Room and generate the budget for our live schedule via this.

- The positive here is that APAT would operate as a business and if managed well, we would be able to generate a marketing budget (in addition to our live events budget) to continue the growth of the brand.  In addition members would be able to feed into the structures and schedules of all of our online events.

- The negative here is that it would rely on the support and committment of members to play online with APAT and to be proud of and promote our brand.

So as you can see there are some big decisions to be made over the next two weeks before we can confirm the season six schedule.  I"ve published the above to keep you guys in the loop as much as possible.  In doing so, I"m aware that a lot of people will post their support of the option above that they consider the easiest for themselves.  All I would ask of those who do choose to post on this, is that you have a good think about all of the options before condemning any!

I know some members think we like to drag out the annual season announcements, but this really isn"t the case.  The minute we know, you guys will know.

Cheers,

Des aka Ginger Jesus

[TightEnd]

Balding shrek agrees.

[Fatcatstu]

Wow!!! choices choices!

At first glance (blatently ignoring Des" think carefully plea) ideas 2 and 3 seem to be the most exciting to me.

I do my best thinking after drinking heavily, i will be back on here later :p

[PHIL_TC]

Quite like the idea of option 3 and having an online APAT poker room. I"m presuming that this would be skin over a current poker network? I"m not a serious grinding online player, but you"d need to be careful which network was selected for volume of players, availability of games... as I"m guessing the more serious online players within the membership would be reluctant to move from more fishier waters to try and grind a roll in a tougher environment.

Option 2... having individual sponsors and having members to sign up to multiple operators wouldn"t be a major problem. I would hazard a guess that most members who play online will have signed up to most of the popular poker rooms and have accounts anyway. The downside here I would see is getting sponsors for the less glamerous nationals locations. The worlds would be snapped up, but would you have sponsors lining up for the less glamerous fixtures? For example if you ever god forbid came to Stockton would you have anyone other than Greggs interested? Just think that this option would cause extra workloads for you guys in negotiating and I"m presuming that having one sponsor a year is hard enough work never mind one for each championship.

My gut feeling would be a combination of 2 and 3... The pro"s of 3 giving an independant revenue stream for APAT and option 2 and sponsorship for the prestige events such as the worlds being sponsored etc... like DTD did in the last season.

Then again option 1 has worked over the past 5 seasons.... if you can get the right deal and it means stability for the remainder of the season without having any events in doubt then I"m always a fan. Nothing worse than planning time off work and around holidays for an event and to have it cancelled.

Just my twopenneth x

[HOLDorFOLD]

Quite like the idea of option 3 and having an online APAT poker room. I"m presuming that this would be skin over a current poker network? I"m not a serious grinding online player, but you"d need to be careful which network was selected for volume of players, availability of games... as I"m guessing the more serious online players within the membership would be reluctant to move from more fishier waters to try and grind a roll in a tougher environment.

Option 2... having individual sponsors and having members to sign up to multiple operators wouldn"t be a major problem. I would hazard a guess that most members who play online will have signed up to most of the popular poker rooms and have accounts anyway. The downside here I would see is getting sponsors for the less glamerous nationals locations. The worlds would be snapped up, but would you have sponsors lining up for the less glamerous fixtures? For example if you ever god forbid came to Stockton would you have anyone other than Greggs interested? Just think that this option would cause extra workloads for you guys in negotiating and I"m presuming that having one sponsor a year is hard enough work never mind one for each championship.

My gut feeling would be a combination of 2 and 3... The pro"s of 3 giving an independant revenue stream for APAT and option 2 and sponsorship for the prestige events such as the worlds being sponsored etc... like DTD did in the last season.

Then again option 1 has worked over the past 5 seasons.... if you can get the right deal and it means stability for the remainder of the season without having any events in doubt then I"m always a fan. Nothing worse than planning time off work and around holidays for an event and to have it cancelled.

Just my twopenneth x

Sums up what I was thinking ... saves me having to type it out  



Good luck with the meetings, pretty sure whatever way it pans out there will be support from APAT members.

[Fatcatstu]

Quite like the idea of option 3 and having an online APAT poker room. I"m presuming that this would be skin over a current poker network? I"m not a serious grinding online player, but you"d need to be careful which network was selected for volume of players, availability of games... as I"m guessing the more serious online players within the membership would be reluctant to move from more fishier waters to try and grind a roll in a tougher environment.

Option 2... having individual sponsors and having members to sign up to multiple operators wouldn"t be a major problem. I would hazard a guess that most members who play online will have signed up to most of the popular poker rooms and have accounts anyway. The downside here I would see is getting sponsors for the less glamerous nationals locations. The worlds would be snapped up, but would you have sponsors lining up for the less glamerous fixtures? For example if you ever god forbid came to Stockton would you have anyone other than Greggs interested? Just think that this option would cause extra workloads for you guys in negotiating and I"m presuming that having one sponsor a year is hard enough work never mind one for each championship.

My gut feeling would be a combination of 2 and 3... The pro"s of 3 giving an independant revenue stream for APAT and option 2 and sponsorship for the prestige events such as the worlds being sponsored etc... like DTD did in the last season.

Then again option 1 has worked over the past 5 seasons.... if you can get the right deal and it means stability for the remainder of the season without having any events in doubt then I"m always a fan. Nothing worse than planning time off work and around holidays for an event and to have it cancelled.

Just my twopenneth x

Sums up what I was thinking ... saves me having to type it out  



Good luck with the meetings, pretty sure whatever way it pans out there will be support from APAT members.

So you both basically dont know :p

[Paulie_D]

Then again option 1 has worked over the past 5 seasons.... if you can get the right deal and it means stability for the remainder of the season without having any events in doubt then I"m always a fan. Nothing worse than planning time off work and around holidays for an event and to have it cancelled.

This....+1

[RicayBoy]

Option 3 would be very brave. It is quite exciting but you would rely on the patronage of your high rakers who may be on good deals elsewhere.

I don"t like Option 2. Personally, I"m trying to cut down on the number of sites I use, especially with all these hacking stories and the very real risk of some sites going t*ts up in the recession. Chopping and changing is bitty, messy and a few people just might not bother with it.

Option 1 is probably the most boring, but the one I like most so I suppose I must be boring. I would like a safe site to play APAT poker on and probably most of my (small stakes) poker would be played there. One site, everything on it - Simples!

I would do my best to play whatever the outcome is though.

[dwh103]

Really good to know that plenty of work is going on in the background (we all knew that anyway, but thanks for putting it down in black and white).

Whilst APAT brought cheap, well run tournaments to the masses first - there is more and more competition than ever before in this area. Option 1 is the safe option and maintains the status quo, but there are more and more similar offerings around these days. Being first on the scene APAT has a name, a (short) history and a loyal player base. One Brighton local was wondering what the point of the trophy and medals were - personally I think it"s a small touch that differentiates the APAT brand perfectly. Imo these are (albeit small) advantages that can be built on.

If I had one critique about APAT is that the visibility does not match the passion of either the organisers or the players. The majority of locals I spoke to in Brighton had no idea who or what APAT was and the event didn"t sell out. I know Brighton was a late addition, money doesn"t grow on trees and APAT can"t throw money at marketing, but I"m surprised a couple of sponsors haven"t done better.

I would agree with Phil that the hardcore would certainly have multiple poker clients available - is this true of the casual player? I would think not - not that I have any evidence to back up my opinion. Has APAT done any research? Option 2 seems like the hardest option but potentially has large benefits. Same with Option 3 but I don"t know the risk to APAT if it were to be a bust - could be big if it took off I guess.

If the Nationals are played in the right places I don"t think they need to be touched (some larger capacities would be nice though). The Online League has been discussed to death and everyone has their own ideas there. It would be nice to see some weight thrown behind a flagship event (be it the Worlds or something else) and for APAT + sponsor to jump up and down and shout "Hey, look at us". Grosvenor got well over 1,000 for the Goliath, DTD plenty for their £50 super tournament. Not suggesting APAT goes and offers £100k guarantees (or maybe...) but there is clearly appetite for a well marketed lower stakes event.

As far as I see. Option 1 is a check, option 2 is a shove and with option 3 you"ve also thrown your car keys in and flopped your nuts out onto the table.

Anyone who"s been to an institution I"ve been banned from knows which I"d prefer. I"d hate to see APAT stagnate and fear it might unless it keeps ahead of the competition.

[kohan]

Quite like the idea of option 3 and having an online APAT poker room. I"m presuming that this would be skin over a current poker network? I"m not a serious grinding online player, but you"d need to be careful which network was selected for volume of players, availability of games... as I"m guessing the more serious online players within the membership would be reluctant to move from more fishier waters to try and grind a roll in a tougher environment.

Option 2... having individual sponsors and having members to sign up to multiple operators wouldn"t be a major problem. I would hazard a guess that most members who play online will have signed up to most of the popular poker rooms and have accounts anyway. The downside here I would see is getting sponsors for the less glamerous nationals locations. The worlds would be snapped up, but would you have sponsors lining up for the less glamerous fixtures? For example if you ever god forbid came to Stockton would you have anyone other than Greggs interested? Just think that this option would cause extra workloads for you guys in negotiating and I"m presuming that having one sponsor a year is hard enough work never mind one for each championship.

My gut feeling would be a combination of 2 and 3... The pro"s of 3 giving an independant revenue stream for APAT and option 2 and sponsorship for the prestige events such as the worlds being sponsored etc... like DTD did in the last season.

Then again option 1 has worked over the past 5 seasons.... if you can get the right deal and it means stability for the remainder of the season without having any events in doubt then I"m always a fan. Nothing worse than planning time off work and around holidays for an event and to have it cancelled.

Just my twopenneth x

Sums up what I was thinking ... saves me having to type it out  



Good luck with the meetings, pretty sure whatever way it pans out there will be support from APAT members.

i wish apat well whichever choice they make and will give them my full backing as i have really enjoyed the last 8 months playing with you all

[Paulie_D]

I"m an old stick in the mud but I don"t see that Options 2 & 3 offer the stability or guaranteed budget that a full season of events would (to my mind) require. I much prefer KNOWING that an event will be taking place at a certain venue and on certain date (subject only to the vicissitudes of fate) and planning my year well in advance.

Innovation, isn"t that what Sunday"s are for? Although I"d be sad to see them go the Side Events COULD be substituted with other things...after all it was tried in Brighton.

I"m not condemning 2 & 3 and whatever the eventual result I"d still be turning up regardless...one way or another.

[duke3016]

(subject only to the vicissitudes of fate)

I love that word