This could be long, but I hope not... (note, these are just my opinions)
I think we need to know what APAT are aiming for with the Cash Championships. Is it a timed tournament, or a rake free cash game with a bonus at the end of the allotted time? This is confusing to most people. As it stands it feels somewhere in the middle without a distinct identity.
The structure currently is that each player can sit with anything between £50 and £200. Once you have lost £200 you are out of the game. If you sit with less than £200 then you can top up anything to £200 at any time you wish. You can "cashout" at any time and forfeit your £10 Championship Fee. In Cardiff, we saw a mixture of strategies. Some people bought in for £200. Some bought in for £100 and rebought once for the same amount if/when they lost their money. Some bought in for £50 and reloaded if/when they lost their money. The aim of "Phase 1" is to be one of the 8 largest stacks to make it to the final table, where on offer for the player with the highest stack after an additional time period was the "Championship Fee" prize pool of £180.
This does not work as it stands.
This is an innovative idea and APAT are surely planning on growing this. However, as it stands currently, people are not going to be interested in playing bar the same few every time. Again, this is my opinion, but some changes need to be made. We need to look at the following:
1) Target Audience.
APAT players are amateurs. Most people are looking for a cheap, deepstacked game that lasts longer than they would get on a Saturday night down the casino/at home. To them, £82.50 is a nice tournament that comes round once a month and can be seen as a "shot". Yes, some of us have bigger bankrolls/nicer paying jobs, but the players that are playing APATs are not the players that are willing/can afford to drop £215 on a 5hr game. It is not value for money.
2) Competition.
We play these events on a Friday night in the host casino. The host casino generally has their own regular tournament on and 1-2 small stakes cash games. We want these players, surely? At £215 we are not going to get them, it is just too much and again not value for money. Most regular APAT players who travel for the weekend use Friday night to socialise as well - given the choice between this game and their only night out, the night out will always win.
At the moment, as an APAT player looking in I see the lineup of the Cash Championships on one side, then I see the locals cash game on the other side and I know where I want to be - hint, it isn"t at the same table as Mr Murray, Mr Williams, Mr Webber and Mr Stacey et al!
You may notice I keep referring to the cost of the game as £215. I fully expect that people will say "well, you can buy in for less" but my own experience in Cardiff shows that you can, but to be fair if you don"t buy in for £215 you don"t have a shot at winning. In effect, the deeper pockets win currently and this is a turn off to people who don"t have the bankroll to play.
My suggestion to this would be to play as a shootout. Play Phase 1 as it currently stands with the 8 most profitable stacks offered the opportunity to go through to the final table, where each player must sit down with the minimum of £100 and can have up to £250 of their own money. If a player was to have >£250 at the end of Phase 1, then they get to "bank" some of this. Highest stack wins at the end of the allotted time. If any of the top 8 wish to cash out at the end of Phase 1, then 9th/10th etc get offered to take their place.
