I didn't play much of Season 10 and if I'm truly honest, I'm unlikely to play much of Season 11 due to finances. However, I did play the Worlds and the Forum Event, and so will limit feedback to those two events.
Forum Event
Positives
- Location worked really well. Cheap eats/sleeps/bites always handy, especially having a Wetherspoons over the road.
- The increased numbers didn't seem to hurt the event at all. As always, it was the best event in terms of atmosphere and enjoyment.
- Dealers & floor staff were excellent.
- Live streaming and updates were very good - it's tough as hell tracking all the exits in this type of event and it seemed to go well from a player's point of view.
Negatives
- I've said this before and I'll say it again - one forum, one team. I was lucky in that I got my entry because my team won it the year before, but I saw some forums/FB groups not get in whereas other areas appeared to form "groups" in order to get 2/3 teams in. It happens every year.
- Food wait was horrendous. This seems to be reoccurring
- Apart from the ME there was nothing for players to do who didn't want to play cash. A late turbo comp probably would have been good.
World Championships
Positives
- Cardroom staff were tremendous in most tournaments. I can barely remember any misdeals and the games flowed really well. (I say most as saving one for later)
- The APAT team worked their backsides off and it showed. The live streams were excellent, the updates complemented it well and the organisation was as slick as a PokerStars event bar the odd mishap.
- It was good to see so many events being supported and decent sized prizepools.
Negatives
- Catering was shocking, especially food. The chain as a whole seems to struggle in this area but it was rather obvious over the second weekend.
- No Stud/Razz was upsetting.
- The break on the first Monday/Tuesday didn't work. I understand that this was because of a sponsor-wide event but if APAT can, please get rid of this.
- Dealing in the 8-Game wasn't as good as hoped. It was the only event where I heard complaints about the dealing standard. It's understandable as some of the games aren't dealt very often but still a bit sad for the layers involved as they were paying a decent amount to play.
Suggestions
- Catering wise - would it be possible to ask the Casino to run a limited menu for those days? Things that are easy to eat at the table but a bit more than burgers/chips. Also, more staff!!
- 8-Game. Could we make a change here? Ditch the Limit Hold'Em, it's boring as hell in a tournament, especially 6-max. I would personally replace it with Limit Badugi but appreciate others might have better ideas. This would also give a better balance of games, 3 flop games, 3 stud games, 2 draw games.
- I'll echo everyone else - BRING BACK THE STUD AND RAZZ! Also, I think it's time to ditch one of the Irish/Pineapple.
- One team per forum/group please
Just a couple of things I'll bring up here..
8 game dealing - I may have just been lucky, but I can't recall any issues on the tables I was on during the 2 days. All it needed to run smoother would have been what they did on day 2, and have the rotating thing for the button. Let's be honest, I think you play this anywhere in the world, and due to the lack of the games being played, there will always be more errors.
Limit Hold em as part of the 8 game - it's part of the standard 8 game that's played online, I had no issues with it.
