Why were there so few seats available? When i saw the new schedule for this year it looked fantastic but i figured the point of the new professional league was that it would run alongside the regular tournaments and therefore more people would be able to play, not less.
As it is it"s a massive letdown and the appearance of a professional league in an amateur poker association seems to have cut down on the number of amateur players who get the chance to play. Very dissapointing.
Rich & Des have both said that Swansea was a tough one to deal with and that numbers were also going to be a problem but they were let down on their alternatives.
Aspers can only fit 150 (at a squeeze) and, as you mentioned, the Pro Series will take up to 50 of those.
I"m not going to go into the issue of the Pro Series and it"s impact on the size of the Amateur fields, it"s already been covered elsewhere (have a root around you"ll find it) and it"s something we are going to have to live with.
It should be mentioned that if there are less than 50 runners in the Pro Series, those empty chairs will be moved to the Amateur field. It remains to be seen how that operates.
I would hope that the concerns raised regarding the impact of the Pro Series on the Amateur field will be addressed in Season 5 (perhaps held on another weekend from the amateur comp). In fact, I"m sure that they will be.
I think it is important to recognise that APAT has given us an excellent "tour" this year and we shouldn"t let the niggles regarding Swansea detract from that.
Basically, let"s suck it and see. We can always moan more later.
