ladybruin, yes, 100% for sure. If it is less than 10 people, then I'll lower it right away for the next week and really thanks for the comment as well. Appreciated it.

Best,
Dave

I like the way you're handling things Dave, but I'd like to throw my .02 in on promotions. Personally with a 40 hour job, girlfriend, and son, I like rewards that I can try to use or clear on my own time. Sometimes freeing up time on specific days for freerolls can be hard and I hate missing out on value. I'm sure many of the players with families can sympathize with me a bit. I'll still be doing my best to make the tourneys, but I though I'd give some food for thought. Something like FT's Iron Man program would be nice. It rewards consistent play, but doesn't force you into any specific times. Thanks for everything you've been doing for how players Dave! You've helped me out multiple times these past couple weeks.

Another idea is after getting the 600 points we get a freeroll ticket so we can try to use. And maybe run the freeroll a couple times a week.

Oh and welcome back to twoplustwo! This thread is more fun with all the updates.

I sympathize with IsA at the very least. I play some freerolls along with cash about every day. Will be able to comment better after after some calcs, but I wonder if 20V/$1 might be steep. Winning the Triumv a couple times a month, we all wish, might press a player regarding the playthrough. Also, to have a way to track what is released would be nice. Maybe I am thinking this will be more complicated than it is, but these are my initial thoughts. Last, will there be any time limit to release the FR playthrough dollars?

Oops! Ran past edit time, so here is an additional post.

Yeah, so after looking at some VIPs while playing 4 and 10nl, it could take a bit to clear any good FR wins, especially for a RB player who only gets credited at 65%. I'll bet most of us would like something like 5V/$1 a lot better. Or maybe there is another way to weed it out. For example, if someone plays 1,000 hands/week, or some number of tourneys, or some number of SNGs, that is not too much of a freeride imo. Just a few more thoughts. Still, lucky to have the FRs, so perhaps I am out of line. I am sure my input will not be too bothersome, though. TY!

On a more positive note, I had HUD stats in the 99 today; and, wait for it, wait for it, I now have Triumverate stats. Great! Ty, Dave! I think I will say that is from all of the PT3 users who play those tourneys.

I completely agree with you as well, this was by far the easiest solution to set up first and see how it goes, but this is on top of the current VIP system; that being said, I'll think of how to make some Golden Apple Jam so you can just eat it when you want. =)

No not at all: To be clear, you get all the winning funds to play with right away, so you can win with it or lose it but you just can't instantly withdraw it, which some players have been doing. So whatever you win above through non-freerolls, you won't have any issues cashing it out whatsoever, if there are any issues, please email me.

No worries, so PT3 and merge figured it out, any tournament with an * in the title doesn't show up, so now all Merge tournaments titles will not have an *, so I renamed them all so I use a - instead of a * lol.

Definitely =)

Agree. Or maybe rotate the time of the tournament each week. Sunday at 18:00 or 20:00 would work better for me. If it were up to me the schedule would look something like

Week 1--Sunday 14:00
Week 2--Sunday 17:00
Week 3--Sunday 20:00
Week 4--Saturday 16:30

and then repeating the schedule with week 5 being Sunday 14:00, etc. Just something to give a little more flexibility to those with families, as IsAmbitionEnough alluded to, or to those who work on Sundays.

Glad to hear this. I remember one of your first posts highlighted the differences between player acquisition and player retention, and I feel that continued presence in the forums (player/management communication) and expanding the boutique aspect of the VIP system will go a long way toward that retention component.

Congratulations on the one year mark, and I hope this is the start of many more good years. I certainly feel that you have laid down a good foundation for Hero Poker going forward. It is too bad that you can't do everything you had planned because of restrictions placed by Merge, but hopefully the positives outweigh the negatives with regards to this arrangement. It seems that you have tweaked your ideas to fit the model yet still go above and beyond what is offered by most poker rooms these days. Congrats and thanks for the update!

Dave,

Thanks for the great updates! I took 2 months off from Hero to settle in on my life as well and I am geared to start full time again next week. I too did the rags to riches story using your free roll to go from $11 to $1300 in 9 weeks and it really is possible with the heart and determination you put in. You have made this site enjoyable and the latest promotions are AWESOME! 600 vpps really isn't that difficult on micros in a matter of 3-4 days if you play 2-4 hours.

Obviously the only real concerns which are left is the length of time to get checks from Merge as well as players who are on levels 100 and up ( I am on level 165 ) concerning trading vpps for cash and having rakeback. Do you recommend dropping rakeback for a player who is above 100 right now?

If we lose the money from the freeroll does the play thru requirements still remain on our account? Like if I won $1.25 and lost it would the remaining pts still have to be played out in order to withdraw later. Like if I deposited money.

Example I earned $1.25 in a freeroll and played a cash game and earned 2 VIP points. Lost all the money and there is still I believe 10 more pts to clear the play thru. Would that still remain on the account or because I lost it, it would go away?

I was able to register for an Apple, but I have not deposited. I used the 100/100 that Hero ran long ago to build a roll. I didn't play, but I registered before realizing the "depositor" limitation. Is it that I'm truly eligible, or is it that the software is not yet ready to boot me?

If you can register I believe your eligible. I can't register. I am pretty sure I deposited once too.

Dave,

Is there any chance that Merge will start awarding 1/10 of a point for the superturbos that are $.10 +.01? I just think that the penny rake should be awarded the same proportion of rake as someone who plays higher. If you play 100 of these that is a $1.00 in rake but no points.

I think it would expire at that point because the cash is linked via the bonus. But if that isn't the case, I can always (or Dan) can manually expire that bonus.



For the above 100, wait and see the changes for next week then I'd say make a decision on it and the length of time for the checks, the only thing I can say right now is that the checks do get sent and have been getting cashed in and world wide other than for US players, everything goes well, so I think it basically is a condition of the market. I know of about 60 players who left to relocate in the last year, and I don't even know that many players and I know of about 60 in Vancouver, Toronto, Mexico and Thailand. So, I think it is a matter of waiting and seeing.


Actually I set it for also 'regular player' so even if you haven't deposited but you've played for a long while and on a regular basis, your internal tag will be 'regular' and not just 'non player', so obviously the system deems you to have brought value to the site, so happy Golden Apple hunting. =)


Mmm... it should do that, but maybe they weren't made with the VIP consideration, are they the heads up tournaments or Hero specific or network shared ones? Let me know and I'll look into it.


Oh and guys, again, with the VIP system, apologies, you guys know I fully support the network and I've actually given them a lot of grief cause I did put the limits of the VIP system and it has cost Hero actually thousands of dollars because 3 times the system mass issued bonuses etc and so we only took back the instant bonus and if 1 or 2 tournament coupons were mistakenly issued, we left them, but when there was 30 coupons in a single go, miss issued, well we had to void those; but I feel really good about the network for 2012!

They are network wide tournaments. They are super turbo 6 max sng tourneys that cost $.10 + $.01 for rake. You do not get any points for the tournaments. I have played them on another skin with rakeback and you do get rakeback for them. But no points on any skin. Thanks Dave!

as expected, doing an awesome job David! Keep it up!

The golden apple restrictions are a great idea. You should give the plo freerolls the same restrictions.

Hi Everyone,
The following is for our satellite promotions for the WPPT.co
It is new tour 'World Professional Poker Tour' and because of our focus we are running sats for the buy in. It's at the Gold Coast in March, and what is unique about it is that the tournament has 50k start stack, uber generous structure, so if you know any Aussies, please let them know about this.

Cheers,
Dave

Hero Poker is running qualifiers for it in the Aussie Time Zone! First tourney for a step 1 $215 guaranteed ticket is tomorrow Saturday @ 2pm NSW/VIC time. And we are guaranteeing 1x $3500 buy-in as well for our main event entry tourney on Saturday March 3rd. Check out the details below.

1. WPPT AUS GRAND FINAL FOR MAIN EVENT ENTRY
Name: WPPT AUS GOLD COAST Grand Final - $3,500 Buy-in Guaranteed
Description: March NL Holdem Live Seat Grand Final 1 x $3,500 WPPT AUS Seat Guaranteed
Minimum Guaranteed Prize Pool: $3500.00 (1 Main Event Buy-In Entry)
Tab Location: Scheduled / Special (priority listing)

Start Time:
In Australia NSW/VIC
Saturday March 3rd, 2012 @ 2:00pm
In US: Friday 2nd March 2012 @ 10:00pm Server Time

Tournament Details:
Buy-in: $200+$15
Starting Chips: 5,000 chips
Blinds: 15 minutes
Late Registration: 90 Minutes

2. SATURDAY WEEKLY $215 TICKET GUARANTEE
Name: $33 WPPT AUS GOLD COAST STEP 1 x $215 Guarantee Ticket
Description: $33 WPPT satellite qualifier STEP 1 Coupon of $215
Minimum Guaranteed Prize Pool: $215 Step 1 WPPT Satellite Entry Ticket
Tab Location: Scheduled / Special (priority listing)

Start Time:
In Australia NSW/VIC
Saturday Feb 4, 11,18 & 25th @ 2:00pm
In US: Friday's @10:00pm Server Time

Tournament Details:
Buy in: $30 + $3
Starting Chips: 3,000 chips
Binds: 10 Minutes
Minimum Prize Pool: $215.00
Late Registration: Ends after 45 minutes

3. ON DEMAND SIT&GOS 9 HANDED
Name: $33 WPPT AUS GOLD COAST STEP 1
Description: $33 WPPT satellite qualifier STEP 1 Coupon of $215
Tab Location: SitNGo / Satellite (priority listing)

Table Configuration/Breakdown: Regular - Max 9 players
Payout: $215 WPPT AUS GOLD COST STEP 1 Qualifier Ticket

SitnGo Details:
Starting Chips: 2,000 chips
Blinds: 10 mins

Will there be any travel money/hotel expenses included or is it just seat only. Would it be possible to make it a 5k package and include hotel and a bit of spending money or is it already set in stone.

Thanks for the feedback, but in the case of the PLO, basically we do want players to learn it and so it serves that function to attract players who want to learn it. But for NLH, it would 100% be abused, so its only for deposited or players who have played with us for while now (they system has a formula that tags players to being a regular player, ie. you win a freeroll, but then you use the money to play different games and limits). Cheers.

Unfortunately, it's already set in stone because it just for the Australian market really and flights aren't very expensive domestically, but if you do win, I'm pretty sure that I can get a discount on a hotel in the area etc, but yes, sorry. But in any case, the buy-in is guaranteed though.

Best,
Dave

Does hero have any plans to get more withdraw options in the future?

hey Dave,

thanks for the $5nl golden apple 27-man freerolls. However, well over half of the players just register and sit out, can you change the blind levels to 5mins. or even 7mins. instead of 10? 10 is really long anyways, even if all 27 players were participating.

There is a rumor that the lock skin has a VIP point store, and a virtual hand-history replayer, any chance HERO will be getting these accommodations as well?

I just played an Apple to check it out. I think 80% of the registrants did not even play. That was brutal. Also, the lobby blurb goes by very fast for these SNGs. Once more players know about them, at least 3 will be up and running, I think. Still, the "sit out" situation is not cool, and those players are a bit rude.

Hey Mr_UNOWEN what is the $5 golden apple freeroll....is it something you have to win something to get in or what...I just heard about them recently have not seen them

They are in the SNG section under the "no limit" tab. If your account is tagged as a "regular player", or if you have made a deposit, I am told you are eligible to play. I think if the software lets you register, you should be ok.