Interesting, last night at the Bike in their $70 re-entry tournament with a 10K guarantee - 27 out of 250+ runners were going to be paid. At bubble time Hall of Fame poker player Barbara Enright was the lone objector to taking $165 out of the 5K first place prize for the bubble.

The entire room grumbled and groaned at her, but she was stubborn and nasty about it. She didn't have any kind of a chip lead, a middling stack that was vulnerable. At that point we had been playing for over 8 hours. I felt bad for the recreational player across from me who finally busted when his teeny stack was blinded off. He walked away empty handed, clearly rattled that some compensation for his long time at the table had eluded him at what seemed to be a spiteful whim of a bitter old gambler.

Don't get me wrong, I believe it's any players right to object to paying the bubble, absolutely - but after 8 hours in a large field MTT with a low price point full of recreational players, it just it seems Barbara was a bit out of line as someone who should be an ambassador of the game. Wouldn't it be a bit -EV in life to have everyone see you as a cruel degenerate hag who won't spare a micro slice of a 5K prize that is likely to be chopped up anyway?

The players at my table told me that it was typical Barbara, a bulldog of a b-word with no thought or concern for her image or the game - the anti-Chip Reese.

Or am I way off base here?

I at first thought Barbara had every right to balk at a chop, and I still do, but I do think in these circumstances, she's petty and stupid to take such a ticky tack and stereotypically degenerate approach to the issue.

what a horrible thread

So she didn't want the payouts to change from the begging of the tourny to the end and that's a problem?

Yeah, this is pretty typical of her. For some reason, I have heard of her doing this before. Surprised she still has any concept at poker. Haven't played with her, but can't imagine her being very good/working on her game whatsoever. I guess she thinks she is above the field and that skill prevails all with stacks that shallow. Same situation happened in nightly caesar's where every stack was 10bbs and any one of us could drop in 10th for squat. So I chipped in 20 bucks and then wouldn't you know, I was the one who got the buy in back cuz I would have bubbled. Seems pretty dumb she couldn't shell out what = 7 bucks/person for the bubble.

So you didn't get anything for 28th? That sucks.

Is it a problem to be a nit for money that you're likely to not get? When it pits an entire poker room against you and alienates recreational players, yes.

Yes you are.

why was she even in a 70r to begin with?

^ this

Congratulations to Barbara for not backing down when a room full of idiots disagrees with her.

Sometimes principles are stronger than peer pressure.

While I don't think that Barbara did herself any favors by refusing the deal, I think trying to arrange something like that with 28 people is bound to cause problems. IMO, if there's anything more than 5 or 6, or at most one table, a deal attempt isn't worth the trouble.

We have hundreds of posts complaining about people trying to bully players into chopping and how that's wrong...and now we have one thread complaining about barbara enright not allowing herself to be bullied into paying the bubble...

and she gets called a cheap hag.

Who?

Why not just collect from everybody except her, and then if she bubbles, you return all the money? I dont see how she did anything out of line here, nor do I see how she could have stopped the rest of the players from collecting for a bubble fund.

Why would she make an issue out of this?. This is not life changing money here, at a minimum karma will bite her in the arse,

My last live tourney I was the chip leader when a player asked if others minded if the bubble was paid, I had no reason to agree to this with the chips I had, but since the money was no biggie I said fine with me, With all my poker skills I managed to bust out on the bubble. Thanks random player for the idea of paying the bubble. gg me

^like

But then the guy who busts one before the bubble becomes the new 'bubble'.

but what about the player that bubbles the bubble and so on...

It's amusing you advocate her right to refuse, then criticize her for doing it.

Barbara is actually pretty nice away from the table, but when playing she's basically at war. $10k buyin, $70 buyin all the same.

Do you understand the purpose of the bubble in a tournament?

Maybe, just maybe, it is because SHE ISN´T AFFRAID OF KARMA!!!

Worst thread ever by the way.

Probably old school poker principle. Payout listed top 27 get paid. They all knew that going in.

This game breeds such extreme selfishness... which is why every day there's a new scandal, so many players just think "what serves me best and F everyone else", or if not something that extreme it at least turns the player into an inconsiderate and bitter person

I feel like there was an epic stealthmunk thread about this recently, where he got heavily berated by all players for not wanting a chop and the td's couldnt grasp the fact that its actually collusion, to have shortstacks teaming up to pressure a cl to essentially hand them money by essentially ignoring the whole point of having a bubble. It should be a td's job to explain to recreational players this behavior is actually unethical and is a form or collusion perpetrated byshorties taking the ev from a cl. Its annoying to be the guy that declines and then the whole table cries about it and starts softplaying each other to help other shorties make the money.

Why would it matter how long the tournament had been going on for, what the buy-in was or if it were recreational players or not?
Everyone knows the rule going in and the entire points of tournaments is that someone wins a lot of buy-ins and most people lose their buy-in. Reading about all these people who try and bully people into letting them change the payout structure is one of the most pathetic things ever. If the mincash means that much to them either play for smaller stakes or find another hobby.

No idea who Barbara is or how she act at the table but kudos to her for not backing down, its absolutely ridiculous as it is that the floor/td doesn't do a better job preventing this and make sure the tournaments are run smoothly with the announced payout structures, the fact that this has become somewhat common is just absolutely disgusting.