Originally Posted by carfax

I last checked the website on 25th July and as far as I can recall the word guarantee was everywhere on the site....so I've emailed again to clarify why its not on the website if the guarantee is still applicable.

I did get a response yesterday in relation to Diamond Flush's question about the escrow etc, and I was assured that the Tapie Group were standing over the guarantee.

Cheers,
Stephen.

Originally Posted by Mrtrebus

The rake is irrelevant. It won't be anywhere near 30%

The prizepool has to hit 20m before they can rake anything. If its 20m or less the rake will be zero.

Originally Posted by NerdSuperfly

that was discussed before, but in the newest press release it says 'approximately €20 million' ... if that would be true, rake DOES matter



anyway: Barry Carters Interview w/ Stephen McClean: http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/wo...McClean_62069/

Originally Posted by Mrtrebus

Where are you seeing that? In that link it says this

Stephen McClean: The guarantee is not subject to change. I believe it has only changed previously from $30 million to €20 million, but from the time the first player has qualified or bought in (which has occurred by the way) the guarantee of course cannot be changed.

Originally Posted by carfax

I last checked the website on 25th July and as far as I can recall the word guarantee was everywhere on the site....so I've emailed again to clarify why its not on the website if the guarantee is still applicable.

I did get a response yesterday in relation to Diamond Flush's question about the escrow etc, and I was assured that the Tapie Group were standing over the guarantee.

Cheers,
Stephen.

Originally Posted by Diamond_Flush

Carfax, my questions are not meant to criticize you personally in any way, but since you are the person with the answers, or trying to get them, I'll post here.

Can you advise what regulatory body issued the license for this event?

Hi DF, very sorry about the delay in answering, I just wanted to clarify as much information myself as possible, especially this morning when I got a bit of a shock seeing that the word "Guarantee" has been withdrawn from the ISPT website.

I don't know the regulatory body that would oversee this, but I would imagine it would be London city council, I have put in a request with the ISPT team asking if I can release details of the company that they have contracted to obtain this license (I know, but just have to make sure I can make this information public).

Does the license provide that ISPT can alter the guaranteed prize pool, the buy-ins, the payout structure etc, each of which has already changed after entries have already reportedly been granted/purchased.

I am not 100% sure if the license relates to anything with the guarantee. However, this is a direct quote from Prosper this morning (I have been back and forth clarifying the escrow: "The prize pool has been entire escrowed. Skrill will annonced in september that the money is secure."
Players will have to make up their own minds individually, but to my mind this clearly states that there is absolutely no way that the €20 mililion can be altered.

For example:
The original prize pool was listed as $30M USD, it's now at 20M euros. There is no recent currency conversion that makes this an equivalent (also, one might assume this should be in GBP, perhaps you can explain why it is not).
Also, who is underwriting or otherwise "guaranteeing" the prize pool? I've seen an interview where it was mentioned that the funds have been placed in some separate bank account by ISPT. Clearly, as we all know, this is not the same as a clear guarantee. You mentioned that Wembley is a partner in the promotion..Will Wembley then be required to underwrite some portion of the guarantee? Will the guarantee be kept in the family via Partouche? Can you explain that the word "Guaranteed" has been removed from the latest video teaser, although it was clear in the prior one.

Originally there was no talk of a re-buy. once the prize pool guarantee figure was decreased, the concept of unlimited rebuys arose, with one add-on. You've recently mentioned you expect there to be a max of 1800 Euro buy in (including the add on?) So now that it's gone from no rebuys (or no mention of rebuys), to unlimited rebuys, to max one rebuy + add on, can you tell us that the persons supposedly already registered, presumably via satties) will have the option to accept 600 Euro rather than play in the event? If they played the sattelite expecting a guaranteed freezeout, and then learned that they would have to pay out of pocket for rebuys and add on, or that players can buy in later for 6000 euro, skipping the first day, surely that would be unfair. The does not even take into consideration that the date has changed substantially, and players cannot be penalized by the change that was beyond their control. Also, does the gaming license provide that these changes can be made once players are already registered?

Players that have registered can withdraw at any time ahead of the event, I haven't asked this directly of ISPT, but as an event organiser I know that if I get an email from a registered player saying that "my work/ travel arrangements have changed and I can no longer play the event, please ship the entry fee back", there will be no delay in getting that player refunded.

Where can we see the list of registered players to date?
There is no list available right now, there is a press conference coming up on 3rd September where a lot of the logisitics questions will be answered, along with details of the numbers registered at that time and details of all the satellite providers confirmed as of 3rd September.

The label still exists that this is the biggest tournament ever. Can you explain how this determination is made? Its not the biggest field for an online tournament, online sites have surpassed even your hope of 30K players in the past. Your live portion is limited to 3K players, clearly also not the biggest field. The 20 Million Euro is also not the biggest prize pool. Is the claim for "largest" just applying to Stadium poker tournaments?

Originally Posted by Bonified

Stephen,

I think you have good intentions but I also think there is a very good chance you are being strung along here. Regarding the questions about the electrical and licensing issues, all you've basically said is "I've been told that's all fine". The fact that this press release is talking about "approximately" 20 million and not a "guaranteed" 20 million any more is a huge alarm bell.

If I were you I would work very hard to try to find out if this is legit, and if you're not satisfied that it is, extricate yourself from it ASAP for the sake of your reputation.

Originally Posted by Bonified

If I were you I would work very hard to try to find out if this is legit, and if you're not satisfied that it is, extricate yourself from it ASAP for the sake of your reputation.