I am claiming I can make SuperNova Elite in 5.5 months, starting at July 20, 2009 with 40,000 VPPs. The betting odds are 3 to 1, putting me as the underdog. To do this I have to play approx 2 million hands in a little less than 5.5 months.
These are the proposed set of rules. Additions and subtractions may be made in the next coming week as people and judges give their feedback.
1. All tables will be played at $1/2, or $2/4 blind no limit holdem on Pokerstars.
2. If for some reason my account is banned because of poker legislation in the United States (say the government comes after PokerStars), then the bet is off, and the player’s money will be refunded. The current state of legislation is fine. The panel of judges noted in rule 15, are to make a decision on the state of the bet and reasonable conduct to continue it.
3. Due to the nature of the bet, if there is a deliberate slow down from players at my table, the panel of judges will take a close look at the table in question to verify intended malice and notify all bettors of the screen names involved. This likely won’t happen, but I felt this clause necessary to protect myself. For example, in the last month, a group at the table continually times down before every action and times out, etc.
I almost didn’t put this in, and don’t foresee it being a problem. Of course the first step will be my leaving the table and finding a new one. Plus, on Stars when you do timeout, you lose your time bank. This evaluation will only be used in the event of
extreme cases of slowdown in the volume of hands per hour. In this circumstance the bet will continue, but I hope the judges can come up with a solution. For example if the player slowing the game down is involved in the challenge, his bet may be forfeited.
4. Ballcup on PokerStars is and will be the sole player at all times during the challenge. There will be a live webcam stream during active play to verify. Bettors will also be allowed a quick 10 second phone call at any point during play to confirm it's me. Bettors are limited to 5 calls per month, for a total of 25 calls.
The feed is currently up and running at
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ballcup
5.
Super Nova Elite status must be won by 11:59:59PM on December 31, 2009. If
Super Nova Elite status is won, and all conditions are met and verified by the judges, Ballcup wins. If
Super Nova Elite status is not met, Ballcup loses.
6. If at any point the webcam stops working, all hands played will count. You may use this time for your phone or Skype me immediately. If the website hosting the webcam (ustream.tv) crashes or the feed to the website isn’t working, all hands will count, and again you can call me, or talk to me on Skype briefly for 10 seconds. If I know there is a problem, I will post immediately on
www.ballcupchallenge.com, or
http://twitter.com/ballcup. If we are constantly having problem with a site like ustream.tv, then we will move on to a different solution. I am allowed 2 weeks to figure out this new solution. In that meantime, we will continue to try to use the current system on ustream.tv (I have a friend / assistant that should be able to setup a webcam stream pretty easily if ustream fails). If after
two weeks I have failed to provide a solution for the webcam, I will be in breach of the terms, and will have lost the bet.
7. All wagerers will be given Ballcup’s skype number, cell phone number, and they can call at anytime that Ballcup claims to be playing to verify that he is indeed playing. A maximum of 25 skype calls can be made per wagerer and the calls can only last for 10 seconds at most (that’s an average of 5 calls per wagerer, per month). This will provide an additional measure to ensure that I am the one playing while also being webcammed.
8. As part of the motivation for the wagerers may be entertainment, Ballcup agrees to provide daily-ish updates in a thread as to his progress on
http://www.ballcupchallenge.com, where I will keep a blog, and a link to my webcam channel. I will twitter my daily results at
http://twitter.com/ballcup. I am going to attempt a good faith effort to update at least every 24 hours, but this condition will not be considered breached until Ballcup plays one hand when 72 or more hours have gone by without an update to either the forum, twitter, or the blog. This means if he decides to take 4 days off for whatever reason, he doesn't have to provide daily updates as long as he gives us an update before he starts playing again.
9. The Death of any family member, and Death of any friend, can NOT stop the bet. A technological setback such as an extended power outage or an internet connectivity issue is still NOT reason for the bet to stop. Personal injury and hospitalization is NOT a reason for not making super nova elite. I am really putting myself out here by making this clause. In a sense you are betting that I can not attempt something like this for all of these reasons (besides death hopefully).
10.
My current VPPS as of July 20, 2009 are 40,489. We can confirm this two ways. Each better can team view up to me one time, or
Scottyy the Pokerstars VIP coordinator can confirm on this forum. Also the moderator / escrow holder will and has confirmed my VPPS. I am in process of playing right now, and when we do the team view, I will have more VPPS than this. I don't think this should be too big of a deal, and my legitimacy should be pretty easy to prove or disprove having user ‘Scottyy’ on this forum. You should be able to calculate pretty easily where I was and where I’ve been.
11. If PokerStars starts running some sort of VPP special between now and the first of the year, the bet will still remain in effect. As of July 19, 2009, I have heard nothing of the sort, but some of you may remember last year when there was a similar VPP multiplier for a few days. I think this is fair considering what I am giving up in Rule 9.
12. The escrow and moderator for this bet will be Josh Prager. Josh’s poker history is filled with accomplishments. These include: multiple 10k event buy-ins (he has cashed in Aussie Millions 2007, EPT San Remo 2009, Costa Rica 13th in 2008, and 96th in WSOP 2005), with his best result coming in 2007 at the EPT final for $520,000. He also works within the industry and is in charge of a poker union (you will more than likely hear about this in the future) unionizedpoker.com. Being in the industry he has developed personal relations with FullTilt Poker, Cake Poker, and Poker Stars, so we can rest assured our money will be safe with him. His user name on the 2+2 forum is ‘prager.’ His FullTilt name is ‘professor plum.’ His Poker Stars name is ‘josh prager,’ and his gmail contact is
jwprager@gmail.com. If you are a serious better, and want more information about Josh, we have some offline private financial information that Josh will personally tell you about before accepting your wager. This information should help alleviate any remaining worry you have. Feel free to send him a message on Google Talk, or pm him here.
13. Scottyy, who is the VIP coordinator for PokerStars VPPS program has offered us a solution with stars to help with the escrow as well, they will debit the account once it has been filled to capacity. This will offer a safeguard for the money wagered against hackers.
14. Because I will be so busy playing, I have asked
user ‘giles’ on this forum to be my official assistant. Anything he says in regards to accepting bets, or terms is OFFICIAL, and it’s as if it came out of my mouth. I will honor what was said. He will be in contact and coordinate everything with myself, and Josh Prager. Please send all personal questions to him regarding the bet via p.m., or on this thread, and he will filter them back to me (other than what’s posted here). At or around Aug 24, 2009 I will have a new assistant taking over for daily questions, or concerns. That will be announced one week before Aug 24, 2009.
15. The panel of judges assembled to provide for a fairly evaluated bet in cause of accused misconduct consists of 3 members of the poker community. These members include:
Josh Prager (information included in rule 12).
WCGRider from the 2+2 forum who’s reputation speaks for itself, he been a very consistent and well respected moderator in the 2+2 community. The 3rd Judge on the panel is pending and will be either kevin “imalucksac” Macphee (Full Tilt SN: wu_wizard), who has many successful cashes for 5 and 6 digit (
http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/ImaLuckSac) dollars in tournament winnings, who is also a very reputable tournament and , and or Matt “MCMATTO” Affleck, who was the winner of the SCOOP $3150 event, and was chip leader of WSOP main event after day 6 (
http://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/mcmatto). If Matt “MCMATTO” Affleck, or Kevin “imalucksac” MacPhee decline, the remaining judges and myself will find a respectable 3rd judge that we all agree should sit on the panel. If wagerers representing up to $5,000 in action file a complaint to the panel, it is their responsibility to make a fair ruling within a 72 hour time frame and report it to both parties. The panel is primarily to be used in order to allow the bet to take its course in its entirety with minimum outside influence, and is only to award the bet to a given party in cases of extreme misconduct and a 3-0 without any doubt ruling. The merit of this bet is for Ballcup to play nl $1/2, and $2/4 NL only, for the remainder of the year and win
SuperNova Elite Status. The judges are to make rulings that allow for this to take place to the best of their ability and with minimal interference.
16. Ballcup is taking bets at 3 to 1 odds. If the opposing bettor puts up $900, Ballcup will match it with $300. If Ballcup loses, he will pay out $300, and if he wins, he will collect your $900. At the time of the wager both parties money will go into an escrow account held and moderated by Josh Prager. Once the bet is closed, and is at capacity, PokerStars will then debit the wagered amount from Pragers account and hold it for the remainder of the year until the bet has concluded.
17. If I lose my mind, become sick, or fall behind so badly that I can’t recover, I will announce forfeit. In the spirit of the bet I will release your money earlier than Jan 1, 2010. I will release it on the date when I officially announce forfeit
18. Those betting against Ballcup will automatically lose their wager if they or any of their peers are caught attempting to slow me down at the tables by taking a long time to act. I will request there regular limits, and screen name on stars. My assistant will verify.
This is all I can come up with for now. If there are any relevant, simple, acceptable stipulations/clauses, my assistant will be willing to hear them. I want to keep this simple, and make sure the spirit of the bet remains in tact.
The lowest wager I will take is $300 (You have to put up $900). I am capping the betting currently at what I can afford to escrow at the moment which is 30k. If in later months, I have more to wager and the escrow holder is comfortable taking more action, it will be considered.
I am currently playing 18 tables of 1/2 NL at 8 hours a day. I have to maintain this pace for the remainder of the year. I’m pretty nervous and excited to get this bet off the ground! User ‘Scottyy’ on the 2+2 forum, who (as stated before) is the VIP coordinator for PokerStars VPPS program, has agreed to post daily updates of my progress, so this should be an exciting thing to watch.
The bet is going to fill up very fast, so PM Giles, or Prager quickly if you want in on the action!
Wish me Luck! (or failure)
Two Plus Two
**Official** 30k Prop Bet / Super Nova Elite in 5.5 Months
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