Hi Highland,

I was having this discussion with Marcin yesterday and he was saying the same. One of the proposals for EPT11 would be something like playing 100/200 for a couple of levels, rather than having 50/100 or 75/150. Like the way the EPT HR's play 100/200/25 for 2 levels, then 150/300/25 for 2 levels before moving on. You'd play 150 big bets deep for the first 2 hours maybe (the length of late reg) then move forward?

So you would rather something like the below and ignore some of the earlier empty levels like 75/150 and 150/300? The below are betting limits, not blinds.

1/2
2/4
3/6
4/8
5/10
6/12
7/14
8/16
9/18
10/20

A lot of things are being looked at to find the right balance. Thanks for the feedback!

Cheers,

Neil
PokerStars Live Events Specialist

150 big bets deep is way too deep, 50 big bet deep to start IMO.

10k start stack, 100/200 betting limits for a while and then move on.

For reference check the SCOOP structures for Badugi or 2-7. This same issue has been discussed for SCOOP and WCOOP a bunch of times and basically everyone agreed on:

50 Big bets to start and a very gradual increase of the blinds. In SCOOP it's 5k stacks with 50/100, 60/120, 80/160, 1/2, 120/240, 150/3, 2/4, 2.5/5 etc. Works enormously well for these tournaments.

I think this is the second time in 2 seasons of having combined stops that I skipped the local tour part of an ept, a combination of accumulator format, extra days away and side events around accumulator not strong enough to make up for it. Already said my opinion about accumulator somewhere but I figured this was worth posting I know I'm not the only one and I hope it's not a trend at any future stops, whether in Italy or not.

Hi David,

The Accumulator format is gone from the IPT (and was never going to be used in the rest of Europe). It has been brought in line with the rest of the National Tours in Europe as a €1,100 two Day 1 Freezeout. The next event, being announced tomorrow, is in Saint Vincent (July 24 - 28) and will be a five day festival much closer to an Estrellas or UKIPT type Festival. It will feature...

€1,100 - IPT Main - two day 1's (Thur- Mon)
€300 - IPT Mini - three day 1's (at night under Main Day 1A, 1B and 2 [Thur - Sun])
€500 - Weekend Warrior - Sat/Sun*
€2,000 - High Roller - Sun/Mon**
€200 - SuperStack - Sun
assorted turbos/sats from €100 to €1K.

* - Weekend Warrior - We have a table gap between Day 2 restart and Day 1C of Mini on Saturday for about 7 hours so we placed a €500 (15K/30 min) event that will run from 2pm to 8:30pm (Mini 1C starts at 9pm) as a Day 1 and return at 2pm on Sunday to finish. The target market is people who absolutely cannot take weekdays off to play. You can drive in for the weekend, or spend the morning with family, play the event, have a nice dinner with friends or family, see the city on Sunday morning, play Day 2 and go home Sunday night. If you bust Day 1 of the €500, you could also then take a shot at 1C of the Mini on Saturday night.

** - Before anyone comments I know the High Roller on Sunday isn't ideal, but it won't work on Saturday for where the Main Event sits. Too many people are still in the Main event for the HR to be successful on Saturday.

Thanks as always for the feedback!

Cheers,

Neil
PokerStars Live Events Specialist

Hi Kaytor/Chris,

Thanks for your feedback as well!

I've looked at the online structures but we haven't had a chance to meet with the PRM Team about these events directly (although it is on the calendar for after they finish SCOOP). We have only chatted about possible Sats for them so far.

Cheers,

Neil
PokerStars Live Events Specialist

Good news. weekend 500 could make UKIPT etc quite a bit more attractive if it's successful and comes to other tours, gl with it

This was my first time in San Remo and I can see why so many of my friends elected to skip it/warned me not to go. The hotels are laughably bad compared to their "rating"---we were staying at Nyala, a "4 star" hotel, which is nowhere near a "5 min walk" away as said on EPThotels (20 mins min) in ****ty rooms with horrifically bad internet. Two of my friends stayed at Lolli Palace another "4 star" and their room looked like a prison cell. I didn't stay at the Royal but have heard from friends that it's the same old story---overpriced, poor Internet, and mediocre rooms. Combine that with the fact there's pretty much nothing to do there, I don't think this is a great location for an EPT. I know 4 people who normally would've played the HR that left simply because they didn't want to be in San Remo anymore. That's not exactly ideal for one of the 8 premier stops on the best tour in poker.

Given the lower numbers this year and the number of people I know who skipped specifically because of location, it seems wise for PokerStars to reconsider coming back here in the future. If there has to be another one in Italy, perhaps another location (also one that's easier to get to instead of 150 euros minimum from airport?) Or better yet, keep Vienna and add Berlin (or Portugal etc) back into the rotation which has always been a favorite.

Ya if people deliberately pass on this lolsoft field there's gotta be something wrong with the location / other factors.

Fwiw we drove upto bussana vecchia yesterday, an artistic medieval town up the hills, and that was def nice, with some great views as well.

+1 ....renting an apartment has definitely improved my experience here (my 3rd year in) and drove my costs down (so did the train ride here for 30€)

+1 to shane gamble

Huge +1. No point in San remo. Don't plan on coming back, hopefully I will not have the choice.

+1

I skipped despite the fact that I'm playing Monte Carlo, and normally I love it when 2 EPTs are that close together.

Although I was as disappointed as anybody with the low turn out for San Remo, I don't see how they can cut it as a spot. It's by far the most convenient place to have the Italian leg of the tour. The EPT has a long standing relationship with Pagano Events & Casino San Remo. As long as the Itallian Poker Tour & PokerStars.it exist the Italian leg of the EPT will always exist. It's too important of a marketplace. They could considering moving it to Campione but unfortunately most people would have the same complaints there...

I agree with most everything Shane Gamble said.... The hotels are outrageous with how poorly they run things. €40 for 24 hrs of internet access?!? €16 extra if you want an omelette at the free breakfast. The hotels here are criminal, but it was always worth it because the tournament series was always that good. One year they had 600+ for the 2k side, the main event topped off at 1240. The room used to be bubbling over with smelly Italians with tons of money in their hands...

Instead of pushing to remove San Remo we should be figuring out why numbers were down so much & trying to help fix it. Where did all these Itallians go?!?! Maybe Stars could work on scheduling so it doesn't conflict w/ other major events. Overall it was a very disappointing stop, but I don't think that means it should be removed from the tour.

+1
Despite how conveniently its timed and the fact I'm "going for player of the year" I still just stayed home this week due to how unenjoyable I find San Remo

+1

I also stayed home despite my previous success in tournaments in San Remo...

...and by that I mean I was determined to cash a tournament here for the first time so I played all 12 days and lost some more money to the Italians.

Damnit.

wait , didnt you ship the last T ?

glad i didnt go now, for most of the reasons mentioned here^^

ept campione one time? (also its expensive, kinda remote and pretty dead aswell lol)

2 of the 8 nights in the Stars package at the Royal were valued at 450e/night. The rest were "only" 250e

EPT Zurich imo

Yeah, still lost money though

We also had an awesome time during the Hybrid last 2 table!

+1

at least you can grind online in campione (oh well, if you drive 10km into the swiss side)

Is Campione as bad as San Remo? Is there anything nice about going to Campione?