It looks like PayPal is charging a "cross border" fee even if the currency is the same. We are still in the dark as to what the fees will be. I sent a query to PayPal but their answer was that they do not know.
Will there be another fee for me receiving the money? Another fee for sending money back to the winner(s)? If there is, how much are the fees? We don't know and neither does PayPal.
We'll stick with what I wrote before: all PayPal fees charged to the Money Pool will be deducted from the winning payouts for those who paid via PayPal. If there are no PayPal winners, the fees will be deducted from all winners. This might be fair or might not: we really have no way of knowing but it seems the only reasonable way to do this. We'll probably know more as the PayPal amounts start coming in.
So, it's up to each person who has to pay using PayPal: are you OK with using PayPal when you don't know exactly what the fees are going to be?

Chip in on its way!

Received.
Good news as no fees were charged for receiving the money. Full US$20 received. So, it looks like the only fees charged to the pool might be when I send out the winnings.

Dan Smith (Manalapan, NJ) just announced he'll play 15-20 big buyin events this year.

I would enter this contest, but I honestly have no idea how the whole thing runs. In addition to this, can't we also run a "normal" WSOP draft where we each pick ten players?

I don't really understand how it works but I'm in. I'm sure I'll understand as the summer goes on. I'm the sort of person that learns by doing.

I'm not running the a "normal" WSOP draft this year for a couple of reasons:

1). Having a baby any day now
2). Pokercast forum gonzo

Also it was a lot of work and it was in decline in terms of entries year on year

I think it's time to try something fresh or it will just continue to decline

I wonder if there are others who find this hard to understand? I've simplified the pool so I thought I might get complaints that it was too simple!
I'll recap:
There are two parts to the pool: picking your roster and how the scoring is done.
PICKING YOUR ROSTER: this is as simple or as complicated as you like. Send in $20 and the computer picks your roster for you (very simple). OR. Fill in the questionnaire and the computer will do your research for you and then select your team(a bit of work required). OR. Spend days going over the merits of all these players in order to get the optimum roster (very complicated).
But, it's your choice. You can make it as complicated or as easy as you like.

SCORING: this is what was simplified. There is no complicated scoring. Gone are the secret formulas by 3rd parties. In fact there is no formulas at all. Your players get Main Event last longer tickets by making deep runs in the other tournaments. Then we have the Main Event last longer with only those who have qualified. The last longer is the winner. It's so simple (too simple?) but the advantage of it is that it's so easy to keep track of how your players are doing.

Most of the players in my home game have entered and most of them would be hard pressed to name one poker player! They just play for fun and entered the pool for fun. So, this pool is for everyone: those who know nothing about poker all the way to those who can name thousands of players and their accomplishments. You can play this pool any way you like.

That said, if you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.

The bit I don't get is how you get these Main Event last longer tickets

I know you say deep runs but what constitutes deep?

That's an easy one. The instructions state that it's the number of thousands in the buyin for the tournament + the number of thousands in the entries (rounded to the nearest integer).
An example: A $3000 buyin tournament attracts 1000 entries. 3+1 = 4 (top 4 finishers who cash get passes to the ME last longer). And it would be the same if there were 860 entries or 1140: still 4.
Another example: that $50,000 buyin 50th anniversary special. If it attracts 106 entries. That's 50+0 = 50. Everyone who cashes in this one gets a ticket to the ME last longer.

This is what will be so great. Forget those goofy 3rd party secret formulas. You're watching PokerGo for the first example (3K): your player must finish in the top 4. You know exactly what to cheer for = TOP 4!
In the second example(50K): your player is short stacked as we near the bubble. You know exactly what to cheer for: CASH!

That's why Daniel Negreanu isn't such a great pick this year: he claims he's gonna play those itty bitty buyin events. Even with 10,000 entries there are only 10 tickets awarded. Tough to make top 10 in a field of 10,000.

Keep those questions coming. I made up those rules so they all seem simple to me! But to others, it can seem confusing. Did showing examples help?

all right, now i understand how a certain player on my team gets a Main Event pass -- finishing high enough in a tournament based upon how many entrants were in that event.

but i still have no idea how that matches up with the Main Event last longer. And why is the PPC a factor in all of this? and beyond that, why are we making it so complicated by picking cities?!? this may all seem simple to you, but it's totally confusing (to me). (no offense, but the rules you wrote out are not as clear as you think they are...)

i need examples!

OK. First off I'd better correct your 1st sentence. The number of tickets given out for any tournament is based on "how many entrants were in that event" PLUS the buyin for that event.

For an extreme example, let's pretend that the 2018 WSOP pool was scored this way. Here's the top 5 finishers of the Main Event:
1) John Cynn
2) Tony Miles
3) Michael Dyer
4) Nicolas Manhion
5) Joe Cada

OK, firstly to qualify a player must be in the pool. This year, we use the players who cashed in 2018 as a qualifier to be in this year's pool. Nobody is allowed to come out of left field to win this. You have a list of 10,000+ players who are on teams - we don't care what a player does in the WSOP this year if they're not on a team. Those teams/players are ETCHED IN STONE!
So who in 2018 cashed in 2017? Answer: John Cynn + Joe Cada.
So, here's what it looks like now:
1) John Cynn (Indianapolis IN)
2) Tony Miles (not on a team)
3) Michael Dyer (not on a team)
4) Nicolas Manhion (not on a team)
5) Joe Cada (Shelby Township MI)

So, did either John or Joe have a ticket?
John finished 937th in the Millionaire Maker. The Millionaire Maker had 9 tickets awarded. 937th in nowhere close.
Joe finished 9th in the first open event. Which had a $10K buyin so he got a ticket in the very 1st tournament!

So,Joe Cada was our ME last longer winner. Everyone who picked Shelby Township MI would have shared in the $1000 prizepool.

But, what if nobody picked Shelby Township MI? That's where the PPC comes in: if nobody had picked Joe Cada last year then the winner would be the last longer in the PPC. Without looking it up, I think that was John Hennigan (Philadelphia) who had lots of tickets last year. So, if nobody had Joe Cada (Shelby Township) then the $1000 would be split between the people who had picked Philadelphia.

Almost time for my home game here so I'd better go. I'll answer the rest of your question later.

and now for the 2nd part of your question: teams instead of individuals.....

1) the first reason I had was that in previous years if one player you picked decided not to play that year or play cash games instead, you were at an extreme disadvantage. And it has nothing to do with that players ability - just that you didn't know what his/her plans were for the summer. That meant that we had to keep looking for info on all the players concerning their WSOP plans. Pretty much a waste of time in my opinion.
With teams you get to spread out your exposure. Sure, it's bad if you pick Philadelphia and John Hennigan decides not to play. But at least this year you have all the other players from Philadelphia. Not nearly as bad.

2) pride of place. Haven't seen any of this yet but I was expecting to hear stuff like "well, I'm from Texas so I'm picking Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, El Paso............". It's still early. I'm sure there will be some who want all the players from their home town, home state or home country.

3) didn't think of this at the start but it'll be great to get all 10,000+ players involved. Previously, just the top 100 (or thereabouts) players got picked. Nobody cared about the rest. Now anybody could be the hero on your team. Maybe you picked team X because of player Y but it could be that guy way down the list who you've never even heard of who wins it for you. I think this adds to the fun of the pool.

4) for people who like a challenge this would make things much more complicated. That's why I added the others ways of entering which were easy. It's only complicated if you like it complicated.


Example for reason #1: last year I picked Connor Drinan not realizing that he'd broken his arm and would miss about half the series. Connor Drinan has 5 teammates from Arlington Heights. Not quite so bad if it happens this year.

Example for reason #4: what's the better pick: Deal UK with Stephen Chidwick and only Stephen Chidwick that will likely pay about $500 OR Miami Florida with a ton of players that might pay about $80. Which is the better pick? I'd need to study it a bit more. The good news is you don't have to study it if you don't want to. Just enter one of the easier ways.

I do not know if this has been addressed, but what is ruling document for what city a player represents?

For example, I wanted to select the town of Mike Gorodinsky, but your document lists him in St. Petersburg, Russia, while his Hendon Mob lists him as San Diego, CA

As I stated when answering monsterwongpoker's queries, the player/team list that I posted is ETCHED IN STONE. Mike Gorodinsky is on Team Saint Petersburg Russia (that's where he was born). No players will ever change teams from that list. No new players will ever be added. No players will ever be dropped. That list is rock solid.

OK, I think we're ready to open up the pool again to new entries as I'm back from my disastrous poker tour of Europe (0 for 8).
Just 3 weeks to go.
I'll have a news blackout on the odds for the last 2 days (27th and 28th) to stop people waiting until the very last second to enter. On the 27th and 28th I'll only accept entries from the 2+2 community to ensure everything is above board.
Also, I think I should stop giving out clues. I'm sure there are some of you that have their eye on certain teams and are hoping nobody else notices them. OK, one last clue: James Obst says he's taking the WSOP very seriously this year (although that may include cash games). I fully expect to see James (Adelaide Australia) to be standing at the starting gate of the Main Event with his ticket in hand.
The official rules always apply. In case someone (including myself) says something on a post that differs from the official rules, the official rules are what we go by. I hope I didn't make any mistakes on the rules. Nobody has spotted anything that I know of.
Did talk to Benny Glaser at the EPT in Monte Carlo: he thinks he'll enter again this year. He also thinks he can make KidPoker's 25K one in Vegas.
I assume everyone wants their picks displayed. If not, let me know and I'll keep them secret til the 29th.
Be sure to ask if you have any questions.
Deadline is midnight (Las Vegas time) on the 28th.
Good luck everyone and (more importantly) have fun.

Here are the picks from Rdsxfan:

1 Brainerd MN US
2 Troy NY US
3 Southampton UK
4 Los Angeles CA US
5 Shelby Township MI US
6 Las Vegas NV US
7 Philadelphia PA US
8 Yallambie AU
9 Cranston RI US
10 Madison WI US
11 Milwaukee WI US
12 Tampa FL US
13 Toronto CA
14 East Lansing MI US
15 ForestHills NY US
16 St. Petersburg RU
17 Miami FL US
18 Manalapan NJ US
19 Sacramento CA US
20 Venice FL US

Revised odds

And here's another list: teams selected (alphabetical) and who selected them. This doesn't include the charity quickpicks.

To recap:

the player/team list

the instructions/rules

entry form for entering by questionnaire

the regular entry form

list of all the teams sorted by total buyins (in which they cashed)

list of all the players sorted by number of cashes

And here's where to go if you are paying by PayPal:

https://paypal.me/pools/c/8ebF0wsIjF

Nothing too much happening right now. People are still waiting til we get closer to the 28th. I said I wouldn't give out any more tips so..... I'll just look over a few teams at random. Random.org says I should check out Surrey BC.
Surrey is a suburb of Vancouver. Their team has 14 players but no big names.
Guy Bottin was the only Surreyite to cash the Main Event last year. However, that was 1094th place and it was his first WSOP cash in 8 years.
Harsukhpaul Sangha cashed in the same tournament in which Joe Cada finished 9th (10K bounty). Mr Sangha finished 21st.
The most cashes for a Surreyite was Joon Park (pictured) with 6. And he just missed getting a ticket with a 3rd place finish in a PLO tournament which only had top 2 getting tickets.
Currently Surrey is paying $500 if they win.
My 2 cents: PASS

That was fun - let's try another.
Random.org suggests: Berlin Germany
Berlin has a 13 player team with some name players.

Peter Splettstoesser: cashed 6 times last year including the Main Event. One cash was the Super Seniors: no spring chicken.

Anton Morgenstern (pictured): another 6 time casher last year. Didn't get a ticket but came close a couple of times. Won a tournament at the Aussie Millions since then so should have plenty of cash to throw around.

Paul Michaelis: cashed in the Main Event (313th)

Rainer Kempe: livetime earnings of $20M. Didn't do much much at the 2018 WSOP but since has won 5 big buyin tournaments. Deep pockets.

Andreas Kniep: finished 173rd in the Main Event

Dietrich Fast: some of the German players are no longer listed on Hendon Mob. It looks like Dietrich is one of them. Let's hope the WSOP doesn't go along and list him as "unknown player".

My 2 cents: Currently, Berlin is showing as $142 to win. However, only the charity placeholders have Berlin. Watch as the price goes upward. Could be a good bet if the price is right.

17 days to go!
Random.org suggests I have a look at Buffalo New York.
Other New York teams come to mind long before Buffalo. There's New York City and Brooklyn with huge rosters. Troy has Shaun Deeb. Long Beach has Bryn Kenney. Staten Island has Loni Harwood. Buffalo? What have they got?
Well, Buffalo has 6 players. Two players stand out. Andy Spears had 6 cashes last year. Jeremy Joseph(pictured) had 3.
Neither look like contenders but Joseph has had a 87K and a 56K cash since WSOP 2018 so he should have money to play with (and he does have some mixed game experience).
Buffalo is currently set to pay $1000 if they win.
My 2 cents worth: Even $1000 is too low. Pass.

Random.org also thinks I should check out Moscow Russia.
Moscow has 30 players and it's a veritable Murderer's Row. Ooodles of quality players.
They are led by Andrey Zaichenko(pictured) who cashed for $318K last year.
They are so good that the current price for Moscow winning is just $62.
In order to learn of their 2019 plans check out their Twitter accounts and have a look in gipsyteam.ru but be sure to have Google Translate open too.
My 2 cents: $62 is just too low. But if the price gets to 3 digits: snap them up.

If anyone knows someone running the old format of picking players and a salary cap, let me know.

Just 16 days til WSOP.
Random.org thinks I should check out Spring Texas. Spring is a suburb of Houston.
They have a team of 11 players but it looks like Raymond Henson is their only legitimate threat. He has over 2 million in lifetime payouts and cashed 10 times last year. The other 10 players look like extreme longshots.
Current payout for Spring winning is $200. Way too low!
Just take a look at some of those Ohio cities that are paying $250. Then look at their lineups.
My 2 cents worth: steer clear of this one

Same