From larger patches of orange (guaranteed tournos) to a busier late-night spread, you may have noticed big changes in PKR's multi-table tournament schedule this week. The men at the centre of the exponential increase in tournaments and guarantees revealed their thoughts on the next big step for PKR, in an interview with fellow Cardroom man, PKR_Danski!
Three quarters of PKR's Cardroom Team at PKR Live 2008
Danski: Greetings, oh Jabbameister. What was the primary goal of the new MTT schedule?
Jabba: To offer more choice. We really wanted to provide more for players of all stake ranges, so we moved away from the stand alone regular events to groups of tournaments, at a range of buy-ins, every thirty to forty minutes. Oh, and we [ED - he means "I"!] wanted to get the Masters every other week too!
D: What is it like, being tasked with a comprehensive overhaul of our MTT schedule, which some might call our 'shop window'? What have been the most difficult challenges?
J: Neil, Paul and I have been working pretty hard on getting the right balance, but it's a developmental process so the key is to just get on with it and keep an open mind. The problem is that changing one thing has a knock-on effect, so you end up in a never-ending cycle of challenges, tweaks, problems and solutions. It's like looking after a demanding child, but I suppose it's also pretty rewarding in many ways too. ;)
At the end of the day perfection is an impossible dream, so change is always necessary. You do have to relish the challenge and love what you do in order to keep a tournament schedule alive and interesting, because it's pretty unforgiving territory when mistakes are made and there's a lot of work involved. You have to accept that you can't please everyone all the time and just try to please as many people as possible for as long as you can.
D: Sounds like PKR_Anders' love life... What advances have you made for low-stakers? And what can the big boys sink their teeth into?
J: Low-stakers have a lot more choice for satellites to bigger events as well as cheaper, deeper-stacked tournaments. We still have some work to do, but players who prefer to stay <$5 mark should find that there are more interesting formats and varieties available to them.
The higher stake players will probably love the new Saturday schedule with the $500 buy-in High Roller event and $250 buy-in Masters on alternating weeks. The $150 buy-in Friday and $200 Sunday Primetime events are also both pretty juicy. I know I'd be playing on PKR every evening over the weekend if I was a player (and had the bankroll!). I'm surprised more haven't jumped into the $50 Turbo at midnight. Maybe I'm just a bit of a sicko, but I thought a lot of players would like that kind of late night punt!.
D: Though NLHE is still the game of choice for many, we hope that other variants will increase in popularity. What changes can we see for lovers of PLO and PLO8? And what do you hope for the future for these genres?
J: Initial feedback from the Omaha community has already sparked a few changes, but we'll carry on adding and shifting things. I think the $25 DS PLO at 20:55 GMT should be popular for those that can resist both the Grand Prix and the Gold Rush at the same time. All in all, there is just a lot more Omaha and PLO8 in the schedule now, but it's never enough for some people ;).
D: Although Europeans make up the lion’s share of our liquidity, I see that we’ve improved our offering for further-flung time zones. Give us the main thrust of these changes…
J: Yeah we've now got the Canadian and Aussie Opens every day at 02:30 GMT and 08:55 GMT. We've got a lot more interesting stuff going on between them too, with Mega satellites and lotteries to the feature events and loads more variety and choice than we've ever had at those times before.
D: Finally, which tourno are you most proud of? And which tourno is your favourite?
J: Ooo, good question and a tough one too. I am proud and fond of quite a few things in that schedule. I really like most of the Primetime formats (Tuesday needs a change IMO and suggestions are welcome). It always makes me smile seeing hundreds of people playing the Gold Rush every night - sick, cheap, gamble-tastic fun ftw! :) But as a relatively keen and semi-serious player myself, I have to say that I would personally love to play the High Roller or Primetimes #5 & #7!!!
I do hope people enjoy the new schedule and as always, Neil and I are keen to hear constructive feedback to help us improve.
D: Jabba, thanks mate! I hope you have some blood, sweat and tears left. Let's move onto the bossman, Neil...
PKR_Neil at PKR Live I
Danski: PKR has come a long way since you joined as the one-man Cardroom in 2006. Describe our first tournament schedule, and the path it has has followed...
Neil: The first ever schedule was very basic compared to what you see today, featuring mostly standard freezeouts with buy-ins of $5 and below. Since then, as player numbers have gradually increased and functionality has improved, the frequency, variety and size of guarantees have grown considerably. We’ve seen the introduction of Deep & Steep, Double Chance, Terminators, Break Thru and rebuys, which add a lot of diversity.
D: Clearly there are serious players in the poker industry to compete with, in terms of tournament offering, but we like a challenge! Can PKR achieve the money and field size heights we see from our longer-established foes?
N: It’s a tough job without American players for us to reach the prize pool levels of the bigger sites, but I hope we will continue to grow and get there sooner rather than later. With the Masters now twice a month, and healthy guarantees on the Friday and Sunday Primetimes, plus High Roller events, we now have a few more regular tournaments with attractive prizes.
D: The new schedule is impressive, if you take a look back at our journey, but PKR is all about improvement, innovation and progress - we gather no moss! What do we lack right now, and what are our aims for the immediate future and long term?
N: As far as software functionality goes, we’re looking forward to implementing late registration, as this would effectively give players more choice of tournaments any time they log in. Hopefully we’ll see this introduced fairly soon and this could also see guaranteed prize pools grow for our major tournaments. Tournament wise, it would be great to have a weekly $100K.
D: You and Jabba are the mother and father of the PKR MTT schedule-baby. But who is who?!
N: Hmm, I’d rather not think of it like mother and father – we get on well but we’re not that close... Although I get the final say on things, we very much work together (with Paul and yourself) as a team, and generally have the same ideas about what we should be offering (with only a few minor disagreements).
D: Looking at what you now preside over, what makes you most proud?
N: Thinking back to when we launched for real money games and activity was quiet, getting to today's volume is great to see. I like the range of tournaments we have, and am particularly proud of those we were first to introduce in the industry, such as the Break Thru, Terminator Two, Lotteries and Deep & Steep.
D: No surprise that Jabba chose the biggest buy-in he could find, but what’s your favourite tourno?
N: I’m excited about the twice daily 'Lab' tournaments, where we’ll be experimenting on a daily basis with many quirky tournament formats. We’ve got a list of crazy ideas we’ll be trying out and they’ll certainly challenge players to think on their feet.
My favourite tournament is the Grand Prix (six-seat Deep Stack), which I got the chance to play in on Bounty Day. If I could play on PKR, you’d probably see me in that tournament fairly often, as well as the new late-night $50 Turbo.
D: Neil, you the man. Cheers for coming out of your sloth-like hibernation long enough to speak to us!
Got questions or feedback on the new MTT schedule? Comment here, join in the forum debate or kick off your own thread in the Tournament Forum.