I copied the following information from LVA, posted by Joep earlier today. Hilton Million Dollar tournament that was cancelled mid-stream held the drawings tonight to fill the field back up to 32 players. 16 Wild Cards were drawn out of I believe 73 players,a lot of names known to the community were picked to play for all the money collected. Some of the 16 Wild Cards were Anthony Curtis Robert Blechman George Long John Ressman Jodi C. John Chai (Bet21) Roy Vest Joe Pane Play starts on Friday morning at 10 AM Its head to head so you need to win 5 tables to win the event 32 players to 16 Players 16 Players to 8 Players 8 Players to 4 Players 4 Players to 2 Player All players receive money in every round win or lose. The Famous "Mulligan" will be used in this tournament. Congratulations to those players who were picked in the wild card drawings, however I have mixed feelings about the way the Las Vegas Hilton handled this entire Million Dollar event. Money was collected based on playing for a end of the year $1,000,000 prize. This is why everybody entered to play in the first place, not to play for some smaller event now. When I canceled the TBJPA/TBT championship, any and all money was mailed back to every player who had funds invested in the TBT events. We didn't run the TBT as qualifiers, everybody was welcome to play in the championship event, only the entry was based on how many TBT events each player play in throughout the year. This wasn't my money to decide what to do with, but all the players that had played in the Las Vegas Hiltons event with the knowledge of getting to play in additional qualifying events later should they adavance in any of the earlier qualifiers. But with the changes those players were not given that chance and now many of the players that put money into this event have nothing and no chance to re-coup any of it (unless they were wild carded in). Plus look at those players who actually did qualify, now they risked $2,500 for $1,000,000 only to find out now that the event has been cut down to about a 1/10th of what was advertised. Now the qualified players are having to play against players (actually very good players) who didn't qualify but were simply drawn in. As a qualified player, I'd be PISSED! As a player who hadn't qualified, nor was drawn as a wild card, I'd be PISSED! The only fair situation should have been to refund back all the collect funds to all those who played in the 3 - 4 qualifiers (qualified or not at least those who hadn't qualified or were wild carded in). Also think about the players who had to travel in just for a chance to be picked for a wild card and then host an event for just the qualified players (at the expense of the Las Vegas Hilton). The problem was, the rules were set, money was received by the Hilton and after the qualifying events had started, the event was changed. The players didn't ask or want the changes, it was the Hilton that just decided to make the changes, the issue I have is it wasn't their money and they shouldn't have the right to decide how it was to be used. The money collected belonged to every player that had entered any of the monthly qualifiers, not the LV Hilton.
LVA thread Again here is a LVA post, a reply from Joep: I also have mixed feeling on the way this whole tournament was dealt with. Since i was one of the players who did receive a wild card,which by the way was in the original tournament format,I was happy about that.But the number of wild cards were 16 for the entire 12 months.They still drew 16 wild cards for only 4 months of qualifers,that made it unfair to the 16 players who qualified in the 4 monthly qualifers. It reduced their value of the seats they had earned. The fair way in my opinion would have been to draw just 1/4 of the wild cards as only 1/4 of the scheduled tournament had been played. But that would have meant 4 wild cards,which would bring the field up to 20 and that number would just not work for a one on one tournament. 20 to 10 10 to 5 as you can see you are then left with 5 players One solution would be to draw 3 wild cards of non advancing players to bring the field back up to 8 and then go 8 to 4 4 to 2 Or The 5 players could be the Final Table where it becomes a normal elimination format with a set amont of hands. When I was asked by the Hilton about this format and entry fee.I informed the Hilton that a monthly $2,500 entry fee would fail. I suggested $1,250 and open it to 128 players and not 64 .Hold weekly satellites to feed the event from the Las Vegas locals and it had a much better chance to survive. The Hilton Casino Manager Scott H did not listen, who we all know he hates all tournament players and other "Wise Guys". He is no longer at the Hilton and the rumors are that this was his downfall.So sometimes good things come out of bad things. But in the end we all know Casinos will do what ever they want. Joep
What if? Quote Originally posted by: joep326 When I was asked by the Hilton about this format and entry fee.I informed the Hilton that a monthly $2,500 entry fee would fail. I suggested $1,250 and open it to 128 players and not 64 .Hold weekly satellites to feed the event from the Las Vegas locals and it had a much better chance to survive. The Hilton Casino Manager Scott H did not listen, who we all know he hates all tournament players and other "Wise Guys". He is no longer at the Hilton and the rumors are that this was his downfall.So sometimes good things come out of bad things. But in the end we all know Casinos will do what ever they want.Joep Yes, I remember them asking back months before the event was ever publicly announced what I thought about the format and fees, I know besides both of us, about 6 more tournament players were ask and as far as I know no one was crazy about the entry fee then, the format is okay, but I prefer more then a one shot match. What they may have been able to do was with the 16 already qualified players is made a 64 player bracket with those 16 players receiving a bye in the first round. This way 32 un-qualified players could all have a chance to play in the first round and advancing 16 to the second round with the 16 who actually qualified. This would also allow every player who did at least play a chance to win their way in instead of hoping for a wild card. Should their be more or less then 32 additional players simply draw to see who would have to play an extra round or get the bye, should either be needed. At least this way everybody who played would be involved in the event instead of pot luck of wild cards. And those who did qualify would at least receive a first round bye over the rest of the field. Just seems like this would be a fair compromise. I also feel that the 16 qualified players should have receive their mulligans for free under the circumstances.
Las Vegas Hilton - Semifinalist... Well the semifinals are just getting underway at the LV Hilton. The final four players are: Ronald Allen vs. John Chasel and Tommy Dyer vs. Joe Pane The later match has two former WSOB contestants, Tommy Dyer was in the WSOB III from Tulsa, OK and JoeP was in the WSOB II. As it stands know the worst the players can make still playing is: $2,500, if they win: $5,000, and if they win both of the last two matches: $100,000. The matches consist of a 28 hands, single match. I'll try and update the semifinals after the completion of these matches. Good luck to all the remaining contestants.
And the Finalist are: Ronald Allen vs. JoeP! As soon as I hear the end results I'll post them. Again good luck to both the remaining players.
And then there was one... Congratulations, the winner is: Joe Pane. I'm sure the powers that be at the LV Hilton were loving that...LOL. Also I found out the the the players were guaranteed so much in each round, so even when a player won the round they also got the same as the loser, plus what was awarded for the next round as well. So the semifinalist won around $5,200 each and the 2nd place finisher won around $17,500 I was told. While JoeP won the 1st place $100,000.00, not to bad since he wasn't even qualified until he was wild carded in yesterday...LOL.
WOW! Second FAT winner's check of the year! Congratulations, Joe. :whip: :1st: I'll bet that just annoys the hell out of the LVH bigwigs, too, after all the noise he made when they punked out on the original idea and format.
And "He's so much cooler offline" - Brad Paisley Way to go Joe. Altho I dont see what the big fuss is about, his last win was for only 79 grand and this one only 100 grand The Club will survive LOL
Awesome... Another real nice "PAYDAY" for Joe Pane! An AWESOME win... Congrats and well-done!! Skipper :celebrate
One remaining question - will he follow through on his own idea of a Grudge Match with the lady amateur who "took him down" at the Palms in April? Stay tuned....... :laugh:
