The (mis)organization of a tournament, written by Spielbank Berlin

Organizing a massive tournament such as the German Championships is no easy task, however, it should be a manageable one. Unfortunately, this task has gone far and beyond what the Spielbank Berlin is capable of handling. Let's begin with the facts:

• The tournament originally was planned for 100 players (10 players at 10 tables). Because of the incredible demand for the tournament, this number was doubled to 200 players with two starting days, the 16th & 17th of November.
• The tournament has buy-in of €440 (approx. $560). There is one rebuy as well as one add-on that each player can make, each costing an additional €220.
• The top 20 players from each starting day advance to the second and final day, where the tournament will be played to completion.

OK, they have displayed some flexibility in doubling the amount of starting players, that's a good start. Now let's take a look at a breakdown of the seats:

• Of the 200 allowed players, 140(!) of them qualified via single-table satellites over the last several months That's 70% of the field!
• That leaves room for 60 "average Joes" like you and me. But wait, first let's service the casino "regulars" who have been playing in the Spielbank over the last years. Let's give each of them a "Wild Card", meaning first dibs at reserving a seat for the tournament. Strike another 30 players off the list.
• That leaves us with just 30 free seats. Registration for the tournament began promptly at 15:00 on November 1st. At 15:10 (no joke), the tournament was sold-out. I was there personally to witness it. 10 players who were at the casino got in and 18 registrations were taken by phone. Anyone else was kindly told that they could have their names put on the waiting list if they pleased.

I really don't have a right to complain, because I got a seat. Several players I know, however, did not get a seat nor does it look like they ever will. How can this be a National Championship? Why can they not add another 10 tables to each starting day and have 400 players? He said he could have EASILY sold over 500 seats. If it's so damn easy, then do it. You want your name put on the poker map, or do you want to always be known as the poker room that never was?

Ask and you will get the same two answers: "We don't have enough personnel to make it happen." "There's just not enough space to fit all the tables." Bullshit and bullshit. This tournament was organized in cooperation with three other casinos nationwide. They all have very competent personnel who you could easily bring in for the tournament. Furthermore, wipe the dust off of some of the roulette tables, clear out some of the unnecessary bar tables, and what do you have??? ROOM FOR EXTRA TABLES! Is it magic? No, it's logical thinking.

Speaking of logical thinking, get this. Several players registered for both days, meaning that if they don't make it on the first day, they get another crack at it on the second day! How sick is that? Imagine they pulled something like that at the WSOP, which had something like 5 starting days I believe. A player could keep trying his luck until he finally makes it to Day 2. What a joke! These people are clogging the list with two registrations instead of regular guys who would settle for the one shot everyone should get.

The tournament itself is going to be a total donkfest. 1200 starting stacks with 20/20 blinds and 20 minute blind levels! A rebuy will bring you an additional 1200 chips and for some reason an add-on gets you 2400 chips. Your stack will be shrinking faster than a you-know-what in the cold if you don't start going after pots in the beginning. The top 10 finalists come in the money. That's a whopping 5% of the field. If you are the lucky winner of the tournament, get excited already over a massive 25% of the prize pool that will be handed to you. I'm just really disappointed that an opportunity like this is being mishandled in such an obvious manner.

But in all honestly, what can you expect? After all, this tournament is being brought to you by the same casino who, in February of this year, offered a €400 tournament with unlimited rebuys of €100 each. Notice that the word unlimited is bold. When I say unlimited, I mean unlimited. Players could purchase as many chips as they wanted to, regardless of stack size. You could literally buy €5.000 worth of tournament chips if you wanted to! That is a cash game, not a tournament! The same geniuses are bringing you this tournament as well, so if you are one of the players coming to Berlin for this thing, please don't have high expectations.