muttley

My two penneth. If anyone would be out of pocket due to hotel cancellations, we should stick with the original date and forego our place in the APAT comp.

Well played Leo. Not sure why you think I outclassed you. Your HU records against me is probably EV+ 80%! Anyway, I don't think I'll be able to play the next two legs, so someone else will have to suck out on you guys.

Wish I could run like that all the time. Unlucky guys.

Bit of a bloodbath early on last night! There were two eliminations before I'd played a hand, both coolers, AA v KK and set over set. We were still on Level 1 when 3 players saw a flop set v set v NFD. The turn gave me quads and all three were all in. Great HU with demioz, who started with a big deficit and turned it into a close comp in the end.

I think the new format is clearly better than the double points. Going into the last week 4 or 5 people could still get into the money in pretty much any order. Well played all, and thank you once again to Punters Lounge for their continued support.

It seems a fairer system, and I'm happy for it to continue. I would have been embarrassed to take 1st place after Leo's superb run this month. This month was slightly unusual, in that two of the money places were pretty much decided. I think it will be far more competitive in the last leg in most future months. Thanks again to Punters Lounge for their continued support of the poker league!

If you haven't already, download Equilab. It's free. It's not just a poker equity calculator. You can analyze your hand v your opponents range, or range v range if you like.

OK. Some more thoughts..... Since the introduction of double points for week 4, two things have happened. Firstly, the numbers have increased, or at least not fallen off throughout the month, which is GREAT. Secondly, the league has been won each time by the winner of Leg 4. This isn't a problem if everyone is happy with it, and it hasn't impacted on the numbers player Legs 1-3 so far, but I'd like to explore other possible structures for the league. Assuming everyone is ok with it, could we try another system, say Leg 4 scores Double Entries, for the next couple of months? Would be good to hear your comments, and I'm happy to consider alternatives.

Wanna bet?

That might be the best solution.

There was an interesting turnaround this month. The top 3 places in the league were taken by the top 3 places in the final leg, and the top 3 going into the final week all missed out on a place! More worrying was the turnout for week 3, which might suggest that people are becoming less inclined to play the earlier legs if they know that the added value will go to the winners of the final leg. Suggestions welcome.

One key question for people to consider is this: If you knew you were unable to play the Week 4 Leg, and it was double points, would you still play the other three legs? My answer would be "Yes. But if I scored badly in the first leg, I might give the other two legs a miss."

I would say leave it as it is this month. No-one has actually complained about the double points for Leg 4 yet, just pointed out some potential anomalies. Anything that gets the numbers up gets my vote!

Just to show how the double points could affect the league, if someone had missed the first three legs and won the final leg, they would have finished 2nd overall in the league. Other ideas: The winner of the final leg is guaranteed to match the best points score of one of the previous legs; So leg 4 winner gets 95pts this month, even if only 6 register. Each player can play a "joker", where one of there legs counts double.

My own thoughts are that it's been a big success, but have we shifted the advantage too far to the winners of the final leg? In previous months the final leg often suffered because the top places were more or less decided. It wasn't uncommon to see only 5 runners, all competing for 3rd place in the league, so seeing 12 last night was very reassuring. However, I secured 2nd place overall with two second places, a last place and a non-runner. So maybe there's too much of an advantage to the winners of the last leg? Does it need tweaking? Maybe 1.5X pts for the final leg? Maybe score pts for all 4 legs? Maybe leave it as it is?