blonde poker

 
So, as has been widely reported, only 7 runners showed up at Aspers Newcastle on Saturday for their Main Event. I have no recollection of such a failure previously, so what went wrong, and was it an isolated case, or the emergence of a trend? It's way too thin a sample to be considered meaningful, but let's look at the facts.
 
1) It clashed with the GUKPT. A bad thing to do.
 
2) Aspers as a circuit Venue remains in its infancy, and it still has to build its Festival Market.
 
3) Attendances through the week were thus.....
 
Monday, £100 NLH, 52.
 
Tuesday, £200 NLH, 113
 
Wednesday, Omaha, 36 (The mighty Luton got about the same at their recent Springfest).
 
Thursday, £300, 65
 
Friday, £500, 39.
 
Saturday, £1,000, 7. (Cancelled).
 
Note the trend - numbers were OK for the lower buy-in Events, but dipped as the buy-in grew, and the GUKPT clash kicked in.
 
4) Word got round that not many would show on Saturday, and this had a snowball effect. I rung 5 or 6 regulars on the way up on Saturday, all said the same thing: "I hear it won't make 20 Runners, so I'm not bothering." A self-fulfilling prophecy if ever there was one!
 
5) More Live Super Sats in the proceeding weeks may have helped.
 
Now let's look at the wider scene.
 
The Luton Springfest in April, usually a week-long sell-out, was a disaster in terms of numbers. Let's take a look.
 
Monday, £200, 109 runners. (2006, 150 runners)
 
Tuesday, £300, 56 runners. (2006, 110 runners for a £500 Event)
 
Wednesday, £500, 105 runners. (2006, £750, 128 runners)
 
Thursday, £250 Omaha, 45 runners. (2006, £20 Omaha, 45 runners)
 
Friday, £1,500 Main Event, 60 runners. (2006, £1,500, 109 runners).
 
So, 375 runners in total in the 2007 Luton Springfest, but in 2006, 542.
 
Oh dear - that's a huge and unsustainable drop in numbers.
 
Note that this Fessie was immediately before the GUKPT at Manchester which attrcted 285 runners.
 
But again, there is mitigation - Luton relocated to their new G-Venue just prior to Springfest this year, and for once they failed to market it as well as they usually do - I didn't even receive a flyer! I have no idea how the numbers are faring at Luton or 'regular' comps though. Mr Prew?
 
Again, insufficient evidence to draw a conclusion, really.
 
The January Grand Challenge Fessie at Luton, 2007 saw 423 runners, 2006 saw, er... 688. Note bye the bye, that there was a £1,000 GUKPT (Bolton) the week prior, which had some 200 runners. Now we can see the trend...
 
So we shall await the numbers at the erstwhile Midlands Meltdown, in Walsall next month, with great interest. However, there is no GUKPT Event in June, so that may distort things.
 
Numbers at non-Grosvenor Fessies have, generally, held up well though, with popular Fessies at The Broadway, Sheffield, Spielers in Southend, etc.
 
It's too early to make the judgement call then, but we can see the players are flocking in droves to the big Tour Events.
 
Has the GUKPT and GBPT sucked the liquidity out of the system? And if so, is this necessarily a bad thing? Personally, I'm a traditionalist and love the Fessie atmospheres, the build up to the climax at the weekend, the community feelgood factor. But many, the figures suggest, prefer the big Tour thing.
 
It looks like things will never be the same again on the Fessie Circuit. Good thing, or bad thing? And will others step in to (try and) fill the gap?
 
What do YOU think?.....
 
Please comment on the Forum, HERE"