The Poker Chronicles

Hey Matt. It's my understanding from someone who won a seat that he gets the money at a seperate location once he arrives in Vegas. I guess he could pocket it from there if he wants to.

I agree with you. I would be very tempted to pocket the 12k if i won a seat.

Peace
wwonka

I won a seat back in March on PokerStars, and at the beginning of May, PokerStars sent a letter saying that they were not allowed to directly register me for the ME, thus they put the 10k in my account and told me how to register for the ME, along with how to get the 1k for the hotel after I registered for the ME. I (like many I assume) won't be playing the ME since 10k is about half of my BR.

that's the exact number i'd use for the o/u... from my understanding you can just pocket the $. a local casino here had a 'satellite' to the ME but the winner got the 12k.

I won my seat last year on bodog and due to my wife giving birth early, Rio was good enough to transfer my buy in to this year.

From what I know, you can pocket the cash on all sites, so I feel the same way. I'm thinking 5k tops....and more likely 4000-4500. I know had I won my seat last year for $12,500 in my bodog account, and not wired to Rio, I would have pocketed the cash.

I think last year you also had most sites allowing you to win only one seat and not take cash equivalant for other seats won. Now I would guess many of the top players are flooding those pokerstars sats.

I don't think you're way off at all, in fact I'd set the line somewhere around 4,400.

Many players who win will just pocket it, some others will have a hard time getting off work or getting away from the family for what could be up to a week or longer.. and if they aren't automatically registered, they won't go through the hassle of getting time off work or convincing the wife to let them go.

Another factor could be that some players will think it's a better idea to take the 10-12k and split it into 4-5 smaller events.. possibly at a more convenient time to be in vegas. With all the competing tournaments going on at the Venetian and downtown, and at the Bellagio.. that 12k could enter you in a number of tournaments with significant prize pools, WSOP or otherwise.

I won a seat on Stars, they ended up just crediting me $10K as other commenters have said. Another problem worth mentioning is that the online pre-registration / pre-payment system was totally screwed and wiring money to the Rio was as big a gamble as you would take all month. So, overseas qualifiers have the additional problem of getting the 10K out there in cash, plus expenses, plus any other buyins, etc.

I bet everything under 6000 and had a saver on 6000-7000. There are still people here (I'm in Vegas) who think there will be more than last year. I guess we'll see.

Hey Matt, unrelated question. I was reading your archives and read your post on taxes. Are you still filing as unemployed and claiming poker as other income? Have you ever had them try to make you be a professional? Thx
Bryan