O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

Hi All,

I will try to keep the lead-in to this as brief as possible while still giving a thorough explanation as possible.

For those of you that don't know who frequent this forum, I was successful in negotiating a WSOP Main Event package with TruePoker in exchange for playing 120k hands at their site in a little less than 2 months. This came about due to a discussion on this forum about if poker sites would be willing to negotiate for or offer special bonuses for the play of high volume players. (Stu Pidasso orginally posted about the idea of a High Volume Player's Association.)

Once again for those of you that don't know, I was successful in completing the 120k hands challenge at TruePoker and won the WSOP package.

As a result of TruePoker offering me this deal, Aamazon was able to to get a similar deal (bonus if you will) with the Gaming Club. They also offred it to some other players but I am unsure if any of them were successful in completing it.

I was reading Baulucky's post about his proposed 12k bonus and as a result of that thread (which they were some discussion about this in it) I came up with the following idea:

1. I have proved that poker sites are willing to negotiate for the play of high volume players and offer a special bonus or deal.

2. I WOULD NOW LIKE TO PROVE THAT POKER SITES WILL NEGOTIATE FOR A BLOCK OF PLAY FROM A SIZEABLE GROUP OF HIGH VOLUME PLAYERS.

Here is my specific idea:

We would call our group O'Doyle's Army and would try to assemble (as a minimum) 100 players that would be willing to play a high number of hands at a poker site in exchange for a WSOP Main Event seat package or if possible another WSOP circuit main event or WPT event package that would occur sooner. The exact number of hands would naturally still have to be determined with whatever poker site would agree to this. I would prefer 120k hands but in a longer time period than I completed it in. (perhaps 4 months)

The poker site would get two things:

1. A large amount of play from a block of players in a specfied time.

2. A large contingent of players at a major poker event, an "army" if you will. Let's face it, this method has made PokerStars what they are today.

This army could be dressed in similar attire like the Poker Stars crowd or the Full Tilt players. I would prefer army- like shirts that would have naturally the poker sites logo on there as well as names, stripes on the sleeves, etc. I know when ODoyle's Army would march into that poker room they would garner much attention and would be sure to capture the eye of the media.

What would we as players get: The opportunity to not only play in a major poker event, but if this takes off we could perhaps be in a position to secure future deals or bonuses from poker sites for the long term.

So, please respond if you would be interested in participating in such an experiment and lets see if we can get this thing off the ground! (I know about 20 players responded that they had an interest in Baulucky's post)

I am not affilated with any poker site in any way and hope this would not be considered "spam" in anyway.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

Playing against 100 other 2+2ers on a small site is not a good idea. If you can negotiate this through a Party skin or 'Stars I am interested.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

yea I'd probably be up for doing that at a largeish site with decent software.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I don't want to win the war. I just want to make a lot of money...

A WSOP seat, for me, is nearly worthless unless I can sell it for cash.

Good luck. Great idea... for the pokersites... They get the rake, they get the publicity, they get the money...

I guess that if you also value a WSOP seat, then you also get an OK deal.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

i agree...I would rather have bonuses OR have Stars Rakeback!!

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

What limits would this deal consist of? Like others have stated, I would not be thrilled about playing 15/30 at a ten person table made up of 8 sup bro's.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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yea I'd probably be up for doing that at a largeish site with decent software.

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Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I'm definitely interested in this. Its all going to depend on which site we're going to use. Like others have said I don't think its a good idea to do this at a smaller site if we're going to have 100 people. However, I don't really think this will be a problem as I see the number of people that would actually do this to be 30-50.

Durs

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I would be happy to 4-table at a site for some special bonuses.

I would not be happy to wear an O Doyle's Army special outfit in public. I have exactly zero pieces of clothing with any company names attached - but would probably wear an online site's shirt if I won a $10k entry and got hotel accomodatioins for wearing their shirts.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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Playing against 100 other 2+2ers on a small site is not a good idea. If you can negotiate this through a Party skin or 'Stars I am interested.

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I'm with this guy. I'd love to participate but not if the playerbase for the site will be half zoo'ers for the duration of the promotion.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I agree with Baulucky, I want 10k or 12k but I don't really want to play a large tournament, I'd rather have the cash so I can do things like, buy myself a truck or save it for a down payment on a house.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I agree with Baulucky, I want 10k or 12k but I don't really want to play a large tournament, I'd rather have the cash so I can do things like, buy myself a truck or save it for a down payment on a house.

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indeed. WSOP, or probably any tournament, entries are very -EV for me.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I'm interested in some aspects of this, of course I need more details.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I agree with Baulucky, I want 10k or 12k but I don't really want to play a large tournament, I'd rather have the cash so I can do things like, buy myself a truck or save it for a down payment on a house.

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Same here...I'd be willing to do something like this for a high % rakeback deal type thing.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I would be happy to 4-table at a site for some special bonuses.

I would not be happy to wear an O Doyle's Army special outfit in public. I have exactly zero pieces of clothing with any company names attached - but would probably wear an online site's shirt if I won a $10k entry and got hotel accomodatioins for wearing their shirts.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

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I agree with Baulucky, I want 10k or 12k but I don't really want to play a large tournament, I'd rather have the cash so I can do things like, buy myself a truck or save it for a down payment on a house.


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I would be interested in this as well, but would rather get cash, either way I am interested though for whatever is offered. I also do not want to join any "army" or wear any army outfit. It reeks too much of "The Crew" and "taking the poker world by storm".

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

An idea- The prizes won by the army are split among the winner of the prize and rest of the army. I don't know what percentage is best.

That way some sort of cash is expected from this venture, plus a great rooting interest in other memebers of this army.

For example you have 25 players and we will use 50/50 split to keep things easy:

Player #2 wins $50,000
Player #17 wins $15,000

Payouts would be: Player #2 ($26,300), #17 ($8,800), everyone else ($1,300).

I think this would be one of the worse case scenarios, as the army only makes back 26% of amount invested.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

oh, also I don't want to wear military uniform and the name needs a rethink as well [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

You want a $12,000 bonus?

Play 140,000 hands at 10-20 6-max on Eurobet with 30% rakeback.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I would be in, but would want to have close to a year to play the 120k hands. Currently, I play around 15k hands a month at a ton of sites, I would be willing to consolidate just about 100% of my play to just this one site if they gave me a long enough time frame that I felt comfortable with, without having to break my back to get the seat. The offer could be something like you have to play 120k hands within the last 9 months, or 1 year, or whatever, if it takes longer than that you don't get to go. If you play 240k hands in that time period, they send you to 2 major tournaments, 360k hands, you get to go to 3 major tournaments, etc....

Also, like others in this thread I would prefer to just wear the site's normal clothing as opposed to an army uniform.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I could be interested in this.

But like most people in this thread I would want more information on the following:
Exactly how long would we have? My preference would be a larger time window.
What would the reward be? I would prefer something fungible as opposed to tournament entries.
What limits would be allowed?
And I would also state my preference for the normal poker site clothing.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

sure why not...would like a cash option as well since I'm not really a tournament player.

J

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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Playing against 100 other 2+2ers on a small site is not a good idea. If you can negotiate this through a Party skin or 'Stars I am interested.

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Just because ppl post on 2+2 doesnt mean they are a good poker player. In fact ppl who know just enough to "try" to play good are the best ones of all to play against.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

If there's some kind of major tourny that is 18+ instead of 21, I may be interested in this also.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

As stated in previous post, I am in. Though I would like to have an entire year. This would allow us to avoid playing all of our hands at once. The only sites that would be interested are the smaller ones. Most of us will play at Party regardless, so what gain would they have in offering the deal?

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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Just because ppl post on 2+2 doesnt mean they are a good poker player. In fact ppl who know just enough to "try" to play good are the best ones of all to play against.

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hahahahahahahahahahaha

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

Count me into odyle's army! I would love to participate in somthing like this

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I don't want to win the war. I just want to make a lot of money...

A WSOP seat, for me, is nearly worthless unless I can sell it for cash.

Good luck. Great idea... for the pokersites... They get the rake, they get the publicity, they get the money...

I guess that if you also value a WSOP seat, then you also get an OK deal.

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Hey Baulucky,

I agree with you and would prefer a 12k cash bonus over a WSOP seat. The only problem with that scenario is with a cash bonus there is not much in it for the poker site. (at least the way I see it) When they give that much money away to affiliates at least from some of them they are getting creative marketing which is drving all sorts of players to their site.

The beauty of what I am describing is that there is a huge upside for the poker site which in turn might make such a deal attractive to them.

I can completely understand that the strongest of players might possibly not be attracted to this because they would consider their time more valuable.

However, I think there is a group of players out there who will find this type of deal very appealing to them. I think there is a large number of players that are playing a high volume of low limit poker online. (1-2 to 3-6) For these players this sort of deal might make a lot of sense to them.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I could be interested in this depending on the specifics of course.

A few comments / questions:

-When you say 120K hands do you mean raked hands? If so, the definition of raked hand would need to be defined.

-I personally would prefer the WSOP ME entry idea vs. some form of rake back. I think it's a better win-win for both parties.

-I wouldn't have the time to squeeze 120K during a two month span. I think four months would be challenging but doable. I don't see any reason why the duration couldn't even be longer though. If this goes through it will likley be at one of the medium (TP, ABS, FT, etc.) sites that most of us don't usually play at. A sustained play boost over the year is probably more beneficial to these sites than a two or four month growth followed by a drop off.

-We need to be able to at a minimum 8-table and 10 or 12 would be preferred.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I would be happy to 4-table at a site for some special bonuses.

I would not be happy to wear an O Doyle's Army special outfit in public. I have exactly zero pieces of clothing with any company names attached - but would probably wear an online site's shirt if I won a $10k entry and got hotel accomodatioins for wearing their shirts.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

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The thought of wearing something different looking is twofold.

Number one is that it will catch the media's and public attention thus making it an attractive method of marketing for a poker site. I predict that once the "pros" from Full Tilt are shown more and more on TV in their jerseys, it will result in an upswing in business for them. I am sure they went with the Jersey look instead of the mundane polo so they would not be missed when they enter a huge poker room of a few thousand people in it. Same thought with the military-like type shirt. Definitely would draw attention to our group and especially if we made a point of entering the poker-room as a unit and to continue to support our unit once we are eliminated from the tourney. Simple, but I think it would provide for some very effective marketing for a site.

Number two, is that we would also be letting the public know exactly who we are and how we got to this tourney. We might develop a long term relationship with one site year in and year out, but then again "ODoyle's Army" could perhaps remain as free agents, giving us the ability to negotiate with different sites in the future as a group of high volume players.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

perhaps a cashout value less than the wsop package (the difference being the value for the site so to speak). For example take 10k in cash or take the wsop package worth probably 12-13k including travel, lodging, etc.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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especially if we made a point of entering the poker-room as a unit and to continue to support our unit once we are eliminated from the tourney.

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We'd be the new crew [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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I would be interested in this as well, but would rather get cash, either way I am interested though for whatever is offered. I also do not want to join any "army" or wear any army outfit. It reeks too much of "The Crew" and "taking the poker world by storm".

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I can understand why someone would not want to wear a special unifrom to play poker in for a lot of reasons. But, I think this is the part of the marketing that will really appeal to poker sites and will make it very attractive to them. Please see my reply to Dogmeat for a more detailed answer in regards to wearing something unique to make us stand out from the crowd.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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An idea- The prizes won by the army are split among the winner of the prize and rest of the army. I don't know what percentage is best.

That way some sort of cash is expected from this venture, plus a great rooting interest in other memebers of this army.

For example you have 25 players and we will use 50/50 split to keep things easy:

Player #2 wins $50,000
Player #17 wins $15,000

Payouts would be: Player #2 ($26,300), #17 ($8,800), everyone else ($1,300).

I think this would be one of the worse case scenarios, as the army only makes back 26% of amount invested.

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Interesting idea, Owl.

Don't know though, would this be considered crossing the line in tourney rules if a large group that was playing in the tourney would also be sharing winnings?

Even if it wasn't against the rules, it could give the appearance of something not entirely above board, especially if it was viewed that army members made moves that might benefit them as unit and not individually.

Don't exactly know the answers to these questions, just playing devil's advocate.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I'd be interested in this. I'm am just a 1/2 and 2/4 limit player so it would have to be something that I could do within these limits. See what you can come up with and let us know.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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Exactly how long would we have? My preference would be a larger time window.


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Naturally, this is something that would have to be banged out with a site, I think a 4-5 month time period would be idea, giving the site to run a second promo within a year if possible and also giving players to make it to more than one major event a year.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

ODoyle,
I like every aspect of this, even the uniforms. I also like the idea of sharing the revenues from said tourney amongst the group that meets the challenge. Everyone has a vested interest in everyone else. Also, while the group of us is working off the hands, there is a significant base of moral support. The more that meet the challenge, the better the chance we walk away with something from the ME. I would also suggest that the sites, in addition to the 120K hands, require us to play in a certain number of SitNGo's, MTT or HU tourneys to prep us for tourney play. Thus, they are not only helping us get a seat, but also helping to educate us in NL tourney play, again giving us a better chance of success. I hope this gets some attention from Mr True, Mr Banana, or Mr Jones. I really like the idea, and am ready to get started on my hands. Though, I still think we should have 10 - 12 months to complete it. For the peeps already 8 tabling, 120 in 4 months is nothing. For those still 2 or 3 tabling, a longer time frame might get more people interested. The way I see it, I probably play 120K hands a year. So I am going to play that much anwyay. But now, in a given month, I play 1000 hands at Party, Empire and Multi, hours each at TB, UKB, and Will Hill, 300 at Plex, etc... you get the idea. Being able to consolidate my play to one specific site would be in the sites best interest.

Also, even with a year to play, the site stands to make a significant amount of money from those that come up short (and certainly people will come up short). 119,999K hands - no seat, but lots of rake (and tourney fees) generated.

Keep up the fight. I really like the marketing idea of the uniforms and hope that will make it an easy sell to any of the poker sites.

Besides True Poker, TGC, what other sites do you think might be interested. I would think that 100 players playing 120K hands would not be so appealing to sites like Party (but maybe the skins), or Poker Stars. But who knows, Stars would probably like a monopoly on all online WSOP qualifiers?

Perhaps we even make a web page/blog to track the challenge....gaining more pub for the site. All of us post our results, and tourney practice schedule. Set up some affiliate code ODOYLEARMY05 or something similar to get more players to sign up to the site. I think this has some real potential...

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

I see what you are saying - again, I might be willing to be a part of a specific site's marketing (as a group), provided my bonus was high, but I don't want to be a 2+2 gang or army know by any name.

Good luck.

Dogmeat [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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What limits would be allowed?


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Hopefully, it could be negotiated that a person could play any limit they would chose to qualify. I had no restriction of limits when I did the challenge at TruePoker.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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The offer could be something like you have to play 120k hands within the last 9 months, or 1 year, or whatever, if it takes longer than that you don't get to go. If you play 240k hands in that time period, they send you to 2 major tournaments, 360k hands, you get to go to 3 major tournaments, etc....


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This is an idea I think that has some potential. There could be staggered events throughout the year so that a person could qualify for one or for all.

Re: O Doyle\'s Army - WE WANT YOU!
 

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Quote:
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especially if we made a point of entering the poker-room as a unit and to continue to support our unit once we are eliminated from the tourney.


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We'd be the new crew

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Where's BBill's puking bird avatar when you need it? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]