Jason Mercier criticizes One Drop Extravaganza, says it was a failure

The One Drop Extravaganza festival with a $1,000,000 buy-in event finished last weekend in Monaco but the poker world is still talking how the Main Event turned out, with all the professional poker players banned from participating.

Many of the players say the €1 million buy-in Main Event could have raised much more money for the One Drop foundation if professional players would have been allowed to play in it. For example, Team PokerStars pro Jason Mercier shared his opinion about the tournament on his account on Twitter:

“So the 1 mill one drop was a failure ? Weird… Really thought excluding all the best players in the world was gonna make it a success #NOT “

It didn’t take long for Haralabos Voulgaris, who actually got to play the event as aone of the recreational players, to criticize Mercier’s tweet. Jason eventually deleted his Twitte-update, but offered jokingly to be Voulgaris’ coach next time around (Voulgaris was eliminated in 8th place just few places away from the money):
“LOL. I love you but you come off like an idiot here.” — Haralabos Voulgaris (@haralabob)
“@haralabob lmk if u need a coach next time around ” — Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier)

It remains to be seen will there be any new $/€1 million buy-in One Drop events in the future and if so, will they be open to all players. That decision seems to be in Guy Laliberté’s hands as it is his tournament and he can juggle the rules however he wants to.

Would you like to comment yourself? As we know who won, would you watch a televies show without any professional player? Let us know in the comments!

If the recreational players refuse to play with the presence of pros, will the pros play a $1mil buy-in against each other? I doubt it. In which case, there would be no tournament and zero raised for charity, so I think it's quite the success.

And of course, if the recreational players are fine with playing pros, then obv let them battle with a bigger prize pool and more for charity.

what about ban staking

On October 19 2016 21:18 Santafairy wrote: what about ban staking

How exactly would one enforce that?

On October 19 2016 21:18 Santafairy wrote: what about ban staking

hope you are trolling

On October 19 2016 20:51 Nitewin wrote: If the recreational players refuse to play with the presence of pros, will the pros play a $1mil buy-in against each other? I doubt it. In which case, there would be no tournament and zero raised for charity, so I think it's quite the success. And of course, if the recreational players are fine with playing pros, then obv let them battle with a bigger prize pool and more for charity.

pretty sure tournament had 2x more buyins last time around with pros there

Mercier has a point, if the tournament is made for the sake of the organization then it would benefit from every buy in, meaning banning pros is retarded.
If its to have a big dig whip competition between rich recs then thats another thing

is he butthurt cos he couldn't join?

If its going to count for a wsop ring/bracelet and count to all time money list, it needs to be open to anyone, including pros. Otherwise its just a glorified home game. The same as billionaires playing a big home game....only difference is it gets media coverage.

I think thats the issue that should be discussed

On October 19 2016 20:51 Nitewin wrote: If the recreational players refuse to play with the presence of pros, will the pros play a $1mil buy-in against each other? I doubt it. In which case, there would be no tournament and zero raised for charity, so I think it's quite the success. And of course, if the recreational players are fine with playing pros, then obv let them battle with a bigger prize pool and more for charity.

if its 1-2 times a year and with some press and prestige, pros will play it. there's other value variables beyond direct profit.

On October 19 2016 21:41 uiCk wrote: Show nested quote + On October 19 2016 21:18 Santafairy wrote: what about ban staking How exactly would one enforce that?

similar to banning professionals

On October 20 2016 05:23 Santafairy wrote: Show nested quote + On October 19 2016 21:41 uiCk wrote:   On October 19 2016 21:18 Santafairy wrote: what about ban staking How exactly would one enforce that? similar to banning professionals

No, banning professionals is much easier, selling action is impossible since all arrangements can be easily made in secret

--- Nuked ---

If they are doing this tourney twice a year why not make it one time with pros, the other without... There are surely a lot of whales who would join both, not just the softer one.