If it looks too good to be true, it likely is!
This was published 06-07-2009
Let’s-Play-Poker is hosting a UK Poker Championship between August 29th and September 3rd. This is a £100 buy-in event with a cap of 750 players, yet it suggests a £100,000 first prize with a further 9 players making the money. Some quick math tells me that, if this is a straight tourney (no re-buy, no add on), they are only bringing in £75000. First prize is more than all the money collected from the tourney. A little strange? Also the website doesn’t use the word ‘guarantee’ at all with regards to the prize pool.
A number of major UK forums have been questioning the legitimacy event, most of which think that this could be a possible scam. I don’t want to say it is for sure a scam, as there are many reasons this could be happening. Although, I’m hard pressed to think of any, maybe it’s a promotional event? Maybe it’s an intro into bigger events. Maybe it’s just to get their names out there. But before i plonked down my 100 quid, I’d make sure that i knew where the prize money was coming from and how they justified paying the top 10 players with more than they’re making from the tourney.
Some other concerning items have been raised such as the fact that you have to pay for the event with a credit/debit card after one of their Representatives calls you. You have to register an interest online and then await a phone call, rather than being able to ring them directly to register. A number of people have been contacted by the call centre (And when they are the phone number is blocked) and been told that over 1000 people have registered an interest, yet the call staff have rang several players multiple times to request payment for the event from them.
The website is very basic, contains no tournament structure information and does not include any terms & conditions. The listed phone number does not appear to work when called.
Overall it doesn’t appear that a lot of thought went into this tourney. If i got a call from a rep asking for my credit card to pay for this tourney, i probably wouldn’t give it. I’d much rather place my money into a reputable online poker room, or just go to a casino. Much less risky, and probably much better pay off.
