The World Poker Tour look to enhance the live tournament experience with the MyWPT mobile app, and Lee Davy offers up his first glance opinion.
My bladder reminds me of my nervousness as I arrive at the table. The only person there is Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson. I sit down and say hello. He gives me a hat tip. He’s scruffier than I thought. He looks a bit like a tramp.
The dealer smiles. I return the favour. The place is like a ghost town. The dealer is clutching nine chip stacks for dear life. Laying on the table is the media consent forms. I have never signed one before. There are two pages of stuff. I just sign it, hand it to the dealer, show him my passport, and he gives me my chips.
Ferguson gestures for one of the members of the floor. They engage in a debate. Ferguson is refusing to sign his release form. He tells the floor person that he wants to fax it to his lawyer but doesn’t want to miss any of the action. The floor person calls someone from the casino. And they take the form away from him.
I am dumbstruck.
I can’t believe it.
People still use fax machines.
Fortunately, for tournament organisers, there aren’t too many Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson’s. The paperwork could stipulate that you have to have sex with a Doberman Pinscher, and you would still sign it.
I don’t like processes like the live tournament media consent forms. They break my chi like Bruce Lee used to break breeze blocks. It’s a process for process’s sake, and I can’t believe it has taken so long for a live tournament organiser to get rid of it.
The World Poker Tour Launch MyWPT Mobile App
The World Poker Tour (WPT) has released a new app called MyWPT. It’s available in the App Store and Google Play. The new toy is currently being trialled at the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic – an event that broke a new attendance record for a buy-in of $10,000+ after 791 players took part.
The WPT designed it so players can only use it when competing in their live events. And I suggest you use it because it aims to save you a lot of heartaches as well as improving your live tournament experience.
Here are some of the features:
The app allows you to sign your media consent form electronically and it is then valid for an entire season. Sign into an event via the app and let technology do the rest.
Do you like reading all of the live updates, but can never find the link to the site? Does it get confusing when there is more than one event running simultaneously? The new app gives you quick and easy access to the live updates for your tournament.
Do you get fed up of reading the same superstars getting all of the praise on the live updates? Well, you can now take charge by texting the live updates team any interesting hands that you feel warrant a few words of praise. You can also update your chip counts, real-time.
Do you need to speak to the WPT or Casino Staff? Is there an improvement you would like to see made at your event? Then use the app to text them directly and get the conversation going.
Do you need some photos for Instagram? Leave your original QR code in front of your chip stack, and when the WPT photographer makes you look gorgeous, he or she will send them to you via the app.
Here’s What I Think of MyWPT
It’s brilliant.
It simplifies life for the player. As a former member of the WPT live reporting team, I know how many people fail even to find the WPT site to track live updates.
Corralling all of the information into one easy to use app is a genius idea. Simplifying process for players is what it’s all about. I would like to see the app improve upon this by allowing players to buy-in and cash-out via the app.
The app significantly reduces the workload for the live reporting team, and this creates room for a better product. The photographer doesn’t have to bother players at the table to ask them for their name to assign to photographs. The live reporter doesn’t have to do the same for people he or she doesn’t recognise when completing chip counts.
Recording accurate chip counts has always been problematic at live events. The new app goes directly to the source, allowing players to update their own, allowing the live reporter to capture more of the action. I would also like to see the dealers given access to MyWPT and at the break, they could quickly update the app with a full table’s worth of chip counts to cover the entire field.
As a live reporter, I am focusing on building a story for my audience. I follow the main protagonists and antagonists, and keep an eye on the lesser known players who are making a splash at the top of the chip counts.
All of this means that the recreational player is often left behind, and I believe it’s these types of players who want their loved ones to know how well hey are doing in an event; want copies of their photographs and leave the WPT competition with a lot of tangible memories. Texting your hand histories to the live reporters helps achieve this. The reporter will still have to carefully select which ones to use, but overall, I think the live blog will blossom as a result.
So there you are Jesus.
You can fire your lawyer; you no longer need him.
Just get your hands on the MyWPT app, before someone breaks them for you.
