Live PokerStars AMA with BryanS: 10/17 @ 16:00 ET (Closed)

[givememyleg]

With all of the recent interesting AMA threads on FTR lately, we decided to try something new: a Live AMA like you see on websites such as reddit. Our first guest is going to be BryanS, head of the PokerStars Tournaments Team. Please feel free to ask him anything related about PokerStars, tournaments or anything off topic, but keep in mind to be respectful.

You can ask your questions now, or hold them for next Wednesday. BryanS will be online and answering our questions live on October 17 starting at 16:00 ET.

Hope you all can make it!

[bigred]

I miss you, BryanS and Stars. Come back to me and these freedom states. Please?

[spoonitnow]

Who the fuck is.... oh nevermind, you answered that already.

[bikes]

Who do we ship the 2c to for the run good now? Is it Lee Jones or Daniel N?

[Eric]

What do you like most about working for PokerStars?

What are some exciting plans PokerStars has for 2013?

What is your preferred beer?

[givememyleg]

Tying in with the beer question... do you attend any conferences, if so what is your favorite?

Favorite city to travel to?

[givememyleg]

bump bump, this is happening in 2 days!

[givememyleg]

Are you more of a pessimist or optimist when it comes to online poker in the US? When do you think it will happen?

[givememyleg]

how does one get a job working for pokerstars?

what position did you start at?

[The Bean Counter]

The mtt guarantees you set are always far too low - are you planning on revising them?

Are you planning on running the Micromillions more often? What did you learn as a result of its success?

Is the Isle of Man a depressing place? If so, do the tax breaks make up for it?

[Pascal]

Bump, this is in less than 2 hours!

[peel]

Are there any plans in the future to give a little more back to low volume micro players? There must be a lot of recreational players that possibly go to other sites because grinding 750vpps for their first $10 stellar must seem impossible, can't be a good strategy to keep them playing at stars for long.

And also, have you ever seen Liv Boeree naked?

[rong]

Are the good days truly over or do you see online poker getting another wave of new players joining? If so, where from and are pokerstars doing anything to encourage such a boost in the player pool?

[givememyleg]

This will be starting soon!

[BryanS - PokerStars]

I miss you, BryanS and Stars. Come back to me and these freedom states. Please?

We miss you, too! I hope that we reunite sooner rather than later. Be sure to let your elected representatives know how you feel about issues you feel are important. Each of us is just one voice, but together we can be a chorus...!

[Brian Boyko]

How do you determine the "proper" blind levels for tournaments on Stars?

Will there be Zoom tournaments?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Hello, everyone! Thanks for having me!

I plan to reply to each topic in a separate reply, so that people can reply to the replies which interest them, and topics can act as sub-threads, if that makes sense... cool?

I may not be able to answer everything, but I'll answer as much as I can. I'm glad to be on FTR tonight and looking forward to your questions!

Cheers,
Bryan

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Who do we ship the 2c to for the run good now? Is it Lee Jones or Daniel N?

Run good doesn't exist in the sense many imply. Save up the 2c every time you feel like shipping some, then eventually ship a $1 to the charity of your choice. You'll feel great for doing so, you'll help someone who needs it, and if you believe in karma... well, there you go..

[Pascal]

Sounds cool Bryan, I've got a few questions but I'll start with a couple of easy ones. FWIW I'm an active reader and poster on the 2p2 MTT Suggestions thread and I think you do a great job there!

- any plans for any red rebuy tournaments?
- how much do you like drinking on a scale of 1-10?
- how much fun is the Isle of Mann?
- who is the new Team Online pro?

[givememyleg]

do/did you play poker at any serious level?

[givememyleg]

Will you also be working with the tournaments on FTP?

Not sure if it's been answered yet but will breaks be synced with Stars and Tilt?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

What do you like most about working for PokerStars?

What are some exciting plans PokerStars has for 2013?

What is your preferred beer?

There are many things I love about working for PokerStars, primarily among them - I guess - is the ability to provide a good time for hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. I love games, I always have, and I've been running tournaments and/or games of one type or another for a long time... starting way back with MUDs (text-based online adventure games) and BBSes (bulletin board systems) in the 90s to running gin, cribbage, monopoly, etc... tournaments on a site you might have heard of called Case's Ladder. I love all kinds of games, but poker's been a passion from the first time I played it, and being able to have an impact on the number one site in the industry is intoxicating, it's exciting, and for many many days after I first landed the job I walked around feeling like someone was going to wake me up any second. (I actually had a very detailed dream about just that, which was in the PCA magazine a year or two ago.) I manage a great team of professionals, am surrounded by colleagues who genuinely care about our players and who really "get it"... there isn't anywhere I'd rather be... well, assuming the Baltimore Orioles don't call me to play catcher anytime soon.

We've got some interesting ideas for revamping the regular tournament schedule, incorporating a lot of the lessons we've learned with SCOOP and MicroMillions in particular. In terms of new functionality, we should have flighted tournaments running fully in 2013, as well as some new game types on the way, etc. WCOOP continues to get bigger every year, topping $55M this year. Soon we'll eclipse the biggest overall pool ever in an online series... will it be 2013? I hope so!

I very rarely drink beer these days; I prefer cider. My favorite there is Strongbow... it's delicious! When I do have a beer, it's hard to beat Hefeweizen. Nomnomnom!

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Tying in with the beer question... do you attend any conferences, if so what is your favorite?

Favorite city to travel to?

I've been to a couple, but not really industry conferences in the normal sense, I guess. I've been to a few internal conferences, and of course to BARGE a couple of times. My favorite isn't really a conference per se, but it's got a wonderful vibe and it's like a giant convention of PokerStars people, and there I'm referring to the PCA, of course. Whenever I go, I love walking around and talking to different players about anything at all, and especially when they have stuff to tell me about our site, tournaments, etc... and what they want, expect, and think.

My favorite city to travel to is probably going to be pretty boring for most of you... Blacksburg, Virginia. It's the first place I ever called home that wasn't where I was raised. I absolutely love it there, and pretty much always, the fact that I'm in town means that I'm about to go to a Hokies game in God's Own Stadium. <swoon>

In terms of normal touristy places, I guess I'd have to say that I really loved visiting Charleston, South Carolina at or near the top of the list of places I've been. Generally speaking, though, pretty much anywhere I go on vacation, I can find something to do and if I've got my family with me, I can't really be truly bored.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Are you more of a pessimist or optimist when it comes to online poker in the US? When do you think it will happen?

I'm an optimist mixed with a bit of a realist, I think. In my personal opinion, regulation is a matter of when, not if... but I don't know how far away that future date may be... I just hope that it's soon.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

how does one get a job working for pokerstars?

what position did you start at?

This is a good place to start: About | Careers & Jobs | iGaming & Poker Jobs | PokerStars

As for me, I started out as a contractor working on the custom graphics which players can use, as well as other graphical work - things like lining up the coordinates for various items in the new themes which came out in late 2006. They must have liked something they saw, 'cause a short while after I was hired on as a contractor, I was offered a salaried position working in tournaments. Amusing bit following the conversation in which I was offered a salaried job...

Me, entering the house, "Stacy... where's the Isle of Man, do you know?"
Stacy (my wife), "No... why?"
Me, heading for the computer: "Oh, I just agreed that we'll move there; apparently the PS HQ is there."
Stacy: "Great! When do we leave?"

[BryanS - PokerStars]

The mtt guarantees you set are always far too low - are you planning on revising them?

Are you planning on running the Micromillions more often? What did you learn as a result of its success?

Is the Isle of Man a depressing place? If so, do the tax breaks make up for it?

We revise the guarantees periodically, but we don't believe that they're far too low... nothing wrong with smashing a guarantee.... and we *do* suffer overlay all the time, every week in fact. It probably doesn't happen as often as players would like, of course... probably can't.

The current plan is to run MicroMillions 3x per year, evenly spaced between the *COOPs... the next one is November 15-25; the schedule for it received final approval only days ago. With the first one, we confirmed what we suspected/believed - that micro tournaments are hugely popular and that there's plenty of room for such a series!

The Isle of Man is a unique place. If you come here with certain expectations, I suppose you could call it depressing and/or disappointing. If you're the sort of person that needs a city-style atmosphere with huge exciting shows, plays, major sports, etc... you're gonna have a bad time until you learn to adjust. If you want to raise a family in a safe environment with great schools and people who treat each other well, you couldn't come to a finer place. I've lived in 4 countries, including 11 U.S. states, and there is no place among all of them that I'd rather raise my young children than the Isle of Man.

Of course, Seasonal Affective (Affected?) Disorder may be an issue here during the winter, I suppose. I haven't made much of a study of such things, but the daylight hours here are QUITE limited in the winter, and I've read that this can get people quite down... doesn't bother me, though.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Are the good days truly over or do you see online poker getting another wave of new players joining? If so, where from and are pokerstars doing anything to encourage such a boost in the player pool?

There's growth all over the world, in many markets, and I think that online poker will continue to grow... though maybe we won't see anything like the Moneymaker Boom again... it's hard to say. Within Poker Room Management, we do our best to schedule tournaments, promotions, and even event series at times which reach out to as many people in as many markets (and time zones) as possible. We also localize as much as we can, making what's in our client and on our webpages readable in over 25 languages.

[givememyleg]

you're gonna have a bad time

are you a redditor?

[givememyleg]

what do you think of the poker climate in asia? i don't know much about their laws but it would be sick awesome to add them to the player pool! or do you think they would end up being like FR/IT/etc countries and only be able to play each other and not others from around the world?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

How do you determine the "proper" blind levels for tournaments on Stars?

Will there be Zoom tournaments?

We have a few baseline structures that have been in place for quite a long time, and general ideas - both from gut/experience and from hard analysis of run rates in the past - of how long most of them take. When setting up a new tournament, we choose from among the available types, and sometimes fiddle with them as necessary for various reasons, such as perhaps flattening out the rate of blind increase during late registration, a rebuy period, etc. We use Excel quite a lot for evaluating structures, as well as for writing new ones.

Zoom tournaments are being developed.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Sounds cool Bryan, I've got a few questions but I'll start with a couple of easy ones. FWIW I'm an active reader and poster on the 2p2 MTT Suggestions thread and I think you do a great job there!

- any plans for any red rebuy tournaments?
- how much do you like drinking on a scale of 1-10?
- how much fun is the Isle of Mann?
- who is the new Team Online pro?

Red Rebuys... MAYBE. We're still discussing some big ideas with regard to future scheduling. The issue with red painting is that once we use it too much, we might as well not use it at all.

I enjoy a drink now and then, though I haven't made a concerted effort to deliberately get intoxicated in quite a long time. I suppose it's fair to say that I haven't done much to prevent it now and then. Big life lesson as regards drinking, y'all: if you know you're going to go out and have a few and might not be entirely thinking straight when you get home: put a big, big bottle of water on your pillow *BEFORE* you go out, so that you'll remember to drink it before sleep... and you won't wake up with a hangover!

There's a lot to love about this place; I can have fun pretty much anywhere my family is, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to travel when I want something I can't get here (like an Orioles, Hokies, or Arsenal game).

Re: the new online pro... beats me. :P

[spoonitnow]

Who would win in a fight to the death between a horse-sized goose and 30 goose-sized horses?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

do/did you play poker at any serious level?

I have in the past played a lot more than I do these days, though I did travel to my first WSOP this past summer, where I had the unique experience of playing in a tournament type which I'd invented (Ante Only)... that was an absolute blast!

I was a winning player online for quite a while, but I think that sometime in 2009, the median skill level passed mine, and I my win rate started going down noticeably. I dunno... maybe just from lack of time to play as much. I still play, and I still do aiight, but it's not unusual for a month to go by with me not playing a single hand online.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Will you also be working with the tournaments on FTP?

Not sure if it's been answered yet but will breaks be synced with Stars and Tilt?

No, I won't be working on FTP's tournaments.

From the beginning of the Sync Break Era, both FTP and PokerStars have had them starting at :55 past. I can't see us changing that.

[spoonitnow]

I had the unique experience of playing in a tournament type which I'd invented (Ante Only)

About when did you invent the ante-only structure?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

are you a redditor?

Yes, though I mostly participate through Imgur.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

what do you think of the poker climate in asia? i don't know much about their laws but it would be sick awesome to add them to the player pool! or do you think they would end up being like FR/IT/etc countries and only be able to play each other and not others from around the world?

I think that there are lots of exciting possibilities with a player pool as large as can be found in that portion of the world, but to be honest I don't know a lot about the hurdles involved in bringing them to the online poker world.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Who would win in a fight to the death between a horse-sized goose and 30 goose-sized horses?

120 Hooves > 1 Large Bill

It'd be ugly.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

About when did you invent the ante-only structure?

Late 2007.

[Pascal]

Have you ever tried real West Country cider? I'm going to guess no if you like Strongbow

What's the biggest difference you've found between the UK and the US?

Would you rather fight 15 toddlers or one full grown man?

[spoonitnow]

Are you familiar with the phrase "hat-trick in a hurricane?"

[Jack Sawyer]

My RSA token magically stopped working like last year (always incorrect codes). I haven't had time since to get it sorted. Is it something easy or will i have to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to login again?

It did happen somewhat close to the date I cashed out most of my funds. Not that these events are related though ...

[Jack Sawyer]

Can we get like a regular 256+ player HU tourney? Like the 180s?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Have you ever tried real West Country cider? I'm going to guess no if you like Strongbow

What's the biggest difference you've found between the UK and the US?

Would you rather fight 15 toddlers or one full grown man?

I've tried all kinds of ciders. I know that Strongbow is a bit too sweet for many people - sometimes it is for me! - but I've not found better on the island. I'll see about finding the one you mention; always up for trying something new.

There are many differences between the two cultures; it's hard to narrow it down to one biggest thing. Also, the IOM is sort of in the UK, but culturally I suspect that it's quite different. One of the things I love about this place is how people treat each other - it reminds me very much of small town America. If you pass someone on the street here and you say, "Hello", they say something back to you, usually with a smile and a wave. If someone asks you, "How are you?" here, you should stop walking, 'cause it's not just a phrase, they're actually inquiring after how things are with you. It's quite interesting. Swearing seems to be a lot more prevalent here than in the States, but at the same time people don't get so wound up about it, either. There seems to be much more of a feeling here of, "You get on with how things work for you, and I'll do the same, and as long as we don't interfere with each other there's no need to make a fuss."

I'd prefer not to fight anyone, honestly. :P If I have to, though... 15 toddlers, obviously.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Are you familiar with the phrase "hat-trick in a hurricane?"

I want to say that it sounds familiar, but I can't think for the life of me where I might have heard it. Maybe here for the first time, I don't know... explain?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

My RSA token magically stopped working like last year (always incorrect codes). I haven't had time since to get it sorted. Is it something easy or will i have to jump through a lot of hoops to be able to login again?

It did happen somewhat close to the date I cashed out most of my funds. Not that these events are related though ...

I'm sure there will be some hoops to jump through, but as long as you can prove you are who you say you are and your account was/is in good standing, it should be straightforward to get back on again.

[Pascal]

Haha, fair answer. West Country is an area in the south west of England known for its' cider and it's produced it for a long time. I can think of 2 or 3 "cider pubs" in my city which offer a wide range of ciders.

[Sykedupp]

You have the bigs/hots every day, and the biggers/hotters every sunday. Seems reasonable to make a "biggest" and "hottest" version once a month, no? Any plans like that in the works, or is it mostly a "wait an see" approach?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Can we get like a regular 256+ player HU tourney? Like the 180s?

We probably could, but they wouldn't run. We've had them in the past... and pretty much anything higher than 32-player didn't run... ever, that I recall. I'll mention it to the cash S&G manager, though. Maybe things are different now.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

You have the bigs/hots every day, and the biggers/hotters every sunday. Seems reasonable to make a "biggest" and "hottest" version once a month, no? Any plans like that in the works, or is it mostly a "wait an see" approach?

Not as a once a month definite thing, but otherwise you might as well have been reading out of my notes from a meeting not long ago. No promises on when (or if) such a thing might happen, though.

[Sykedupp]

Nice, that's good to hear.

Do you guys take emails about your schedules to heart? I know you cant please everyone all the time, but you have a fantastic schedule from about 10:30am-5pm EST, then things die down in the mid-stakes range quite a bit until the Big 27.50 at 8pm EST. You tried adding the Hot 44 but that's just 1 MTT... Do you think there's a market for a couple more playable mid-stakes MTTs in the 3 hour gap there? Or are there not enough players online during those times?

[givememyleg]

what do you feel pokerstars was doing differently than its competitors in the early years which lead to their enormous success?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Do you guys take emails about your schedules to heart? I know you cant please everyone all the time, but you have a fantastic schedule from about 10:30am-5pm EST, then things die down in the mid-stakes range quite a bit until the Big 27.50 at 8pm EST. You tried adding the Hot 44 but that's just 1 MTT... Do you think there's a market for a couple more playable mid-stakes MTTs in the 3 hour gap there? Or are there not enough players online during those times?

Liquidity is an issue, and in the later (ET) hours, the schedule thins out a bit by necessity. We do our best to keep things compelling and full, though, and we listen to every bit of feedback we receive, though as you say, we can't enact all of it - or even a majority of it, really. There are just too many different desires, too many factors, and not enough possible ways to match up the offering with what different people want.

As for mid-stakes tournaments in the time-frame you mention... there are quite a number of them, though perhaps not in exactly the type you're seeking.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

what do you feel pokerstars was doing differently than its competitors in the early years which lead to their enormous success?

I didn't get to the company until 2006, but from what I know, there's one thing that's never changed at the company which has been the cornerstone of its success (in my opinion and many others). It's a company run and staffed by people who love poker, love poker players, and there's an absolute devotion to getting it right. There's a three-word phrase which will pretty much kill any idea here, as long as the usage of said phrase is accurate... "That's not PokerStars."

[Pascal]

Any chance of a 6max tournament between 2pm and 6pm UK time?

[Sykedupp]

As for mid-stakes tournaments in the time-frame you mention... there are quite a number of them, though perhaps not in exactly the type you're seeking.

If you took the cap off the $55 full ring non-turbo at 615pm EST, I bet the field size triples

But you guys do an amazing job overall. So we have MMx3, WCOOP, SCOOP (tiered), TCOOP... are there any other series being planned in 2013 that we can talk about?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Any chance of a 6max tournament between 2pm and 6pm UK time?

There are quite a few, though most of them are hypers. Perhaps we could mix that up a bit better.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

If you took the cap off the $55 full ring non-turbo at 615pm EST, I bet the field size triples

But you guys do an amazing job overall. So we have MMx3, WCOOP, SCOOP (tiered), TCOOP... are there any other series being planned in 2013 that we can talk about?

It would triple, sure... but it'd take away a Cap tourney, which we don't want to do... those were added to serve a very specific need/want.

Thank you. There are no plans at this time to run more series... each has its own unique niche and time on the calendar. We run promotions all the time, of course... things like we did for the 10th Anniversary last year, the Red Spade Open from time to time, World Record attempts, etc. 2013 will be an exciting year, I promise you that.

[Jack Sawyer]

Can we get incognito HU SNG tables? As in, you don't know who's registered until you register and the game starts? That way you should only see that there is someone waiting on the table, but not who. At least in the small to mid stakes.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Can we get incognito HU SNG tables? As in, you don't know who's registered until you register and the game starts? That way you should only see that there is someone waiting on the table, but not who. At least in the small to mid stakes.

Interesting idea, but not my area of responsibility. I will pass it along to the ring game guys, though!

[Pascal]

There are quite a few, though most of them are hypers. Perhaps we could mix that up a bit better.

There's a couple of great 6max turbos - a $33 and a $11 from 11am - 1pm - and then an $8 (or is it a $16) and a $22 normal speed later, but nothing turbo/normal in the middle. The €30 6max on .fr was great fun too, would be cool to see like a $22 deep stack 6max to mix up the $22 and $11 deep stack offerings, although I wouldn't say no to a normal either. A $11 6max turbo could be massive in the evenings

[Pascal]

Are you familiar with the phrase "hat-trick in a hurricane?"

This about Bryan's invention of Ante Up?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Originally Posted by spoonitnow
Are you familiar with the phrase "hat-trick in a hurricane?"

This about Bryan's invention of Ante Up?

I just recently learned the meaning of that term... and I can say with surety that Ante Only as played at PCA, WSOP, etc... indeed sprung from its appearance on PokerStars and that I wrote said structure. I mentioned it not to brag, just to mention something exciting about my trip.

In any case, I've never even been to Iceland, and I'm not any good with a football (soccer ball).

[BryanS - PokerStars]

The time previously allotted for this is up, but I'll be sticking around for a while, another hour at least, if y'all have any other questions about PokerStars, Life, The Universe, and Everything... =)

[givememyleg]

let's go deep.

what do you feel the meaning of this universe is? do you think it has a cause? what do you think happens when we die?

[givememyleg]

favorite movies? favorite books? favorite music?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

let's go deep.

what do you feel the meaning of this universe is? do you think it has a cause? what do you think happens when we die?

My basic feeling is that I don't know, and that I will never tell anyone else that they don't have every right to believe whatever it is that gives them clarity, peace, strength or whatever else a person might seek within the realm of faith.

[BryanS - PokerStars]

favorite movies? favorite books? favorite music?

Movies - best way to identify favorites is to consider "Remote Stoppers" - movies that if you hit while aimlessly surfing, the remote goes down...

The Princess Bride
The Lord of the Rings
Shrek & Shrek Forever After
The Matrix Trilogy
The Shawshank Redemption
Good Will Hunting
The Harry Potter Films

Books
The Lord of the Rings
The Foundation Trilogy
The Second Foundation Trilogy
The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series
The Inheritance Cycle (though I found the last book to be disappointing)
Charlie Brooker's collections
The Robots and Empire series
Battlefield: Earth (the book was great, the movie... errr, wasn't)

Music
I love a lot of music, and I'll listen to just about anything. I have a lot of country music, and when I lived in the States my radio stayed on the country stations more often than not... but I have an eclectic collection. Basically I love music with lyrics that mean something, that tell a good story, or music that fires me up pretty easily regardless of the lyrics.

Let's hit Shuffle 20 times on my MP3 player...

"C'mon, C'mon" - Sheryl Crow
"Fools Like Me" - Vanessa Carlton
"In My Place" - Coldplay
"Words I Couldn't Say" - Rascal Flatts
"What She's Doing Now" - Garth Brooks
"Schubert: Piano Quintent in A, D 667, "The Trout"
"Wherever I May Roam" - Metallica
"Friends In Low Places" - Garth Brooks
"Little Long-Haired Outlaw" - Chris LeDoux
"Shut Up and Drive" - Rihanna
"Baby I Don't Care" - Transvision Vamp
"Mothers of the Disappeared" - U2
"Like A Virgin" - Madonna
"Holy Water" - Big & Rich
"Now That I Found You" - Terri Clark
"Who's That Man?" - Toby Keith
"Heartbreaker" - Mariah Carey
"The Kiss (Skit)" - Eminem
"Don't Mean Nothing" - Richard Marx
"Faithfully" - Journey

I dunno... that might give an idea? It's hard to nail down specific favorite sometimes, and I bet I forgot something in books and movies. :P

[Pascal]

Incred song difference.

Thanks a lot for doing the AMA Bryan, was lots of fun. Hope to meet you at a VIP party or event in the future. Are you involved at all with the live events or do you attend any?

[BryanS - PokerStars]

Incred song difference.

Thanks a lot for doing the AMA Bryan, was lots of fun. Hope to meet you at a VIP party or event in the future. Are you involved at all with the live events or do you attend any?

Enjoyed. =)

I've been to a few, but it's rare. I think I've been to four in six-and-a-half years.

Take care, everyone... midnight here and off to bed.

[givememyleg]

Thanks Bryan for joining our community and answering our questions, it was fun to get a look at someone from the inside!

[Galapogos]

You were inside him?

[bigred]

You were inside him?

WINNER!

[givememyleg]

[rong]

As representatives of FTR we should be ashamed for not asking if he stands or sits when he wipes.