Any of you that don't want to get shot, might just want to move on out the back

AHH, the BBT4 is close upon us. And as we settle in for another dose of telling friends that we'll have to miss another get together, or our spouses that they should get ready for some more sessions of therapy because of neglect, I thought I would respond to some of the posts that have gone up in the recent weeks about peoples thoughts on this little series that has become a big one.

Recess questioned the lack of higher buy-ins, and asked about the validity of it's business sense. Why wouldn't they want higher buy-ins, hence more rake. (I'm hoping I'm not putting words in your mouth).

Of course Recess is an action junkie and would pay more for a buffalo burger just so he could increase his equity on any prop bets are made to determine who actually purchases the meal.

Some others wrote posts about it with the ole "who cares" type attitude, and a certain disdain for those who "questions the manner in which AL provides it" (read that is if it's coming straight from Jack Nicholsons speach in A Few Good Men).

I thinks it's fairly obvious, or at least should be to understand how Al gets all the good stuff he gets for the BBT's. It's not rocket science. It doesn't have much to do with the fact that Al is a rockstar (notice I wrote much) either. It does have to do with the fact that he actually did something. He asked. Which is more than most people do.

But FT saw the opportunity. Let's see, a 100 or so blogs with a cummulative amount of hits in the "x" range, all pimping our site with their private tournies, and all of those "eyes" outside of blogger's themselves seeing that we are helping this group out with added kick ass prizes? Hmmmm... Makes great sense to us. We throw in a little rake for a free roll at the end of the series, and let's see what happens.

That was the first BBT. Nothing more than a 2k free roll, that was provided by FT off of the rake of each participant, from each tournament. That was such a success, they did it again, and again, and now, again.

Buy-ins don't matter. And what's more, this isn't for bloggers alone. It was all of us who made it happen. True. But FT is also hoping that hte word virally spreads and reaches out to more and more players that hopefully participate.

You want the numbers? On average, an online poker site pays about $480 per conversion. What is a conversion? A conversion is a new account that deposits at least $50, and plays x amount of hands. I don't know what x is because the insider I got the info from didn't know, but it's not much.

That means every single person that signs on for the first time costs the site $500. What they put into the BBT is a good way to go in hopes of gaining new players. The other side of this is dormant palyers. Guys with accounts that have not been used in x amount of time.

I practically have not played on Full Tilt since the last BBT tournament. My account would then be considered dormant. They get me back for the BBT. IF the BBT wouldn't exist, I doubt I would play on that site. There would be no reason really, with me playing Bodog so often, and being perfectly content taking money from sports bettors who like to dust off at the PLO tables.

Another accusation was that this is for bloggers, and as such should be some sort of poll taken to see what type of buy-ins should be the norm.

Guess what. It isn't about just bloggers. It's about who we reach, and hopes of getting more than just bloggers to participate. Remember last time around? Scott Fischman played and (I think) won the first event?

There was some noise about a pro playing in these events, and blah blah blah. Regardless of how he blasted away, there were complaints about a pro playing. Well, let me tell you. This time around will probably see a lot more of those pros playing. Word is getting out. And others may try to take advantage of such a sweet system to get to the ME this year. Some might play just as a favor to one of us, and some may play just because they want to have some fun and they have been invited by a friend.

The BBT is not an exclusive club for us. It started out that way, but once FT threw their tens of thousands of dollars into the ring, it became a business proposition for them to acquire more players. This is what it is about. That's the business side.

I think this will be cool for 80-90% of us out there. I think 90-95% of will get it. There's always that 5-10% of every group that will know the reasons but still complain about it, and there is still 5-10% of every group who just won't get it at all. Waffles is def in that 5-10%. :)

Regardless, everyone as players will play because of the ridiculous equity that is provided to actually earn your way to a chance at a real poker life.