Effective immediately (Monday 8th March) there will be a new minimum prize pool of $700 before there's a $200 Championship Event Seat awarded to the winner of the Tournament, to eliminate this problem.

Our sincere thanks to those members who have been constructive and helped us with worthwhile suggestions of the way to best tweak this system to greater benefit for the players at large.

As always, we really appreciate member feedback and ideas, especially when it's regarding tweaking new system changes, as we all understand that there's often room for improvement once we see our changes in action.

Please e-mail info@wapokerleague.com.au with your thoughts or suggestions.

In addition to the vote to continue with the re-buy, the majority of members also wanted us to work into our regular events MORE ways to win your way to our WAPL Team to compete in major international events. So as announced at tournaments last week, and effective this week, welcome to the new, awesome Pro payout structure that will enable us to further establish ourselves as the premium form of poker for all of our members!

Pro Payout Structure -

For events with under $700 prize pools - Standard Payout Structure, no Championship Event Seat

For events with $700+ prize pools - Championship Event Seat (Worth $200) to the winner, with remaining prize pool paid out using Standard Payout Structure.

Given the massive increase in nightly prize money generated by the re-buy structure change, this is enabling us to pay out substantially more money to our nightly payout places, PLUS the overall winner in almost EVERY Pro event will win a Championship Seat to the next Satellite, giving them their chance at securing a guaranteed package to join the WAPL Team at a major Poker Event!

These Seats (qualification AND major event) are fully transferrable and able to be sold to other WAPL Members, and if a winner of a qualification seat cannot make the next satellite, an application in writing to info@wapokerleague.com.au will enable them to postpone their qualification seat to the next event.

We are sure you will enjoy and really see the potential this structure has for the League and your own poker ambitions, and look forward to seeing you compete for even more at a WAPL event soon!

Spread the word, let your mates know that they have more chances to win more cash and entries to major events, and get them to events with you too!

As usual, Championship Satellite events can still be bought directly into for a $200 buy-in for those who don't win the seats in regular events or $30 Sit'n'Goes.

WAPL CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT - WSOP VEGAS

Our Current WSOP Package winners are -

Phill Greatrex

Bas Snidjer

Don't miss out, be the next on the list!

You can also join the 1 other members who have Confirmed their Seat by

paying the $600 deposit to ensure they are part of TEAM WAPL Vegas 2010

During the first half of 2010 you'll have plenty of opportunity at 3 Championship Events to win your way to the WORLD SERIES OF POKER 2010 in Las Vegas, joining the WA Poker League Team on our adventures at the biggest Poker event in the world!

We know we don't need to tell you much about the WSOP itself. Needless to say, it'll be a massive event and an incredible experience for all those who come with us.

The WAPL WSOP 2010 Packages to win are worth $6,000 AUD, and include:

• Flights to and from Las Vegas in July!
• Accommodation in fabulous Las Vegas**! 
• A seat in a final stage satelite for entry to the WSOP Main Event!

1 in 10 winners in this final stage tournament win the $10,000 USD seat to the Main Event, to play for their share in the massive World Series of Poker prize pool!

We want as many of our WAPL Members to join us in Vegas as possible for WSOP 2010!

Here's how to win your seat -

WSOP 2010 Qualifier Schedule

At any WAPL Pro event during Season 12 -

Pro League tournaments with total prize pools of $700+ will see the Pro Winner also get a $200 seat to the Championship event!

$30 Sit n Goes - Winner of 8 players wins a $200 Qualifier Finals Seat to the next Final.

Saturday 30th January 2010 - $200 Freezeout Championship Event for WAPL WSOP 2010 Packages - South Freo Footy Club, 12pm Rego, 1pm Start!

Sunday 28th March 2010 - $200 Re-buy Championship Event for WAPL WSOP 2010 Packages - Elephant & Wheelbarrow Pub, 2pm Rego, 3pm Start!

Sunday late May 2010* - $200 Freezeout Championship Event for WAPL WSOP 2010 Packages - VENUE TBA, 12pm Rego, 1pm Start!

$200 buy-in ($10 to non-profit organisation). Every package cost reached in the prize pool equals one WAPL WSOP 2010 Package to the top placed players. Any extra prize pool will be awarded in cash to the next ranked player missing out on a package.

At every WAPL WSOP 2010 Championship Event - Sit n Goes

If you get out of the WSOP Finals event early, you still have a chance at winning a WAPL WSOP 2010 Package on the day!

Sit n Goes -

8 Players, $800 Each - Winner of 8 players wins WAPL WSOP 2010 Package.

10 Players, $650 Each - Winner of 10 players wins WAPL WSOP 2010 Package.

* Dates are subject to change

** Venue is subject to change

All $200 buy-in event tickets are transferrable/sellable but are non-refundable unless the event is canceled.

The gambling age in Las Vegas is 21 years. Although 18-20 year old WAPL members may play in and win our WAPL WSOP seats, they are not permitted to compete in the World Series of Poker if they are under 21 and must sell/transfer their prize to another member.

Don't miss out on supporting SFFC on Saturdays from this weekend!

Roundhouse Tavern will be moving days from Saturday nights to Tuesday nights beginning at the start of season 12. 6pm rego, 7pm start for Pro and Free Leagues.

See you at an event soon!

This Season starts on the 18th January, but remember there's still pre-season WSOP Qualifier events before then!

We've got some more great changes to your league this season, to help benefit our members and make our events even more fun and worth playing in than ever!

Remember, top 5 overall for the Pro Season win cash prizes, starting at $3000 for 1st!

Pro League Re-buys - Everyone wants to win more cash! After consultation with our members and getting some great feedback, we're implementing a trial where all Pro events will be a $30/$20 re-buy structure. In keeping with our committment to bring great quality poker to you, the starting chip stacks and re-buy/add-on amounts will be deeper too! Starting chipstacks will be 3000, with 3000 re-buys and add-ons! We'll be seeking constructive feedback from our members regarding your thoughts on these changes a few weeks into the season.

This will ensure considerably more money to the nightly prize pool, and the option to get back in with a chance to win the tournament should you be unlucky enough to catch a bad beat early on! As usual for re-buy events, all players still in the tournament will have an option to add-on 3000 after the 1st break.

Also, the winner of every Pro Event with a prize pool of $700+ will also win a $200 Championship Event Seat for the next WAPL Championship Event, giving them a shot at massive prizes such as trips to play poker in various international destinations with the WAPL Team!

Grand Final Changes - We are always striving to bring you better events, and more high quality poker! This season, the Grand Final structure will make for an even more competitive, deep stack, slow structure tournament that will remove the time constraints we have faced in the past!

• Awesome 2 day Grand Final!
• Massive $50,000-$100,000 Prize Pool! (approx)
• 2 quality venues
• 10,000 Deep Stack
• 30 min blinds day 1
• 40 min blinds day 2
• Day 2 special event for all members
• Cash Tables over 2 days
• Sit N Goes over 2 days

No one will want to miss out on this Grand Final!

Spread the word and get involved this season!

Locations, Dates & Times

Day 1 - Sat 8th May, South Fremantle Football Club

Free League Registration opens 9am.
Final Free League registrations 10:45am.

Pro League Registration opens 10am.
Final Pro League registrations 11:45am.

Day 2 - Sun 9th May, VENUE TBA

Special Event Registration opens 19am.
Final Special Event registrations 10:45am.

2nd Day Pro League Registration opens 10am.
Final Pro League registrations 11:45am.

Grand Final Qualifications - We received some good feedback on our Tiered Qualification system for Grand Final buy-ins. Based on that, we have decided to expand this to cover more of the field, bringing some more fun competitiveness to the rankings! Here's the new Pro League Grand Final Buy-in Tier System.

There have been some other changes to the qualification structure. The qualification numbers have been lowered to Top 200, and there is now a required minimum 5 Pro games played in the current season in order to qualify for a seat in the Grand Final (even if you are in the Top 200). The 10 Pro Game Reserves list is still in effect, so if you play 10+ Pro tournaments in the season and don't make the top 200, you can still get a seat in the Final.

Finally, if you haven't qualified for a seat in the Grand Final or as a Reserve, you have the option to buy-in directly as a non-qualifier. Non-qualifier seats are valued at $1500.

The Champion of Champions Tournament was a great success last season, so we'll be keeping that for future seasons! Make sure you top your Pro venue ranking this season to win your seat in the Champion of Champions, to play off for a huge prize pool!

Our pre-season events are now up on the website under upcoming events! All of these Pro events will be WSOP 2010 Las Vegas Qualifier Tournaments, where you can win your seat to the first of our three major WSOP Final Qualifiers to be held at 2 monthly intervals (end Jan, end Mar, end May).

Don't miss this opportunity of a lifetime to join the WAPL Team in Vegas and take on the best the world has to offer in World Series of Poker 2010!

Throughout the coming season you will be able to take part in WSOP Qualifier Sit n Goes to get your Finals seat at a fraction of the direct buy-in cost!

Keep an eye on the Upcoming Events for Season 12 events, which will be added shortly!

Some great new changes are coming for this season, so stay tuned to the news and make sure you are on our e-mail list by e-mailing info@wapokerleague.com.au with your name and current e-mail address with a request to be added!

Good luck in the WSOP Qualifiers, we'll see you at an event from this Thursday!

Despite jetlag and exhaustion, the team displayed great fortitude and partied together at the MGM's luxurious Lion Bar during their first night in Macau.

With poker being the mission, everyone headed off to rest up for the first WAPL attack on the Macau poker scene in the Phase 2 Red Dragon tournament the following day. Sadly, luck was against many of the team and we saw several fall with their pocket aces! However, Richard was triumphant and scored his entry into the Red Dragon Main Event on Saturday. Unfortunately, Matt narrowly missed out on also winning a seat. Patrick was to join Richard in the harrowing Main Event after a great run on the cash tables.

Around midday on Saturday, the entire team converged to show support for Patrick and Richard in the Main Event and to attack the cash tables. The unprecedented high buy-in and massive prize pool (over 3 million HK dollars) for the Red Dragon tournament drew a particularly competitive and intense field of players from all over Asia, Australia, Europe and America.

Richard and Patrick took their seats in the main event and settled into what turned into a very long day of poker. We were sorry to see Richard get knocked out but he eagerly cheered on Patrick as he managed to steadily assert himself as a dominant poker force. Patrick won the admiration of many fellow players on this day as he established himself amongst the chip leaders.

After a gruelling 13 hours of play, and 6 players away from the prize pool, Patrick was knocked out having held his own so well against what was considered the toughest table draw of the whole field. The PokerStars Asia Pro team members were impressed by the fine quality of the WAPL team play and are keen to meet more WAPL members in poker battle soon.

Earlier in the day, the ladies of the WAPL team sat down in a special Ladies Only tournament and went up against players from all over the world. To cap off a great Saturday of poker, the WAPL team went on to the View, an exclusive top floor club at the Sands Hotel to discuss their triumphs and bad beats and plan their assault on Sunday's Deep Stack tournament. Several drinking games later...

... it was time to retire for the night.

The WAPL team converged on the registration desk on Sunday to enter the Deep Stack tournament. Yet again, the team was up against a fiercely competitive and varied field. We're very happy to report that Jill blitzed the field and entered into a heads-up battle with much of the team cheering her on from the sidelines and the nearby cash tables.

She went all-in with a dominating hand but the cards did not fall in her favour and she was awarded a magnificent HK$18,000 for her impressive second placing.

Congratulations to Jill!

Here are some shots of the WAPL team in action:

Matt

Tristan

Richard

Patrick

Penny

Jason

Calvin

Michele

Sean

Adele

Frank

The WAPL team played a friendly Sit'N'Go to top off their Sunday whilst toasting the successful and fun adventure shared.

The only thing that could have made the adventure better may have been more of those pocket aces as Richard suggested!

A big thank you to Fred, Danny, and the PokerStars Team for hosting this great series of events. We look forward to taking more teams of WAPL members on more grand adventures to Macau and Las Vegas this year. Make sure you keep your eye out for more information about how to be a part of all the fun abroad!

The Boat, Mindarie : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Market City, Canning Vale : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Thursday 10th

Woodvale Tavern : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Brighton Hotel, Mandurah : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Friday 11th

Atrium Hotel, Mandurah : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Claremont FC is NOT ON THIS FRIDAY

Saturday 12th

Woodbridge Hotel, Guildford : WSOP Pro & Free - 1pm

Roundhouse Tavern, Balcatta : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Monday 14th

Paddington Alehouse, Mt Hawthorn : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Wednesday 16th

Market City, Canning Vale : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

Thursday 17th

Woodvale Tavern : WSOP Pro & Free - 7pm

New Years Eve

Cash Tables @ the Woodvale Tavern

Champion of Champions Event! 7th December @ Paddo
For those players who have won their venue for the season, the Champion of Champions Event will be held the day after the Grand Final, at the Paddo. 6pm Rego, 7pm Start. The Prize Pool for this event is $2800, and payouts will be top 3! Congratulations to our Venue winners - Jim Rawlinson, Jack Ferrari, Glenn Bailey, Chris Smith, Sarun Kunakool, David Webb, Matt Lawson, Mark Robinson, Adam Garcia, Sjors Zanoli, John Sullivan, Adrian Shafran, Mathew Lyons, and Robert Ray!
Top YOUR Venue next Season to make it to the Champion of Champions event!

Macau Trip Update!
Our team is finalised for Macau and we're ready to take on the best at the Macau Poker Cup Championship from 17-21st December! Our team of 10 players consists of Tristan Hewitt, Sean Fiddes, Calvin Nguyen, Michele Wells, Mathew Lyons, Richard Larkin, Patrick Healy, Penny Wells, Jill Maley, Frank Maley, and Jason Maley!
Best of luck to our Macau Team! We'll keep you updated as the tournaments progress!

Our team destined for Macau Poker Cup Championship from 17-21st December is now 10 strong! We have only 5 more seats available, and now these are open on a first come first serve basis to our members to purchase!

Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity! You will need to call Jason on 0413 155 193 as soon as possible (latest by the end of Thursday 25th November) to secure your spot in the team.

Enjoy VIP invites, a greeting package and the awesome opportunity to play in the MPCC as an official WAPL Team member and party with us too!

Details -

Macau Package Costs - $3500 AUD

Flights - Thurs 17th Dec & Mon 21st Dec

Accomodation - 4 nights at Lisboa Tower Superior Room (Right next to the Grand Lisboa Casino where the MPCC is held!)

Event - Friday 18th MPCC Phase 2 Event

Be quick, there's only 5 seats left for this awesome poker holiday!