Players Outraged at Cancellation of $20K GTD Freebuy at WPN

Look at all the Freebuy events they have run so far. Most of them don't even cover 50% of the guarantee. They are shutting it down to avoid losing even more money. kkholiday;

They should still honor the guaranteed tourney especially the 20k since it was annnounced before the series started!! That is so stupid. Bmode;

WPN explains

A WPN rep finally appeared in the 2 + 2 thread on Tuesday, a day and a half after the first posts from disgruntled players began arriving.

"We did send messages to the tables explaining that we had to cancel the tournament due to circumstances beyond our control," posted the network representative. "Unfortunately we will not be replaying that particular event."

The WPN mouthpiece insisted that the event was not cancelled due to too many players aiming for a shot at free cash without having to buy-in.

"I can tell you it wasnt an overload of players and that is the truth," stated the rep, posting as 'Winning_TD.' "We have handled alot more players with no issues previously. Unfortunately i cant prove anything to you guys and as most of you know im very honest with you."

A number of angry players still believed that a huge overlay was the reason for stopping the tournament. Some, who had recommended WPN to their friends, were hoping to save face.

"I really like the WPN....It's starting to feel like a bait and switch and I am hoping that's not what it was," wrote 'cjmoles.' "What do I tell all those I referred to the site?"

"Overlay wasnt an issue, we were happy how the series went," the WPN rep insisted. "It was a server issue that is still being investigated as we speak. It is beyond our control because we didnt manually choose to cancel."

What do you believe?

There you have it. From outsiders looking in, it appears as if something fishy went down because the biggest event of the series was cancelled. However, the WPN rep didn't shy away from the issue and did appear to answer player concerns to the best of his ability.

After a bit more bashing from players who still didn't find the server issue believable as the reason for cancelling the tournament, the WPN honcho had this to say: "This is one of the reasons i dont comment or respond in some threads. I understand that everyone has their own opinions on topics and i appreciate that. I have been as open as i can be and its still under investigation as to what happened. Once i have some more info on the topic i will inform you guys."

Amid all the hatred spewed by players, one poster was perhaps the best voice of reason in the entire incident. Here is a bit of what 'glutenfree' opined on the issue: "Considering that they knew up front this series would not make profit, and it thus probably fell under their advertising budget, it seems LOLable that people think they intentionally squashed the main event because of the (already expected) overlay."

Seems about right. The idea was to guarantee $150,000 of FREE money to players over 57 events to induce a number of them to become regular players. An innovative idea that would attract much-needed recreational players, which would make the network better for all - especially regs.

I thought the series was a great idea. I applaud WPN for the creative use of their advertising $ and it was damn well done up until the last day. But accusing WPN of nefarious practices is just LOL, and getting on Winning_TD's case for coming in here and updating us that they don't have the answers yet is also LOL. glutenfree;

LOL, indeed.

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Charles Rettmuller

Articles 904

Joined PokerTube June 2014

Charles is a Chicago native and long time poker player who dusted off his journalism degree and began writing about poker following the events of Black Friday in 2011. He has written for a number of leading poker websites, offering his insights and expertise on subjects ranging from online poker leg...Read more

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