Rob Yong Disappointed With MILLIONS UK Turnout

Dusk Till Dawn supremo Rob Yong has taken a critical look at his own recently-finished partypoker-sponsored MILLIONS UK event, calling it ‘a big disappointment’ and yearning for the days when knocking out big names meant they really were out of the tournament.

It’s certainly not all doom and gloom in Yong’s latest blog post, despite it being titled ‘MILLIONS UK, puke…’ but the lower numbers for the Main Event – 1015 compared to last year’s 1204 – have forced him to take a look at where things went wrong, and of course how to put them right again…

The change from satellite qualifiers to using partypoker’s PP LIVE Dollars basically made up the difference in numbers – Yong himself stating:

“Let’s get real, who can blame any player who prefers to use their PP Live Dollars next month for the online $20M Guaranteed MILLIONS event or the $30M MILLIONS Caribbean Poker Party in the Bahamas - DTD is a shed on a retail park in Nottingham, there is no beach”.

The topic of re-entry is where Yong’s passion for the game shines through.

“I remember playing the original EPTs”, he writes, “the excitement sitting down at the start with hundreds of other hopefuls and famous faces, knocking out a top pro and him really being ‘out’, the feeling of accomplishment making day 2.”

Re-entries, staked players not so worried about busting, late registration available – all, have added to a different tournament poker scene – and one which Yong hopes to persuade players to turn back from, starting next year he hopes.

“MILLIONS was created at 4am over a beer at DTD with Simon Trumper… but I am not so precious to need it to continue unless we can really improve and make the event more prestigious.”

If or when that happens, player experience will be the driving force, as is normal for the sponsors behind the MILLIONS UK event – Yong titling a paragraph ‘the Knives are out for partypoker. Inevitable and predictable’ – as in every walk of life, success isn’t easily come by - and not everyone is happy when it does appear.