TLDR:
1) Introduced to and agreed with poker room manager Saige of BestBet to play 5/10PLO on the stream on 6/12 two weeks in advance (would have played 6/25 stream for 10/25PLO too).
2) Rescheduled and adjusted plan for WSOP to accommodate playing on the stream.
3) Spent $600 in expenses traveling from the Midwest to FL to play on the stream.
4) Showed up at the time agreed, none of the other 8 players showed up. They tried to gain interest in 5/5 on the stream, still not enough players.
5) After the staff canceled the show, I talked with the room manager on duty and he offered me $25 as a food comp for my time and travels.
6) Sent email to the room manager Saige providing feedback for my experience 9 days ago and have yet to receive an email back.
Hello forum,
I am publishing this as a warning to anyone aspiring to play on streams to think twice about playing on BestBet Jacksonville's stream. I have played on two streams in Texas and this stream would have been my third time playing PLO on a stream. I am a midstakes PLO player from the Midwest and have been playing poker semiprofessionally/professionally for 14 years.
I was introduced to Saige Ciarletta at the end of May via a friend who is a pretty well known figure on streams across the country. For reasons of privacy I will keep his name out of this. Saige invited me to play on the scheduled 5/10PLO stream set for 6/12. In preparation for the stream, I marketed it on all of my social medias.
I never received a follow up a few days before the stream as I have in the Texas streams.
On the day of the stream, I arrived at the correct time after buying chips and reported to the production area. The staff called down the list and after 10 minutes it was apparent none of the other players were there. The production manager proposed and asked if I would play 5/5, I said sure. They ran down the list, still no interest. The production manager then asked if I would play a deep stack 2-2NL stream and I said I was not interested. Two or three of the 5/10PLO players on the interest list were on the previous night's 5/10NL stream. I asked if they could possibly be contacted to try and run the stream later, and was told immediately, "No." A local reg showed up to cut it up with the staff and he asked me if I would play a $10k PLO freezeout on the stream and I accepted. He quickly told me he was joking and was just a 1-2NL player, the staff thought this was hilarious. While waiting, one of the production staff told the remaining crew members, "We are going to have to cancel the show it looks like, but we need to take care of him (me)." The production manager referred me to the poker room manager to discuss getting any of my expenses covered for my travels and effort and he also introduced me to the same person.
The room manager sympathized with the situation and took the approach I expected and blamed the WSOP for, "Taking our players." I replied with asking why no follow up was done to confirm attendance and he did not know the answer. I also mentioned that they scheduled this stream during one of the two peak weeks of the WSOP for PLO tournaments and that they should have had looked at the WSOP schedule posted months prior to their scheduling. After hearing all this I asked if BestBet could assist with covering any expenses to which he said he was sorry about the situation and the best he could do was a $25 food comp to the cafe. I declined the offer, cashed out and left as quick as possible to get to Las Vegas that night. I wasn't asking to be made 100% whole, I understood that I assume some of the risk for this disaster happening.
If you are someone traveling to play on the BestBet stream, please reconsider. The staff made little to no effort to ensure the game would run and also made close to no effort to compensate someone traveling to play on the stream.