Chris Moorman's Analysis of Bubble Protection
When the guys at Bubble Protection (BP) approached me, I have to admit I was a bit of a skeptic. There aren’t too many things I feel are +EV for me and at the same time good for the players and our industry. I’ve been fortunate, so my choice was mostly to keep life as simple as possible.
On top of that, I was sitting at No. 1 of the 2011 WSOP Player of the Year standings and pretty well focused on that, winning a bracelet and hitting $7.5 million online after that. Not a good time to a put a business plan in front of me. But, I do trust my agent Randy Kasper of Poker Players International, and based on a recent strategy he created for me, which included a pro deal at Lock Poker and my web site www.moormanpoker.com, I knew he would only pester me with something very worthwhile. Plus he personally was involved in BP which gave me comfort.
So, on holiday in San Diego, California, after busting the 2011 WSOP Main Event, I took a look at the Bubble Protection business plan and immediately wanted to meet the management team when I returned to Vegas a couple of days later. BP immediately struck me as one of those rare win/win/win possibilities for me, the player and the industry.
It was so revolutionary and I felt it would completely change the way online poker was played and at the same time help players preserve their bankrolls. I was actually looking forward to getting my many questions sorted in a meeting with BP's management. I found it shocking to myself that I could actually be considering a third major business endeavor back-to-back-to-back.
When I first met Bubble Protection CEO Eugene Castro at the BP office at City Center in Las Vegas, I was very impressed with the amount of work they had put into the concept and confident in their commitment to making the business a success, a pretty big team had been at this for almost a year.
Of course, I had a ton of questions, the biggest being “how can it be +EV for the player and at the same time +EV for the BP business?” Along with my mate, Nicky Evans, we discussed the concept for hours, looking at it from multiple perspectives. After our discussion or should I say debate I concluded that based on the size of the “new” bubble coupled with a player’s awareness of their own playing tendencies and results, that this made sense for all levels of players. The size of the “new” bubble is unreal, an extra 10 percent of the field is pretty insane. I had heard of other companies doing something where a few spots were added to the bubble, but 10 percent on top of the scheduled payouts is sick! So many players are helped by this.
Bubble Protection has so many strategic implications in terms of how one plays through the late stages of a tournament and thus their ROI is improved. You can take shots where you otherwise would not, and give yourself more chances to finish higher on the pay scale for tournaments. Additionally, players can have more comfort playing at a given stake level knowing they have this protection in place.
The most important factor in determining that this made sense and it being something I was anxious to endorse required that I look at Bubble Protection in conjunction with overall results. Obviously the purpose of using this tool is not so you can bubble but rather to help you make deep runs. It is for this reason that Bubble can’t be evaluated on your bubble percentage alone but rather on your overall ROI.
How many times have we made borderline shoves from early to mid position with 25 percent of the field left that sends us to the door? With protection in place, you might fold there, show a little bit of patience, and get you in the “new” bubble and from there maybe you take it down!
After having all of my questions answered, it was clear that Bubble Protection was an incredible bankroll management tool. They have patent pending technology that makes the entire process simple and payments are automatic — this is very important to online players. The guys at Bubble are working closely with Moneybookers/Skrill and will see that players are paid within 24 hours, often within minutes of a payout request. Being associated with a company that could potentially revolutionize online poker was quite intriguing.
The kicker for me was the management of Bubble Protection and how everything was done in top shelf style. I knew that I was dealing with a company that understands how the player thinks, knowing that many in their team were accomplished players, I was confident that they created this from a players perspective. When I was told that no one would ever know who purchased the coverage and that your use of the service would not be shared with any poker site, I knew they were locked into the player mindset.
Personally, when you see me at the table you will never know if I have coverage for that event, like everything else about playing style I prefer to leave them guessing.
For all of the above, Bubble Protection easily passed my analytical approach and my read was immediately quite favorable. I am so proud to endorse Bubble Protection and happy the day is finally here where players, wherever online poker is allowed, can use this to help them succeed.
I have no reason to support any product, but BP is so unique and will help so many achieve a measure of the success I have been so fortunate to attain. Beyond that, you can trust this company and the people behind it. That’s a rare win/win in our industry, and I’m honored to be their spokesperson. I am sure when you do the analysis I did, you will clearly see this is a hassle-free revolutionary product for online poker and you too will decide to use Bubble Protection in your online poker tournaments.
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