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Posts Tagged ‘Online Poker Rooms’
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
When a huge swath of your potential customer base is cut-off –as is the case for virtually all online poker enterprises and ancillary companies that have sprung-up around the online poker rooms– businesses will either have to adapt to the changing climate or slowly wither on the vine. For the online poker training site FloatTheTurn.com the answer seems to be, adapt and survive.
FloatTheTurn is an online poker training site specializing in Multi-Table Tournaments, founded by two-time WPT Champion Jonathan Little. In the new poker climate, with a smaller player base to find customers in, the choice presented to Little seemed to be to either jack-up the price of your product, or to appeal to more players by lowering the cost. Little has decided that dropping the price was the right way to go, and he not only dropped the price, he absolutely shredded it!
What would normally cost players $14.95/month + a one-time sign-up fee of $99.95 is now only $8/month with the sign-up fee waved!
In a press release Little explained his reasoning for slashing the price to FloatTheTurn.com in the following way: “When I heard that Netflix lost 800,000 subscribers after raising their prices, I knew I had to do the opposite… And if this new lower price helps me get 800,000 new subscribers, I wouldn’t complain,”
Little went on to explain, “It’s no secret that the poker industry has been struggling lately. With the exception of the World Series of Poker, participation in large buy-in tournaments has been dropping steadily in recent years. When I won the Foxwoods WPT event in 2008, there were 412 entrants. In 2011, there were only 189 entrants. Something has to be done to encourage more people to play or we’ll just end up with a handful of pros playing each other for insignificant prize pools. I’m hoping this new lower price will appeal to a much larger group of aspiring poker players and help them develop the skills and confidence they need to compete in today’s game.”
You can visit www.FloatTheTurn.com for more information
Tags: Champion, Changing Climate, Confidence, Customer Base, Handful, Jonathan, Netflix, Online Poker Rooms, Participation, Poker Players, Pools, Press Release, Series Of Poker, Slashes, Subscribers, Swath, Time Sign, Vine, World Series, World Series Of Poker
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Thursday, May 26th, 2011
It was just a week ago that Doyle Brunson and his eponymously named online poker room DoylesRoom.com decided to part ways –details of any buyout/severance pay were not disclosed—and here we are on Monday learning that DoylesRoom.com is one of ten online gaming sites named in the second case filed by the DOJ against offshore gaming providers.
In an interview from March 1, 2010 with Nathan Vardi of Forbes.com, Brunson opined about the potential for trouble between the US Department of Justice and the online poker rooms, telling Vardi: “I don’t have a problem with the Justice Department, and I hope they don’t have a problem with me… At my age I really don’t care if they are going to cast the gauntlet… The poker industry as a whole is ready to have a fight,” From these comments it would seem that Brunson’s foreshadowing skills are as legendary as his poker skills.
Brunson was one of the most outspoken critics of former Party Poker founder/owner Anarug Dikshit who plead guilty to violating US gambling laws and reportedly paid a hefty fine in the $300 million range a few years ago, in exchange for not serving any jail time. At the time Brunson stated that he felt Dikshit had thrown the entire online poker industry under the bus by pleading guilty.
Now in the wake of Black Friday, it looks as if there will be more people who will be entering guilty pleas and working with the government, which was likely the reason for Doyle’s decision to depart Doyles Room –although he claimed to simply be a sponsored pro and leasing his name and image to help brand the site. However you slice, Doyle once again was dealt a Ten-Deuce off-suit and came out a winner thanks to some good timing and a whole lot of luck!
Tags: Black Friday, Deuce, Dikshit, Doj, Doyle Brunson, Doylesroom, Gaming Sites, Gauntlet, Guilty Pleas, Impeccable Timing, Jail Time, Offshore Gaming, Online Poker Rooms, Outspoken Critics, Party Poker, Poker Room, Poker Skills, Severance Pay, Us Department Of Justice, Vardi
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Thursday, May 26th, 2011
On a day when two more online poker rooms saw their domain names seized by the US government as the crackdown against offshore online gaming providers continues in the US, one of the 11 people indicted on Black Friday, Bradley Franzen, entered a guilty plea on three charges and reportedly signed a cooperation agreement according to an Bloomberg article.
Franzen pleaded guilty to all three charges in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, which included: conspiracy to commit bank fraud, accepting funds in connection with illegal gambling and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and very hefty fines, although the prosecution asked the court for leniency so long as Franzen cooperates with the investigation.
This is obviously very bad news for the other indicted individuals who will be dealing with two high-ranking payment processors working with the prosecution –Daniel Tzvetkoff already having been arrested and helping the government bring its case against the online poker rooms together.
Franzen admitted to illegally creating shell companies for the online poker sites, in order to process transactions with US banks. And it must be assumed that he has evidence –or can corroborate earlier testimony by Tzvetkoff—showing that the online poker sites knew they were processing these transactions in an illegal fashion.
While most US poker players had some inkling that the online poker rooms were using somewhat nefarious means to process transactions, the idea of shell companies selling flowers and golf balls was not really on the radar, but most US players were happy to turn a blind eye on the specifics of these transactions so long as their checks cleared.
Tags: Bank Fraud, Black Friday, Blind Eye, Cooperation Agreement, Crackdown, Domain Names, Golf Balls, Guilty Plea, Hefty Fines, Illegal Fashion, Illegal Gambling, Inkling, Leniency, Maximum Sentence, Online Poker Rooms, Online Poker Sites, Payment Processors, Poker Players, Shell Companies, Specifics
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Thursday, May 26th, 2011
In a move eerily similar to what we saw on Black Friday, two online poker rooms were amongst ten gambling domains seized by the US Department of Justice on Monday. Three indictments were also handed down by the US Attorney Office in Maryland, as well as the seizure of 11 bank accounts stemming from an undercover sting operation that began back in 2009.
The online gaming sites caught up in this most recent crackdown on online gambling in the United States include, Bookmaker.com, 2Betsdi.com, Funtimebingo.com. Goldenarchcasino.com, Truepoker.com, Betmaker.com, Betgrandesports.com, Doylesroom.com, Betehorse.com, and Beted.com.
Of importance to online poker players are the inclusion of the two most prominent poker sites on the Yatahay Poker Network, Doyles Room and True Poker.
According to a statement issued by the Department of Justice:
“These indictments are the direct result of impressive undercover investigative work by our agents, along with the close collaboration of our law enforcement partners here in Maryland,” said William Winter, Special Agent in Charge of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Baltimore. “The proceeds from illegal Internet gambling are often used to fuel organized crime and support criminal activity. ICE HSI will work diligently to uncover illicit transactions involving these types of financial crimes. Together, with our law enforcement partners, we will disrupt and dismantle organizations that commit these crimes, regardless of their location, whether here in the United States or abroad.”
Three people from two companies were specifically mentioned in the indictment:
“ThrillX Systems, Ltd., d/b/a BetEd; Darren Wright; and David Parchomchuk, both of British Columbia, Canada are charged in one indictment. K23 Group Financial Services, d/b/a BMX Entertainment; and Ann Marie Puig, age 35, of San Jose, Costa Rica are charged in a second indictment.”
Tags: Beted, Betehorse, Betmaker Com, British Columbia Canada, Darren Wright, Doylesroom, Enforcement Partners, Financial Crimes, Funtimebingo, Goldenarchcasino, Online Poker Rooms, Poker Network, San Jose Costa Rica, Security Investigations, Sting Operation, True Poker, Truepoker, Undercover Sting, Us Department Of Justice, William Winter
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Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
In the wake of Black Friday there was a huge exodus from a number of online poker rooms, even ones unaffected by the FBI and DOJ seizures and indictments. Now, nearly two weeks later we are starting to see traffic level-off at most of the online poker sites, and there is definitely some cause for concern from UB Poker and Absolute Poker players.
UB and AP Poker, which make up the Cereus Poker Network, have definitely been the hardest hit by the US crackdown. According to the online poker tracking site www.pokerscout.com, the Cereus Network has shed nearly 2/3 of their player base since April 15th. Compare this to PokerStars, which lost about 28% of their total traffic, and Full Tilt Poker, which initially saw a 50% drop before rebounding during the FTOPS and ending up down about 35% overall.
The Cereus Poker Network has dropped from a Top 10 poker room/network all the way down to #22 on pokerscout.com’s list. This is despite the sites’ claims that they are no longer accepting US players, but many players are saying they are having no trouble at all logging into the site and playing online poker for real-money.
This could spell the end for the oft-troubled poker network which has seen both of their poker rooms involved in Super-User cheating scandals, and has been the poster-child for all that is wrong in the online poker industry –from secrecy to cover-ups, to inferior encryption.
Tags: absolute poker, Black Friday, Doj, Exodus, Full Tilt Poker, Indictments, Online Poker Rooms, Online Poker Sites, Poker Network, Poker Players, Poker Room Network, PokerStars, Poster Child, Real Money, Scandals, Secrecy, Seizures, Traffic Level, Ups, Us Crackdown
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Monday, April 18th, 2011
More fallout from Friday’s indictments of the owners of the three largest online poker rooms serving the US market –Full Tilt Poker, Absolute/UB Poker, and PokerStars—is still coming in, even though we have very limited details on the overall ramifications of what is becoming known in the poker world as “Black Friday”.
A part of the domino effect we are seeing is that Full Tilt Poker has cancelled their much-hyped Onyx Cup Series; which was to be the site’s first foray into the live tournament arena. Obviously with everything that occurred on Friday; with the domain names being seized, owners indicted, and the coup-de-grace of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker pulling out of the US market entirely, the idea of the high-buy-in Full Tilt Poker sponsored poker tour is entirely unfeasible, but the announcement of the tour’s cancellation is still disheartening.
It would appear PokerStars programming is also on the chopping block, as ESPN issued a statement that it would be removed until “further review” of the situation. PokerNewsDaily.com contacted ESPN and received the following statement from one of the network’s representatives: “We are aware of the indictment only through what has been announced publicly. For the immediate future, we are efforting to remove related advertising and programming pending further review.”
There is still no word on the PokerStars programming that airs on FOX –the PokerStars.net Big Game is amongst the network’s poker programming—or on High Stakes Poker, which is sponsored by PokerStars. Similarly, we have not yet received word from NBC on their Poker After Dark coverage which is produced by a Full Tilt owned subsidy.
Tags: Big Game, Black Friday, Chopping Block, Coup De Grace, Dark Coverage, Domain Names, Domino Effect, Espn, Foray, Full Tilt Poker, High Stakes Poker, Hyped, Immediate Future, Indictment, Indictments, Online Poker Rooms, Poker World, PokerStars, Ramifications, Tournament Arena
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Last week’s news that Cake Poker and PokerListings.com were forming a “Strategic Partnership” with the hopes of creating a mutually beneficial relationship to benefit each other’s bottom line –at this time it’s still unclear if PokerListings.com purchased the Cake Poker Network or purchased a percentage of the company.
In a press release the two companies discussed the partnership with Cake Network Marketing Director Andrew Turner stating:
“We are extremely excited to become a major component of PokerListings.com’s massive online presence… The value of being integrated into one of the premiere leaders in new player acquisition and poker-related search can not be overstated and will have a significant impact on the Cake Network ecosystem and overall liquidity. This partnership positions the Cake Network for future growth in terms of new depositing players as well as for the addition of several strategic network partners.”
On their end PokerListings.com has made the commitment of driving over 2,000 new, depositing, players to the Cake Poker tables each month –a lofty goal to say the least. PokerLisitings.com spokesman Martin Carlesund stated in the press release that:
“We have been looking for this kind of partnership for some time now and we are very happy to have closed this deal with Cake Network. Not only does the partnership bring great commercial value to our respective companies, but we are very proud to secure the best possible deals for PokerListings.com’ visitors”
It will be interesting to see if PokerListings begins offering exclusive deals not available through other poker affiliates, and how the “Strategic Partnership” affects PokerListings.com current relationships with other online poker rooms.
Tags: Andrew Turner, Beneficial Relationship, Bottom Line, Ecosystem, Kind Partnership, Liquidity, Lofty Goal, Major Component, Network Marketing, Network Partners, Online Poker Rooms, Poker Affiliates, Poker Network, Poker Tables, Pokerlistings, Premiere Leaders, Respective Companies, Significant Impact, Strategic Network, Strategic Partnership
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Monday, December 6th, 2010
The French Regulatory Authority of Online Games (ARJEL) recent approval of Titan Poker’s application for a gambling license will add TitanPoker.fr to the growing list of online poker rooms available to players in Europe’s second-largest online poker market.
Titan Poker is the latest iPokerNetwork site to join the French online poker market, and the chief executive for the site’s parent company of PlayTech, Mor Wiezer, had this to say in a press release: “We are delighted to be further consolidating our relationship with Titan, and our position in the French regulated market. Titan is a welcome addition to the French platform and we are confident that it will enable us to further extend the liquidity pool and experience of our French poker network.”
After legalizing online poker in early 2010 France has been slowly opening up licenses to online poker rooms that meet their criteria for licensing. Many French poker players still feel the laws are too restrictive, as they only allow French residents to compete against other French residents; basically cutting them off from the global online poker market. So, while online poker is now legalized and regulated in the country, the restrictions that have been put in place have not gone over well with its residents.
Additionally, many feel the taxation rates imposed on the online poker sites are too high, which has caused some online poker sites to raise their rake and fees, while cutting down on some of the promotional offers for French poker players.
Tags: Chief Executive, Fr, French Residents, Ipokernetwork, Liquidity, Online Games, Online Poker Rooms, Online Poker Sites, Parent Company, Poker Network, Poker Online, Poker Players, Poker Room, Press Release, Rake, Regulated Market, Regulatory Authority, Taxation Rates, Titan Poker, Welcome Addition
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Friday, July 2nd, 2010
As the online betting market in France has been liberalized many online poker sites are moving into the area. Two large poker rooms recently announced they are now offering services in France. Everest Poker and BetClic Poker are the most recent rooms to be licensed in the area.
Both BetClic Poker and Everest Poker are owned by Mangas Gaming and GigaMedia, and the owners decided to move into France. GigaMedia is a large part of the online gambling industry as they provide online entertainment software, services, development of software as well as licensing. The site also operates online gaming businesses.
GigaMedia CEO Arthur Wang commented: “We are especially excited about the opening of the large French market to online poker. Everest and BetClic are strongest in France and we see an enormous market opportunity for which we are best positioned with our award winning poker products.”
This announcement came just after the first site launched in France. The first site to get started in the country was Bwin. As the area has opened up more and more providers are moving into the area and the coming weeks should see even more news of online poker rooms and gambling operators becoming licensed and starting operations in France.
Tags: Arthur Wang, Betclic, Ceo, Enormous Market, Everest Poker, france, French Market, Gigamedia, Launch, Mangas, Market Opportunity, Moving, Offering Services, Online Betting, online gambling, Online Poker Rooms, Online Poker Sites, Poker Gambling, Poker Online, Software Services, Winning Poker
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Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
 For years online poker sites have been booming with traffic especially since the early 2000’s when Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker. Players saw that qualifying online could result in a major poker win as well as career so everyone seemed to be jumping on the poker bandwagon. But now it seems as though the online poker world has gotten into a rut. Could it be that online poker is becoming a thing of the past?
Many online poker rooms seem to be suffering as their traffic numbers are down. Research and statistics have shown that many of the major poker rooms traffic has been down for a few months now. One would think that currently the numbers would be down because two of the biggest events in sports are taking place: the 2010 WSOP and the World Cup.
Many players will be playing in Vegas as we speak and others are placing sporting bets on the World Cup. So this would explain the downturn right now but what explains the loss in traffic numbers from the previous months?
Such sites as Absolute Poker and Cake Poker are showing significant drops in numbers. According to an article on the ipokerrace website, Absolute Poker has seen a drop of over 1,000 players over the past six months for their average. Cake Poker is down almost half of their average of players.
However the most shocking site to have a downturn is possible Full Tilt Poker. The number two poker room has lost almost 5,000 payers over the past six months. It looks as though the site has lost their players due to new sites that have opened up in the online poker market.
Interestingly enough, PokerStars has still been doing well, holding their own in the industry. The site has continued to stay on track and keep their player numbers. Overall the industry is suffering right now as more and more countries decide to implement UIGEA like bans so players cannot play internationally. And of course with the UIGEA now in effect those in the US are also going to be affected. And there have also been security breaches at online poker rooms such as those on the CEREUS network. All of these reasons could be why the online poker rooms are currently lacking in their player numbers. Hopefully this is just a phase and players will log on to bring the numbers back up for the top online poker rooms.
Tags: absolute poker, Bandwagon, Bets, Cake Poker, Chris Moneymaker, Downturn, Full Tilt Poker, Online Poker Rooms, Player Numbers, Poker Online, Poker Players, Poker Room, Poker Sites, Poker World, Six Months, Traffic Numbers, UIGEA, World Cup, World Series, World Series Of Poker, WSOP
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