Poker is hot, that you like it or not :-)
More news about the success of poker. I have been playing and blogging for more than year now... For some people, it can look as long as eternity, for some people just a short time... Some times I won, some times I didn't, but I always saw poker winning every challenge, day by day. So, a big standing ovation for poker and let's cross our fingers that my dream becomes true in 2007...
Reuters reporting about the success of poker:
Sportingbet poker sales up
Sportingbet (SBT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday that poker revenues had increased 71 percent in the first 10 weeks of the current financial year, as it announced a sharp increase in last year's profit.
Although Sportingbet gets 91 percent of its revenues from online sports betting, investors were keenly watching its results for indications of how the online poker market is faring amid tumbling share prices across the sector.
The average number of games played each day on Sportingbet's Paradise Poker site, which it bought last November, rose 66.3 percent in the year to July 31, while the cost of attracting each new player to Paradise Poker rose by $10 (5.74 pounds) to $139.
Profit before tax was 40.8 million pounds in the year to July 31, versus 8.3 million pounds in 2004.
Sportingbet's core U.S. betting arm increased its number of sports bets by 34 percent to 25.4 million. The number of sports bets taken in Europe rose 86 percent to 20.2 million.
Sportingbet shares closed at 287 pence on Tuesday, valuing the group at around 968 million pounds.
------------------------
News from Poker Room and Party Poker:
NAME CHANGE FOR INTERNET POKER NETWORK
And greater gaming diversity, too
Top Swedish gambling software provider Ongame has announced that it is introducing a new name and greater gaming diversity to its global Internet poker network. Formerly titled Poker Network, the operation hosts almost 4 million regular poker players, mainly under Ongame subsidiary Poker Room.com.
The network branding has been changed to Ongame Network, and with it a new range of non-poker games has been made available, including casino games like Craps, Roulette, Blackjack, PaiGow Poker and Video Poker Multi-Hand. Slot machines will also be introduced offering seriously large progressive jackpots, for example the forthcoming Sultan’s Treasure slot machine game which will have a starting jackpot of $300,000.
Ongame Network’s director, David Flynn says, “Multi-player casino games and Blackjack tournaments, along with high quality graphics, will differentiate Ongame Network from the broad offering that currently exists in this part of the industry.”
The move comes at a time when online poker market leader Party Poker has also announced that games other than poker will be available to its network players. In distancing Party Poker's network from that of its white label partners this week, Party Gaming said that it planned a major new site to be launched early next year which would present not only poker but a variety of other games to its claimed 9 million players.
------------------------
Always from online-casinos.com:
NEW ONLINE POKER ROOM OWNED BY UK NEWSPAPER
Poker freeroll tournament to celebrate the launch
The latest poker room to enter the online poker sector is owned by British newspaper The Sun and operated by veteran gambling group Victor Chandler (see earlier Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa reports)
Formerly titled Caribbean Sun Poker, Sun Poker.com is powered by Cryptologic and launched a freeroll tournament designed to send the final top nine players to the Grand Final at London’s Palm Beach Casino in December, where finalists will battle it out to win over GBP 30,000 in prizes, including a Mini Cooper car.
The site is the product of a deal signed between Sun Online and Victor Chandler. Sun Online’s Head of Commercial Development, Amy Copeland says the newspaper has planned to expand into the online poker market for some time. “VC Poker’s technology, marketing experience and large community of players, made them a natural choice for The Sun to work with,” she said.
------------------------
A good excuse to take a trip to Costa Rica... Well, every excuse sounds good to me for that!!! Anyone joining me? :-)
Poker Industry Expo to be Held December 3-4, 2005 in Costa Rica
Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces a Poker Industry Conference and Exposition will be held the weekend of December 3-4, 2005 in Costa Rica at the Barcelo San Jose Palacio.
The Poker Industry Expo (http://www.PokerIndustryExpo.com) is an event that will cover the business of poker, focusing on management, marketing and technology. Poker room and online poker executives will be in attendance.
The event will also have a tournament in the evening for industry executives and professional players. The tournament will be held at the Herradura Casino, a licensed casino operating in San Jose, Costa Rica. The tournament will represent the best of poker strategies, tactics and playing skills by poker executives and some of the most seasoned poker players that exist today.
------------------------
From: www.pokernews.com. Poker from the other side of the fence:
Running a Major Poker Tournament is Hard Work
October 12, 2005
Michael FriedmanPrint
Email to a friend
Post a comment Without a doubt, playing poker is a tough business. The long hours and mental strain can wreak havoc on the minds of even the best in the game, but poker players aren't the only ones on the floor who are trying to beat the energy-draining environment. Consider what it takes for a tournament director to work his or her magic. More specifically, a tournament director for one of the biggest, most lavish casinos in the United States who has to run a 12-day tournament series that includes a televised World Poker Tour main event. Some say playing poker is tough, but they've never had this job.
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa tournament director Tab Duchateau is the perfect image of cool. Starting his career in the poker industry at Resorts Casino a little over 12 years ago, Tab immediately knew that poker could offer him new opportunities and a possible change in careers. "Someone said that Resorts was opening up a poker room and hiring people to deal full-time off the bat. I didn't know much about poker at the time but I knew I wanted a nice salary. So I went over there. They taught us by hiring dealers from California, because poker was still relatively new to New Jersey.
As time flew by on various casino floors, Tab's experience grew. He bided his time and waited patiently for the chance to become a tournament director in a rapidly growing division of the gaming industry. "To tell you the truth, I got a bit tired of the everyday, same people, same thing. Tournaments aren't that way, especially with the unhappy people. You lose in a big tournament and you leave and the remaining players are happy because they are still in. It kind of provides a balance. Instead of having a bunch of unhappy people at your table, everyone really wants to be there."
Fast forward to the recent Borgata Poker Open. Over 4,000 players, double last year's number of players, made the pilgrimage to the Borgata and laid down their hard-earned dollars in hopes of earning big cash and a beautiful gold diamond-encrusted championship bracelet. According to Tab, things have changed dramatically from when he started as a tournament director.
"When I started, there were 40 players playing mostly Stud. We had a $20 entry fee and a $10 vig on it. Those $30 tournaments had first prizes between $400 and $500. These days there is no more Stud. It's a dinosaur in the industry. That's why we went to all No Limit tournaments this year for the Open. No one really wants to know who the stud champion is. Everyone wants to know who the new No Limit millionaire is."
With changes in the game have come changes in job responsibility. "It used to be that you stood at a table and you just ran the tournament. Now it's all encompassing. You are heavily involved in orchestrating the whole event. For an event like the 2005 Borgata Poker Open, we started meetings the day after last year's tournament finished. We want to figure out what went right and what went wrong for the next tournament. We wanted players this year to feel that the tournament was worth their entry fees. There is nothing worse than someone saying they just paid $1,000 to play an event and they didn't feel like they got their money's worth."
This year's event structure was a big focus for the Borgata's poker team because many players left bigger events like the World Series of Poker feeling much like the famous poker-playing bad guy from the movie Rounders after he had taken a big beating, "Just like a young man coming in for a quickie. I feel so unsatisfied."
According to Duchateau, the staff knew they needed to make a change if they wanted more action at the events. "Stan Strickland, my boss, and I discussed the tournament structure and decided to make it a player's event. We wanted to make it more of a fair tournament structure and bring in more players. Give the players a lot of chips and give them a lot of time. Really let the skills of the players shine. Let the best players win the tournaments. It doesn't always work out that way, but at least more advanced players have the chance to make some headway with this kind of structure."
This approach was one of the major reasons for the success of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open. Not only did players have a great chance to make the money, but they also enjoyed one of the most luxurious and player-friendly venues on the planet. "The great thing about working for the Borgata is that an event like the Borgata Poker Open won't make any money. But we do it, because we want everyone to experience the Borgata. It's great publicity for the company as a whole. The Borgata is always thinking first-class and they give us a lot of leeway in running the event. This is an expensive venture for us, but the Borgata has always been very poker oriented and they have been behind us from the start."
Even with the support of the Borgata, the tournament series is a difficult undertaking, especially for the tournament director. "For us, it's a 12-day, 38-event tournament series when you include the super-satellites. That makes things a bit tougher. We are constantly on the go. From the time we arrive in the ballroom to the time we leave, it's been a 24-hour a day process for us. There are both day and night events so there is no down-time. It's difficult orchestrating the sheer number of events, but somehow we get the job done."
According to Duchateau, there is one key rule to finding success in an event series like the Open. "The most crucial element would be that there wasn't a mistake made during the series that eliminates a player. We did our jobs and they eliminated themselves. The players' destinies were in their own hands."
With the conclusion of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open, it has become evident that poker is here to stay. With the largest field in the history of Atlantic City (WPT main event), the Borgata and its tournament director are ready to meet the growing needs of today's poker hungry masses.
When asked about his feelings on the success of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open and the future of the game Duchateau replied with a big grin, "Any time you take a small amount of money and turn it into a million dollars, people will come. Here we have a $65 tournament that could actually cost a player $15, if they won a voucher, and they could win entry into the WPT main event. You could take $15 and make a million. As long as this is going on, I don't think poker will ever go away. As long as the little guy with a little bit of money and a dream is around, it will continue to grow."
Reuters reporting about the success of poker:
Sportingbet poker sales up
Sportingbet (SBT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday that poker revenues had increased 71 percent in the first 10 weeks of the current financial year, as it announced a sharp increase in last year's profit.
Although Sportingbet gets 91 percent of its revenues from online sports betting, investors were keenly watching its results for indications of how the online poker market is faring amid tumbling share prices across the sector.
The average number of games played each day on Sportingbet's Paradise Poker site, which it bought last November, rose 66.3 percent in the year to July 31, while the cost of attracting each new player to Paradise Poker rose by $10 (5.74 pounds) to $139.
Profit before tax was 40.8 million pounds in the year to July 31, versus 8.3 million pounds in 2004.
Sportingbet's core U.S. betting arm increased its number of sports bets by 34 percent to 25.4 million. The number of sports bets taken in Europe rose 86 percent to 20.2 million.
Sportingbet shares closed at 287 pence on Tuesday, valuing the group at around 968 million pounds.
------------------------
News from Poker Room and Party Poker:
NAME CHANGE FOR INTERNET POKER NETWORK
And greater gaming diversity, too
Top Swedish gambling software provider Ongame has announced that it is introducing a new name and greater gaming diversity to its global Internet poker network. Formerly titled Poker Network, the operation hosts almost 4 million regular poker players, mainly under Ongame subsidiary Poker Room.com.
The network branding has been changed to Ongame Network, and with it a new range of non-poker games has been made available, including casino games like Craps, Roulette, Blackjack, PaiGow Poker and Video Poker Multi-Hand. Slot machines will also be introduced offering seriously large progressive jackpots, for example the forthcoming Sultan’s Treasure slot machine game which will have a starting jackpot of $300,000.
Ongame Network’s director, David Flynn says, “Multi-player casino games and Blackjack tournaments, along with high quality graphics, will differentiate Ongame Network from the broad offering that currently exists in this part of the industry.”
The move comes at a time when online poker market leader Party Poker has also announced that games other than poker will be available to its network players. In distancing Party Poker's network from that of its white label partners this week, Party Gaming said that it planned a major new site to be launched early next year which would present not only poker but a variety of other games to its claimed 9 million players.
------------------------
Always from online-casinos.com:
NEW ONLINE POKER ROOM OWNED BY UK NEWSPAPER
Poker freeroll tournament to celebrate the launch
The latest poker room to enter the online poker sector is owned by British newspaper The Sun and operated by veteran gambling group Victor Chandler (see earlier Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa reports)
Formerly titled Caribbean Sun Poker, Sun Poker.com is powered by Cryptologic and launched a freeroll tournament designed to send the final top nine players to the Grand Final at London’s Palm Beach Casino in December, where finalists will battle it out to win over GBP 30,000 in prizes, including a Mini Cooper car.
The site is the product of a deal signed between Sun Online and Victor Chandler. Sun Online’s Head of Commercial Development, Amy Copeland says the newspaper has planned to expand into the online poker market for some time. “VC Poker’s technology, marketing experience and large community of players, made them a natural choice for The Sun to work with,” she said.
------------------------
A good excuse to take a trip to Costa Rica... Well, every excuse sounds good to me for that!!! Anyone joining me? :-)
Poker Industry Expo to be Held December 3-4, 2005 in Costa Rica
Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces a Poker Industry Conference and Exposition will be held the weekend of December 3-4, 2005 in Costa Rica at the Barcelo San Jose Palacio.
The Poker Industry Expo (http://www.PokerIndustryExpo.com) is an event that will cover the business of poker, focusing on management, marketing and technology. Poker room and online poker executives will be in attendance.
The event will also have a tournament in the evening for industry executives and professional players. The tournament will be held at the Herradura Casino, a licensed casino operating in San Jose, Costa Rica. The tournament will represent the best of poker strategies, tactics and playing skills by poker executives and some of the most seasoned poker players that exist today.
------------------------
From: www.pokernews.com. Poker from the other side of the fence:
Running a Major Poker Tournament is Hard Work
October 12, 2005
Michael FriedmanPrint
Email to a friend
Post a comment Without a doubt, playing poker is a tough business. The long hours and mental strain can wreak havoc on the minds of even the best in the game, but poker players aren't the only ones on the floor who are trying to beat the energy-draining environment. Consider what it takes for a tournament director to work his or her magic. More specifically, a tournament director for one of the biggest, most lavish casinos in the United States who has to run a 12-day tournament series that includes a televised World Poker Tour main event. Some say playing poker is tough, but they've never had this job.
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa tournament director Tab Duchateau is the perfect image of cool. Starting his career in the poker industry at Resorts Casino a little over 12 years ago, Tab immediately knew that poker could offer him new opportunities and a possible change in careers. "Someone said that Resorts was opening up a poker room and hiring people to deal full-time off the bat. I didn't know much about poker at the time but I knew I wanted a nice salary. So I went over there. They taught us by hiring dealers from California, because poker was still relatively new to New Jersey.
As time flew by on various casino floors, Tab's experience grew. He bided his time and waited patiently for the chance to become a tournament director in a rapidly growing division of the gaming industry. "To tell you the truth, I got a bit tired of the everyday, same people, same thing. Tournaments aren't that way, especially with the unhappy people. You lose in a big tournament and you leave and the remaining players are happy because they are still in. It kind of provides a balance. Instead of having a bunch of unhappy people at your table, everyone really wants to be there."
Fast forward to the recent Borgata Poker Open. Over 4,000 players, double last year's number of players, made the pilgrimage to the Borgata and laid down their hard-earned dollars in hopes of earning big cash and a beautiful gold diamond-encrusted championship bracelet. According to Tab, things have changed dramatically from when he started as a tournament director.
"When I started, there were 40 players playing mostly Stud. We had a $20 entry fee and a $10 vig on it. Those $30 tournaments had first prizes between $400 and $500. These days there is no more Stud. It's a dinosaur in the industry. That's why we went to all No Limit tournaments this year for the Open. No one really wants to know who the stud champion is. Everyone wants to know who the new No Limit millionaire is."
With changes in the game have come changes in job responsibility. "It used to be that you stood at a table and you just ran the tournament. Now it's all encompassing. You are heavily involved in orchestrating the whole event. For an event like the 2005 Borgata Poker Open, we started meetings the day after last year's tournament finished. We want to figure out what went right and what went wrong for the next tournament. We wanted players this year to feel that the tournament was worth their entry fees. There is nothing worse than someone saying they just paid $1,000 to play an event and they didn't feel like they got their money's worth."
This year's event structure was a big focus for the Borgata's poker team because many players left bigger events like the World Series of Poker feeling much like the famous poker-playing bad guy from the movie Rounders after he had taken a big beating, "Just like a young man coming in for a quickie. I feel so unsatisfied."
According to Duchateau, the staff knew they needed to make a change if they wanted more action at the events. "Stan Strickland, my boss, and I discussed the tournament structure and decided to make it a player's event. We wanted to make it more of a fair tournament structure and bring in more players. Give the players a lot of chips and give them a lot of time. Really let the skills of the players shine. Let the best players win the tournaments. It doesn't always work out that way, but at least more advanced players have the chance to make some headway with this kind of structure."
This approach was one of the major reasons for the success of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open. Not only did players have a great chance to make the money, but they also enjoyed one of the most luxurious and player-friendly venues on the planet. "The great thing about working for the Borgata is that an event like the Borgata Poker Open won't make any money. But we do it, because we want everyone to experience the Borgata. It's great publicity for the company as a whole. The Borgata is always thinking first-class and they give us a lot of leeway in running the event. This is an expensive venture for us, but the Borgata has always been very poker oriented and they have been behind us from the start."
Even with the support of the Borgata, the tournament series is a difficult undertaking, especially for the tournament director. "For us, it's a 12-day, 38-event tournament series when you include the super-satellites. That makes things a bit tougher. We are constantly on the go. From the time we arrive in the ballroom to the time we leave, it's been a 24-hour a day process for us. There are both day and night events so there is no down-time. It's difficult orchestrating the sheer number of events, but somehow we get the job done."
According to Duchateau, there is one key rule to finding success in an event series like the Open. "The most crucial element would be that there wasn't a mistake made during the series that eliminates a player. We did our jobs and they eliminated themselves. The players' destinies were in their own hands."
With the conclusion of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open, it has become evident that poker is here to stay. With the largest field in the history of Atlantic City (WPT main event), the Borgata and its tournament director are ready to meet the growing needs of today's poker hungry masses.
When asked about his feelings on the success of the 2005 Borgata Poker Open and the future of the game Duchateau replied with a big grin, "Any time you take a small amount of money and turn it into a million dollars, people will come. Here we have a $65 tournament that could actually cost a player $15, if they won a voucher, and they could win entry into the WPT main event. You could take $15 and make a million. As long as this is going on, I don't think poker will ever go away. As long as the little guy with a little bit of money and a dream is around, it will continue to grow."
posted by Angel The Gambler @ 8:09 AM
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