blonde poker forum

Well, it's been about a week since we announced some changes at blonde, & I thought I'd give you a brief Update on where we are.

All the Staff have pledged their ongoing support, as have all the Shareholders.

We have prioritised the Cardroom as being in need of some work, as Revenues, whilst covering costs, were stagnant. An Action Plan was devised, & targets were set. Aaron & Kev are working hard to implement the Action Plan. We need to strike a balance here, as we must not over-spam the Forum, but so far I think it's been about right  Perhaps by coincidence, it's too early to tell, but the Cardroom Revenues have improved dramatically, & we have set records every day this week.

We shall be changing the name & URL of the Cardroom shortly to something eminently more appropriate, & much easier to navigate to from blondepoker.

Our Freeroll last Sunday attracted a record number of runners for a blonde comp. A modest number by industry standards, but lets move forward one step at a time.

A small Marketing Budget was given to Aaron & Kev to spend as they saw fit. I promised to increase it monthly if the results proved they used it cost-effectively. So far, it looks like they have, so the Marketing spend will increase next month. By "Marketing spend", I don't mean adverts or the like, I hope they use it for Freerolls & the like.

We intend to focus mainly on the smaller limit players, but at the same time, look after our Big Boys. We will not be entering any Deep Rakeback contests.

Plans to revamp the Main Site are well in hand.

The Forum remains vibrant, & we will continue to Moderate it tightly.

Steps are in hand to appoint additional Mods.

We shall persevere with blonde being a three-legged animal - Main Site, with fresh content daily, Forum, & Cardroom.

We have sold more advertising for September, October & November.

We have been approached by no less than 7 different parties or individuals, all of whom have expresed an interest in buying all or part of blonde. I am in discussions with, & meeting, all of them. The Shareholders have been kept informed of these discussions. It is not my intention to allow blonde to be taken over, but we could use additional Management expertise in some areas, so it's not improbable that one or two investors will come on board. No decision has been taken, nor will it until we have reviewed all offers.

We have reviewed our Financial Position thoroughly, & all is well. We have only one debt of note, & we have agreed payment terms with the creditor. ((except for unpaid Salary & Exs to myself, & unpaid salary to Dave, & these are being treated as a long-term investment). We have no Bank Overdraft or borrowings, nor will we ever have one. Our Cash-Flow is positive.

Live Updates will continue, we start our EPT Season shortly. These will remain free-to-view.

Discussions continue with several parties who want to use blonde for commercial tie-ups.

Our relationship wth Poker 425, (owned by William Hill) who currently sponsor our Forum, remain excellent.

It has been recognized that we need to sweat our assets harder, & we are on with that.

The Mods are continuing to work hard, & are a good Team.

An individual, with huge experience & wisdom in Commerce, has offered to assist us for, in the first instance, a medium term period, at no cost. It is probable that we will accept this offer.

I'll happily answer any questions you may have, & I thank all of you for your encouragement & support.

I think it looks good for the future...

And on the cardroom front SPAM away for me, i for one always forget the comps available! And any good ideas kev had come from me  :D

Tony as im sure you know this forum is loved by many of us.

I have come to know so many people who have become my friends online and i so looking forward to meeting many of them this weekend.

I am one of the small time donaters on blonde and I am proud to be one.

PS any chance of maybe 1% being split between us skint guys just so we can belong?

Hi Tikay,

Been coming on this forum ever since our Heads Up @ The Gutshot nearly a year ago.  Not a big poster of threads but love reading them and your UK tourney updates.  Think the updates are excellent.

Great site, great guy, really hope things go go for you.

All the Best

John Curtis

I think that yourselves should continue with the freerolls and maybe small added tourneys for blonde members only.
As you mentioned, last weeks freeroll was a success in terms of numbers, and the fun of it being blonde only.
By continuing these I think you may well get more cross-over from the forum to the cardroom, I for one have opened an account with blonde since, and hope many others have.

Advertising comps in the forums/by email wouldn't bother me either. More likely make me more aware of whats happening.

I look forward to the changes.

Just my tuppence worth.

I am a small time $5 stt player mostly (but im known for hitting the cash when
pssd)

I would rather give my rake to blonde.

I agree :)up

Looks like the Blonde empire is moving forward nicely, just don't let it be taken over or we might lose the forum we love.

I agree with the idea of bllonde only freerolls or added tournaments which should be advertised on the forum as well as in the cardroom.  This will get people who post on the forum and get the benefit of that to give you some money in the cardroom.

Thanks for keeping us informed

Andrew

sounds good - thanks for the update Tikay

Tikay, I have noticed on many online sites where Internet Poker Rooms are reviewed and advertised, Blonde Poker doesn't feature. Even on one of the sites reviewing tribeca rooms there is no mention of Blonde.  If Blonde was given a mention maybe this would help playing numbers at the site.  Just an idea  :) , I am not a PR expert though so I may be way off the mark

http://www.tribecatables.com/current_brands.html (http://www.tribecatables.com/current_brands.html)

An awful lot of these 'reviews' are nothing of the sort - they're adverts dressed up as independent editorial, which the poker rooms pay for. Blonde should not (and almost certainly will not, judging from Tikay's comments) get involved in pissing-money-up-the-wall contests with the big boys.

Blonde's USPs are 1) the sense of community which already exists on here and 2) the renown which the Live Updates have - utilising these are the most effective ways of increasing business.


I assume this means Tikay's already on the case with these things, though it could be referring to all sorts of perverted stuff that goes on in the Secret Room...

just one question tikay.

i saw kev leaving the butchers with 3 dozen pies please tell me this isnt where he used the marketing budget!!!!!!!!  :D

 :D ,  I may be getting old, but I can't see it anywhere on there.   I spoke to a friend the other day and he said blonde is clearly shown on the above site.   Where? 

ok, it was just a suggestion  :) .  I will go back to moving hay bails and digging out ditches  :D

that was merely a snackette .... and i paid for them in action points :)

LOL I was agreeing with you, I can't see blonde on there either.

Just a suggestion, but during live updates would it be possible to have a comp/maybe a freeroll, with a prize of a seat in the next live update comp for example. But have the interative live updates in the chat box window of blondepokerleague? Forcing people to register in the cardroom to post and pushing the download of the site for guests. Maybe a pants idea but a fleeting thought.

I love the forums and read them daily. The website has developed into something very special also with lots of great articles and news stories that attract me back every day. The range of people that contribute means I never get bored.

Its good news to see the poker side being developed further, us low limit players are the bread and butter of most sites :)

LOVE that idea!!

Wow! I just thought I'd update you guys, & it's turned into a quite wonderful thread with everyone chiming in with ideas - just what we want!

I'm in an Airport Lounge right now, flight due in 30 mins, & then I'll be Offline most of the weekend, but I'll re-viit this Thread on Monday & answer all the suggestions properly.

I wil reiterate for now - we will focus on "smaller" players beause they are the backbone of blonde, & always will be.

And, as Andrew points out, we wont be engaging the Big Boys & chucking money around as many of them do. 90%+ of their Marketing Spend is wasted, & we can't afford that. Half the sponsored Pros are freerolling on the back of CardRooms & giving nothing back. Not here! Our mini-budget will concentrate on blondes, on "community comps", where we can have some fun. It's easy to get carried away with the glamour of the Big Boys & their huge wins, but to 95% of this Forum, a £50 cash in a comp is HUGE. Aaron & Kev have been given a clear brief - look after our own.

I quite like this idea. But, with some live tournaments occurring over night (I'm thinking especially of some of this year's WSOP) then some people catch the beginning of a tourney, go to bed, catch up with the overnight posts at breakfast and follow it at work. If the updates were only posted in the chat window then anybody with a job may have difficulty following it.

The non interactive will still be on the forum for people to catch up on though. The more I think of it the harder it will be to do and more work for the updaters. It would be possible in the chat lounge though, as an online comp wouldn't last that long.

I definately think that offering satelites into live events is a good thing - maybe not the MAIN event, but the smaller events on at the same time?

This way, they could be as low as $25 freezeouts - assuming 30 people play, this would give enough for a £300 comp + a little expenses - or even a $10 rebuy??

This would cater for the "smaller" players and give them a chance to play a live event of £300 that they perhaps wouldnt play otherwise.

Just a thought.................

Blonde has a lovely, unique business model for the most part IMHO.  On-line poker is very competitive.  To be profitable, really profitable, requires nouse and experience and a touch of luck.

A bit like playing poker!  :D

Love this idea :)  I'd love to play in some of these live events but splashing out £300 wouldn't impress the missus.

Well U got one out of 3, aint bad i spose!!  ;goodvevil;

SILO

To my knowledge, no other site offers this either. A nieche (spelling!!) in the market??

For example the Gutshot thingy that Chilli pwned. I think if it had even been mentioned that this tourney was going on and you guys were going to be there loads of us would have turned up. Other sites do sats for EPTs which are basically Stars live events and blonde get on well with loads of other sites as far as I can see so surely it isn't a problem that they have their own poker site?

Blue Sq and littlewoods do sats for festivals, but it would be a great thing for Blonde to do as the target market for festivals is mainly already here!

LOL!

I'll remember that for next time straddler.   ;)

Indeed, no site does satelites for the smaller events at festivals - so I cannot see this as "competing with the big boys"

Doesnt necessarily have to be festival events either - there are other comps on around the £100 to £300 mark

great idea........the perfect example would be the monthly £300 at walsall

I think it's a superb idea....everybody does major event sats..but noone does them for the smaller events. ALSO...it would ensure that you get a mention on the blonde live update thing...and that surely is very cool for lower limit players...why be an anonymous fish at the WSOP when you can be a well known fish at a smaller event?

The only problem i see with this is you start drainning the collective bankroll of the blonde players. Tikay talks about how £50 is huge to a majority of the memebers for a comp, well how long would they be able to put up 300 between them!

I love the idea i just think it might not be the best thing for the players and deffo not the best thing from Blondes point of view (keeping players in the game so they can rake more!)

Sark mate, if you scroll down the original link to where it says "next".

Clicking on it will take you here...

http://www.tribecatables.com/current_brands2.html

then down towards bottom right........ theres Blonde   :)up

ahhh,  I didn't see that  :D  ty

Keithy,  what is  "doing the do"?    On the "I am new here thread"

lol...."doing the do" was probably before your time Sark.  Although for me seems like only yesterday!  :D

It was an early 90's song by a girl called Betty Boo..........and as the new member is BettyBlue my mind naturally took that leap! 

 :D  ok, I get it 

I read that about 2 minutes ago and now I can't get the bloody song out of my head!!!  cheers Keithy!!!

James, are u asuming that the players are loosing players? I mean, £50 might be a huge win to them, but if they make a modest £5 per week, this would let them play one $20 f/o a month would it not?

I have no desire to win tourns for live events, if there was cash equivelent though :)

sark

can believe youve never heard of doing the doo. i think this saying goes back further than betty boo. reminds me of the 20's charlston. its a saying ive known as far back as i can remeber.

tikay
the message alerts are good. i like them and if thats what you meant by spaming, ive not problem with it at all.
id say to promote blonde you could get some famous/celebrity blondes in?  or you could try some publicity stunts that make the tv. im sure there are some folks on here daft enough to take part. how about rod paradise running naked in celtic park with blonde moment painted on his bum? we could chip in for his bail:)
i like trace's idea about the 1% spread. im in!

good luck

mad

:-) 

  I have heard of the singer, just not the song

...."doing the do"


thats what old people call having sex i believe.

Old people have sex with pigeons? eeuuuwwww

I think Flushy has a point here.   If the lesser players are just paying for the better players to play in a festival, then they'll get fed up after a while. 
It's still a great idea, just could do with some tweaks to keep sharks away perhaps

  rotflmfao

what :dontask:

the thought of poor Flushy paying for everyone's festivals :D ?

Sorry thought it was an APAT joke.

Oh God no, don't let me have started that all over again!

So Graham, how would you define a shark and which of these sharks do you think might want to play $20 sats for a £300 tourney? :D

Damn i've been rumbled  ;hide; rotflmfao rotflmfao

(http://bestsmileys.com/nono/4.gif) Not even going there :D

lol M3 :D Foiled, sorry :D

I agree with M3, Blondeites could easily take money out of the pockets of non-Blonde players at the cash tables / MTT tables / $5 extended STT tables / $1000 Weekly Anti-Canadian Freeroll (pick your poison!) and then with their skilfully-gained low-limit winnings, buy into an exclusive Blonde-only minor-Fessie-type feeder for $20, every now and again.

Coz no matter who wins, we all have an underdog horse to root for on the big day.

...which could add spice to the live updates?

exactly....

Oi Mad - NOOO!!!!!