blonde poker forum

?

No. The sponsorship deal with DTD ended at the end of last month.

From what I remember, they always did the updates before Rob sponsored them for a year?

no more live updates for blonde then? or is it just the sky poker tour now?

shame!

We'd love to do DTD updates still but have received no indication from DTD that they would like to continue with them in 2011. There was no contact prior to this weekend, for example, so sadly must assume they have other plans. Of course updates from there cost money which was never recouped directly from sufficient blonde members playing on DTD Online through us, and it was difficult to quantify or prove the impact of the blonde updates on numbers playing the deepstack, or playing at DTD generally. It was good PR, but PR doesn't necessarily make the finances work.

From our point of view our new sponsor doesn't mind us promoting the DTD club via updates from there.

Not doing any Sky tour events, they are updated on the Sky forum

Would hope to do events such as GUKPTs, and elsewhere, later in 2011. In the beginning these will be on a voluntary/benefactor basis until we can afford them.   

At heart though I and I am sure many blondes would like to see DTD updates most. We owe DTD Rob, Nick and Simon a lot and will always support them in whatever way we can and if asked.

and I should add, the possibility of doing these depends on the success of the new sponsorship deal with Sky.

If not, and we aren't earning any money then - I've done six or seven voluntary live updates on blonde, solo GUKPTs, DTD Grand Prix etc. I'd probably be daft enough to do more, including at DTD for free, but my schedule of weekends organising events and family commitments means I would rather not, understandably.

If anyone else wants to volunteer to update for free.....let me know  ;)

I know that donations to keep the updates going have been discussed in the past, can we not look at this a bit further?

this is what I mean by benefactors. 2-3 updates have been done with sizeable donations by a small number of people in the past

This is not sustainable on a regular basis. As one offs fine, but not really a strategy to plan ahead

A thread before Xmas gave some indications of the types of numbers interested, and it wasn't that encouraging.

Most blondes seem to regard live updates as "nice to have" but there is no real appetite for the sums required to fund them, from any feedbak in these threads

A general "donate Paypal" button is a possibility, if I can persuade tikay to have one, eventually!

What are the costs of covering say the dtd deepstack?

2 people for two days and two nights

basic travel (£100), one shared hotel room (£150), basic wage (£400)

£650

that assumes DTD would have us back, though. It's all moot if DTD have other plans

Thats interesting

Presumably dtd has a marketing dept.

It would be obvious to most if this forum was the sole site for updates to absorb all the costs

I would have thought they would recoup through added interest generated here

Then again Alan sugar isn't chapping at my door

N there may be other factors I know not of

If one looked ahead to Feb:

a) Could DTD actually be asked if Blonde could self fund an update from there - perhaps a phone call could be made based on all the mutual regard and respect that we read about
b) Could you then seek donations from members to finance the update

Then there would be no ifs buts and maybes - all seems so coy

read

between

the

lines

(imo)












nothing sinister - i just think this has all been said before  (dtd will be self updating soon if i had to guess)

its not actually that much money, promotes dtd and is usually good banter etc on the live update post.

I cant see why DTD would not want it?

be shame to lose it. Id be happy to donate.

I've had scores of questions, & there have been just as many Posts around blonde, asking about the "loss" of the DTD Deepstack Weekend Live Updates. Quite a few people seem to have got hold of different "stories".

Nick W has just called me, & wants to clear up any of these misunderstandings & rumours.

DTD's position is that they are more than happy for blonde to do the Live Updates as previously, except that they would not be able to sponsor them, that is to say, they would not pay for them.

I've asked Rich, & the Mods, to give some thought to this. We certainly cannot afford to finance them from Company funds, that's for sure.

I was pretty sad on 2 counts over the weekend - that there was no blonde Update of the DTD Deepie - it's part of the fabric here - & that DTD suffered a bit of an eye-watering weekend overlay.

Rich, the Mods, & I, will chew the cud on this, & all constructive Member feedback is welcome.

I imagine you've answered this question 10 fold, but why is it your against a 'donate' button?

I just find it very ODD that DTD wouldn't pay half a grand for updaters that would DEFINITELY pay for themselves. They simply must attract at least 2 players every month.

Genuinely not trying to stir it or anything, but I'd be interested to know what their overlays were in all the months blonde was doing updates as compared to this past one.

Hi All,

I speak for Rob & Simon here as well.

We are more than happy to accommodate blonde doing live updates for any events you guys wish however due to our commitments this year with spend on various other projects we cant fund them solely ourselves.

As you know i have been working on a TV deal which still is in the balance and also some other medias which have to be worked out.

I hope you guys understand.

Cheers Nick

To be honest, I don't know, probably just stubborn obduracy, & not sure I'm comfy with the whole concept somehow. Hard to explain, really.

I think, it's fair to say, I should perhaps re-examine my thinking there, but irrespective of that, times they are a changing, & I would no longer object if that were decided to be a way forward.

from memory last January was probably lowest turnout and is probably the worst month anyway in terms of weather, finances etc.

so comparing with other months might be misleading

Obv leave the months out of the equation where we know the snow was billowing down.  Or for that matter - include them but understand it was equally bad for both occasions.  Apart from those few months, I still think it would be interesting to keep track of overlays when blonde was involved vs. when they aren't.  IE - did we make a difference?

[/quote]

Obv leave the months out of the equation where we know the snow was billowing down.  Or for that matter - include them but understand it was equally bad for both occasions.  Apart from those few months, I still think it would be interesting to keep track of overlays when blonde was involved vs. when they aren't.  IE - did we make a difference?
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I really don't understand why we as a forum would pay for the updats!  Is Blonde not a Buiness?  i know we all love reading them but come on!
i would like to see the number at the the next DTD £300 to see if we made the diffrence or not

blonde is a business, but not currently a successful one. In an ideal world £650 would be a drop in our ocean but it isn't.  

DTD have been superb with funding our updates for several years, most often in 2010 obviously but prior to that most notably in 2008.

No other live poker provider pays us for updates when really it could be argued that we should be. We're providing a service to the venue to promote their event beforehand, report on it and hopefully lead to higher numbers attending than if we didn't. Our benefit comes from costs being covered, then traffic and membership increases.

However the updates marketplace DTD apart doesn't function like that. At GUKPTs for example several sites rock up and update, and the provider themselves blog (UKIPT too). It doesn't matter if our updates are deemed to be the best, we won't be paid for them.

Hence, in the absence of our own cash resources (Sky Poker deal may change that, we'll see), the continual reliance on sponsors to pay our (now rock bottom) non update costs and update funding. Either that or donation/benefactors

What are the % of sign ups when you are doing an update and how many of them go on to post more then just on that day?

The vast majority of those who sign up to post on an update post on updates only

These days, with over 500 new members a month, the updates have only a small additional effect on this figure

The traffic effect is smaller than when we were smaller too. A busy update is 800 posts, a slow one 500. Monte Carlo was exceptional with 1950. We can make that up with a few diaries lol, although update traffic is high quality...poker people so in theory it should convert across to busines. but doesn't! People get it for free, and its nice to have, and thats that 

As I say, updates are a service to members which many enjoy and a service for the venue, if we do them properly and we do. Promotion beforehand, the event, reports afterwards. It's less about boosting blonde's membership and traffic these days.

Are you serious ?

Sandy

So if we were going to offer our great service and do updates for free do you think the Venue would let us  advertise Blonde Poker on the day,  eg like maybe have a few Pull up banners inside and so so

Something to factor into the thinking on this debate.....

blonde Forum is (the Deal is currently only to 31/3/11) sponsored by Sky Poker. Worth considering how DTD might feel about paying to, effectively, encourage traffic to a rival Online Room.

It's getroundable, by keeping the Live Update Board sepearate, but both parties - Sky Poker & DTD - would need to be happy with that. And it's possible they might not be.

Maybe best to just leave it for the first few months of the Sky deal so blonde can concentrate on getting that side of things right first.  No?

If I'm honest, Dawn, we are not sure what we'll do, hence throwing it out for debate.

I was quite surprised - pleasantly so, I mighty add - to hear from Nick today, though.

It's a bit of a head-scratcher, but a nice head-scratcher, as I'd rather we remained onside with DTD than not be involved at all. Just gotta work it all out.

I always preferred the GUKPT updates.  If I had a preference I'd choose them.